Category: Prayers
-
A Prayer for the New Year
I launch my ship into the unknown waters of this year, with you, O Father, as my harbor, you, O Son, at my helm, and you, O Holy Spirit, filling my sails. Guide me to heaven with my lamp burning, my ear open to your calls, my heart full of love, my soul free. Give me your grace to sanctify…
-
A Prayer for Christmas
All glory and honor to you, Living God. You made our world by your wisdom,and you sent your Wisdom into the world. You rule all things by your word,and you caused your Word to dwell among us. You filled heaven and earth with your glory,and you made the the very Radiance of your Glory to…
-
Dear Father in Heaven…
While preparing for my Summer series of sermons, which I will begin this coming Sunday, I stumbled upon – or re-discovered – Dallas Willard‘s paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer. While it is a paraphrase, and therefore may be slightly skewed here and there toward the author’s personal perspective, nevertheless Willard’s was an informed perspective and…
-
Hallowed Be MY Name
The first petition Jesus taught his disciples to pray is “Hallowed be YOUR Name”. (Matthew 6.9) In other words, the priority of our lives – of the lives of all who are followers of Jesus – is to love God, enjoy God, and to seek his glory above all else. J.I. Packer, in his book…
-
A Prayer for the New Year
O Lord, Length of days does not profit me except the days that are passed in Your presence, in Your service, to Your glory. Give me a grace that precedes, follows, guides, sustains, sanctifies, aids every hour, that I may not be one moment apart from Thee, but may rely on Your Spirit to supply…
-
St. Patrick’s Day Prayer
This famous prayer, widely known as Saint Patrick’s Breastplate, is one of the earliest known European vernacular poems. While it has been attributed to Patrick, some scholars say a few of the words indicate a later period. Regardless of who wrote it, or when, there is no question that this poetic prayer oozes the spirit and substance we see in Patrick’s…
-
Valley of Vision
Having spent the bulk of my years in ministry residing and serving in mountainous regions, this Puritan prayer, from which the Valley of Vision collection takes its title, has always carried deep meaning for me. For not only was it descriptive of my geographic and topographic surroundings, but even now that I am living a…
-
Regeneration: A Puritan Prayer
O God of the highest heaven, occupy the throne of my heart, take full possession and reign supreme, lay low every rebel lust, let no vile passion resist thy holy war; manifest thy mighty power, and make me thine forever. Thou art worthy to be praised with my every breath, loved with my every faculty…
-
The Awakened Sinner
O my forgetful soul, Awake from thy wandering dream; turn from chasing vanities, look inward, forward, upward, view thyself, reflect upon thyself, who and what thou art, why here, what thou must soon be. Thou art a creature of God, formed and furnished by him, lodged in a body like a shepherd in his tent;…
-
Resurrection
O GOD OF MY EXODUS, Great was the joy of Israel’s sons when Egypt died upon the shore, Far greater the joy when the Redeemer’s foe lay crushed in the dust. Jesus strides forth as the victor, conqueror of death, hell, and all opposing might; He bursts the bands of death, tramples the powers of…
-
Crucifixion & Resurrection
Here is a reflection, taken from Valley of Vision, for Good Friday: O Lord, I marvel that thou shouldst become incarnate, be crucified, dead, and buried. The sepulchre calls forth my adoring wonder, for it is empty and thou art risen; the four-fold gospel attests it, the living witnesses prove it, my heart’s experience knows…
-
St. Patrick’s Breastplate
This famous prayer, one of the earliest known European vernacular poems, has been attributed to Patrick – though some scholars say a few of the words indicate a later period. But there is no question that they ooze the spirit and substance we see in Patrick’s Confession. And they reverberate with the power of Christianity that Patrick gave to his adopted…
-
Help Me Follow the Savior
God of all grace, You have given me a Savior, produce in me a faith to live by him, to make him all my desire, all my hope, all my glory. May I enter him as my refuge, build on him as my foundation, walk in him as my way, follow him as my guide,…
-
Lord, Teach Me to be Generous
Lord, teach me to be generous. Teach me to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for reward, save that of knowing that I do your will.…
-
Continual Repentance
I am not sure where I stumbled upon this beautiful prayer, in the pattern of Valley of Vision, but I think it is worthy of repeated reflection: O God of Grace, You have imputed my sin to my substitute, and have imputed his righteousness to my soul, clothing me with a bridegroom’s robe, decking me with…
