BRING MY LOVED ONE TO SALVATION

Show us Your mercy, Lord, and grant us Your salvation. I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints; but let them not turn back to folly.

—PSALM 85:7–9 NKJV

“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.”

—JOEL 2:28,32 NIV

No man is excluded from calling upon God, the gate of salvation is set open unto all men: neither is there any other thing which keepeth us back from entering in, save only our own unbelief.

—JOHN CALVIN

Dear Savior God,

Thank You for the gift of salvation, for making me a new person through the blood of Jesus Christ. And I thank You that You have put Your love in my heart so that I see and love others as You do.

I don’t stand in judgment of others. Only You know the heart of men and women, boys and girls. But there are people in my life who I know have not asked You to forgive them for their sins and have not asked You to be Lord of their lives. I am thinking of a family member in particular right now—and I bring that person to you.

In faith, I ask that You speak directly to my family member’s heart and mind. You know exactly the areas of pride and resistance that keep them from opening themselves to You. I pray You would break down those barriers in their heart. Let my life be a witness to the joy of salvation. If there are words of grace and mercy I can speak into their life, I pray that You would impress them in my mind. When I need to hold my tongue and remain silent so they can hear Your voice, I pray for that wisdom.

I pray they would receive Your gift of eternal life in the gracious name of Jesus.

PROTECT MY FAMILY

The Lord watches over you. The Lord is your safe cover at your right hand. The sun will not hurt you during the day and the moon will not hurt you during the night. The Lord will keep you from all that is sinful. He will watch over your soul. The Lord will watch over your coming and going, now and forever.

—PSALM 121:5–7 NKJV

“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

—PSALM 91:14–16 NIV

Should all the hosts of death and powers of hell unknown put their most dreadful forms of rage and malice on, I shall be safe, for Christ displays superior power and guardian grace.

—ISAAC WATT

Dear Lord,

I ask that You protect my family in all ways today. I know there are evil forces and evil people in this world that intend to cause harm, even to children. There are so many negative messages in our culture that undermine the importance of a loving family. And as I look around I see so many evidences where husbands and wives have lost their love for each other; where parents and children show little care for each other.

I confess that I have many fears for my family. I bring those fears to You and ask that You replace them with trust that You care for me and all my family members. You love families and want them to be places of safety and love.

On behalf of my family, I express my faith in You with complete confidence today. You care about the safety of my family. You want good, not bad for each of us. I thank You ahead of time for guarding our paths and turning our steps from evil. I am certain You will protect us from all forms of harm, whether it be physical danger or spiritual temptation.

Lord, You are my family’s shield.

I WANT TO BE MARRIED

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

—GENESIS 2:24 ESV

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

—PSALM 37:4 ESV

What you are as a single person, you will be as a married person, only to a greater degree. Any negative character trait will be intensified in a marriage relationship, because you will feel free to let your guard down—that person has committed himself to you and you no longer have to worry about scaring him off.

—JOSH MCDOWELL

God of Love,

I know that I don’t have to be married to be a complete, whole, and happy person. I know it is better to be single than to marry the wrong kind of person. I know that You love me and have a perfect plan for my life. But You already know how much I want to find the perfect mate for me and be married for life.

I ask that, even as I hope to find the right person for me, You will help me to become the right person for someone else. Help me to be a person of character and kindness. Help me to be the kind of person who will help foster a faithful marriage and a joyful home. If there are areas of my personality and life that need to be refined, I ask that You do that work in me.

You know how badly I want to be married, but I pray that You would protect me from settling for the wrong person. I pray that I would only marry a person that shares my values and beliefs and would be as committed to me as I would be to them.

If You already have someone in mind for me, I pray that You would protect them in the same way I ask for protection. Make them into the person You want them to be and keep them from entanglements that will rob them of their esteem for marriage and the opposite sex.

I place my life and my dreams of marriage in Your hands with full trust that Your timing is always right. Thank You for putting a delight for love and marriage in my heart.

In Jesus’ beautiful name.

I WANT A BETTER MARRIAGE

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

—EPHESIANS 5:21–27 NIV

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

—ROMANS 12:9–10 NIV

In marriage, each partner is to be an encourager rather than a critic, a forgiver rather than a collector of hurts, an enabler rather than a reformer.

—H. NORMAN WRIGHT AND GARY J. OLIVER

Gracious and Loving God,

You created us to love one another and for marriage to be a special bond of love, trust, and mutual respect between a husband and wife.

I love my spouse, but I see far too many ways that we fall short of what You have planned for us. Both of us have failed to express the love, the kindness, the respect, and the words that foster a wonderful relationship. As I call to You for help to turn my marriage around, O God, I don’t bring grievances and judgment against my spouse, but lay my own sins and shortcomings before You. I confess that I don’t have the words, thoughts, attitude, and deeds to make my marriage better in my own strength. I need You to fill me with your grace and wisdom that I may extend that grace and wisdom to my spouse.

With Your help, I promise to do all that is in my power to improve my marriage. I ask that You give me patience when problems don’t disappear instantly or I don’t get the immediate response from my spouse I was looking for. Most of all I ask that You help me love and respect my spouse as you taught us through Your love of the church.

I affirm my faith that You make all things new—and that You can transform my marriage into a relationship of love and respect and joy. Continue to bless me as I bless my spouse and marriage.

I pray all this in the blessed name of Jesus.

MY LOVED ONE IS SUFFERING PHYSICALLY

Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.

—JAMES 5:14 NIV

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

—ROMANS 8:18 NIV

Christ shared our experience; he suffered as we suffer; he died as we shall die, and for forty days in the desert he underwent the struggle between good and evil.

—BASIL HUME

O God Who Heals,

My loved one is suffering. It hurts me in mind and spirit to see the physical pain they are experiencing.

Jesus Christ healed the blind and the lame; He cast out demons; He brought sanity to the mentally ill; He brought the dead back to life. You, O God, are the Creator and giver of life. You are the Great Physician. You are able to bring physical healing through Your command.

In Your Word, You also show us that suffering can be used for other purposes that are good and that bless both the sufferer and those around them. You can do incredible works in us and through us when we suffer.

So I bring my friend before You in faith. My will is that they be completely healed and that all pain be removed from their body. I pray this in faith, believing that You can do exactly that. I also pray with humility and trust that Your will be done. Whether there is complete healing or a special spiritual impartation or both—I know You are answering my prayer right now.

I pray this in the name of Jesus, the Great Physician.