A Thanksgiving Prayer

“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever” (Ps. 136:1).

It’s that time of year when we gather with friends and family and enjoy a Thanksgiving feast. It’s the time of year where we share with one another what we are grateful for— when we reflect on all the good things we’ve enjoyed the past year. We find ourselves listing the people we cherish, the gracious provisions we’ve received, and the prayers God has answered. We remember experiences we’ve enjoyed. We remember how God has provided for our needs. We remember the people he brought into our lives to encourage us. We remember hard journeys we’ve taken and how we’ve come out on the other side. These are all good things, things for which we ought to rejoice and give thanks to the Lord.

Yet believers are called to give thanks, not just once a year, but all the year through. In fact, it is God’s will that we give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thess. 5:18). And while we do give thanks for all that we have received, for answered prayers, for all we enjoy in life, we also give thanks even when we are empty handed. Psalm 136 reminds us to give thanks to the Lord, not just for what he provides, but also for who he is.

This psalm tells us to give thanks because:

• He is good and his love endures forever (v.1)

• He is God above all gods, Lord above all lords (vv. 2-3)

• He created all things (vv.4-9)

• He acts in history to bring about his purposes and redemption (vv.10-22)

• He saves and provides for his people (vv.23-26)

On this side of the cross, we can add to this list God’s greatest act of redemption, the sending of his Son to die on the cross for our sins. We can add his Spirit at work in our lives to make us new. We can add the promise and hope of eternity forever with him.

Some years when Thanksgiving rolls around, we might have many things on our list for which to give thanks. Other years, we may find ourselves in the midst of deep sorrow and suffering and find it harder to create that list. Whatever our year has been like— whether our hands are full or empty— we raise them up in praise to give thanks to the Lord for who he is.

He is good and his love endures forever.

Father in heaven,

You are good and your love endures forever. I come before you with a heart filled with sorrow from life lived in a fallen world. I come before you with worries and fears. I come before you uncertain about the future. Some days it’s hard to see the good among all the bad.

Even so, you are good and your love endures forever. I give you thanks and praise you for who you are. You are always good and only do what is good. I see this in your sovereign care over all you have made. I see this in your perfect Word and in your work in my life. I see this in your faithfulness to your covenant promises. Thank you for your steadfast love for me. You chose me, saved me, changed me, and secured me. I am yours forever and nothing and no one can take me from you.

Thank you for Jesus, for who he is and what he has done in his life, death, resurrection, and current reign over all things. When I stop and dwell on this, I am overwhelmed with thanksgiving. When I consider his humility and suffering on my behalf, I am astounded anew at the wonders of his grace. When I focus my heart on him, on how he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature (Heb. 1:3), I hunger to know more of him. I pray you would give me “the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him” (Eph. 1:17).

For you are good and your steadfast love endures forever.

Forgive me when I forget who you are. Forgive me for focusing on the things of earth and not on your rule above it. Forgive me for doubting your love and care for me. Forgive me for living in my own strength, rather than resting in yours.

I pray Psalm 136’s song would the constant refrain of my heart. Help me to sing each day: you are good and your love endures forever.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Pray for the Church

Back in March, I wrote a piece on prayer for a website I edit. At the time, we were covering the theme of church/community and it seemed fitting to encourage our readers to pray for the church.

So much has happened in our world and in our nation since I wrote that piece. As a church, we have had to be physically distant because of the virus. And in many ways, we are also spiritually distant from one another. Just a simple scroll through social media reveals such division. It seems that now, more than ever, we need to pray for the Body of Christ. We need to pray for unity. We need to pray for the growth and health of the church. We need to pray for her purity and peace. Oh, that Paul’s prayer to the church in Colossae would be true of us: that we would “be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (1:9-10).

To that end, here is a prayer for the church. (This is revised version of a prayer that originally appeared at enCourage.)

A Prayer for the Church

Father in heaven,

I come before you today with a heavy burden on my heart. When I scroll through tweets and posts on social media, it grows heavier. I hear whispers and complaints among the saints and I am grieved. I see brothers and sisters divided, sometimes even lashing out at one another in sarcasm, anger, and bitterness. At times, I feel my own growing discontent and dissatisfaction with the church. Then there are those times when I come across articles proclaiming false gospels, seeking to lead your people astray, and I am sickened.

I can relate to Paul’s anxieties for the church for I too worry for your Bride. So I come before today, asking for your grace to be at work in your church. You are rich in grace and have showered it upon us in Christ. You are a good Father, providing for your children all that we need. You are sovereign ruler over all things. You see our wayward hearts. You know of our conflicts. You are not surprised by leaders who fall into temptation and sin. You have warned us and called us to repentance (Rev. 2:5,16).

Forgive me for not loving your Bride as you have loved her in Christ. Forgive me for failing to see the church as beautifully diverse as you describe her in Revelation 7. Forgive me for all the ways I try to do life on my own apart from the Body. Forgive me for keeping my gifts to myself and not using them to build up your church. Forgive me for not praying for its purity and peace. Forgive me for my own discontentment and dissatisfaction, for the ways I think the church should serve me, rather than I serve her. Forgive me for participating in gossip and furthering disunity.

Hear my prayer today as I bring the church before you. I pray for local church leaders, that they would watch over the flock you’ve entrusted into their care. I pray for wisdom as they navigate ministry in the midst of a pandemic. I pray you would also give them wisdom to spot false doctrine and point your sheep to the true gospel. I pray they would be committed to you, your word, and your mission. I pray they would be bold, godly, and blameless. Use them to equip the saints to do the work of ministry.

I pray for the church’s witness to the world around us. I pray we would be faithful and stand for what is right and true. May we not bow down to the culture of this age nor be influenced by its doctrine. Help us to shine a light in this dark world, drawing people to the truth of who you are and what you have done. Equip us and strengthen us to share the gospel wherever it needs to be heard. May we not cease our efforts until all the world hears.

I pray for our unity, both in the local church and in the church universal, that we would be united by the gospel. May we be known by our love for one another. As Paul prayed, may our love “abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment” (Phlippians 1:9). May we show one another honor, put each other first, and serve one another’s needs. I pray there would not be a needy person among us because we always share what we have with each other. May we show forbearance toward one another and forgive each other just as Christ has forgiven us. Oh, that the world would look at the church and see Christ in her!

Father, preserve and keep us until the day of Christ’s return. Like a bride waiting for her bridegroom, sanctify and purify us so that we would be beautiful and radiant, ready for that glorious day.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

A Prayer for a Friend Who is Hurting

One of the beautiful realities of our union with one another in Christ is when we pray for one another. It’s a very practical—and powerful!— way in which we live out that union. We pray to the same Father on behalf of our siblings in Christ. I love praying for my brothers and sisters in Christ and knowing that they also pray for me.

When friends ask me to pray, I stop what I am doing and pray for her. Sometimes, I text or email hurting friends and tell them the specific ways I am praying for them. I may share a passage of Scripture I’ve prayed on their behalf or a particular gospel reality I pray brings comfort to their hearts. There have even been times when I’ve sent a hurting friend a prayer I’ve written and prayed on their behalf.

In my recent book, Sufficient Hope, I wrote a number of gospel centered prayers. These prayers were intended to focus the reader’s heart on the truths the gospel as they cry out in prayer to our Good Father. In a similar vein to those prayers, here is a gospel prayer I wrote for our hurting friends.

A Prayer for a Hurting Friend

Dear Father in Heaven,

I come before you with my heart aching. My dear friend, more than that—my sister in Christ—is hurting. Because of our union with you and through you, the pain she feels is my pain. I do as you’ve commanded through the Apostle Paul: I weep with those who weep.

I can’t help but feel helpless and useless as I watch my friend suffer. I long to wave a wand and somehow make her troubles disappear. I wish I could push a button and rewind time back to the beginning before our first parents fell into sin, which opened the floodgate to sin, sorrow, and suffering in every human heart.

When I see the effects of the fall tear into the life of my dear friend in this way, my heart grieves and laments. I weep over what has happened in this broken and fallen world. I want to wear sackcloth and sit in dust and ashes. I cry out to you with the questions all sufferers have: Why, Lord? How long? And how shall we endure?

Yet even as I weep, I remember who you are. You are not a distant God. You are not a clock maker or “the old man upstairs.” You don’t sit back and watch, merely observing the turmoil of this life. You are all knowing. You know every tear ever we shed. You not only know all the sufferings of this world, you did something about it. Before time began, you covenanted with the holy Triune Godhead to send your Son to this world. He took on human flesh and lived a perfect life on our behalf. He experienced temptation, rejection, and fear. He lived in poverty, knew hunger, felt heartache, and tasted sorrow. Yet he never sinned. He then took the punishment we deserved at the cross where all our sins were laid on him. Because he suffered for us, and instead of us, we are freed from sin and shame forever.

I cry out to you, to the God who knows all things, the God who loves and cares for his people. I cry out to you on behalf of my dear friend. I ask that you comfort her with the truths of the gospel, of who Christ is and what he has done. I pray she would know who she is in Christ. I pray she would know of your great love for her that started before time began when you set your love on her. I pray she would be comforted by Christ’s sufferings on her behalf and know that through those sufferings, she is united to Christ. I pray that this season of suffering would not weaken her faith but strengthen it. I pray she would come to know you in a deeper, more intimate way. I pray she would rely and depend on you, rest in you, and be strengthened by her union with you.

Please meet her in this suffering with all that she needs. I pray especially for ______(healing, provision, justice, comfort, etc.). Carry and sustain her.

Help me to be the friend she needs. Help me not to say things that would add more sorrow. Help me to listen and serve. Help me to speak gospel truth. Help me to encourage and walk alongside her in this journey.

We are bound together through the blood of your Son, Christ Jesus. I pray in and through his name, Amen.

A Prayer for a New School Year

It’s a new school year again. That means getting back into the routine of busy mornings rushing off to school, busy afternoons filled with homework, and busy evenings driving to sports and other activities. It means a return to worries about how our children are doing academically and socially. It means uncertainty about new classmates, new teachers, and new expectations.

A new school year also means opportunities for growth and maturity. Our children will learn new things. Their eyes will be opened to a greater understanding of the world and their place in it. They will have opportunities to practice what they learn and apply it to their life. They’ll have circumstances in which they can live out their faith and shine a light of truth. They’ll learn to glorify God in how they interact with teachers, friends, and those who are unkind. And as parents, we get the joy of watching that growth unfold throughout the year.

The best way to start off a new school year is with prayer. I recently participated in a prayer walk around my child’s school, praying for him, his teachers, his fellow students, and all they will learn this year. I brought my worries and concerns before the Lord, entrusting them into his sovereign care. I prayed for opportunities for my son’s growth and that he would mature academically, socially, emotionally, and spiritually.

As you consider the new school year for your children, turn to the Lord in prayer…to read the prayer I wrote for a new school year, visit For the Family, my writing home today.

News About My Next Book: Sufficient Hope

I’m excited to announce my next book, Sufficient Hope: Gospel Meditations and Prayers for Moms, published with P&R Publishing. It comes out June 3, but is available for pre-order now.

Sufficient Hope is about the gospel. It’s about how the gospel gives hope to moms. It’s about how Jesus’s perfect life, sacrificial death, and triumphant resurrection and ascension intersect with our daily life as moms. It’s about how we as moms can appropriate all that Christ has done for us when our schedules get flipped upside down, when our children are hurting, when we feel helpless in our motherhood, when we worry about our children, or when we feel the weight of “mommy guilt.” In every moment, in every season, and whatever the circumstances, the gospel is sufficient to give us hope.

The book contains seventeen meditations on different circumstances a mom might face in her day. Each meditation focuses on what the gospel has to say to that particular situation. Each meditation also includes a gospel-centered prayer. Sufficient Hope can be read individually or in a small group with other moms.

Here’s what a few readers have said about Sufficient Hope:

“The message we hear as women and moms from the culture around us is that we are “enough.” But that’s a lie. None of us could ever be enough for the difficulties and demands of motherhood. That’s why we need to the good news Christina Fox has packed into Sufficient Hope. We are not enough, but Christ is sufficient! Each short chapter in this book is long on good new of grace to be thought through, chewed on, and rested in.”

—Nancy Guthrie, Bible teacher and author of Praying Through the Bible for Your Kids

“I love the theological richness and practical wisdom in this book. As a grandmother, my first thought was, “I needed this this book when our kids were young.” Then I realized I need this book now to instruct and inspire me to live covenantally by praying for and encouraging young moms.”

—Susan Hunt, Pastor's wife, former Director of Women's Ministry for the PCA, speaker, and author of more than a dozen books for women and children, including Spiritual Mothering: The Titus 2 Model for Women Mentoring Women  

"This is for the weary mom who needs a friend to point her to Jesus! Complete with guided prayers and thoughtful questions, this book provides accessible meditations full of lasting hope. "

—Emily Jensen, Co-founder of Risen Motherhood 

“Motherhood often brings us to an end of ourselves. The sink overflows with dishes, the longed-for naptime doesn’t happen, and the hearts of our children reveal fresh complexities every single day. Behind every trip to the playground and hand-print art project is a woman who knows her own frailty. But, as Christina Fox so helpfully reminds us, our weakness is simply an opportunity to cast ourselves on the One who is unfailingly strong. With its practical examples, helpful prayers, and rich biblical truth, Sufficient Hope is a gift to mothers. In these pages, both new and experienced moms will find themselves re-oriented away from their own shortcomings and toward Christ’s sufficiency. Moms, take heart!”

—Megan Hill, Author, Praying Together: The Priority and Privilege of Prayer in Our Homes, Communities, and Churches and Contentment: Seeing God's Goodness, Editor, The Gospel Coalition

Sufficient Hope: Gospel Meditations and Prayers for Moms is available for pre-order now. Stay tuned for more information and for an opportunity to join the launch team.

Remember Your God

Life is filled with questions: What should I do? How will I do ____? Why did ___ happen?

For the believer, it’s no different. We wonder why God allowed a particular hardship into our lives. We wonder how we will endure a season of suffering. When we stand at a crossroads, we wonder which way we should go. When we encounter obstacles, we desire wisdom to know how to get around them. When life is confusing and uncertain, we want direction, purpose, and certainty.

Jeremiah’s Uncertainty

The prophet Jeremiah found himself faced with uncertainty, questions, and a desire to know what to do. Jeremiah had been called to speak to God’s people about pending judgement for their sin. He prophesied that Babylon would conquer them and take them into captivity. As Babylon surrounded the city of Jerusalem and besieged it, Jeremiah was locked up in prison by the king, Zedekiah for prophesying about their pending capture. God then told Jeremiah to do a curious thing: purchase a piece of land.

“The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah…Jeremiah said, “The word of the LORD came to me: Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the LORD, and said to me, ‘Buy my field…’” (Jeremiah 32:1-2,6-8).

Buy a field at a time when Jerusalem is under attack and will be taken away into captivity? Doesn’t that conflict with what God said would happen? Zedekiah was so offended by Jeremiah’s prophesy of captivity, he had him arrested. Wouldn’t buying a field say that Jeremiah didn’t believe his own prophecy?

Jeremiah’s Prayer

Jeremiah obeyed the Lord and purchased the field. After he purchased the land, he was still confused and concerned about it. So he prayed to the Lord.

“After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying: ‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you” (Jeremiah 32:16-17).

Many times, we as believers find ourselves in a season of life, a crossroads, a trial, and don’t understand what is happening. We don’t know what God is doing or why. Like Jeremiah, we believe and trust God, but still feel confused and uncertain. Like Jeremiah, we obey and follow God’s word, but still have doubts. Jeremiah’s prayer here is helpful for us as we deal with our own uncertainties. We too ought to cry out to God, asking the tough questions.

Jeremiah began his prayer focusing on who God is and what he has done. He praised God for his power and sovereignty, for his love and faithfulness (see vv. 16-20). Then he rehearsed the history of redemption, of God’s salvific work in rescuing them from slavery and bringing them to the Promised Land.

“You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror. And you gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey” (vv. 21-22).

Jeremiah then moved to the present where Babylon was building siege ramps to attack Jerusalem. He prayed, “What you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it” (v. 24). He ends his prayer, expressing his concern, confusion, and doubt, “Yet you, O Lord GOD, have said to me, “Buy the field for money and get witnesses”—though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.’” (v. 25).

When We Have Doubts

In our own prayers, we too need to remember who God is and what he has done. We too can rehearse the story of redemption in our prayers. On this side of the cross, we rehearse the gospel. We remember that the promised Redeemer came and rescued us from slavery to sin. We remember that God wrapped himself in human flesh and incarnated himself among us. We dwell on Jesus’ perfect life, death, and resurrection. We rejoice that we have a Savior who knows our sorrows and wept tears of his own. We look to our future hope in eternity.

As Jeremiah did, we also pray about God’s character, who he is in his sovereignty and power, his love and faithfulness, his wisdom and justice. We see all these traits meet in the person and work of Christ. All that God has promised has come to pass. His word is true and sure.

Like Jeremiah, we can present our questions, our concerns, our fears, and our doubts. We can ask, “why?” “how?” “what?” Because of Jesus, we can come to the throne of grace with confidence and find grace to help us in our time of need (Heb. 4:16).

Ultimately, we learn that God will bring the people back to the land. He will keep his covenant with them. The purpose in Jeremiah purchasing the land was to show that the land would still be there for their return. It was to point to a future hope (see vv. 36-44).

Life in this fallen world is hard. We have many questions. Sometimes life is so shrouded with the fog of uncertainty, it’s hard to know where to go next. We struggle with doubts. Yet, even when we don’t understand what is happening, we obey God’s word. And we cry out to him in prayer. We remind ourselves that though we don’t know or understand the future, God does. We remember all he has done for us in Christ. It’s not the strength of our faith that sustains us during confusing times. It’s who our faith is in. It’s the object of our faith which carries us through: Jesus Christ. Turn to him and remember your God today.