Daily Prayer

Hearing Your Voice

Dear Lord,

There are so many circumstances in life where I just don't have any idea which way to turn. Sometimes I feel like a seed blowing back and forth in the wind, wondering if I will ever land. This day, dear Father, I ask again for wisdom, a "Voice from heaven" to tell me what to do. Do You still do that kind of thing, Lord? Give me a steadfast heart, open eyes, and listening ears that I will know when You are calling my name.

And, Lord, please be with my Uncle Chuck during his heart surgery on Tuesday. Be close by, and Lord, please keep your hand on my mom that day and as her brother recovers. Please fill her with Your peace.
Amen

Please visit The Prayer List and pray with us.

a simple prayer

a prayer of thanksgiving
for answered prayers

we humbly thank you lord
you never cease to amaze us

Amen

Please visit The Prayer List and pray with us.

A prayer for today

Father, grant that I may be a bearer of Christ Jesus, your Son.
Allow me to warm the often cold, impersonal scene of modern life with your burning love.
Strengthen me by your Holy Spirit to carry out my mission of changing the world or some definite part of it for the better.
Despite my lamentable failures, bring home to me that my advantages are your blessings to be shared with others.
Make me more energetic in setting right what I find wrong with the world instead of complaining about it.
Nourish in me a practical desire to build up rather than tear down, to reconcile instead of polarize, to go out on a limb rather than crave security.
Never let me forget that it is far better to light one candle than to curse the darkness,
and to join my light, one day, with yours. Amen.

- Prayer of the Christophers

Please visit The Prayer List and pray with us.

Simple Prayers

I love how simply the Apostle Paul speaks about prayer at times in his letters. Consider these passages:

For God, whom I serve with my spirit by preaching the gospel about his Son, is my witness how constantly I mention you in my prayers at all times, -Romans 1:9-10

We always thank God for all of you when we mention you in our prayers. -1 Thessalonians 1:2

I never stop giving thanks for you as I mention you in my prayers. -Ephesians 1:16

I always thank my God when I mention you in my prayers. -Philemon 1:4

In a refreshing style he simply says that he mentions them in his prayers and often simply gives thanks for them. I think that it is good advice to pray simply and not get caught up in long and elaborate religious prayers that seem to instruct God about what He should be doing.

Some mornings when I pray I simply remember, before God, the folks on my heart and their needs.. and express my thanks for them. I always seem to go away from those times refreshed knowing that my Heavenly Father has heard my prayers and sifted them in His loving hands.

I suggest that you take a moment.. close your eyes.. lay your hands, palms up, on your lap.. and simply remember those who need your prayers.. give thanks for them.. and make mention of them to the Lord.. like a child talking to their Dad.

Prayer can be so simple. I think that it is meant to be.

Please visit The Prayer List and pray with us.

Fearfully Made

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. Psalm 139:14

Dear Lord,
We are but grasshoppers in Your sight, small and insignificant. I looked at a grasshopper and found it intriguing and incredibly beautiful in spite of its size. I am in awe that You love me, Lord, and that You care to intervene in my life. Thank you, Father God, for all the blessing You bestow.

Amen

Please visit The Prayer List and pray with us.

HOME IN HEAVEN

Monday afternoon at 3:05 our dear friend Bud Yoho lost the battle against cancer, and was welcomed into the arms of his Lord and Savior, Jesus! I'm sure he was welcomed with "Come, Thou good and faithful Servant."

Bud spent his entire Teaching career with special needs children and teenagers. There are story after story of his influence on these in his care. A faithful husband, father and follower of Jesus.

Please join me in praying for his wife Patty, and all the family and friends that will miss his gentle spirit and sweet smile.

Thank you prayer warriors, how comforting it is to know we can share in each others lives through prayer.

Love and Hugs
Wanda

Amen

Please visit The Prayer List and pray with us.

O Lord, seek us, O Lord, find us
In Thy patient care;
Be Thy Love before, behind us,
Round us, everywhere:
Lest the god of this world blind us,
Lest he speak us fair,
Lest he forge a chain to bind us,
Lest he bait a snare.
Turn not from us,
call to mind us,
Find, embrace us, bear;
Be thy love before, behind us,
Round us everywhere. Amen.

- Christina Rossetti

Please visit The Prayer List and pray with us.

Monday Morning - 9.27.2010

Dear Father in Heaven,

Sometimes we are so busy we forget to think of you. We forget to commit our works to you. We forget to trust in you with all of our hearts. We forget to cast all of our cares on you. We forget that we live and move and have our very being in you. We forget to seek your reign and righteousness first in our lives.

Please forgive us for taking you — your unfailing love, your matchless mercy and glorious grace — for granted in our lives. Please help us to be fully devoted followers of your blessed Son. Help us, also, to be a reflection of His glory as we walk in step with the Holy Spirit this week.

In the holy name of Jesus we pray.

Amen

Please visit The Prayer List and pray with us.

Prayer and Chronic Illness

I am sitting hear trying to think of a scripture that might apply to praying for a person that is experiencing the ill affects of a chronic disease or illness. Should I quote a verse that regales a miracle working God or share a verse that speaks to God's presence in our lives during trying times? The question goes to the heart of the issue doesn't it?

What I have done many times in the past when I have prayed for people with illnesses and diseases is to simply pray "Come Holy Spirit". Speaking of the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus told us that He would send us a Counselor and a Comforter. It seems that this is just want hurting people need - comfort and counsel. So let us pray for those hurting folks in our lives.

Come Holy Spirit and be present with those who have been hurting for so long.. minister hope in the midst of their hopelessness.

Come Holy Spirit and help those who experience the despair associated with diseases and illness like cancer, Parkinsons, diabetes, ALS, MS, NMO and all kinds of sickness.

Come Holy Spirit and manifest your wisdom concerning medical directions and treatments as well as the many other decisions that hurting people are making.. bring clarity of thought.

Come Holy Spirit in power.. please do what no person can do for themselves.. bring healing miracles and cures.. turn impossibilities into possibilities.

We ask all of this believing in the name of Jesus and in His authority over all manner of sickness and disease.

Amen

Please visit The Prayer List and pray with us.

Urgent prayer request

A family in our parish faces an unbelievable tragedy. I don't know them personally, but they are constantly on my mind and in my prayers. I ask yours as well.

Both mother and father are unemployed. Their house was foreclosed on in June and apparently they were to be forcibly evicted this week. According to the news coverage, the father had been taking care of the finances and the mother had been given the impression that everything had been resolved in their favor.

On Saturday night, the father smothered their 4-year-old son. His older children awoke to find him trying to smother them as well, and successfully fought him off. The father then attempted unsuccessfully to commit suicide. Upon his release from the hospital, he was arrested for the murder of his son and the attempted murder of his older two children.

Please pray for each of them: the little boy who died, the mother who now must figure out what to do without the support of her husband; the children who must come to grips with the loss of their father and brother as well as the knowledge that their father tried to kill them; and the father, previously known as a loving parent who did everything with his kids, and who now must be going through unbelievable torment knowing the horror that resulted from his actions.

The mother and surviving children have been taken to a safe place supplied by the church for now (as the news media has been relentless). Funeral arrangements are being paid for. A fund has been set up for donations for them. If anyone is interested in giving, here is the information:

Wachovia Bank
Christine Mitchell DBA
Blake Mitchell Fund 1010293415679
2200 W Main St, #910b
Durham, NC 2770

But regardless, please keep them in your prayers.

Amen

Please visit The Prayer List and pray with us.

A Birthday Prayer

Dear Lord,

That sweet child You blessed me with twenty-nine years ago today is on my heart. He is far away from home on his birthday once again, Lord. I pray that You would be near to him this day, that You would bless him, and encourage him in a special way. I love him, Lord, and I thank You for sending him into our lives those years ago, and for using him to teach us so many things. Through him I learned about unconditional love and forgiveness. Through him we became parents and embarked on a journey from which we never returned. Through him I learned a little bit more about the heart of God. Thank You.

Amen

Please visit The Prayer List and pray with us.

emerging prayer

At our church's baptism this week, Tyrone spoke about growing up in a household without faith. But he did recall two words from his childhood, God and prayer. Years later, drinking, destitute, without hope, those two words came back to him and he cried out to the Lord. That day he was arrested, and as he sat in the back seat of the squad car, he smiled, and gave thanks and praise to God. He was finally on the road to redemption.

I would like to offer up one prayer today in honor of Tyrone: Lord, let us pass along the Word to the next generation, and arm them with the knowledge of you and the power of prayer -- so that they too can call out to you in their hour of need -- for when anyone calls, you hear, you answer.

My friend Dave was also baptized this week. He reminded me that he found it easy to keep God in view in times of trouble and in times of great joy. But it was more challenging during what he called 'the regular times'. And I think a lot of people spend most of their lives in 'regular times'... lukewarm times... just going through the day without dramatic highs and lows.

So I would also like to offer up a prayer today in honor of Dave: Jesus, your presence is constant, awe-inspiring and always around us. Help us open our eyes to you Lord, to see your wonder -- especially during the 'regular times' -- and give us the courage to point out these wonders to those around us.

Amen

Please visit The Prayer List and pray with us.

"Dear Father, I want you to establish your truth in my innermost being. I am sometimes so easily distracted and disturbed by outward circumstances that I neglect to cultivate a genuine devotion to you. Work through your Spirit to remove any false way and teach me to guard my heart through you indwelling presence. Control my thoughts and motivations and bring me into conformity with your will. Amen" (Charles Stanley)

Amen

Please visit The Prayer List and pray with us.

Monday Morning Prayer

Dear Father in heaven,

As we begin another week of hurrying and scurrying about our busy lives, we pause for just a moment to express our sincere praise of your majesty. We are amazed that the Creator of the Cosmos is mindful of each one of us and thankful that you are attentive to our needs.

We confess to you that we are intensely aware of our frailties and failings as humans. We also acknowledge that we are utterly dependent upon you for all that we have and all that we are able to do in this day....in every day. Help us deny ourselves, take up our crosses and simply follow Jesus so that we might live in such a way as to bring you honor and glory.

We humbly ask you to guide our steps throughout this week. We ask you to help us search for and find ways to serve as instruments of your peace in this tumultuous world. Help us to be a blessing to others. Please help our actions to be just and merciful. Fill us with your Holy Spirit that we might be empowered to walk humbly with you each step of the way.

Please bless those whose names flow from our hearts to your throne. Provide for each of these according to their needs.

Accept our thanksgiving for your sustaining grace in our lives. Thank you for being the Giver of every good and perfect gift we have received. Help us to bring you pleasure by enjoying these gifts. Help us, also, to honor you by being good stewards of all you have placed in our care. Above all, thank you for the indescribable gift of your Son to be our Lord and Savior. Please give us the faith, courage, grace and wisdom we need to follow in Him each and every day.

In the precious and powerful name of Jesus we pray.

Amen

Please visit The Prayer List and pray with us.