Dear Lord,I feel so alone. So desperate. And so sad.
I feel like there is no one who really cares.
Embrace me with your loving spirit.
Help me to feel your presence and your love.
I feel like the weight of the world is on me.
Bring a friend to me that can help me bear the burden.
I surrender my life to you and kneel before you.
Thank you for hearing me and for loving me.
You alone are worthy of all praise.
I love you Lord.
Amen
Dear Lord of Love and Acceptance,
I ask for guidance in learning how to love like you.
Help me to extend grace and kindness to those around me.
Teach me to see others with compassion and understanding.
Help me to love not just in words, but in actions that reflect you.
May I be a channel of your love, both in heart and in interactions.
Help my ego and my pride to bow to your love and mercifulness.
I bend my knee to you, praying in the name that is above all names.
Amen
Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. (John 13:1)
Dear Lord Jesus, I often return to the scene from which this verse is taken, for it's homeroom for my heart—the place I go to settle and center my restless soul. It's the night of your betrayal, the night you would be denied and abandoned, not just by Peter but also by every disciple. You knew the full extent of their weakness, so you showed them the full extent of your love. Washing their feet was a prelude to washing their hearts. Water sufficed for the first; your lifeblood was required for the second.
This is how you love each of us, Jesus— how you love me.
Absolutely nothing can separate us from your love or impact the way you love us. You don't love us more when we "get it right," and you don't love us less when we fail you. That doesn't mean you're indifferent; it means you're our Savior, the one who remains committed to showing us the full extent of your love how wide, long, high, and deep it really is (Eph. 3:18-19).
Only your love, Jesus, can free and change me. Only your love is better than life. Only your love is enough. In my most gospel-sane moments, I know this to be true-my truest truth. Nobody or nothing has to change for me to be at peace and joyful. Continue to rescue me from thinking otherwise.
Forgive me for plugging my happy-meter into what people think of me, or how easy or difficult life is, or how much or how little money I have, or how in control or not l am of my circumstances, or anything beyond you.
Jesus, you are my loving Master, not my private masseur. Forgive me when I forget the first and start demanding the second. By the gospel keep washing me, Jesus-bathe me in grace every hour of every day. You are already my perfect righteousness; I long for the day when I will be made perfect in love. (1 John 4:18) In your merciful and mighty name I pray.
Amen
(From Every Season Prayers by Scotty Smith)
Dear Father God,
I come seeking your grace and strength to take risks.
Stepping outside of my comfort zone is scary and challenging.
Give me the courage to trust in your guidance and plan for my life.
Help me to discern when to step out in faith and when to wait.
Give me wisdom to adjust my plans as life unfolds before me.
I ask to not be paralyzed by fear, but rather filled with confidence.
Help me to be bold and not afraid to take risks as you lead me.
I know that you will be at work in my life whenever I say yes to you.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
Almighty God,
We pray for our world, one that is touched by both beauty and pain.
We ask for peace in troubled lands, where conflict and hardship abound.
And for healing in the hearts of all who suffer.We pray for justice for the marginalized and for those who are exploited.
And for the protection of all people, wherever they live.
Guide us to act with compassion and understanding.
Help us to work towards a future where all people can live with dignity.May we be a light of hope in this world, spreading your love and grace.
Help us to see the beauty in the world, and to cherish the beauty in all things.
Amen.
Every day I need you Lord
But this day especially,
I need some extra strength
To face what ever is to be.
This day more than any day
I need to feel you near,
To fortify my courage
And to overcome my fear.
By myself, I cannot meet
The challenge of the hour,
There are times when humans help,
But we need a higher power
To assist us bear what must be borne,
and so dear Lord, I pray -
Hold on to my trembling hand
And be near me today.
Amen.
- Author Unknown
Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. (Col. 4:12)
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. (Rom. 8:26
Dear heavenly Father, sometimes quite literally all we can do is pray for certain family members and friends— people we love who live in the vortex of mental and emotional illness; others who are willing participants and suppliers of their own destructive addictions; still others whose rage, pain, and trauma have power over their lives.
Father, help us to know what our limits are in these situations, what loving well in dark brokenness looks like, and what resources are available to us. Teach us how, like Epaphras, to wrestle in prayer for our loved ones without literally wrestling with them one-on-one. Some situations are beyond reason, conventional care, or safe interactions. Help us, Lord; help us.
It's heartbreaking to watch people we love become people we fear. It's unnerving to hear threats of self-destructive behavior and to feel helpless, even hopeless, in the midst of the emotional frenzy, rage-fueled words, and irrational activity.
It's paralyzing to feel responsible but incapable of helping. Help us, Lord; help us.
Dear God,
You are generous in love. Please give me grace!
Merciful and loving one, wipe out my bad record.Scrub away my guilt and cleanse my memory.I have acted badly and violated my conscience.I’ve been out of step with you for a long time.What you’re after is truth from the inside out.Come into my heart and create a new, true life.Make a fresh start in me and shape my journey.Bring me back and put a fresh wind in my sails!Give me a new purpose and help me to love.
To you I give all praise and honor.
Amen.
