Living with Great Expectations - Your Nightly Prayer

Your Nightly Prayer

Living with Great Expectations
Your Nightly Prayer for May 5, 2025
by Meg Bucher

TONIGHT’S SCRIPTURE

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.” – 1 Peter 1:3-4 NLT

SOMETHING TO PONDER

“Now we live with great expectation.”

But do we? Do I? No, not really. I certainly live with the expectation of being overwhelmed. I expect there won’t be enough time in the day to get everything done. Each day, I sit with the Lord, expecting to right my spirit and mind, and ready myself to walk into the day. But whose day am I walking into? His? Or mine? All too often, it’s mine.

Tonight, as we begin to feel the relief of another day ending, let’s try to go back to how it started. As I walk through my day, I see plans constantly unraveling before me. Hardly anything went according to plan, but it ended up being a good day. A goodness I would have missed if tonight’s scripture didn’t remind me of what to expect. All too often, I brace myself for the day instead of expecting God to do great things throughout it! But isn’t that what He promises us? Good? Good plans …making good out of what others intend for evil …protecting us because He is …good!

Maybe, like me, you are in a season of your life that is more impossible to plan than all the rest have been thus far. A tough season, full of challenges, trials, sicknesses, scares, ailments, pain, and what seems like constant interruption. It’s easy to bow to the idols of frustration and control, angry at the world and everyone in ours for interrupting the way we wanted our days to go. Our ways may not be bad! Working diligently at our jobs, parenting, serving our community, being a good friend …it’s easy to say a messy space isn’t a big deal until it bleeds into our minds …our hearts …and our souls.

Keep coming to the Lord each day and ending it with Him each night. Talk over what went as expected and what didn’t. Allow Him to minister to your mind, heart, and soul. They are precious commodities to Him. You are precious to Him. Expect great things.

YOUR NIGHTLY PRAYER

Father,
We don’t like chaotic days, and messy seasons. But in those times, You are there. God, you carefully plan our days. Help us to live them, one at a time, by your accord, and fully. Help us to live with great expectation. Teach us what that means, and how to apply it to our lives.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.

THREE THINGS TO MEDITATE UPON:

1. Go back to the start of the day. Re-run it in your mind, giving each and every moment back to God.

2. As you mentally recapped your day, what did the Lord put on your heart that you didn’t notice as you rushed through a chaotic day? Run through it again with Him, and ask Him to show you more.

3. Pray for the Holy Spirit to control your mind. When our lives are chaotic, the quicker we remember to connect with God through Christ, the faster we find and restore calm.

Meg Bucher Meg writes about everyday life within the love of Christ at megbucher.com. She is the author of “Friends with Everyone, Friendship within the Love of Christ,” “Surface, Unlocking the Gift of Sensitivity,” “Glory Up, The Everyday Pursuit of Praise,” “Home, Finding Our Identity in Christ,” and "Sent, Faith in Motion." Meg earned a Marketing/PR degree from Ashland University but stepped out of the business world to stay home and raise her two daughters …which led her to pursue her writing passion. A contributing writer for Salem Web Network since 2016, Meg is now thrilled to be a part of the editorial team at Salem Web Network. Meg loves being involved in her community and local church, leads Bible study, and serves as a youth leader for teen girls.