Daily Prayer: October 2022

a sacrifical prayer

Dear Father in Heaven,

We come again with open hands and open hearts.

We confess our need of your presence and love.

We renounce the pride and ego that gets in your way.

We bow to you and submit our lives to you again.

Take our offerings. Take our lives. Take our hearts.

We offer all that we are to you and your purposes.

Strengthen us that we might take up our crosses and follow Jesus.

Make us new again as we submit to your Spirit.

Cause heaven to come to earth and to our hearts.

We give you praise and glory forever and ever.

Amen

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to rest in divine love

God of Goodness and Love,

I come into your presence overwhelmed by your unconditional love for me.

I am so aware of my human frailty and my need of help.

Thank you that there is no human experience where your love cannot reach me.

If I climb the highest mountain you are there.

If I find myself in the darkest valley of my life, you are there.

Teach me today to love you more.

Help me to rest in your love.

Bless me that I might love with the trusting heart of a child.

Amen.

-from an unknown author

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the wisdom of patience

Father,

I thank You that You are Lord of the unknown. I thank you that nothing is a surprise to You. I pray for those who are facing the unknown: unknown medical problems, unknown situations, puzzling circumstances, that You will give patience, give clarity, show us the way through the problem. But most of all, help us to trust You until the problem is resolved.

Help all of Your people, in big things or in small, to learn to wait for Your timing. Give us the patience and trust in You necessary to deal with these waiting periods. And help us to deal in a calm and deliberate way with the things we need to deal with during the wait.

In Jesus' Name,
Amen

-Mike Erich

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help us to change

Dearest Father,

There seems to be things that should never change.

Beauty, love, peace and grace always seem to be in season.

Yet our life seasons do seem to change and adjustments are needed.

Help us to be open to new things and new ways of living.

Bless us to see the past as something to learn from and not live in.

Teach us to be open to new friendships and experiences.

In all seasons help us to join with what you are doing.

We pray in faith and we give ourselves afresh to you.

Amen

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help us to be kind

Father of Kindness and Mercy,

Help us to remember to use kind words today.

Fill our hearts with compassion for others.

Remind us that our friends and families might be struggling.

Bless us to be those who bless and encourage.

In all things, teach us to be witnesses of your kindness.

Amen

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a prayer for giving our burdens to God

"Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,who daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God who saves;from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death." - Psalm 68:19-20

Heavenly Father,

What a promise you've made, what a hope we have, and what a God you are. Thank you for being the kind of Father who hears our burdens - as opposed to minimizing them. To know that you bear our burdens each day enables us to be vulnerable and honest with how we feel, and that allows us to lay them at your feet. Instead of wearing us down and wearing us out, our burdens become something we can entrust to you.

You are the God who saves us - not just from separation from you but also saving us from the burden of our present realities that overwhelm us. Struggles in relationship, work, money, health... Lord, you are with us in each one of them. Protect us from unwise counsel that may medicate us in our pain, but actually moves us farther away from you and simply ignores the reality of what we must deal with.

Father, some of us are fearful, fretful, even rage-full over the political landscape of our country and the shifts to callousness in our culture. Lift those burdens from our hearts as you remind us that the throne of heaven is presently occupied (Rev. 4), that Jesus is currently the ruler of the kings of the earth (Rev. 1:5) and that nothing and no one can alter your plans (Is. 14:27; Eccles. 3:14).

Father, forgive us when we take back the burden of our guilt, even though Jesus has exhausted it; free us when we surrender yet again to the burden of our shame, even though Jesus has broken it.

Rescue us when we assume sovereignty and take on what you never intended us to carry.

Give us the grace to live and to love YOUR glory, not ours.

Amen

(Adapted from Every Season Prayers by Scotty Smith)

Amen

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prayer for protection

Lord our God,

With all our hearts we come before You.

Our hearts are always in Your presence as we seek You.

Protect us, for You are our God and our Father.

Protect all who are in danger or who must go into danger.

Make known Your great love and living presence to the hearts of the dying.

Draw our hearts together so that we may have community in You.

Our faith and our hope are set on You alone.

Protect us during the night, and help us to be at peace.

All of our concerns are in Your strong and caring hands.

We ourselves are in Your hands, Lord God, and there we want to remain.

You are the Healer - your hands can heal and restore everything.

We trust in your blessed name!

Amen

—author unknown

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a prayer of affirmation

Father,

Thank You for caring about me personally in all the details of my life.

I affirm that there is nothing in my life that You do not care about.

I affirm that You have been good to me in so many ways.

You have called me Your child. You are my heavenly Father.

I affirm that worry is pointless and an expression of doubt.

I affirm that the basis of Your love is Your character, not my performance.

Amen.

-adapted from Kurt Bjorklund's Prayers for Today

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give us hearts that listen

Loving God, give us hearts that listen for your word.

Let us imitate the Good Samaritan, who does not turn away from suffering.

Help us listen.

May we listen to those who struggle daily for dignity.
Let us hear your voice in the stories of those on the margins.
Help us always see what binds us together as sisters and brothers.

Help us to heal.

May we be willing to stand in the place of others.
Let us be open to difference that we may arrive at understanding.
Help us to seek reconciliation that our world may reflect justice.

Help us respond.

May our faith move us to action in the public square.
Let us work with others of good will, finding solutions together.
Help us exercise charity, seeking the common good and dignity for all.

Lord, give us the courage to trust in your hand guiding us.

Give us the courage to respond like the Good Samaritan, setting aside divisions to attend to the needs of the other. May we know and see your love present in our communities, made real in the ways we love one another.

Amen.

-from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops

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bless us with compassion

Bless us with compassion, O Merciful God;

That we may love as you love!
That we may show patience, tolerance, kindness, caring and love to all!

Give us knowledge; O giver of knowledge,
That I may be one with you and with each other!

O Compassionate One, grant compassion unto us;
That we may help all fellow souls in need!

Bless us with your love O God.
Bless us with your love.

Amen

- Author Unknown

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when we are tempted

Dear Lord,

Each day seems to bring a new temptation.

Help us to turn to you instead of our lusts.

When we are tempted to act unrighteously,

Remind us that we are yours and that you are ours.

If we give in and sin against you,

Bring us to a place where we can repent and be forgiven.

On this trying day, we pray for deliverance from evil.

We praise you and worship you for who you are.

We love you Lord.

Amen

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as the week begins

I come before you, O Lord.

As the sun rises, may your hope rise up in me.

As the birds sing, let your love flow out of me.

As the light floods into this new day, may your joy shine through me.

I come before you, O Lord and drink in this moment of peace.

May I may carry something of your hope, love, and joy in my heart today.

Amen.

– Author Unknown

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remind us to hope

Life has so many disappointments Lord.

Remind us that our role is to hope and not faint.

Life is filled with temptations Lord.

Remind us to overcome and walk in faith.

Life seems to break our hearts so often Lord.

Remind us to forgive when we are hurt.

Life seems to break our hearts so often Lord.

Remind us to forgive when we are hurt.

Life is so often filled with loneliness Lord.

Remind us that you are with us always.

Life is best lived when we are joyful and at peace Lord.

Remind us that your joy brings us strength.

Amen

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as we walk through life

Father, you know our worries and care for our troubles.

So we give these heavy concerns to you.

We lay these situations at your feet.

The empty cross is a place of rest, a place where love overcame.

Thank you that your love in us can transform the landscape of our lives.

We will walk with peace into the new day, and put our hope in you.

Nothing is outside of your redeeming love.

Might we rest in the knowledge that you will light our path and guide our lives.

Amen.

— Author Unknown

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a prayer for spiritual unity

Dear Father,

I’m not praying for the world but for those who are yours.

I’m not asking that you take us out of the world.

I am asking that you guard us from evil.

We are no more defined by the world than you are defined by the world.

Consecrate us with the truth - your word is consecrating truth.

Teach us how to carry on your mission of love in the world.

I’m praying not only for us but also for those who will one day believe.

Help us to become one heart and one mind.

Just as you are one, might we be of one spirit.

In this, the world might believe that you, in fact, sent us.

May we be as unified and together as you are in heaven.

So that your love for us might lead to unity.

Amen

-from Jesus' prayer for his followers

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teach us to love

God of Goodness and Mercy,

We come into your presence, so aware of our human frailty.

We are overwhelmed by your love for us.

We thank you that your love reaches us in everything we experience.

If I climb the highest mountain you are there.

When I find myself in the darkest valley of my life, you are there.

Teach me today to love you more and develop a loving heart.

Give us grace to love others as you love them.

Help me to rest in your love as I love those around me.

Lead me that I might trust you with the heart of a child.

Amen

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Faith moves!

LORD, may we never UNDERESTIMATE the POWER of Your WORD!!!

Help us to grow our FAITH by digging DEEP into Your WORD!!

Faith can move mountains!!!

Amen

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open our eyes to your providence

Dear Lord,

Open our eyes to your providence.

Help us to see all of the ways that you are helping us.

Teach us to focus on you rather than our problems.

We choose to count on you and we offer ourselves afresh to you.

May your kingdom come in these difficult days.

And your will to be done through us.

That Jesus might be honored in us.

Amen

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restore us to health

Lord Jesus,

You came into the world to heal our infirmities and to endure our sufferings.

You went about healing all and bringing comfort to those in pain and need.

We come to you in this time of illness and suffering.

Be the source of our strength in body, courage in spirit and patience in pain.

May we join ourselves more closely to your suffering on the cross.

Help us to draw our patience and hope from the resurrection.

Assist us and restore us to health, that we may give witness to your power.

In all things, and at all times, we praise you and give you thanks.

Amen

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prayer for courage

Courage comes from the heart

and we are always welcomed by God,.

We bear witness to our faith,

knowing we are called

to live lives of courage,

love and reconciliation

in the ordinary and extraordinary

moments of each day.

We bear witness, also, to our failures

and our complicity in the brokenness of our world.

May we be courageous today.

May we learn and love.

Amen

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loving those who have hurt us

Dearest God,

I come to you in prayer, asking for help.

I have allowed bitterness to grow in my life.

Jealousy and envy have taken hold of me.

Please guide my heart to love those who have hurt and harmed me.

Though my wounds are deep, help me to forgive and to love.

In your name I forgive and release those who have sinned against me.

I declare your love for them and ask that I might love them like you love.

All glory is unto you Lord.

Amen

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for love, hope and joy

I come before you, O Lord.

As the sun rises, may your hope rise up in me.

As the birds sing, let your love flow out of me.

As the light floods into this new day, may your joy shine through me.

I come before you, O Lord and drink in this moment of peace.

Help me to carry something of your hope, love, and joy today in my heart.

Amen.

– Author Unknown

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