Blog Archives
A prayer for wisdom
Copyright by Bob Rogers.
O God, all the depths of the riches of wisdom and knowledge dwell in You.1 Like Solomon, who prayed for wisdom, we have faith that You give wisdom generously to each of us who ask You.2 Please pour out Your rich wisdom to each of us who are poor in insight. Transform our minds, that we might have the mind of Christ.3 Fill us with the knowledge of Your will and spiritual understanding, so we may discern what is good and pleasing to You. This will help us to walk in ways pleasing to You, bearing good fruit and growing in our knowledge of God.4
Biblical references:
1 Romans 11:33
2 2 Chronicles 1:10; James 1:5
3 Romans 12:2, Philippians 2:5
4 Romans 12:2, Colossians 1:9-10
Prayer when life seems out of control
Copyright by Bob Rogers.
O Lord, I feel like my life is out of control, floating down a river, and I can’t see what’s ahead. I run into sudden rocks, reptiles and rapids, and then a right-angle bend in the river. I try to navigate my raft, but I realize that I have to trust the swift currents of Your grace. I believe that even as the sun sets over the water and I float into the unseen future, the sun will rise tomorrow over the gulf of Your goodness. Thus I will take this day as an adventure with God as my guide. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Prayer for Good Friday
Copyright by Bob Rogers.
Precious Jesus, I meditate on the day of Your death.
Your hands were bound behind Your back
Your mouth was silent before Pilate
Your ears heard the words “Crucify!”
Your head was crowned with thorns
Your back was bloodied with the whip
Your back bore the cross to Calvary
Your hands and feet were nailed to the cross
Your tongue spoke words of forgiveness
Your side was pierced
Your heart was broken
Your work was finished.
Darkness covered the land and blood covered my sin,
the day the Lamb of God was sacrificed.
I cannot take away Your pain
I cannot pay You for my gain
I cannot be sacrificed in Your place
I can only receive Your gift of grace.
Prayer for guidance in the culture wars
(Below is a prayer written by my colleague and fellow hospital chaplain, Vance Moore. It is shared with his permission.)
So it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. – Romans 12:5
Our Father,
Daily we are faced with culture wars: liberal beliefs, conservative beliefs, and it seems everyone has a unique worldview or ideology. Even in our churches, we are divided. While scriptures tell us we are “one in Christ,” we continue to separate ourselves along the line and issues which are important to us. Your word is clear that we are to be one with You and keep our “eye on the prize.” Help us, Father, to align ourselves with the only worldview/ideology that is acceptable in Your sight. Keep us vigilant and moving toward the only worhty goal– of our relationship with You. Bless us and bless our service this day.
In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.
Prayer of thanks for the extraordinary ordinary
Our mouths were filled with laughter then, and our tongues with shouts of joy. – Psalm 126:2, CSB
Lord, I am so blessed. My lips can kiss my wife each morning when I get up and each evening when I go to bed, and I am grateful. Lord, my hands are able to work and provide for my family, and I am thankful. My mouth is filled with a delicious meal, and I am grateful. My tongue shouts when my team hits a home run, and I am thankful. My ears can here the flowing rivers, my nose can smell the fragrant flowers, and my eyes can see the fertile forests, and I am grateful. My head is covered with a safe shelter each night when I go home, and I am thankful. My knees hit the floor each morning and each night in prayer to You, the source of the extraordinary in the ordinary, and I am grateful.
Prayer for wisdom in suffering
Copyright by Bob Rogers.
Precious Lord Jesus, I want to know the power of Your resurrection, and the fellowship of Your suffering (Philippians 3:10). When I am weak, help me draw strength from You. When people insult me, remind me that that they hurled insults at You. Give me grace not to slander, but give me courage to speak the truth. If I suffer for doing right, give me peace. If I suffer for my own sin, give me the courage to repent. In all things, give me the wisdom to know the difference.
Prayer against evil
Copyright by Bob Rogers.
Lord, my heart breaks when I see the suffering of the innocent. Wicked men break their promises and take what does not belong to them. They hide their faces at night and destroy in the darkness, thinking nobody can see their evil.
Shine Your light on their lies, so that people will know the truth.
Lord, confuse their minds and confound their speech, so that their evil schemes fail.
Arise, Lord! Vindicate the oppressed with Your righteous right hand.
Lord, we cast our burden on You. Give us courage to stand for what is right.
God, humble the proud, and lift up those who fear You. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Ukrainian Baptist leader speech to his churches
Speech by Valery Antonyuk (President of the Evangelical Baptist Union of Ukraine)
to ministers and churches on the occasion of war. (Translated into English.)
You can view his speech in Ukrainian on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCKqC8NNpPQ
Dear brothers and sisters, Church Ministers!
This morning, February 24, the war in Ukraine began. What we prayed would not happen happened today. And we, as believers, accept that we will have to go through the time of this trial.
The Bible says: “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,for you are with me,your rod and your staff will comfort me”
That is why we urge everyone to continue and intensify our prayers.
This is our weapon in time of war, our way of fighting. This is the first thing believers do. And we invite everyone, wherever you are, to seek the opportunity to do this in person, in your families, in your churches, on ZOOM, wherever possible, gather together and praise the Lord.
Secondly, it’s important that the Lord gives us His peace right now and that we don’t panic, fear, reckless actions, sudden decisions that can harm us personally and our min hysteria in the ukraine.
We invite all Church ministers in these first days to give a message of hope through God’s Word to all the faithful who have to stand in this gap today and pray for our country. We need to strengthen this time with fasting and prayer because this is the time the Church continues to minister.
We say to all Church ministers, elders, deacons: think about how to maintain hospitality in your church premises, in your headquarters, where you have the opportunity to receive people in need. People moving around Ukraine today and will be targeted, especially along the border areas. Please, it is important for us to organize ourselves so that we can accommodate people in need.
We have many unanswered questions and only by moving step by step can we figure out where we can take the next step. Therefore, we ask that we can organize this at the church level. Our communities must become centers of service, shelters, for our people in times of adversity.
We ask all Christians not to spread unverified information, but to share the information that you witness and know exactly the authenticity, to turn it into an occasion of information, testimony and prayer.
We also pray for the organization of our coordination center, because in the office here near Kiev, we continue to serve and organize all the work even now. We will get in touch with all associations and coordinate in time all those processes that will prove to be important for all the Ukrainian people.
We’ll keep you updated on the situation. From time to time, we will make such calls, report on the current situation, and pray that we will all be together, united in what the Lord is doing.
We believe that God, even through us, wants His Kingdom of peace to spread today, even in times of war. We pray for the protection of our country and firmly believe that God will bless Ukraine!
Therefore, let’s unite together, we serve even in these conditions. We begin a new phase, a new page of ministry that has never been written before. God who has blessed us by making us live peacefully and serenely for decades, but in this time our whole country needs a church that is the light and salt. The Lord is our shepherd, we shall not want and he will guide us even in these moments.
God bless us as we pray for you as we serve the Lord together.
Prayer for God’s presence
Copyright by Bob Rogers.
Heavenly Father, I come before You in silence, my hands turned upward to You, my heart listening for Your voice. I take a deep breath; slowly I let it out. I want to inhale Your presence; I want to exhale distractions. I breathe in Your mercy and peace. I breathe out sin and shame. Jesus, I embrace Your grace. Drench me from head to toe with Your Spirit. As I go through this day, make me continually mindful of Your continual presence, and may I be a different man because the God-man dwells within.
The hardest prayer to pray
(Few of us want to pray a prayer of confession. And when we do confess, we may say, “Lord, if I have sinned” (God knows we have!) or we soft-sell it with some safe sin, like, “Lord, I know I ran a red light” (He knows a lot worse things than that!) Our confession is rarely raw, vulnerable or gut-wrenching. But Biblical confesssion is brutally honest. So is this prayer, based on Psalm 38. Confession is the hardest prayer to pray, but in the end, it is the most rewarding. Copyright by Bob Rogers).
Lord, my sin is too much for me to bear! I feel the weight of my sin all the more as Your punishment presses down on me. My sin stinks like a festering wound, and my stomach turns at the smell of my foolishness. It hurts that my wrongdoing caused my loved ones and friends to stand back from me, and my enemies have used it to attack me, but it hurts even more, that I feel the pain of separation from You. I know that nothing is hidden from You. Knowing that You see my wicked heart and deceitful mind causes my skin to crawl and my heart to ache. So I confess my sin; I make no excuses; it troubles me; I am disgusted by what I have done. I trust in You, Lord, to forgive me and save me. Lord, do not leave me; hurry to help me, for You are my Savior and my only hope for forgiveness.
Prayer in dark times
Copyright by Bob Rogers.
Lord, these are dark times. At times, it is so bad that I feel like darkness is my only friend.1 Lord, why have you allowed Your light to be covered? How can I see You when I can’t even see myself in the darkness? Lord, light my lamp; God, dispel my darkness.2 Until dawn comes, remind me as I weep through the night, that joy is coming in the morning.3
Biblical references: 1 Psalm 88:18; 2 Psalm 18:28; 3 Psalm 30:5
Prayer to endure sickness
Copyright by Bob Rogers.
Lord, I know that You are the One who removes sickness.1 Jesus, You healed the sick wherever You went.2 So I trust my sickness to You, and ask for healing. Remind me, also, that there is something worse than sickness. I know that a man’s spirit can endure sickness, but who can endure a broken spirit?3 So I pray that my sickness will be for the glory of God.4 and I pray that even in my sickness, I will find peace to my soul.5
Biblical references:
1 Deuteronomy 7:15
2 Matthew 9:35
3 Proverbs 18:14; Lamentations 3:17
4 John 11:5
5 1 Thessalonians 5:23
Prayer Poem of Hope
Copyright by Bob Rogers.
Lord, may I not be dismayed, even when I feel betrayed.
May my heart be re-fired, even when I feel so tired.
May my praise be fresh and bold, when I feel timid and old.
When I struggle to cope, fill me again with Jesus’ hope.
Amen.
Prayer when you don’t “feel” forgiven
Copyright by Bob Rogers.
Heavenly Father, You said that if I confess my sins, that You are faithful and righteous to forgive my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness.1. Yet I still feel dirty. You said that even if my sins were red like scarlet, You would wash them white as snow.2 Yet I still see the blood-guilt on my hands. You said that You will remove my sins as far as the east is from the west.3 Yet other people still bring them up. So teach my heart to listen to You. Remind me, God, that if my heart condemns me, that Your truth is greater than my feelings.4 Reach down to my lowest depths with Your covenant love, and lift me up.5 If You say that I am forgiven, then I am forgiven. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Scriptural references and allusions:
- 1 John 1:9
- Isaiah 1:18
- Psalm 103:12
- 1 John 3:20
- James 4:10
Prayer when feeling spiritually dry
Copyright by Bob Rogers.
Lord, I am in a spiritual desert. My soul is dry. I thirst for You. How I need Jesus, the spring of living water. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Pour Your living word into me. I desire to stand under Your loving presence, as a man stands under a waterfall, mouth open, drinking it in, letting it soak my heart and spirit. Then may I splash Your Spirit all around, that I may refresh those whom I meet this day. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Bob Rogers 