A prayer based on Romans 8:18–25:

Our Father in heaven, in this present time we suffer many things—illness, the death of loved ones, poverty, injustice, and the disappointment of our own sins. Yet we proclaim with the Apostle Paul that these sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory that You will one day reveal to us. It is an amazing thing to know that the creation waits for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. Our redemption is the key to its redemption! Please use us, Lord, to roll back the effects of the curse laid upon the ground because of our sin. By Your spirit, give us wisdom to see how to subdue and rule the earth, as You instructed us to do in Genesis 1:28, in a way that makes the deserts blossom, the rivers and oceans teem with fish, the lands deck themselves with fields and forests, and all life to thrive—especially the life of human beings made in Your image. We know that You subjected the creation to futility in the hope that it will one day be set from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Until the death and resurrection of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the creation groaned in the pains of childbirth, but with His coming began the restoration of creation that will be consummated in the New Heavens and New Earth. Until then, Lord, even as we suffer, remind us that we who have the firstfruits of Your Spirit can look forward eagerly to the redemption of our bodies, the great hope in which we were saved, and help us to wait patiently for that. These things we pray in Jesus’ name, amen.