Tag: Prayer
-
A Guide for Personal Prayers of Confession
Perhaps the most common expression of a prayer of confession is the following: Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our…
-
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…
-
The Ways & Means of Following Jesus
Eugene Peterson, in his book, The Jesus Way, wrote: Following Jesus necessarily means getting his ways and means into our everyday lives. It is not enough simply to recognize and approve his ways and get started in the right direction. Jesus’ ways are meant to be embraced and assimilated into our habits. This takes place only…
-
Lord, Make Me Like You
I don’t recall where or when I first heard following story, but it has often caused me to stop and ask myself about my attitude and motivations: A man prayed to the Lord: “Lord, make me like you; may my words & thoughts be like yours; may my actions produce great fruit…” This was his…
-
Prayer Group Participants
Earlier this week, for a change of pace, and to set our orientation, I had our staff open our weekly meeting with a period of liturgical prayer. This kind of prayer is not really part of our tradition. It appears, from what I occasionally read, that some from our tradition are intensely opposed to such…
-
Dangers of Spiritual Resolutions
I’ve been there. Likely, so have you. The year begins with good intentions, and maybe even a strong start, only to fizzle days later. The Statistic Brain Research Institute reports that 75% of New Years Resolutions are broken within the first week of the New Year. No doubt most of the others go down soon…
-
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…
-
Generic Prayer Request Generator
Sad. Funny. Too often true. But still sad. Sad mostly because this seems reflective of too much of contemporary prayer and the common substance of too many prayer meetings.
-
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;…
-
Practical Prayer Ideas from D.A. Carson
Here are some ideas for prayer practices adapted from D. A. Carson’s A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Apart from any printed guides I may use, I keep a manila folder in my study, where I pray, and usually I take it with me when I am traveling. The first sheet in that folder is a…
-
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…
-
Kingdom-Centered Prayer
Tim Keller writes: Throughout the Old and New Testaments and church history, every spiritual awakening was founded on corporate, prevailing, intensive kingdom-centered prayer. We cannot create spiritual renewal by ourselves, but we can “prepare the altar” and ask God to send his Holy Spirit to change our hearts, our churches, and our communities. Read Tim’s…
-
A Key to Vibrant Prayer
We are not desperate to pray because we are self-deceived. We are blind to our depravity. We don’t see ourselves as we really are. Do you want to learn to pray more? Learn of your sin. Ask God to show it to you, to give you a glimpse of your need. Ask him to show…
-
The Prayers of Paul
In one sense, prayer is the simplest thing in the world. People have been talking to God from the beginning, without instruction and without method. We have praised Him, cursed Him, begged Him, and bargained with Him. We tell Him to send the rains, heal the sick, give us jobs, prove He exists, and explain…
