Daily Prayer

Open my eyes Lord, that I may see your protective presence

Elisha said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see - 2 Kings 6:17

This is the prayer we need to pray for ourselves and for one another, “Lord, open our eyes that we may see”; for the world all around us, as well as around the prophet, is full of God’s horses and chariots, waiting to carry us to places of glorious victory. And when our eyes are thus opened, we shall see in all the events of life, whether great or small, whether joyful or sad, a “chariot” for our souls.

Everything that comes to us becomes a chariot the moment we treat it as such; and, on the other hand, even the smallest trial may be a Juggernaut car to crush us into misery or despair if we so consider them. It lies with each of us to choose which they shall be. It all depends, not upon what these events are, but upon how we take them. If we lie down under them, and let them roll over us and crush us, they become Juggernaut cars, but if we climb up into them, as into a car of victory, and make them carry us triumphantly onward and upward, they become the chariots of God.

Source: Hardman, Samuel G., and Dwight Lyman Moody. 1997. Thoughts for the Quiet Hour. Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing.

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a prayer for comforts

Streams upon streams of love overflow my path.

Thou hast made me out of nothing,

hast recalled me from a far country,

hast translated me from ignorance to knowledge,

from darkness to light, from death to life,

from misery to peace, from folly to wisdom,

from error to truth, from sin to victory.

Thanks be to thee for my high and holy calling.

I bless thee for ministering angels,

for the comfort of thy Word,

for the ordinances of thy church,

for the teaching of thy Spirit,

for thy holy sacraments,

for the communion of saints,

for Christian fellowship,

for the recorded annals of holy lives,

for examples sweet to allure,

for beacons sad to deter.

Thy will is in all thy provisions to enable me to grow in grace,

and to be meet for thy eternal presence.

My heaven-born faith gives promise of eternal sight,

my new birth a pledge of never-ending life.

I draw near to thee,

knowing thou wilt draw near

to me.

I ask of thee, believing thou hast already given.

I entrust myself to thee, for thou hast redeemed me.

I bless and adore thee, the eternal God, for the comfort of these thoughts, the joy of these hopes.

(From The Valley of Vision)

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a prayer is stressful times

God of all peace,

We thank and bless you for the gift of life.

We give you praise for your abundant mercy and grace.

We thank you for your faithfulness even when we are not faithful.

Lord, in these stressful times, we ask you to give us inner peace.

Help us to remove all that is causing stress, grief, and sorrow in our lives.

Please guide our path through life and bless us to be at peace with others.

Let your peace reign in our family, at work and everywhere we go.

In Jesus' name, Amen

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a prayer when we feel forsaken

My God,

I feel so alone, lost and forsaken.

I am struggling to find you in the midst of my pain.

Speak to me Lord, help me to know that you are with me.

Help me to trust you even when I don't understand.

Give me the strength to keep seeking you and your ways.

Open my eyes to how you are working in my life.

Lead me towards a life of love, peace and hope.

In your hands I place my life.

Amen

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Lord, speak gently in my silence when my burdens feel too heavy

Speak Gently In My Silence

Dear Lord,

Speak gently in my silence.

When the loud outer noises of my

surroundings and the loud inner noises of my

fears keep pulling me away from you, help me

to trust that you are still there even when I am

unable to hear you. Give me ears to listen to

your small, soft voice saying: “Come to me,

you who are overburdened, and I will give you rest …..

for I am gentle and humble of heart.”

Let that loving voice be my guide.

Amen.

Henri Nouwen

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a prayer for those with chronic illness

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?

(Ps. 43:5)

Father, I feel like a leper in a world of healthy people. I am alone, and I choose aloneness over the threat of judgment and more shame. Please keep people like Job's friends far from me. I'm not a project to be fixed, a riddle to be solved, or a waif to be pitied. Who can possibly understand what it feels like to be me? Who will meet me in this pain?

Only you, my God, only you can.

I'm sorry that I cannot run to you, Father. I have no strength and little will. The best I can do is to collapse on Jesus. So I fall on the One who took my place and bore my shame.

Meet me here, Father, and pour your mercy upon me. For Jesus' sake, I make my plea. Amen.

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a prayer for a troubled heart

Heavenly Father,

In the midst of my troubles, I seek your peace.

Grant me the strength to face my sadness.

I need wisdom to know how to respond to my pain.

Give me grace to trust in your love and goodness.

Bless me, O Lord, to find solace in your presence.

I offer my heart, my mind and my soul to you.

Bring peace, joy and understanding to my troubled heart.

In you I trust and in your name I pray.

Amen.

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a prayer for a renewal hope

Dear Jesus,

I come before you, asking for a renewal of hope.

Open my inner eyes to see the possibilities that lie ahead.

Help me to trust in your ways and live out your character,

May hope embrace my heart and guide my path.

In your name, I pray.

Amen.

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A prayer to live and die right

God Knows My Prayer

Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord … that they may rest from their labors. (Revelation 14:13)

We modern Christians seem to be a strange breed in many of our ways. We are so completely satisfied with earthly things and we enjoy our creature comforts so much that we would just rather stay on here for a long, long time!

Probably most of us do not tell God about that kind of desire when we pray. But for years I have made a practice of writing many of my earnest prayers to God in a little book—a book now well worn. I remind God often of what my prayers have been.

One prayer in the book—and God knows it well by this time—is an honest supplication:

Oh, God,

Let me die rather than to go on day by day living wrong. I do not want to become a careless, fleshly old man.

I want to be right so that I can die right! Lord, I do not want my life to be extended if it would mean that I should cease to live right and fail in my mission to glorify You all of my days!

I would rather go home right now than to live on—if living on was to be a waste of God’s time and my own!

Source: Tozer, A. W., and Gerald B. Smith. 2008. Mornings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings. Chicago: Moody Publishers.

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praching the gospel to myself

Father,

My salvation is a work I didn't begin and you alone can finish. I could never perform my way out of my sin or earn my way into your love.

From beginning to end, my salvation is all grace. I contributed nothing but my sin, and you gave everything in your Son.

Oh, the peace, joy, and freedom that comes with really believing the gospel is as complete and good as you declare it to be. And oh, the wonder of realizing that one day I will be as lovely as and as loving as Jesus, for you will complete this good work of grace in my life.

For so great a salvation, I worship you; for so great a Savior, I adore you.

Amen

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a prayer of submission

Lord,

Because you have made me, I owe you the whole of my love; because you have redeemed me, I owe you the whole of myself; because you have promised so much, I owe you my whole being.

Moreover, I owe you as much more love than myself as you are greater than I, for whom you gave yourself and to whom you promised yourself.

I pray you, Lord, make me taste by love what I taste by knowledge; let me know by love what I know by understanding.

I owe you more than my whole self, but I have no more, and by myself I cannot render the whole of it to you.

Draw me to you, Lord, in the fullness of your love. I am wholly yours by creation; make me all yours, too, in love.

Amen

- a prayer of Anselm (1033-1109)

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Don't give up praying. God will answer!

“Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.” (Luke 18:6, 7.)

GOD’S seasons are not at your beck. If the first stroke doth not bring forth the fire, you must strike again. God will hear prayer, but He may not answer it at the time which we in our minds have appointed; He will reveal Himself to our seeking hearts, but not just when and where we have settled in our own expectations. Hence the need of perseverance and importunity in supplication.

In the days of flint and steel and brimstone matches we had to strike and strike again, dozens of times, before we could get a spark to live in the tinder; and we were thankful enough if we succeeded at last.

Shall we not be as persevering and hopeful as to heavenly things? We have more certainty of success in this business than we had with our flint and steel, for we have God’s promises at our back.

Never let us despair. God’s time for mercy will come; yea, it has come, if our time for believing has arrived. Ask in faith, nothing wavering; but never cease from petitioning because the King delays to reply. Strike the steel again. Make the sparks fly and have your tinder ready; you will get a light before long.—C. H. Spurgeon.

I do not believe that there is such a thing in the history of God’s kingdom as a right prayer offered in a right spirit that is forever left unanswered.—Theodore L. Cuyler.

Source: Cowman, Lettie B. 1925. Streams in the Desert. Los Angeles, CA: The Oriental Missionary Society.

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a prayer for meeting God

Father in Heaven,

In public and private, in sanctuary and home,

may my life be steeped in prayer,

filled with the spirit of grace and supplication,

each prayer perfumed with the incense of atoning blood.

Help me, defend me,

until from praying ground I pass to the realm of unceasing praise.

Urged by my need,

invited by thy promises, called by thy Spirit,

I enter thy presence,

worshipping thee with godly fear,

awed by thy majesty, greatness, glory, but encouraged by thy love.

I am all poverty as well as all guilt,

having nothing of my own with which

to repay thee,

But I bring Jesus to thee in the arms of faith,

pleading his righteousness to offset my iniquities,

rejoicing that he will weigh down the scales for me,

and satisfy thy justice.

Bless me by revealing to me more of his saving merits,

by causing thy goodness to pass before me,

by speaking peace to my contrite heart;

Strengthen me to give thee no rest

until Christ shall reign supreme within me,

in every thought, word, and deed,

in a faith that purifies the heart, overcomes the world,

works by love,

fastens me to thee,

and ever clings to the cross.

(From The Valley of Vision)

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a prayer to dream the impossible

God of the Universe,

Nothing is impossible for you.

Grant me the courage to dream dreams beyond what is possible.

Open my heart to the things that are in your heart.

Help me to trust you and not rely on my own understanding.

Guide me with wisdom of heart and mind.

Lead me in a place where my imagination can thrive.

Enable me to find joy in doing the things I once thought impossible.

To you I give all my heart, mind and soul.

Amen.

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