Author: petebeck3

Pete Beck III has ministered in Burlington for over 34 years. He is married to Martha, with whom he has four children, ten beautiful grandchildren, and four amazing great grandchildren. He ministers locally and travels from LifeNet as a Bible teacher and minister. He has published two books - Seeing God's Smile and Promise of the Father - as well as a wide variety of Bible-related articles which he has compiled into books in PDF form. Currently he is working on a large Bible Teaching Manual.

Prayer for Maintaining Our Integrity

Do not fret when wicked men seem to succeed! Do not envy evildoers! 2 For they will quickly dry up like grass, and wither away like plants. 3 Trust in the LORD and do what is right! Settle in the land and maintain your integrity! 4 Then you will take delight in the LORD, and he will answer your prayers. 5 Commit your future to the LORD! Trust in him, and he will act on your behalf. Psalm 37:1-5 (NET1)

Insight

Fretting, anger, depression and hopelessness can assail us when things do not go as we think they should. Adversity tests our trust in God. Is He on His throne or not? Does He love us or not? Is He working all things for good in our lives or not? Tests and trials bring to the surface our doubts and fears – our sinful unbelief.

Do not fret when wicked men seem to succeed! Do not envy evildoers! 2 For they will quickly dry up like grass, and wither away like plants. 3 Trust in the LORD and do what is right! Settle in the land and maintain your integrity! 4 Then you will take delight in the LORD, and he will answer your prayers. 5 Commit your future to the LORD! Trust in him, and he will act on your behalf. Psalm 37:1-5 (NET1)

David reminds us to make the conscious decision to maintain trust in God and walk in integrity, not surrendering to panic-driven thinking or fear-based decision making. Instead we must choose to delight in God, the One Who answers prayers and acts on behalf of those who rely upon Him.

Prayer

Lord, help me to see things from your perspective. Help me to never give up on doing the right thing, even if it seems to me that it is pointless or even hopeless. Help me continually to delight in you, giving thanks to You in ALL things, even those things that seem to be contrary to what I think is best for me. Lord, I believe you hear my prayers and will answer them. Thank you, Lord! I commit my future to you and believe you will act on my behalf. Amen.

For this reason do not be foolish, but be wise by understanding what the Lord’s will is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, which is debauchery, but be filled by the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for each other in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Ephesians 5:17-21 (NET1)
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Prayer for Laborers in the Harvest

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37  Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38  therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Matthew 9:35-38 (ESV)

Jesus specifically asked his followers to pray that he, the Lord of the harvest, would send out laborers into his harvest. We know from the context of the passage above that he meant those who are attuned to the plight of harassed and helpless people and are moved by compassion to do something about it. The Bible calls these people “shepherds,” which means they care enough about people to give themselves to the work of the gospel.

One might think that Jesus would ask us to pray for those who need to be saved, but, instead, he asked us to pray for laborers who would go and serve the harvest. Why is this? Could it be that since God the Father already chose many from before the foundation of the world to be his people, and since Jesus already died for them, and since the Holy Spirit is actively engaged with these people, that the only missing ingredient is the human component – love motivated witnesses and shepherds who will devote themselves to helping the lost come to Jesus and making them into disciples?

The church, unfortunately, has become very narcissistic. We have fallen in love with our own image and importance, imagining that everything important happens in our meetings and gatherings? Jesus, however, sees things quite differently. He said there is more joy in heave over one sinner who repents than over a mega-church that does not need to repent. (He actually said “99 who do not need to repent,” but my wording perhaps is more impacting.)

What if the rank and file members of every church were overcome with compassion for the people living, working, and playing around them? What if our eyes and ears were opened to the drama that is playing out behind every door in our neighborhood? What if we were willing to spend significant hunks of time being with neighbors who need Jesus – just to see what the Holy Spirit might do, should we give him the opportunity? What if the church heard Jesus’ call to go out into the harvest?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, forgive us for being so caught up with our own comfort and ease. Forgive us for being more concerned about the welfare of the church than we are about the eternal destinies of those who do not yet know you. Open our hearts, our eyes, and our ears to the plight of those who are harassed and helpless, having no one to care for them. Lord, we give ourselves to you and to your Great Commission. Baptize us afresh in the Holy Spirit. Equip, empower, and send us into our neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, clubs, and wherever people connect. Give us a “word in season” that will connect with people. Give us wisdom in effectively presenting the gospel message. Let your spiritual gifts flow freely as they did in Jesus’ ministry. Help us to be faithful in making disciples of those who become followers of Christ. Amen.

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Prayer for Jesus to Open My Eyes

As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him. 30 And two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31 The crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” 32 And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” 33 They *said to Him, “Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.” 34 Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him. Matthew 20:29-34 (NASB)

I remember how it was before Jesus opened the eyes of my heart. I did not know him. I could not see the truth about him. I was groping about trying to find God, but had no one to help me find the way. Spiritual blindness is just as real as the physical, and just as those blind men needed a miracle; so do we all.

“While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” 6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. John 9:5-7 (NASB)

Without God, all of us live in perpetual darkness. Jesus came as God’s light to show us the way out of that darkness into God’s kingdom. Jesus is the only way to God, the only trustworthy light.

I remember praying, “Jesus, if you are real, please come into my life and reveal yourself to me.” From my perspective, my prayer was not very much different from that of the blind men. I had no way to help myself. If Jesus did not heal my spiritual blindness, I would remain in that condition.

For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6 (NASB)

Jesus was moved with compassion to help those blind men so long ago. His compassion toward me, a sinner, prompted him to remove the scales from my eyes in answer to my prayer.

The two blind men immediately began to follow Jesus after he gave them their sight. This proved that they were not merely seeking what he could do for them. They valued Jesus for himself. They became true followers. That is what every person should do when Jesus opens his or her eyes. A disciple is a follower of Christ who dedicates his life to fishing for people in order to make them disciples as well.

So where do you find yourself today? Are you still spiritually blind and in need of Jesus’ healing touch? If so, ask him to open your eyes. Or have your eyes been opened, but you never made the decision to become a follower of Jesus? If that is your situation, pray that God will make you a true disciple. The key is to surrender your entire being to Jesus, the Lord.

Prayer for the Spiritually Blind

Jesus, I am spiritually blind and need you to open my eyes. I cannot see who you are or understand the Gospel, but I am drawn to you. Have mercy on me, Lord! Without your healing touch, I will never be able to see. I ask you to come into my life and reveal yourself to me. I surrender myself to you and to your will for my life. Thank you for doing this in your way and your timing. Amen.

Prayer of Surrender

Jesus, I am reminded that you opened my eyes long ago, but I never started following you in earnest. I have kept my distance from you, but now I repent and ask your forgiveness. I surrender myself and all that I am and have to you. I recognize that you alone are my Lord. Have your way in my life. Amen.

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Prayer for Grace to Live Each Day

Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? 12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. 13 Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants! 14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. 16 Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. 17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! Psalm 90:11-17 (ESV)

One of the foundational truths Jesus wants us to always keep in the forefront of our minds is the coming judgment of the living and the dead. God allots each person a set time here on earth. How long we live is in God’s hands, but how we use our time is our responsibility. The fear of the Lord teaches us to live in such a way that we will be found faithful when we stand before Jesus in judgment. The unbeliever will face God’s wrath at the last judgment for not believing and accepting God’s provision for life and forgiveness offered through Christ. Believers will account to God for how faithful we have been with what we have been given. One of the greatest gifts God distributes to us is the gift of time here on earth to be alive.

Moses asked God for several things in the passage quoted above.

  • Help us to realize how brief our days are so that we can live with a sense of urgency and rightly prioritize what is truly important. We do not want to waste the time that God has given us pursuing what has no eternal value.
  • Show us mercy and love. None of us can possibly measure up to God’s righteousness.We can only be faithful to the degree we learn to receive and depend upon God’s grace. As we learn to believe in and receive God’s love and mercy, we will be inspired to praise him continually.
  • Thirdly, Moses understood the important truth that God works all things together for our good. (Romans 8:28) When we comprehend that our Lord turns even our pain and suffering into something beautiful, it will keep us from sinking into the mire of bitterness or self-pity.
  • Fourthly, Moses asks God to reveal to him what he is doing. Jesus said that he only did what he saw the Father doing. (John 5:19) If we are going to agree with and participate in what the Spirit is doing all around us, the Lord must open our eyes to see and help us to believe that he has the power to fulfill his promises.
  • Lastly Moses asks God to show him favor and establish the work of his hands. God’s favor is like his smile. Faith believes that God is favorably disposed to help us and make us successful as we pursue his kingdom and righteousness.

Prayer

Lord, help us to understand how brief our time is here on earth. Help us to live each day as if it were our last, putting your priorities at the top of our to do list. Help us to love people and be about the business of your kingdom. Be merciful to us, O Lord, because we are unable to serve you properly without constantly drawing upon your mercy and grace. Thank you, for providing an unending supply through Jesus. Let us be satisfied every day with knowing how much you love us, and help us to pass that love on to other people through loving acts and sharing the gospel. Help us to always be praising you because we are confident that you are always working things out for our good and your glory. Turn our pain and suffering and disappointments into showcases for your grace. Let us find joy in turning the table on the devil by using what has been difficult as a spring board into ministry to others who are suffering. Open our eyes to see what you are doing around us so we can join you. Help us believe in your unlimited power to help us and those around us who need your grace. Help us to be bold to pray for others so they will also encounter your love and power. Show us your everlasting favor in ways we can see and understand so we will not lose heart. Establish the work of our hands, because without you, we can do nothing. But with you we can do all things. Amen.

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Prayer for God’s Fullness in Our Lives

This is another of my favorite prayers. Below is a suggestion on how to personalize it. This is a prayer you can use every day.

When I think of the wisdom and scope of God’s plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. 17 And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. 20 Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. 21 May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen. Ephesians 3:14-21 (NLT)

 

Prayer

Father of Glory, Creator of everything in heaven and earth, from your glorious and unlimited resources, give us inner strength through your Holy Spirit. Give us a clearer revelation that Christ lives inside us by faith so that we can more fully trust Him and believe in what He has done, is doing, and will do for us. Let our roots go down deep into the soil of your marvelous love. Give us a greater revelation of that love – how wide and long and high and deep it really is. Let us experience that love even though we may never fully comprehend it with our minds. Fill us with the fullness of your life and power as we grow in the knowledge and experience of your love. I believe you are able to accomplish far more than I can ever ask for or imagine through your mighty power that is at work in my life. Father, may you be glorified in all things through my life, your church, and your Son Jesus Christ for all eternity! Amen.

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Prayer for God to Be Glorified through My Life

And in this regard we pray for you always, that our God will make you worthy of his calling and fulfill by his power your every desire for goodness and every work of faith, 12 that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 (NET1)

Insight

God ordains the means as well as the end. In His eternal wisdom, our Lord has chosen to make us co-laborers with Him. One way this happens is when we earnestly pray for what He intends to do through us to bring glory to his name.

On the one hand, our salvation may be considered a finished work. Believers will never be more judicially righteous than they are the moment they place their faith in Christ. Our right standing with God is based upon Christ’s right standing. Our relationship as beloved sons is based on Christ’s perfect sonship. However acting in a manner that is worthy of this high calling is something that must be lived out every day. This is where we must engage God in prayer.

It takes faith and perseverance coupled with agape love and unswerving hope for us to fulfill our high calling in God. We can only do it by relying on the enabling power of God’s grace in the person of His indwelling Holy Spirit. God wants to impart to us a godly fear of falling short of that grace and high calling.

Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. Hebrews 4:1-2 (NASB)

Prayer

Lord, my desire if for my life to glorify your name. There is no higher calling. I ask you to make me worthy of your high calling by daily filling me to overflowing with your Spirit and power. By grace help me to serve you and my neighbor by doing works of faith and love in order in obedience to your teachings and the Spirit’s promptings. I believe you are working in me both to will and to do of your good pleasure, and that you will finish what you started in my life. Amen.

For I am sure of this very thing, that the one who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 (NET1)
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Prayer for Forgiveness and Cleansing

Anyone who touches its flesh will become consecrated; and when any of its blood splashes on a garment, in a holy place you shall wash what was splashed on. Leviticus 6:27 (NASB)

When Jesus walked the streets and roads of Israel, unclean people regularly touched him, but, instead of his becoming unclean, as the Law demanded, contact with him made the unclean person clean. What an amazing thing! How could this be?

We get a wonderful hint from the verse in Leviticus quoted above. Jesus came to this planet to die as sin offering for us. He is the Lamb of God, a title ascribed to him by John the Baptist, which he fulfilled by his crucifixion. Whoever touched the sin offering became holy, which means consecrated or set apart to God. The sin offering had the power to make the unclean clean!

One Perfect Sacrifice – Past, Present, and Future

Jesus made advance draws on the “paycheck” of Calvary. This is because, from God’s perspective, Christ’s atoning death was a done deal, even before it happened. Its benefits extended back into the past and into the future. Consider the following Bible verses.

(as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”). He is our father in the presence of God whom he believed — the God who makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do. Romans 4:17 (NET1)

All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast–all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. Revelation 13:8 (NIV)

But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13 Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14 because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Hebrews 10:12-14 (NIV)

What do we learn?

  • God is not bound by time. He sees the end from the beginning, and that which is still in our future is already accomplished from his perspective. That is why he says that we are already glorified, even though it remains in our future. (Romans 8:30)
  • The benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection are eternal. Depending on how the second verse above is translated, either Jesus death on the cross is eternal or our being included in the benefits of his death is eternal. Practically speaking, for us, it does not matter. That means before the foundation of the world and before we were ever born, we were included as a beneficiary of Christ’s sacrifice. This agrees with Ephesians 1:4.
  • Christ’s perfect sin offering eternally perfects its beneficiaries. Since all of our sins were future when Jesus died, we must acknowledge that they were covered before they were ever committed. Therefore, every future sin already has been cleansed. This gives us great confidence when we confess our sins to the Lord. He is continually transforming those he has already perfectly cleansed.

When Jesus offered forgiveness and cleansed the unclean, he drew on his future death on the cross. He gave freely, but knowing that it would cost him everything. What an amazing Savior!

Making the Unclean Clean

The Old Covenant Law strictly required anyone who touched something unclean to go through proper rituals to re-establish his or her cleanness. This Law did not apply to Jesus, because he was God’s Lamb, the perfect sin offering.

Think of those persons who were cleansed through making contact with Jesus: the woman with the issue of blood, the lepers, the Samaritan woman (Jesus was not defiled by drinking from her cup.), the widow’s dead son, and the daughter of Jairus. Those are the ones who come to mind. There are probably more. Jesus was a walking, talking manifestation of God’s cleansing power. He was not afraid to touch what others regarded as untouchable. By doing so, he transformed their lives.

Jesus freely forgave sins, which offended the Jewish leaders, who knew that only God could do that. They did not recognize God’s Lamb when he stood in their presence. All who come to Jesus can find forgiveness and cleansing, even today.

Will you come to him?

Prayer

Jesus, I thank you that you came as God’s perfect sin offering, as the Lamb of God. Thank you that you died to make me clean and to forgive my sins. I receive your forgiveness and cleansing right now, and I give you my life in return. I acknowledge your lordship over my life and dedicate myself to serving you as long as a I live. Amen

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 (NIV)
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Disciple’s Prayer

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:25-33 (ESV)
Jesus deliberately narrowed the gate and path for his followers, and he cautioned his listeners, including us, that following him carries a rather large price tag. We need to ask for the Lord’s help to be a disciple.

Prayer

Jesus, I choose to be your disciple and, with your help, I embrace the cost. I choose my relationship with you over all my other relationships. I am willing to be rejected by people who may misunderstand or hate my loyalty to you. My desire is for my family and friends to walk together with me on this journey of faith, but, if need be, I choose to put you ahead of them, no matter how much it hurts to do so. Lord, forgive me for loving myself more than you. I purpose to put you first from now on. Help me to embrace any persecution or suffering which may accompany boldly witnessing to you and sharing the gospel. I choose to carry my cross daily and put your will over mine whenever there is a conflict. Lord, I give you my finances. All I have came from you and belongs to you, and I give it back to you. Help me to never back away from any cost associated with following you, even if it means death. Help me never to retreat or surrender to the attacks of Satan and the people who serve him. I renounce everything I have – my relationships, my choices, my money, my right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, my comfort, my time, my peace – so that I can please you. I know that you will give me back more than I can ever give you. I totally depend on your grace and the Holy Spirit to enable me to follow you as a disciple. Allow me to be an encourager to all those who call on your name. Amen.
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Prayer for Clarity of Purpose

For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, have not ceased praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may live worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects — bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of all patience and steadfastness, joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. 13 He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:9-14 (NET1)
Before we can do God’s will, we must know what it is. Paul’s prayer above asks God to fill us with the knowledge of God’s will and purpose. It’s one thing to catch of glimpse of something God wants to do, and another thing altogether to be “filled” with the knowledge of his will. God wants us to be immersed in his will and overflowing with the desire to fulfill it. We need spiritual wisdom and understanding to adequately comprehend what God is doing and plans. The purpose of such wonderful knowledge and understanding is to make us fully obedient. Knowledge without obedience sadly is grounds for a stricter judgment. It would be better not to know what God wants from us than to know but not obey. However, if we choose to obey, God’s grace comes alongside us (in the Person of the Holy Spirit) to enable us to bear lasting fruit and grow even more in our knowledge of God and his will. Lastly, the character of Christ will be further developed in us as we obey and grow in our knowledge of God. Our thanksgiving will bring God even more glory!

Prayer

Lord, fill us with the knowledge of Your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that we may live worthily and please You in all respects. Please give us lasting fruit as a result of every good thing we do through faith and obedience. Help us to grow in our knowledge of You and be strengthened with all power according to Your glorious might, so that your patience and steadfastness will be on display. This will lead everyone to joyfully give thanks to You, Father, Who have qualified us through Christ to share in your inheritance. You delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son You love, our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting. Thank you! Amen.
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