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January 1 - December 31, 2019
Lord Jesus, indeed you not only limited yourself for me but you enslaved yourself, “taking the very nature of a servant” (Philippians 2:7). How, then, can I view your commands to me about sex, money, and power as burdensome? Keep me from ever resenting your wonderful precepts. Amen.
I have talked to college students from church backgrounds who started having sex because they lost their faith, but I met just as many who lost their faith because they started having sex.
If I act in love and faithfulness toward you, I sense love from and to you growing in my heart. So provoke me, by your Spirit, to ever obey and serve you regardless of my state of mind or emotions. Amen.
Lord Jesus, you befriended a handful of disciples and through those friendships you changed the world. Help me choose my friends wisely, cultivate them carefully, and learn all I should learn from them so I can grow into the person you’ve called me to be. Amen.
Lord Jesus, you became a vulnerable human being to show us the truth about ourselves. You were faithful and constant even to death on the cross. Now, Lord, reproduce in me that same character and let me be a friend to others as you have been a friend to me. Amen.
A third mark of friendship is sensitivity and tact.
Friends voluntarily tie their hearts to one another. They put their happiness into their friends’ happiness, so they can’t emotionally flourish unless their friends are flourishing too.
Lord, our sin causes you pain (Genesis 6:6) and our broken hearts draw you to our side (Psalm 34:18). You love us more tenderly and sensitively than a nursing mother does her child (Isaiah 49:15). Let me be so moved by your love for me that it makes me highly sensitive to the needs of those around me. Amen.
Lord, today to “friend” something is to “like” rather than dislike. I have not been conditioned to have friends who dislike things about me and tell me so! But my heart knows—and your Word says—that I need them. Lead them to me and give me the willingness to be open to them. Amen.
Father, help me to guard my lips so that I don’t wound someone deeply with rash words. And also, let me so immerse myself in your Word and what it tells me of who I am in Christ, so that other people’s hurtful words won’t wound me. Amen.
Are you aware of the great power even your offhand words have to bless others? When was a time you have seen this power in your life or someone else’s?
Lord, each of us has a host of people around us who are eager for, and desirous of, words of blessing and affirmation from us. I am often too distracted to deliberately praise and appreciate people every day. Find me ways to say to others, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23). Amen.
The first is the person who stirs up conflict. As we have seen, candor is good, even when the truth telling is painful. But there is also a kind of person who loves debate, who gives criticism too readily, and who always seems to be in the middle of an argument with someone.
Lord, help me to be honest with myself about the divisiveness of my words. I tell myself that I’m just speaking up for the truth, but lay bare my motives so I can see when I am really only trying to make myself look good. That happens far more often than I dare to think. Amen.
Managing our speech is a way to get our whole self under control
Lord, I can truly pray, “Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips” (Psalm 141:3). I beg you to do that, mainly for the sake of your name but also because my heart cannot survive my evil words. Amen.
Lord, I know I must change my heart, putting to death its sinful impulses (Romans 8:13). But I take my good time, because I think no one can see the selfishness, pride, and anxiety of my heart except you and me. But my tongue shows it to the world. No more procrastination. Help me change. Amen.
How do common phrases like “You have to always be true to yourself” create false worldviews that seem completely self-evident to people?
Lord Jesus, the words I read and hear daily try to redefine all reality by leaving you out of the center of it. Move me to be immersed in your Word so I can be like the man you touched twice so that he could see the world clearly (Mark 8:25). Amen.
Christians must never use flattery, not in business to get customers or investors, and not even in evangelism
Lord, I admit that there are times when I engage in flattery as ways to manage difficult people or to maintain other important relationships. I am sobered at how you hate this kind of untruthful speech (Psalm 12:2–3). I repent for it and ask that you would give me the courage to change. Amen.
Lord Jesus, protect me from the spreading power of harmful words. Prevent me from producing them and hurting people. Also, protect me from their power to poison my relationships and hurt my good name. “Vindicate me . . . and plead my case” (Psalm 43:1). Be my advocate. Amen.
Jesus insisted that his disciples speak every word as truthfully as if they were under oath and had just sworn on a stack of Bibles
Every lie uses rather than loves a person. By keeping the truth from them, you put them in a dependent posture and exploit them. There is no such thing as a harmless lie.
Father, Jesus told the truth even though it got him tortured and killed. And he did it for me. How, then, can I shrink from telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth—even when it costs me? Lord, increase my faith in you so I can be truthful regardless of the consequences. Amen.
You must never use facts in a misleading way to advantage yourself.
Don’t exaggerate and spin.
“Speak truthfully to your neighbor” (Ephesians 4:25), looking to the one whose very reason for coming was to testify to the truth (John 18:37).
Father, I confess that I often twist the truth in order to look good, usually avoiding outright lies. I do it before I even know what I’m doing. Help me stop this. Help me remember that you will judge me for every idle word. Make me a person of truth. Amen.
People of integrity are not one way in one setting and completely different in another.
Lord, I confess that I sometimes “play to the crowd.” But you always see me; you are always there. You have the only set of eyes and opinion I should care about. Let me always live consciously before your face. That will heal my lack of integrity. Amen.
Lord, the sins of my tongue are so many! Because of pride I talk too much or harshly, because of fear, too little or dishonestly. Forgive me, and cure me of the false motives that make my speech so unlike yours. Amen.
Since I live only by promise, make me a person of my word, not afraid to make and not too weak to keep commitments. Amen.
Father, as I read in your Word about what a God of truth you are, I want to be far more careful about speaking before I know what is true. How often I’ve passed on falsehood inadvertently just because I was too unconcerned about truthfulness to check things out. Let me walk in truth so I don’t dishonor you. Amen.
With your Spirit, make your love so real it keeps me from being irritable, impatient, or indifferent to anyone else at all. Amen.
We are called to speak gently even (or especially) in an angry confrontation, rather than answering with harsh, hard words in kind. Speaking gently in such moments is difficult, not least because of the fear of appearing weak.
If you do not curse back when cursed (Romans 12:14), it disarms and de-escalates the argument. If you respond gently, there’s a chance the angry listener may say, “I don’t want to hear this, but it’s very obvious this person cares.” Ironically, gentle speech is ultimately more persuasive than “so take that!” arguments. Harsh words play well with people who already agree with you, but they won’t persuade or help the truth to spread. Follow the one who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return
Lord Jesus, you are meek and gentle (Matthew 21:5) and yet threw out the money changers from the temple (Matthew 21:12). Lord, conform me to your image, make me like yourself—assertive but not self-assertive. Amen.
Father, my words are often half-baked, poorly thought out. I am no prophet, but could you purify my words so they are far more attractive and persuasive to listeners than they are now? I ask that not for my honor but for yours. Amen.
Father, when Elijah listened for you, you were not in the earthquake, wind, or fire but in the “still, small voice.” Though my sin should provoke you, you do not respond to me in wrath but in grace. Make my words calm and gracious, too. Amen.
“Proverbs consistently teaches that fewer words are better than many words.”
Lord, I often love to hear myself talk. I can ramble and hold forth but, while occasionally entertaining, that doesn’t build people up. Your words are perfect—never a wasted one. I will never be able to imitate that, but give me the self-control and wisdom to make each of my words count. Amen.
So, yes, we need to be kind, gentle, and careful, but also transparent, forthright, and direct. We die without both kinds of words.
Lord Jesus, when Paul stood before the emperor, though no one else came to his defense, you stood by him and enabled him to speak forthrightly (2 Timothy 4:16–17). Oh, please, stand by me and with me, that I can tell people the truth. Amen.
If you can approximate speech that maintains the balance of wise words—honest, nondeceptive, kind, gentle, apt, timely, unprejudiced, calm, forthright, and few—then you will be in a position to help any listener.
Lord, I see people around me who are in great need of things I can give them with my words. But I’m too busy, too afraid, too indifferent, too self-absorbed to even notice the opportunities. Clear my vision and anoint my lips so that my words can be sweet to the souls of others. Amen.
I also need you to bless me in my most secret, inward being and fill it with your love (Ephesians 3:16–19) so my words will become like yours. Amen.
Lord, I know that if I think more carefully about what gossip is, I will find I engage in it and encourage it. I have wronged many people over the years through it. Help me to be far more attentive and sensitive to it in myself and others. And forgive me for the sinful talk I have done. Amen.
Lord Jesus, you never grumbled, complained, or derided people. Do what it takes to keep me from doing these things. Amen.
Lord Jesus, we are not to be conformed to this world in our minds (Romans 12:2). The world and society I live in press upon me as “common sense” many beliefs that are simply not true. Let your Word dwell in me so richly (Colossians 3:16) that I can discern and resist these errors. Amen.
