When You’re Desperate: 21 Days of Honest PrayerSample

Desperation can make us reactive — sharp with our words, guarded with our posture, quick to pull back from others. But this passage reminds us what it looks like to stay rooted. Even when life feels tense or heavy, we’re still called to be ready for good, gentle in spirit, and steady in love. That kind of posture doesn’t come naturally — it flows from time in God’s presence. Desperate prayer begins as a cry for help, and it changes how we respond to hard times.

Practice:

Before you move through your day, ask God to help you reflect Him in the middle of whatever you’re walking through.

Ask for gentleness in how you speak.
Ask for love to lead your interactions with others.
Ask for others to be able to see His strength through you.

Desperate prayer forms us to represent God in hard places.

Guided Prayer:

Heavenly Father,

You reign over all the earth.

Teach me that those who rule over me,

Were placed there by Your hand.

There are no accidental leaders in my life.

Teach me to humble myself

and be obedient to their direction.

Prepare my hands and my heart

to accomplish good works

with a heart of gratitude.

Help me to hold my tongue today.

Even when i’m tempted,

I will not turn to others in gossip.

Instead, I will turn to You in prayer.

Where there is division in my life bring unity.

When I’m tempted to be unkind,

teach me the way of gentleness.

Teach me to love others

the way You have loved me.