A Prayer of Blessing over Those You Love - Your Daily Prayer - September 7

A Prayer of God’s Blessing Over Those You Love
By Debbie McDaniel

“The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26

As believers, we can know in our hearts that God is sovereign and strong. We can believe that His plans for us, for our loved ones, are for good and that He has blessing in store as we follow after Him.

Yet often, when life presses and things feel stressed, when problems overwhelm, and hardships come our way, our focus gets blurred. We somehow start to believe that it all depends on "us." Like maybe we blew it, messed up and got ourselves off the course from "the road to "success." We spin our wheels trying to find a fast way out of difficulty. We feel like it's up to us to make things happen. Stirring up action. Trying hard to get one foot into an open door, or wondering why a closed one shut. We start thinking that if we're not "able enough," "talented enough," "brave enough," that maybe God can't quite use us.

We forget that the very God who created this entire universe, who holds the stars in place and knows the exact number of hairs on our head, also knows our way. That His favor rests on us as we seek after Him first, and He holds the power to cause things to happen in just a moment that would otherwise take us years to do. He can line up our pathways to cross with others He wants us to meet. He can open doors that leave us surprised at how they open. He can close doors that He knows are not the best for us. He has a plan in the good and in every hard thing we face.

And often, the greatest blessings come after the greatest times of testing. Over and over through Scripture, we see story after story of when God turned around for good the difficult pathways of those He loved. And He still works the same today, for He never changes.

We are children of the King. He is Sovereign, and He reigns Supreme, giving favor, guidance, and blessings to all those who seek after Him. And our prayers are powerful on behalf of our families and friends. May His hand of mercy and grace, His presence of peace, be over every one of these who we love so much. We may not be able to be with them every hour of every day. But He is. We can’t see every struggle, every worry, every burden that may weigh them down. But He does. And He is always there, carrying them, and us, straight through. He is a safe place, and He is Mighty.

Resting there today, hope you are too.

Let's pray:

Dear God,
Thank you for your great love and blessing over our lives. Thank you that your favor has no end, but it lasts for our entire lifetime. Forgive us for sometimes forgetting that you are intimately acquainted with all of our ways, that you know what concerns us, and you cover us, as with a shield. We ask for your guidance so that we might walk fully in your blessing and goodness today. We ask that your face would shine on us. That you would open the right doors for our lives and for our loved ones, that you would close the wrong doors and protect us from those we need to walk away from. Establish the work of our hands and bring to fulfillment all that you have given us to do in these days. We pray that you would make our way purposeful and our footsteps firm out of your goodness and love. Give us a heart of wisdom to hear your voice, and make us strong by your huge favor and grace.

In Jesus' Name,
Amen.

Photo credit: ©SalemDesign

Editor's Note: We're proud to announce we've just launched a new nighttime companion to Your Daily Prayer: the Your Nightly Prayer devotional. You'll soon be able to subscribe to receive Your Nightly Prayer via email, or as a podcast, but for now you can find it on the website at crosswalk.com/devotionals/your-nightly-prayer. We hope it's a relaxing and soothing way to wind down your day with rich meditations on who God is.

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