What To Pray When You Have a Bad Day

What to Pray When You Have a Bad Day

Have you ever found yourself thinking that God only blesses you or loves you when you are having a good day? Some of us have fallen into that trap of believing that His love for us and His blessing on our lives is only for our "good days."

Dr. Jerry Bridges, says " ... we believe that God's blessing on our lives is somehow conditioned upon OUR spiritual performance. If we've performed well and had a 'good' day, we assume we are in a better position for God to bless us. Oh, we know God's blessings come to us through Christ, but we also have this vague but very real notion that they are also conditioned on OUR behavior."

When you and I are having one of those bad days, we need to run back to the cross and see Jesus there bearing our sins. We must by faith appropriate for ourselves the blood of Jesus Christ that will cleanse our guilty consciences.

In his book THE DISCIPLNE OF GRACE: God's Role and Our Role in the Pursuit of Holiness (NavPress), Dr Jerry Bridges suggests that we pray the following prayer:

Father I have sinned against You. I've been negligent in the spiritual disciplines that I know are necessary and helpful for my spiritual growth. I've been irritable and impatient towards those around me. I've allowed resentful and unkind thoughts to lodge in my mind. I repent of these sins and claim Your forgiveness.

You have said You justify the wicked (Romans 4:5). Father, in view of my sins today, I acknowledge that in myself I am wicked. In fact, my problem is not merely the sins I've committed, some of which I many not even be aware of, but the fact that my heart is sinful. These sins I am so painfully conscious of now are merely the expressions of my sinful heart.

But despite my sins and my sinfulness, You have said, 'There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus' (Romans 8:1). Given my acute awareness of my sin just now, that seems to be an incredible statement. How can I be without condemnation when I have so flagrantly and willfully sinned against You today?

O Father, I know it is because Jesus bore the sins I've committed today in His body on the cross. He suffered the punishment I deserve, so that I might experience the blessings He deserved.

God's grace through Christ is greater than our sin, even on our worst days. To experience that grace, however, we must lay hold of it by faith IN CHRIST and His death on our behalf ...

You can pray a prayer like this whenever you are acutely aware of your need of God's intervening grace and at the same time are painfully aware of your total undeservedness of that grace. In fact, we obviously should not wait until we have a need for God to bless us. We should pray such a prayer of repentance and faith just to have our consciences cleansed from all sin and to walk in fellowship with God."

Good stuff, brothers. Are you having a bad day? Run to the cross! Preach the gospel to yourself. Allow Him to speak to your heart today. -- Bill Welte is President and CEO of America's KESWICK

God's WORD for YOU: Proverbs 6; Psalm 148-150; 1 Corinthians 15:29-58

Great Quote: You're worst days are never so bad that YOU are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace. -- Jerry Bridges

Did you know that you can watch the conference services live? Join us today at 10:30 AM and 7:00 PM and hear Dr. Richard Alan Farmer share God's Word from the pulpit of America's KESWICK: www.americaskeswick.org.