Daily Prayer: 2025

a prayer for the small

Lord God,

What is small is not at all.

And yet we often see ourselves,

our "tiny" actions, as "small."

May we not measure the value of our actions by the standards of the world.

May we not measure the meaning of our words by the standards of the world.

May we not measure the intentions of our hearts by the standards of the world.

May we see the small as not at all small.

May the "small" acts You have called us to

be a faithful outworking of

how You are growing us.

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a prayer to be a caring community

- Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Father of All,

We ask you to help us become a caring community.

One where our neighbors are our friends.

One where we learn to love and encourage each other.

One where we can share, cry and laugh together.

Help us to be compassionate and loving when our community hurts.

Teach us to rejoice when our community thrives.

We ask that you help us to be a humble community that welcomes all.

In the name of our Lord, our Friend and our Neighbor we pray.

Amen.

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A prayer for new ears to hear God more clearly

The voice we can scarcely hear

You are the voice we can scarcely hear

because you speak to us about dying and suffering,

and we are impacted by so many voices

that have to do with power

and competence

and success.

We do know that you are the voice that gives life,

that you are the voice that opens futures to people who are hopeless.

We are a part of a hopeless people,

because the other voices eat at our hearts,

and we are immobilized

and we become deaf.

So we pray for new ears.

We pray that your voice may be more audible to us,

that we may be able to sort out the death-giving

from the life-giving voices among us.

We pray in the name of Jesus,

through whom you have spoken

in such inscrutable ways.

Amen.

Source: Brueggemann, Walter. 2003. Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann. Edited by Edwin Searcy. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.

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a prayer for seeing the good

Father,

In all our fear,

we struggle to see the way You are working.

And where there is fear,

there are walls

Where there are walls,

there are no relationships

no unity

no trust.

Overcome our fear of the unknown.

Overcome the walls we've built around ourselves.

Teach us to see the good in all that You are doing..

how You are working...

and build in us a trust in Your redemption.

Amen

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a prayer in dark times

O Lord, God of my salvation,

I cry out day and night before you.
Let my prayer come before you.
Incline your ear to my cry!

My life is troubled with remorse,
My mind wanders to past times.
I am a man who is in need of strength.

Yet this I recall and I have hope.
You have rescued me from darkness.
You have shown me the light of your love.

I no longer walk in darkness. I walk as your child.

You overwhelm me with waves of your goodness Lord.
I can see your hand in my life providentially guiding me.
You are helping me to become a better man.

Though all abandon me, you remain faithful..
Though life is sad sometimes, I still find joy in you.
You cause my heart to sing, and my soul to soar.

Every day I will call upon you, O Lord.
Each morning I will spread out my hands to you in worship.
You are worthy Lord Jesus!

You work wonders God, and I praise you!
I will declare your steadfast love until I die.
You are faithful and your mercy is great!

I cry to you this morning as my prayer comes before you.
O Lord, you have embraced my soul.
You show your face to me in kindness.

You are good Lord. You have filled me with hope and not despair.
Because of your love I will embrace the day.
Because of your grace I will overcome.

Faith, hope and love surround me like still waters all day long.
They water my soul and feed my heart with good things.
I will rejoice in in you my Lord, my God and my Strength.

Amen

... this prayer is adapted from Psalm 88

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a prayer to be merciful

Help me, O Lord, that my eyes may be merciful, so that I may never suspect or judge from appearances, but look for what is beautiful in my neighbour's souls and come to their rescue.

Help me, that my ears may be merciful, so that I may give heed to my neighbours' needs and not be indifferent to their pains and moanings.

Help me, O Lord, that my tongue may be merciful, so that I should never speak negatively of my neighbour, but have a word of comfort and forgiveness for all.

Help me, O Lord, that my hands may be merciful and filled with good deeds, so that I may do only good to my neighbours and take upon myself the more difficult and toilsome tasks.

Help me, that my feet may be merciful, so that I may hurry to assist my neighbour overcoming my own fatigue and weariness. My true rest is in the service of my neighbour.

Help me, O Lord, that my heart may be merciful so that I myself may feel all the sufferings of my neighbour. I will refuse my heart to no one. I will be sincere even with those who, I know, will abuse my kindness. And I will lock myself up in the most merciful Heart of Jesus. I will bear my own suffering in silence.

May Your mercy, O Lord, rest upon me.

Amen.

... a prayer by St. Faustina

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A prayer for faith when doubting

Doubt and faith

Risen Lord,

behind closed doors

you turned Thomas’s doubt

into a shout of faith.

Take our questioning minds

and make them a gateway

to hope and trust in you,

that faith may seek

and find understanding

in your mysterious purposes and will;

for your honour and glory. Amen.

Source: Black, Ian. 2011. Prayers for All Occasions. London: SPCK.

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In the waiting

Waiting for answered PRAYER is hard.

But in the waiting we find STRENGTH from the LORD when we HOLD tightly to the promises found in His WORD.

Never give up HOPE. Never quit crying OUT.

Cling to Jesus and let Him work in His way and in His perfect timing.

“My eyes are swollen with weeping, waiting for my God to help me.” (Psalm 69:3)

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a prayer for reconciliation

Lord God,

Where there is separation there is pain.

Where there is pain there is story.

Where there is story, there is understanding and misunderstanding.

There is listening and not listening.

May we -

separated peoples, estranged strangers, unfriended families, divided communities

- turn toward each other,

and turn toward our stories,

with understanding and listening,

with argument and acceptance,

with challenge, change and consolation.

Because You will be found in the space between.

Amen.

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WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE COMMITTING SUICIDE

WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE COMMITTING SUICIDE

Lord, all hope has gone and I’m desperate.

I feel trapped by my circumstances. Life seems completely meaningless. I cannot see a way out.

O God, please redirect my thought life from what is negative or destructive. Please protect me from causing myself harm or injury.

Please give me courage and strength to face each day. Show me there is a way forward.

Give me the courage to admit I need help and that I will contact the people who can help me.

I feel such a failure, that my life is not worth anything, and that no one would miss me if I wasn’t here.

I’ve got no one to share my deepest innermost thoughts with.

Relieve the desperate turmoil and anguish I feel.

Amen.

Contact https://www.samaritans.org/

Adapted from: Source: Manser, Martin. 2018. A Book of Prayers. First edition. Vereeniging: Christian Art Publishers.

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Undeserved grace

Oh LORD, help us to always be GRATEFUL for the beautiful bestowing of GRACE upon our lives…we are desperate FOR You and forever LOST without You…

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a prayer for shelter and shadow

Father,

We know sometimes we are alone,

and sometimes we are in community.

Sometimes we are in shadow,

and sometimes we are surrounded by shelter.

Sometimes we feel like exiles in our land, language, even in our bodies.

And sometimes we feel welcome and at home.

As we seek to be connected and authentic with one another,

may we share the things that do not fade:

generosity, truth-telling, silence, respect and love.

And may the power we share be for the good of all human flourishing.

We praise God, the source of this rich life.

We honor each other's stories.

Whether in our shadow or in our shelter,

may we live well and fully with each other.

Amen

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for peace in life's storms

Steer the ship of my life, good Lord.

To your quiet harbor, where I can know peace in life's storms.

That I might have time to reflect and to find discernment.

Show me the way that I should take in my journey forward.

Help me to have clarity of mind that I might know where to go.

Give me the strength and the courage to choose the right course.

Bless me to know that you are with me even when life's waters are rough.

In your name I shall find comfort and peace.

Amen.

... adapted from a prayer by Basil of Caesarea

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How does the Spirit help us pray?

Question 182

How doth the Spirit help us to pray?

We not knowing what to pray for as we ought, the Spirit helpeth our infirmities, by enabling us to understand both for whom, and what, and how prayer is to be made; and by working and quickening in our hearts (although not in all persons, nor at all times, in the same measure) those apprehensions, affections, and graces which are requisite for the right performance of that duty. (Rom. 8:26–27, Ps. 10:17, Zech. 12:10)

Source: The Westminister Larger Cathecism

Romans 8:26–27 (ESV)

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

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God, I don't know how to pray or what to pray. I feel helpless and overwhelmed. But I thank you, Holy Spirit that you know what I am experiencing and are interceding on my behalf. Thank you!

Amen

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a prayer for sacrifce

Jesus,

When you had nothing else to give

you gave yourself.

And as your friends shared and ate,

they were confused and complicit,

just like all of us.

May we give sacrificially;

because when we give like this,

we are like you,

who became like us.

Amen.

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a prayer to have joy in troubling times

Dear Lord,

I sometimes allow things like bad weather to steal my joy.

Teach me to see with my heart and not my head.

I am prone to think negatively and imagine worst case scenarios.

Help me to discover other ways to think and process life's events.

I know that I sometimes need to be joyful even when I am not happy.

Remind me that joy comes as a product of following your Spirit.

To you I surrender my life. Please lead me in your ways.

Amen.

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The precious spirit of prayer

Pilgrim in the World

If The Imitation of Christ has a rival in sales, it is The Pilgrim’s Progress, written by John Bunyan. On November 12, 1660 Bunyan left home to conduct a small worship service in a friend’s house. Earlier that year King Charles II of England, Bible clutched to breast, had returned from exile to restore the monarchy and to return the Church of England to its position of authority. All non-Anglican houses of worship were closed, making Bunyan’s preaching of the gospel now treasonous.

Arriving at the farmhouse, Bunyan learned that a warrant had been issued for his arrest. His friends urged flight. “No!” he replied. “I will not stir neither have the meeting dismissed. Let us not be daunted. To preach God’s Word is so good a work that we shall be well rewarded if we suffer for that.” The service was soon disrupted by the local constable, and Bunyan managed only a few parting words before being arrested. He spent the next 12 years imprisoned in Bedford, England, during which time his family suffered and his beloved blind daughter, Mary, passed away.

Bunyan supported his family by making laces in prison; but shortly he discovered a hidden gift—the ability to write. His fame as an imprisoned writer fueled sales of his books, and he eventually wrote 60 volumes, one for every year he lived. His most famous work, written during the final phase of incarceration, is Pilgrim’s Progress. It sold 100,000 copies during Bunyan’s lifetime and millions since. It joins The Imitation of Christ in being publishing history’s top bestseller, apart from Scripture.

Bunyan spent his final years in his little cottage in Bedford where visitors often found him studying, his library consisting only of a Bible and some of his own works. On his deathbed battling high fever, Bunyan rambled in tortured, fractured words; but even these were collected and published as Mr. Bunyan’s Dying Sayings. They include this one: The spirit of prayer is more precious than treasure of gold and silver. Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan.

When people talk this way, it is clear that they are looking for a place to call their own. If they had been talking about the land where they had once lived, they could have gone back at any time. But they were looking forward to a better home in heaven. Hebrews 11:14-16a

Morgan, Robert J. 1997. On This Day: 365 Amazing and Inspiring Stories about Saints, Martyrs & Heroes. Electronic ed. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

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May we start this year remembering that The spirit of prayer is more precious than treasure of gold and silver. Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan.

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