Prayer Partners: From Affliction to Glory

“The LORD’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness.” Lam. 3:22-23, NASB

Dear Prayer Partners,

Something beautiful happened yesterday. I gathered to pray with a couple of dear friends and sisters in the Lord. One of them began by praying Psalm 37 for us, and I don’t recall ever having such a marvelous experience of praying Scripture. Now today, I share a prayer for us in those times when we’re brokenhearted. Based on Lam. 3:19-26 and 2 Cor. 4:8, 10, 16-18—in some places word for word—may this prayer comfort, encourage, and strengthen you.

From my heart to yours,

Emily

Loving Father in heaven,

Gratefully, desperately, trustingly we enter Your holy presence, lifting up our broken hearts. Your mercies, Your compassions are new every morning.

Humbly we ask You to remember our afflictions, our wanderings, our bitterness. As these sorrows come into our minds, surely our souls bow within. These experiences feel too heavy to bear at times, and we struggle to breathe under their weight.

Yet this we remember: truly Your lovingkindnesses never, ever cease. Your compassions absolutely never fail. THEY ARE NEW EVERY MORNING! Yes Father, how great is Thy faithfulness. We could never survive without You. You nourish our souls—You alone satisfy. You are the One we look to as all we need, and as we gaze upon Your loveliness, we gain hope. YOU are our hope.

God, You are good all. the. time. And You display Your goodness—showering it upon us—when we wait for You. Waiting stretches us. It feels unpleasant. Yet You’re working. While we wait, You work within and around us. Oh, how grateful we are to love and serve a good God! We commit again to seek You in each moment, each difficulty, each sorrow You sovereignly bring our way. We wait silently to see Your salvation. We don’t know how You’ll answer or what resolution You’ll bring…

But we trust You, Father—with all our hearts.

Though afflicted, we’re not crushed. While perplexed, we don’t despair. For You are our Mighty God! We carry about in our bodies the dying of Jesus, that His life might also be manifested in our bodies. We don’t lose heart because You’re renewing our inner man day by day.

Using our afflictions to produce an eternal weight of glory beyond compare, You never waste anything. In faith we gaze at unseen things, knowing they’re not temporal … but eternal.

In the precious, mighty name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

photo credit: Charlotte90T via photopin cc