Page 47 – Guideposts Articles

How to Pray While Awaiting a Birth

Posted on March 11, 2026March 13, 2026 by Bob Hostetler

Few people enjoy waiting, and fewer still find it easy to await the arrival of a child into this world—whether as parents, grandparents or other family and friends. But such moments are rich with possibility if we use them to pray. In the spirit of the season of Advent, here are five great ways to pray while awaiting a birth:

1) Pray like Manoah
Before Samson was born, an angel appeared to his previously childless parents to promise a son. Manoah, who would become Samson’s father, asked the angel, “What is to be the rule for the boy’s life and work?” (Judges 13:12, NIV). That’s still a good basis for our prayers today, asking God to guide and shape our hopes and dreams for a newborn family member.

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2) Pray like Hannah
Hannah prayed passionately and repeatedly for a child, and promised that when he was born, she would dedicate him to the service of God (see 1 Samuel 1). She fulfilled her promise, and her prayer is recorded in 1 Samuel 2. It begins, “My heart rejoices in the Lord” (1 Samuel 2:1, NIV). So, another way to pray when a birth is imminent is with prayers of joy and celebration, like Hannah.

3) Pray like Mary
When Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth, they rejoiced together at the favor God had showered on them both (Elizabeth would become the mother of John the Baptist, and Mary would, of course, give birth to Jesus). Then, Mary, in one of the most famous prayers ever (which may have begun with a reference to Hannah’s prayer), said, “My soul praises the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant” (Luke 1:46-47, NIV). She went on to praise God for His holiness, mercy and more. Mary’s example suggests that praising God is a great way to pray while awaiting a birth.

4) Pray the Jesus Standard
The Gospel writer Luke, after recording the events of Jesus’ birth, presentation in the Jerusalem Temple and more, tells us that “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52, NIV). Using that verse as an outline for prayer while awaiting a birth can help us to pray for the newborn’s intellectual, physical and spiritual health and well-being.

5) Pray the Fruits of the Spirit
Another way to pray while awaiting a birth is to pray through the fruits of the Spirit, as listed in Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV) for the child to live a life characterized by and filled with “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

The above are all good prayers for the awaited child—and for a newborn’s parents, grandparents and others. In fact, there’s no reason to stop praying them after the child is born, so keep these on hand and ready to pray for all of those you love, at all times and on every occasion.

How to Pray When Your Work Isn’t Working

Posted on March 11, 2026March 13, 2026 by Bob Hostetler

Having trouble at work? Feel like it’s no longer working for you? Maybe you’re desperate for a change. Maybe you’re the one in six people that statistics say thinks about quitting every week.

If so, what do you do?

Like most things—maybe all things—it begins with prayer. So let me suggest four prayers that may help when your work is no longer working for you.

1. God, thank You for my job

Especially in these times, if you have a job, say, “Thank you, God!”

Your job is a gift. It is a privilege…just ask someone who’s out of work or who’s unable to work. It is a blessing, even if it doesn’t feel that way.

2. God, save me from my job

You may read that as a prayer to get out of a job, to get a new job, a different job, a better job. And that’s a fair prayer to pray, if that’s where you happen to be.

But it can also be prayed in a different way. Paul, the first-century church planter, once said:

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands (1 Thessalonians 4:11, NIV).

That may not sound like much, especially in our culture where one of the first questions we ask a new acquaintance is, “What do you do?” And often the unspoken part of that question is, Is your work impressive? Is it important? Do you make a lot of money? Does your job make you….somebody?

So you might pray, “God, save me from my job.” Save me from being defined by what I do. Save me from thinking my worth is wrapped up in my work. Save me from confusing my identity with my vocation.

3. God, help me do my job

The Bible says:

Do your own work well, and then you will have something to be proud of (Galatians 6:4, CEV).

Whether you’re digging a ditch or building a cathedral, writing a book or driving a cab, teaching a class or roofing a house, pray to do it well, to work as hard as you can and make yourself as valuable as you can to the company or institution you serve. Make your job an act of worship to God.

4. God, help me go to my old job as a new person

The Bible says:

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving (Colossians 3:23-24, NIV).

Imagine how that could transform the experience you have at work even this week.

Whatever you do, approach your old job as a new person, a representative of God at your workplace, a minister of Jesus Christ.

Who’s taking the time in your work world to listen to a hurting person? Who’s taking the initiative where you work to befriend the lonely, encourage the weary or hug the neglected?

Who’s working not just for a paycheck but also for God?

It could be you. You could start this week. You could be a new you in that same old job.

So try these four prayers. Even if your work is working for you. It might change things. It might change you.

How to Pray When You’re Tired

Posted on March 11, 2026March 13, 2026 by Bob Hostetler

These days, with disrupted routines, disturbing news, and daily uncertainty, we may feel the need to pray, perhaps now more than ever. Unfortunately, it’s easy to feel so exhausted by the onslaught of emotions that it seems harder to pray, also perhaps now more than ever. But it can be done, even when you’re feeling completely spent.

First, we can at least know that we’re not alone. Remember the story of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane? He told them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38, NIV) and asked them to “keep watch” in prayer while He prayed too. But “their eyes were heavy” (v. 43). They couldn’t stay awake. Praying-when-tired clearly wasn’t in their skill set.

We can learn from their experience, nonetheless. We can pray even when we’re worn out and used up. Here are a few ways to pray when you’re tired:

Stand
As I said, I’ve fallen asleep when praying—but never while standing. So, if you’re tired but still want or need to pray, stand. Like Abraham, who “remained standing before the Lord” (Genesis 18:22, NIV). Like Moses, who stood with his staff in his hands until God’s people defeated the Amalekites at Rephidim (see Exodus 17). Like the humble tax collector, who stood in the temple and beat his breast and “went home justified before God” (Luke 18:14, NIV).

Sing
Maybe one of the reasons God’s people are so often told in Scripture to “sing to the Lord” (Psalm 96:1, NIV) is that singing our prayers to Him not only engages heart and mind but also awakens them (or keeps them awake). In fact, when we sing, we breathe deeply and thus invigorate body and brain with oxygen, endorphins and other good stuff. “How good it is to sing praises to our God” (Psalm 147:1, NIV)—right?

Surrender
I’ve written before about the blessing I find in praying Compline prayers, the nightly liturgy of “pre-bedtime prayers.” That practice has taught me to surrender my weariness and sleepiness to God. To let Him wrap His loving, everlasting arms around me, as I leave myself, my loved ones, and the world in His hands and surrender to sleep. “He grants sleep to those He loves,” the Bible says (Psalm 127:2, NIV), so it’s okay to accept His gift and lie down in His embrace.

When you’re “too tired to pray,” let standing or singing or surrender be your prayer. God will be there for you no less when you sleep than when you’re awake.

How to Pray Until God Answers

Posted on March 11, 2026March 13, 2026 by Pablo Diaz

We don’t know how God will answer a prayer, but we do know that if we wait, the answer will come. There is no guarantee that the answer will be to our liking or that it will be delivered in a speedy fashion. We must stay patient, wait and continue to pray. Yes, this is easier said than done, but a persistent spirit and attitude keep our faith strong.

My mother is a good example of someone who knows how to wait upon the Lord for an answer to her prayers. Some of her prayers have taken years before they were answered, but she never gave up. At 12, my mom came to the United States from Puerto Rico with her grandmother. Once here, she prayed continuously for her father to be able to visit her in New York City.

Fifteen years later, my grandfather was finally able to make the trip to see my mother, his daughter, who was married with children of her own by then. Years later, my father stopped going to church and no longer had an interest in caring for his spiritual life. My mother prayed for him to reconnect with God each and every day. It took 25 years before this prayer was answered, and my father re-engaged with his faith, but once again she never gave up.

Though we can’t be certain if a prayer will be answered in a short period of time or in the manner we would like, we must remember that God wants the best for us. We must learn to be patient and trust in Him. The word of the prophet Isaiah encourages us to continue to pray and wait for answers, “But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” God will give us the strength to persevere in our faith and trust His timing.

Lord, give us strength and let us not be dismayed as we wait and pray.

How to Pray Through Your Anger

Posted on March 11, 2026March 13, 2026 by Rick Hamlin

“In church we’re not very good at talking about what makes us angry,” my friend Ron said to me. We were de-briefing on our small, ongoing study group discussion that had taken place earlier that week. This year we’re studying Christian history.

Maybe because it was a Zoom session, maybe because we were all feeling pretty distressed, Ron, who is African-American, noted something that I’d observed as well. The African-Americans in the group were unusually quiet at our most recent gathering. Ron and I are such good friends; I was grateful he could be frank with me.

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The world going haywire, and some of my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ didn’t feel comfortable speaking out? Were we just being too polite? Or was it that as Christians, we didn’t know what to do with righteous anger? The irony of it was we’d been discussing the civil rights movement of the ‘60s and the church’s involvement—both active and reluctant.

In light of recent events, I found myself talking with Ron and going back to the Bible, looking for guidance. It would be easy enough to find an example of Jesus getting angry, like His overturning of the tables in the temple. But what did Scripture say about the causes that were provoking people’s anger?

1) The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free… . (Luke 4:18-19)

Jesus reads this passage from Isaiah in the synagogue early in His ministry. Then He rolls up the scroll and announces, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” If anybody had any doubts about what Jesus stood for, they were being put to rest.

2) Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. (Isaiah 1:17)

This passage is posted on the tower of our church on a busy corner of New York City.

When I look up at it, I’m glad that I have a spiritual community to help me put these words into practice. I wouldn’t be able to do much on my own, but together as a group, in prayer, in listening, in worship, in reading, in reaching out, in serving, we can act.

3) You are the light of the world… . (Matthew 4:14)

So often I think of Jesus or God as the light but here, in the sermon on the Mount, Jesus is reminding us that we have that power. God puts it in us. The light shouldn’t be hidden under a bushel but put where it can be seen.

A cause that makes you passionate, a cause that makes you want to speak out on behalf of those less fortunate, that’s something that can fire you up. If you hold your anger in, it can burn you up. But if you talk about it—as Ron and I did—it can promote understanding. Your righteous anger can serve a larger purpose. You can become that light of the world.

4) You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. (Matthew 5:45-46)

This always shocks me. Love my enemies? Why should I have to do that? I want to say back to Jesus, “That’s just too hard.”

But love is at the center of it all, and loving your enemies means engaging with them, not living in an Us/Them world, seeing that we are all beloved of God.

5) I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

Peace. Isn’t that what we long for? Isn’t it what we need? The selfishness, greed and small-mindedness of the world won’t deliver it. Jesus will. He has overcome the world. For me, that takes conversations like the one I had with my friend—an openness, a willingness to share.

In the meanwhile, I pray: help me listen, Lord. Help me understand. Show me how to serve. Help me grow.

How to Pray Through Life’s Big Changes

Posted on March 11, 2026March 13, 2026 by Bob Hostetler

Life is a series of transitions. Some seasons, in fact, seem to be nothing but transitions. And often, as the candy commercial says, change comes at you fast—so fast that it can be hard to know how to pray.

Last year my wife and I faced numerous transitions: a new job, the sale of our home, months in temporary housing, a move across the country, the purchase of a new home. It was nearly a full year of uncertainty and stress. We prayed a lot and learned a lot. Through it all, God taught us a few helpful skills for praying in such times.

1) Pray for your heart more than your circumstances.

According to the Bible, God’s ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (see Isaiah 55:9). When we’re in the midst of difficult and shifting circumstances, of course we want the things to change—but God may have other, better, things in mind. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pray for a change in the situation, but it’s even better to pray for our hearts to remain steadfast, for us to get close and stay close to God through it all, and for our relationships with God and others to be stronger on the other side of our transition.

2) Pray for grace to change what you can and surrender what you can’t.

My wife, who is a professional counselor, often reminds me (and others) that mental health consists of working to change the things we can and not trying to change the things we can’t. And we usually focus more of our prayers on external circumstances than on our own hearts, minds and attitudes. But praying for the grace to change what we can and surrender what we can’t change often helps us to reclaim a sense of control over some things and reminds us that the God who loves us controls everything else.

3) Give thanks for good things that don’t change.

One of the things that got me and my wife through our season of stress and transition was nightly prayers of thanks for the things that weren’t changing—some of which will never change. We rejoiced in our abiding love for each other, in our children’s and grandchildren’s love and respect for us, in our relative health and well-being and so on. Even more, we found solace in knowing “that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39, NIV). It was a regular reminder that even in a time of uncertainty and upheaval, the best things in our lives hadn’t changed.

Change is never easy. Transition is often uncomfortable. But praying well through such times can make them not only bearable but also beneficial.

How to Pray Through Depression

Posted on March 11, 2026March 13, 2026 by Bob Hostetler

It took a serious bout with depression to teach me one indispensable prayer secret: the skill of “praying until.”

Nearly 10 years ago, I was a pastor in a thriving church. I had a wonderful wife and kids and grandkids. I had every apparent reason to be grateful and happy. But I frequently felt as if I were under attack. Besieged. Opposed and oppressed.

There were many reasons for those feelings, but they’re not important now. What is important, however, is what I learned about prayer in the process.

At times I felt so down that I found it difficult to pray. I would keep my prayer appointment and go through the motions, but I found it difficult to tamp down the panic and despair enough to focus my thoughts. One evening in particular, I remember lying face down on the floor in front of my prayer chair, repeating over and over:

Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth (Psalm 124:8, NIV)

Eventually, the prayer morphed into a slightly different—more personal—affirmation:

My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth (Psalm 121:2, NIV)

I prayed those words, affirming that truth, for a half hour or more. And that’s when something happened.

By the time I rose from my prone position, I believed the words I’d been praying. At some point—I couldn’t have pinpointed just when—my spirit began to agree with God’s Spirit.

Not a thing had changed (as far as I knew) in my external circumstances; I was still me, my problems unresolved, things looked as bad as they had before. But those words, that truth, had sunk in to a deeper level in me.

I prayed, and then I believed. I prayed, until I believed. I prayed, until I experienced something like the flip side of Romans 8:16 (The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit. NASB)—my spirit agreed with the Holy Spirit.

I’ve repeated that experience many times since then, praying “until.” I recommend it. I think it is a way of aligning my conscious and subconscious thoughts and feelings with the “mind of Christ” that lives in me (1 Corinthians 2:16).

I think it signals to my emotions that they are not in charge and wrestles them into submission not only to my mind and spirit but also to the Lord who lives in me.

It is a way of participating in the answer to another frequent prayer of mine: “I believe, help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

How to Pray Through a National Tragedy

Posted on March 11, 2026March 13, 2026 by Rick Hamlin

As soon as the news became apparent, the shooting of innocent children and staff at a school not far from Guideposts headquarters, a friend emailed me and said flat-out, “I don’t know how to pray through this. It feels so terrible. I can’t even find the words.”

Didn’t I know the feeling. Don’t we all. All I could say in my response is that helplessness, that sense of desperation and inadequacy, when you feel at the very end of your rope and have no words to express your sorrow, rage and bewilderment—it is the real place of prayer. It is that Christ-in-Gethsemane moment, that time of storming the heavens and asking God, How? Why? Please, no!

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I have found when I am at my most helpless, my most insecure, that I am willing to accept heavenly help. Come quickly, I pray in my impatience. It does come—that measure of peace and understanding—it comes in time and it has helped me know that inadequacy is a fruitful start of prayer.

So in our sense of helplessness, we pray through a tragedy like this. Lord, help the grieving, help the suffering. Be with them in their terrible loss. Be with us. Prayer is our first response, the only adequate response.

But there’s something else I’ve also seen in this time of prayer. I noticed it at church on Sunday. The names of all the victims were read when we as a congregation were praying. I listened to them with my eyes closed, picturing those poor grieving parents, until I heard the name of the gunman—victim and assailant—read aloud.

Must we pray for him too? I wondered. And almost in the same breath I could hear Jesus’ words, “Pray for our enemies.” Even those who commit incomprehensible evil. We’re all in this together, the good and the bad. We all need God’s grace. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, we prayed later, saying the words of the Lord’s Prayer. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

May we be delivered. All of us. May we be made ready to welcome the Prince of Peace. Come quickly, Lord, come quickly.

Pray the Psalms: Psalm 2

Posted on March 11, 2026March 13, 2026 by Alikay Wood

[MUSIC PLAYING] You know, reading the Psalms is a bit like going into a museum, you don’t look at every picture in the museum. You don’t look at every vase. You pause over there just a few things and try to take them in. So when I’m reading a long Psalm like Psalm 2, I look for things that really speak to me.

And you know what this one speaks to me? It reminds me of the newspaper. When I was a kid, in our local newspaper, there was a guy who took out an ad. And it said why do the nation’s rage and the people’s imagine a vain thing? And then he’d go on to write about all those terrible things that were going on in the world.

Well I can still get caught up in those terrible things. I read the newspaper, I look at the internet, I watch TV, and I think terrible things are going on, what’s happening?

Well the Psalm has something to react to that. It reminds you, trust in the Lord. Terrible things have been happening for hundreds and hundreds of years. Trust in the Lord, that’s good enough.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Pray the Psalms: Psalm 19

Posted on March 11, 2026March 13, 2026 by Alikay Wood

[MUSIC PLAYING] Psalm 19 starts off with a bang. That first phrase, (SINGING) “May the heavens declare the glory of God.”

For me, it’s a line from the creation by Haydn. It’s something you sing. It’s been set to music many times. I remember singing those lines in college in the creation. And I had a solo. I was scared out of my wits. My legs were shaking under my choir robe. I think my music must have been shaking in my hands.

But I learned that adrenaline was a friend in situations like that. It helped me do what I don’t think I could have done otherwise. It’s one of those God-given forces that helps us. So when I feel that stage fright, when I feel a little petrified, when something’s scary, I know that adrenaline can come along, and it’s going to help me, even if it seems a little scary at times.

Listen also, at the end of this psalm, is one of those phrases people often use at the end of a sermon. “May the words in my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight.” So no matter how hard we try, when we write, when we sing, when we speak, we just pray that it’s acceptable to the Lord.

Pray the Psalms: Psalm 114

Posted on March 11, 2026March 13, 2026 by Alikay Wood

[EASY LISTENING MUSIC] Hi. It’s Rick Hamlin, and this is Psalm 114. “The mountains skipped like rams and the little hills like lambs.” Now, I am no shepherd, and I’ve seen lambs, and sheep, and rams only from a distance, but I know exactly what this is talking about.

You know when you’re feeling good, the earth feels with you. You have that sense on a glorious day when you’re out walking with nature, you can feel nature walking with you, so that you can look at a mountain and you can see it seeming to move. You can see hills tremble. You can see the trees blowing in the wind. You can see the whole fields you know, when the wind blows, it’s like waves, the sea.

So God does this, but it’s also what God does through us. He gives us sensations that– that we can enjoy and that when we look at his world, we see how his world mirrors our inner world. “The mountains skip like rams, the little hills like lambs.” What a wonderful thought. Seeing the world through the Psalms helps us see how the world is– changes according to who we are and who we are with. When we’re with God, we can see that the mountains are skipping like rams, Psalm 114.

[EASY LISTENING MUSIC]

Pray the Psalms: Psalm 10

Posted on March 11, 2026March 13, 2026 by Alikay Wood

[EASY LISTENING MUSIC] This is Psalm 10. And Psalm 10 uses the word “humble” several times. Humility is something that is not always valued these days. It’s usually thought of as false humility, people who say, oh, it was nothing when you know they think it was quite good of them, and a big deal. Or there are people who are so humble they devalue themselves. They become less of what they really are. But there’s a good humility, and I see it here. Which is knowing your strengths, and knowing your weaknesses, knowing who you are in God’s world.

The story I think of is about my mom when I was in high school and I’d just gotten accepted to college. I’d gotten accepted to Princeton, and it seemed like a pretty big deal, and I think I was pretty proud of myself. And we were at church. I was one of four kids. And the minister said to my mom, oh, you must be so proud of Rick.

And my mother drew herself up and she said, I’m proud of all my children. I overheard that, and I knew that was right. She’d done a good job with each of her kids. We were each different. That was honest humility. She knew what she had done well.

Listen in this verse. “Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble.” We humble ourselves before God by knowing what we’re good at and what we’re not good at, and keep striving forward. “Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble.”

[EASY LISTENING MUSIC]