Tag: God is our Peace

Worthy of Praise

Featured Joy Bennett

Praise the Lord

Lord, we exalt You for Your forgiveness and that You do not hold Your anger forever but delight in mercy.  We also rejoice in Your lovingkindness toward Your people. Thank You that You are great beyond anything we can imagine, gracious in Your compassionate gifts, and always good in Your actions.

Prayer for Teachers

We humbly ask You, Lord, to keep our eyes on the truth of Who You Are for Your people as we go about our daily tasks. Many of our students have struggles that affect us and we need to cultivate genuine hearts of praise toward You Who alone are all that is good and worthy of glory. Guide us to remember, especially in our worst moments, that we are forgiven by You. Give us a firm grasp of Your everlasting love for us and how You draw us to Yourself with lovingkindness. Open our eyes to how You are at work in love even during difficulties. Let us rehearse Your greatness as we take one step at a time through complex decisions and experience the effects of sinful people. We know that we will have peace that passes all understanding when we consider all that is praiseworthy in Your character. Help us to seek You in good times and bad, recalling Your lavish gifts of grace to us as Your beloved children. May we never doubt Your goodness and plans for our benefit throughout our challenges.

Deut 3:24; Ps 31:19; 116:5; Is 30:18; Jer 31:3; Micah 7:18-19; Phil 4:8

Read more about reasons to praise God here

In the Shadow of Your Wings

Featured Joy Bennett

Psalm Friday

Dear Lord, we pray together for all the teachers You have placed in the mission field of education. The needs are great in every location: spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional. You have called us to show up each day and walk with You as our strength, promising our security in You, and giving us the promise of Your power to accomplish the work You have set before us. Praise You for Your faithfulness, Lord. Without You, we can do nothing.

The enemy doesn’t want us to be at work in the lives of these many students, staff, and parents. We can be tempted to give up, give in to apathy and hopelessness, or take a self-protective stance toward difficult people. Lord, send us Your peace.  Allow us to rest in the shadow of Your wings, knowing that You cover Your people in security. Let us walk in repentance, holding to Your ways, keeping our eyes on Your Word, and enjoying Your steadfast love so we can extend it to others. Guide us to carve out time to spend in Your Word so our souls will be strengthened in You and our faith strong. Lord, for all the seeming victories our adversaries may gain, remind us of Your true goodness, power, and benefit which far outweigh those things. Your Spirit is within us, ministering peace to our souls. Your promises for our present and eternal benefit are immovable. We are blessed in the heavenly places with every spiritual blessing through Christ Jesus. Fill our souls with these truths and lead us to think rightly about our circumstances, growing in our knowledge of You and giving You glory with our work. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen. (Psalm 17)

Find Peace in God’s Loveliness

Featured Joy Bennett

Praise God Who is Ever Present, Our Peace, Advocate, Healer and Provider

Dear Lord, we come to You with praise for Your loveliness. We are captivated by Your moral perfection, goodness, holiness, and unsearchable glory. You are worthy of our worship for countless reasons. Thank You Lord for blessing us by sharing Your character: Your constant presence (Ps 46:1) and Your peace (Rom 5:1). Our hearts are blessed because You are our Great High Priest and Advocate (Heb 4:14; Rom 8:26,34). And we give You glory for being the Healer of our souls and bodies (Deut 32:39; Is 53:5), and for being our Provider who has already foreseen our every need and graciously provided for them (Rom 8:32; 2 Cor 9:8).

Prayer for Our Minds to Focus on His Loveliness

We pray for teachers everywhere to have a fresh perspective of Your praiseworthy and delightful character. Let Your people be captivated by Your glory as by the unsearchable glow of flames in a late-night campfire.  Every day we have opportunities and challenges within our schools and we desire Your peace. Place Your Word in our hearts to remind us of Your peace which comes by delighting in Your beauty. You are worth everything to us. Help us be the teachers, mentors, colleagues, and servants You can use to show the world Who You Are. Lord, cause our hearts to rejoice in Your forgiveness, longsuffering, mercy, kindness, goodness, grace, and indwelling Holy Spirit.  You are lovely beyond compare.  What do we find attractive in this world but the good You have worked here: creation; the image of God in humanity, and Your Word? Flood our hearts with Your Truth for Your beauty never ceases to please our souls. In Jesus’s Name, we pray. Amen.

How lovely is your dwelling place,

O LORD of hosts!

My soul longs, yes, faints

for the courts of the LORD;

my heart and flesh sing for joy

to the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young,

at your altars, O LORD of hosts,

my King and my God.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house,

ever singing your praise! Selah

Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

As they go through the Valley of Baca

they make it a place of springs;

the early rain also covers it with pools.

They go from strength to strength;

each one appears before God in Zion.

O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;

give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah

Behold our shield, O God;

look on the face of your anointed!

For a day in your courts is better

than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

For the LORD God is a sun and shield;

the LORD bestows favor and honor.

No good thing does he withhold

from those who walk uprightly.

O LORD of hosts,

blessed is the one who trusts in you! (Ps 84)

Quiet Your Mind Place Your Thoughts on God’s Peace

Featured Joy Bennett

Praise to God for His Peace and Goodness

Dear Lord, we thank You that in You alone we can have peace. You are holy and true peace exists only in the absence of sin.  We thank You that, in our relationship with You, we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in heaven, including all of Your goodness which is at work in our lives at all times.

Prayer for Peace

Father, we come to You with all the problems and stress we face with our personal, work, family, and social lives. We desire to walk closely with You, knowing that we especially affect the lives of the students, staff, and parents around us throughout our daily walk. Help us to think according to Your will. We face temptations to meditate on fears and rehearse projected scenarios, but You tell us to take our thoughts captive for Christ. Help us to practice this by replacing our imaginations with the truth of Your goodness. We are always thinking something – let us think about You.

Guide us to practice Your peace through the outline You have given us in Philippians 4:8 which says, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Lord, in order to practice this command, let us keep scripture in our minds that proclaims Your character and work on our behalf. Let us remind ourselves that You cause all things to work together for good to those who love You and are called according to Your purpose (Rom 8:28). Let us study and memorize verses such as, “The LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness; the upright shall behold His face” (Psalm 11:7) and “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb 13:8) which remind us of Your perfect heart toward us and Your sacrificial gifts to us at all times.

Guide us to remain connected to the many truths You give us about your praiseworthy character. In this way, with our minds dwelling on You, we are kept in perfect peace (Is 26:3). For Your glory in our lives, we pray In Jesus’ Name. Amen.