A Prayer for the Arts, Media, and Entertainment
I was recently invited to pray at the National Day of Prayer Breakfast, hosted at Jessup University, on May 1, 2025. Almost a thousand community, church, and academic leaders from the Sacramento region joined together to pray for our cities, state, and nation. During the gathering, leaders from different areas of influence in our region—education, politics, the military, family, law enforcement—were asked to lead prayers, and I was asked to pray specifically for the area of Arts, Media, and Entertainment. The following is the prayer I prayed. Please know that I prayed this prayer is for you.
“Father, Son, and Spirit, Our gracious Triune God:
“You are the ever-eternal, ever-creative God. Through your infinite imagination and boundless grace, you created a wondrous and magnificent universe that forever declares your beauty and greatness. The heavens declare Your glory, and the skies proclaim the work of Your hands.(Psalm 19:1)
“And you made us in Your image—to also be creative and imaginative and active—and then you gave us the very special privilege and responsibility of being a creative force within your created order. You gave us intellect, imagination, talents, physicality. And in response, we sing and paint and write and dance and compose to Your glory.
“And yet, so much of what goes on in the areas of arts and media and entertainment does not glorify You. Books and films, art and music, streaming content and other media do not honor You God, do not align with Your will and Your ways. Indeed, the very gifts of creativity and the arts have been used to dishonor You. And for that we beg your forgiveness.
“Also God, we admit that many of the musicians and actors and sports figures and celebrities that we admire and emulate don’t align with Your Kingdom ways. We have made them idols in more ways than we realize. We confess that we’re swayed far too much by these entertaining distractions that often sap our best hours and skew our best intentions.
“And Lord God, we also acknowledge that much that occurs in our social and mainstream media has created a whirlwind of contention. Everyone seems to have their version of the truth, and this relativism has ripped our society into factions, to the left and to the right—not up but often down. We confess Lord that it’s too often more important for us to be right than it is to be surrendered to You. We confess Lord that we’ve too often been drawn into contentiousness and division, and we’ve failed to love those who oppose us.
“And so we pray…
“…That Your Holy Spirit would sweep through our nation’s areas of arts and media—especially places like Hollywood and New York and Nashville, wherever media is produced—and that Christians in entertainment and media find favor and gain credibility with those in power. Open doors for Your Gospel and help Your people represent You well. People need to feel hope, Lord. And I pray that more and more films and books and streaming content be filled with a sense of the subversive and life-changing Hope that only You can bring. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done.
“We pray Lord God …That You would raise up more talented Christian artists in our nation—musicians and actors and other celebrities—who love You deeply and live out Your Kingdom with integrity and love and courage. Inspire them with great vision, fuel their passions, give them opportunities to express the Gospel, and gird them from the temptations of the world. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done.
“We pray Lord God…for those Christ-followers who are in sports and sports-related industries, especially the gifted men and women athletes who we tend to root for and sometimes idolize. From the Little League coaches all the way to the mega-star sports athletes, Lord, raise up men and women at all levels of all sports, and help them to love mercy, act justly, and walk humbly. Give them strength to live their faith out daily, amongst their peers, to their coaching staffs and owners, and to the public. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done.
“We pray Lord God …that You would convict and guide the hearts of our nation’s journalists and those in power in the media. Lead them to a commitment of integrity and accuracy and truth. And Lord God, we do need Your truth. I pray that those in power of the media—both on the far left and on the far right, and everywhere in between—seek not to create faction and division, but to uphold the values of non-biased journalism and truth-telling, the kind that fuels a healthy democracy. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done.
“We pray Lord God …that You would help us be more discerning regarding the media we are influenced by and contribute to. Help us to be wise to not believe every half-truth being communicated to us, and to not allow the differences we have with others to cause division among us. Help us remember that Your eternal Kingdom supercedes the flawed kingdoms of men. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done.
“Finally, Lord God, we thank you again, that You are a God who is active and alive, and who listens to every prayer and intercedes on our behalf. Open our eyes to see the movement of Your Spirit here in our nation and in our communities, and embolden us to further Your Kingdom through the power of Your love and grace.
“In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.”
