Daily Prayer

a hopeful prayer

Father of all Hope,

We ask you for eyes that see a time when things are better.

We pray for perseverance as we travel this hard road.

We intercede for our sickness asking to be whole.

We give thanks that you bring beauty from ashes.

We praise you for your love and presence in our lives.

You are Lord and you work all together for our good.

In the name of Jesus we say amen.

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a prayer to develop empathy

Teach us Lord,

To take time to really hear what our family and friends are saying.

To see with our inner eyes and feel what others are feeling.

To enter into the suffering of others knowing you are with us.

To walk with the poor, the sick and the dying.

To love others the way that you love them.

Amen. And Amen.

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A prayer to find God in the midst of life's turmoil

THOUGHTS ON HOLY ISLAND

Lord,

There are times when I need to be an island,

Set in an infinite sea

Cut off from all that comes to me

But surrounded still by thee.

Times of quiet and peace

When traffic and turmoil cease

When I can be still and worship thee

Lord of the land and sea.

Full tide and ebb tide

Let life rhythms flow

Ebb tide, full tide

How life’s beat must go.

Lord,

I must be part of the mainland,

A causeway between me and others.

There are times when I can only find thee

In working with my brothers.

Times of business and industry

Freeing ourselves from captivity.

It’s when we give a helping hand

We meet you, Lord of sea and land.

Ebb tide, full tide

Let life rhythms flow

Full tide, ebb tide

How life’s beat must go.

Adam, David. 1985. The Edge of Glory: Prayers in the Celtic Tradition. London: SPCK Classics.

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Be joyful

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A Prayer for Our Work

Richly bless the work before us, Father.

Shepherd us well

lest we grow enamored of our own accomplishment or entrenched in old habit.

Instead let us listen for Your voice,

our hearts ever open to the quiet call of Your Spirit in this endeavor.

You alone, O God,

by your gracious and life-giving Spirit

have power to knit our imperfect hearts, our weaknesses, our strengths,

our stories, and our gifts, one to another.

Unite Your people and multiply our meager offerings, O Lord, that all might resound to Your glory.

May our acts of service and creation,

frail and wanting as they are,

be met and multiplied by the mysterious workings of Your Spirit ,

who weaves all things together toward a redemption.

May our love and our labors now echo your love and your labors, O Lord.

Let all that we do here, in our brief lives, in this brief moment to love for for your glory.

O Spirit of God,

now shape our hearts.

O Spirit of God,

now guide our hands.

O Spirit of God,

now build Your kingdom among us.

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a prayer for compassion

Merciful Lord,

Help us to make other's well-being our goal.

Help us seek to be there for our friends and neighbors.

Help us to be empathetic to their pains, wounds, and sadness.

Teach us to rejoice when others succeed and are doing well.

Teach us to see you in the lives of others.

Teach us to be a blessing to all who we encounter.

In all things and at all times, make us your agents of compassion.

Amen.

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Dear Father God, may we put the Scripture into our daily lives. Help us to rejoice aways, no matter what we are going through. Like the Apostle Paul, rejoicing in all circumstances, even shipwreck! Give us thankful hearts, remembering that we were once lost, but now are found, sinners lost and going to hell, and now saved my your mercy and grace and going to spend eternity with You. We long to do your will, and it's your will that we rejoice, pray and give thanks! Amen.

Open your hands when you pray

"When you want to pray, then, the first question is: How do I open my closed hands? Certainly not by violence. Nor by a forced decision. Perhaps you can find your way to prayer by carefully listening to the words the angel spoke to Zechariah, Mary, the shepherds, and the women at the tomb: “Don’t be afraid.” Don’t be afraid of the One who wants to enter your most intimate space and invite you to let go of what you are clinging to so anxiously. ... Don’t be afraid to offer your hate, bitterness, and disappointment to the One who is love and only love. Even if you know you have little to show, don’t be afraid to let it be seen."

Dear God,

I am so afraid to open my clenched fists!

Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to?

Who will I be when I stand before you with empty hands?

Please help me to gradually open my hands

and to discover that I am not what I own,

but what you want to give me.

And what you want to give me is love—

unconditional, everlasting love.

Amen.

Source: Henri J.M. Nouwen, 2006. With Open Hands. Second revised edition. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press.

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Constant in PRAYER

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a prayer when watching storms

Praise be to God for his infinite mercies.

Indeed we praise you, O Lord, that in your strength and your power you show us your awesome power across the canvas of the sky. Through clouds, rain, lightening, and thunder claps, you tell a story. But not just of your awesome power, O Lord, but a story of your mercies that are unexpected... that show your tender love toward us.

We know Lord that you have the power to crush the world and instead you crushed yourself. And by that act you offered life, shielding us from whatever we deserved.

When mighty winds hit,

lightening strikes,

crashing calls of thunder shake the earth,

When hard rains and thick snow,

bitter cold and scorching heat

come upon this earth,

May their fierce beauty set us in awe -

their witness reminding us of your strength and power.

How you wield it rightly, justly, and with restraint. How you provide shelter and shields in your unfailing love.

Amen.

Glory to God, for his sheltering love, extended to us.

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a prayer for spiritual growth

Dearest Father,

Open my spiritual eyes that I may see what is my inheritance in your Son.

Create a passionate zeal in me that I might grow into full spiritual maturity.

Each day, help me to water the fruit of the Holy Spirit within me.

Cause me to exercise faith as I release the spiritual gifts you have given me.

Bless me Lord that might be a blessing to others.

Help me to walk in your ways today and in the days ahead.

You are Lord.

Amen.

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a prayer for inner strength

Dear Lord,

Your ways are loving and merciful.

Carry on your gracious work in us.

Give us what our human weakness cannot attain.

Help us to be strong on the inside.

Ground us in faith, hope and love.

Shine in our hearts and cause us to be loving people.

That all may witness your work on the earth.

Amen.

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LIVING BY PRAYER

The Valley of Vision

O GOD OF THE OPEN EAR ~

Teach me to live by prayer as well as by providence, for myself, soul, body, children, family, church;

Give me a heart frameable to thy will; so might I live in prayer, and honour thee, being kept from evil known and unknown.

Help me see the sin that accompanies all I do, and the good I can distil from everything.

Let me know that the work of prayer is to bring my will to thine, and without this it is folly to pray.

When I try to bring thy will to mine it is to command Christ, to be above him, and wiser than he: this is my sin of pride.

I can only succeed when I pray according to thy precepts and promise, and to be done with as it pleases thee according to thy sovereign will.

Teach me that it is wisdom to pray for all I have, out of love, willingness, not of necessity; that I may come to thee at any time, to lay open my needs acceptably to thee.

Prayer from The Valley of Vision (Puritan Prayers)

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A prayer of thanksgiving for new life in Christ

DEAR FATHER, we thank You that by Your mercy and grace,

through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit

by faith in Jesus Christ, Your Son, we have come to know You.

At the moment of salvation You anointed us by Your Spirit,

who remains forever with us to teach us to understand Your truth.1

You have drawn us by the power of the gospel to the light of Your Word.

You have given us grace to receive the truth—

we who were so deeply defiled by our own guilt;

we who were once condemned to destruction

under the righteous demands of Your justice.

Our very souls were corrupt; we lived in rebellion against Your law;

our minds were hostile to Your truth; and

our very lives were an offense to Your holiness.

We were hopeless until You gave us an eternal hope.

You have saved us by Your goodness, grace, and mercy.

But You sent Your Son to be our Savior—to rescue us from sin’s power

by taking our guilt on Himself and dying to pay sin’s awful price.

Mercy and truth thus met at the cross;

righteousness and peace kissed each other.2

Your wrath against sin was perfectly satisfied;

Your justice was fully vindicated;

Your truth was forever established;

Your grace was brilliantly magnified;

and all the demands of Your law were perfectly fulfilled.

In the process, You lovingly brought us

into a place of safety, honor, glory, and everlasting salvation!

You made us Your children and heirs—

joint heirs with Your only begotten Son.3

Truly “there is one God, and one mediator also

between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”4

As we contemplate all that Christ did for us on the cross,

our hearts are filled with humble gratitude.

Surely He bore our grief and carried our sorrows.

He was pierced through for our transgressions,

He was crushed for our iniquities;

the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him;

and by His scourging we are healed.5

He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross,

so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.6

And You have graciously and tenderly drawn us to Him,

the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls.

O Lord, what gifts these are to us!

Give us grace and pure hearts to worship in spirit and in truth,7

that our praise may be acceptable to You.

May Christ Jesus be fully on display in us

through both our words and our works,

so that others may see and be drawn

to the pure light of the gospel.

We ask these things in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.

1 1 1 John 2:27-28

2 2 Psalm 85:10

3 3 Romans 8:17

4 4 1 Timothy 2:5

5 5 Isaiah 53:4-5

6 6 1 Peter 2:24-25

7 7 John 4:23

Taken from John MacArthur, Jr. 2014. A Year of Prayer: Growing Closer to God Week after Week. Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers.

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