PRAYER FOR TODAY FRIDAY 21ST APRIL 2023 – WHAT TO PRAY DURING A SETBACK

DAILY PRAYER AND SCRIPTURE FOR TODAY.

Engage these Daily Prayer and Scriptures for today. Take to God all that you desire in prayers, while you watch restfully as he steps into situations to bring out beauty and colour in your live. Today, as you commune with God, know that God has settled all that concerns you, Just believe and pray with faith in your heart. Remain blessed in Jesus name, Amen.

Today’s Prayer is Authored by: Meg Bucher

Prayer Focus For Today 21st April 2023: What to Pray During a Setback

“Then he said to me, ‘This is what the LORD says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.” – Zechariah 4:6 NLT
The garage door slowly rose. I pulled in, put the car in park, and shut the engine off. Sitting, staring, and sobbing … After a string of good days, the past twelve hours felt like square one. I put myself on auto mode, walked into the house, placed my coffee on the counter, and stared at a chair. It seemed to pull me in for a good cry, and I listened. Loud, sad, cries of despair, as I fought to grip the hope of forward progress I had felt in the last few days. Those cries said better than any word count could.

Setbacks are hard. Setbacks snap us out of relief and back into fight or flight. A setback can threaten our thought life to believe the progress was a mirage. Setbacks make it seem like God isn’t listening, isn’t there, or doesn’t care. The verse from Zechariah reminds us of our weaknesses…and God’s strength. Setbacks are hard. But they aren’t permanent. Jesus is in it with us, compassionate towards our pain. For those experiencing a setback today…

PRAYER FOR TODAY.

Let’s pray:
Father,
Today, we feel stuck …setback …and discouraged. We come to You, perhaps without words at all, to describe our desperate need for You. God, You are faithful, full of mercy and compassionate towards us. When we hurt, we do so alongside a Savior who understands how we feel and is sympathetic to our pain. Oh, God, thank You for the friend we have in Jesus. We are a mess today, Father. Yet, You see us as the beautiful creation You knit inside our mother’s womb, with a specific purpose and unique gifts. The perfect Father, You are there for us in every way. Provider, Healer, and Defender, You love us fiercely. You are jealous for us! 
 
God, though setbacks aren’t pleasant, we know You will pull us through them. Even though this one feels like it might take us out, we put our confidence in You. We choose to sit at Your feet and cry out in desperation, to the only One who perfectly and completely understands our souls and cares for our hearts. Father, repentance is hard. Hurt is hard. Pain which happens to us, and pain that we lump upon ourselves …is hard. Please soften our stubborn hearts as we sit and weep at Your feet, desperate for direction and hurting for encouragement. Help us to hear You, remember who You are, and Whose we are. 

Father, place Your word in our hearts and write it on our minds. For Your word is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. (Hebrews 4:12 NLT) You know us, fully. Lift our spirits and restore our hope, God, to see this setback for what it is …temporary. Help us to confidently trust You, and cling to the Hope we have in Christ Jesus. You promised us a difficult journey on earth, but You also promised a full life. Full of joy, peace, contentment, forgiveness, and love. Help us to embrace You as You bring us back to the place of progress.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen. 

This Is the Assurance of Answers to Your Prayers – Matthew 7:7-11

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will YOUR FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN GIVE GOOD THINGS TO THOSE WHO ASK HIM!