Grit

God, make me a man with "grit" in me;
a man who,
when he knows a thing to be right,
will not turn away, or turn aside, or stop;
a man who will persevere all the more
because there are difficulties to meet
or foes to encounter;
who will stand all the more true to my Master
because I am opposed;
who, the more I am thrust into the fire,
the hotter I become;
who, just like the bow,
the further the string is drawn
the more powerfully it sends forth its arrows,
and so the more I am trodden upon,
the more mighty I will become
in the cause of truth against error,
in Jesus' name, amen.

(modeled on lines by Charles Spurgeon; photo by frozenchipmunk via everystockphoto.com)

Fragrance

Dear Jesus,
Help me to spread Thy fragrance everywhere I go.
Flood my soul with Thy spirit and love.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly
that all my life may only be a radiance of Thine.
Shine through me and be so in me that every soul
I come in contact with may feel Thy presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me but only Jesus.
Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as you shine,
so to shine as to be a light to others.
Amen

(a prayer of Mother Teresa from the video Everyone, Everywhere, via the Daily Prayer blog)

When in Disgrace

When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featur'd like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on Thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For Thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

(Sonnet 29, by William Shakespeare, very revised by capitalizing "Thee" and "Thy"; photo via everystockphoto.com)

Root and Grow

My heartfelt prayer today for my kids and my grandkids, from the "31 Ways to Pray for Your Kids" app for iPhone and iPad.

On the First Day of Autumn

When I must go, dear God, please let it be
A golden autumn day; when red leaves fall,
When purple grapes in shining clusters hang
And bittersweet glows bright against the wall,

When o'er the barren fields and russet meads
Their last farewells the crickets cry.
Let me make my silent journey
When the homing birds fly south across the sky.

When I must go, dear God, please let me go
As silently as autumn rain,
As still as lacy shadows 'neath the willow trees,
As calm as is the moon above the hill.

So let me go--and may there be no grief
When life is done and I must say goodbye.
I'll take my leave with flowers and falling leaf
And lie in peaceful sleep beneath the sky.

(unattributed)

The Thief's Prayer

Lord, remember me.
Remember me
when you feel like blessing someone.
Remember me
when you're handing out strength for the day,
rest for the night,
hope for tomorrow.
Remember me
when I forget you are near.
Remember me
when the crowd presses in on me.
Remember me
when others find fault,
and demand what I cannot give.
Remember when I'm stricken with fear,
and peace eludes me,
and I forget that you are in control.
Remember me, too, when cloudy skies clear,
and all seems well with the world.
Remember me, Lord.
Remember me, in Jesus' name, amen.

(image is a detail from a photo by dodo71 via pixabay.com)

Create in Me

Beaming Bright

Once more the sun is beaming bright,
Once more to you I pray,
That your eternal light may guide
And cheer my soul today.
Amen.

(a prayer of St. Ambrose of Mila, slightly revised)

.

On Rosh Hashanah

So now, the Kedushah prayer shall ascend to You, for You, our God, are King.

Let us now relate the power of this day's holiness, for it is awesome and frightening. On it Your Kingship will be exalted; Your throne will be firmed with kindness and You will sit upon it in truth. It is true that You alone are the One Who judges, proves, knows, and bears witness; Who writes and seats, (counts and calculates); Who remembers all that was forgotten. You will open the Book of Chronicles - it will read itself, and everyone's signature is in it. The great shofar will be sounded and a still, thin sound will be heard. Angels will hasten, a trembling and terror will seize them - and they will say, 'Behold, it is the Day of Judgment, to muster the heavenly host for judgment!'- for they cannot be vindicated in Your eyes in judgment. 

All mankind will pass before You like members of the flock.  Like a shepherd pasturing his flock, making sheep pass under his staff, so shall You cause to pass, count, calculate, and consider the soul of all the living; and You shall apportion the fixed needs of all Your creatures and inscribe their verdict.

On Rosh Hashanah will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur will be sealed how many will pass from the earth and how many will be created; who will live and who will die; who will die at his predestined time and who before his time; who by water and who by fire, who by sword, who by beast, who by famine, who by thirst, who by storm, who by plague, who by strangulation, and who by stoning. Who will rest and who will wander, who will live in harmony and who will be harried, who will enjoy tranquillity and who will suffer, who will be impoverished and who will be enriched, who will be degraded and who will be exalted.

But repentance, prayer, and charity remove the evil of the decree!

For Your Name signifies Your praise: hard to anger and easy to appease, for You do not wish the death of one deserving death, but that he repent from his way and live. Until the day of his death You await him; if he repents You will accept him immediately.

It is true that You are their Creator and You know their inclination, for they are flesh and blood. A man's origin is from dust and his destiny is back to dust, at risk of his life he earns his bread; he is likened to a broken shard, withering grass, a fading flower, a passing shade, a dissipating cloud, a blowing wind, flying dust, and a fleeting dream.

But You are the King, the Living and Enduring G-d.

There is no set span to Your years and there is no end to the length of Your days. It is impossible to estimate the angelic chariots of Your glory and to elucidate Your Name's inscrutability. Your Name is worthy of You and You are worthy of Your Name, and You have included Your Name in our name.

(a prayer for Rosh Hashanah, which begins at sundown today; photo by cstpdx via pixabay.com)

First and Last

Alpha and Omega, First and Last, I pray:
be my first thought every morning,
and my last thought every night.

Claim my first allegiance,
my last full measure of devotion.

Take first place in my heart,
and rule over every last affection.

Make me first to serve,
last to seek credit.

Let me please you first,
and all others last,
amen.

(photo by sferrario via pixabay.com)

Place of Protection

Restore

Abba, please restore to me the joy of your salvation
and, with it, please restore my faith in people
and my ability to think and expect
the best of them,
in Jesus' name, amen.

(photo via pixabay.com)

My Help

 

Hide Thou Me

Mercy on Me

 

Exactly as I Am

Oh, Eternal One, it would be easier for me to pray if I were clear and of a single mind and a pure heart; if I could be done hiding from myself and from you, even in my prayers. But, I am who I am, mixture of motives and excuses, blur of memories, quiver of hopes, knot of fear, tangle of confusion, and restless with love, for love. I wander somewhere between gratitude and grievance, wonder and routine, high resolve and undone dreams, generous impulses and unpaid bills. Come, find me, Lord. Be with me exactly as I am. Help me find me, Lord. Help me accept what I am, so I can begin to be yours. Make of me something small enough to snuggle, young enough to question, simple enough to giggle, old enough to forget, foolish enough to act for peace, skeptical enough to doubt the sufficiency of anything but you, and attentive enough to listen as you call me out of the tomb of my timidity into the chancy glory of my possibilities and the power of your presence. Amen. 

(a prayer from Ted Loder's Guerrillas of Grace)

Dog Days on the Leash

For putting the dog days on the leash, we would give thee praise, our Father. 

We farmers come now to the day of reckoning. 

We can see where we plowed deep and where we cut corners. 

Reverently we celebrate the loaf-mass of our forefathers and we place on thine altar the first fruits of our harvest; if needs be we will bring more to feed all thy lambs. 

And now bless us as we show the firstlings of our flocks and herds for ribbons of white and yellow and red and blue. 

Help us like real men to be glad with what we get; and to accept the adjudgment in humble assurance that with thy continued help we can do even better in producing the meats and the milk, the bread and the butter, the cool fiber, and the warm, whereby little children flourish and the elder ones are comforted. 

Behold, O Lord, if the harvest truly is great, may we labor among the other seventy also. 

Amen. 

(excerpt from the book, The Farmer Gives Thanks; photo by TheDigitalArtist via pixabay.com)

Morning and Night

 

Into Your Hand

 

All Our Work and Toil

O God, creator of the world,
of sun and moon and stars,
you chose to fashion us, your own,
your handiwork of love.

Indeed, we are your hands’ own work
and yet into our hands
you give the care
of every living thing.

In more ways than we can count
our work builds up
or tears apart what came
from your own hand.

Keep us faithful in preserving
all you’ve given
lest we harm the smallest part
of all you’ve made.

Give us good and honest work to do
and rest at each day’s end.
Give a fair and good day’s wage
for a good day’s work well done.

Give us work that nurtures and sustains
the ones who serve and those they serve.
Let those who labor work in peace,
in freedom without fear.

Give those in need a job to do
and to the tired well earned rest.
Let all our work and toil, Lord,
give glory to your name.

Amen.

(From A Concord Pastor Comments blog; photo by skeeze via pixabay.com)

Make My Life a Prayer to You

Save Me From the Internet

Save me
from the internet, Lord.

Save me
from all that would
invade,
pervert,
condition,
conform,
and inure me
to ungodliness and unhealthiness.

Make me a victor over all evil influences,
"taking every thought captive
to the obedience of Christ,"
in Jesus' name, amen.

Traveler Unknown

Come, O thou Traveler unknown,
Whom still I hold, but cannot see!
My company before is gone,
And I am left alone with Thee;
With Thee all night I mean to stay,
And wrestle till the break of day.

I need not tell Thee who I am,
My misery and sin declare;
Thyself hast called me by my name,
Look on Thy hands, and read it there;
But who, I ask Thee, who art Thou?
Tell me Thy name, and tell me now.

In vain Thou strugglest to get free,
I never will unloose my hold!
Art Thou the Man that died for me?
The secret of Thy love unfold;
Wrestling, I will not let Thee go,
Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.

Wilt Thou not yet to me reveal
Thy new, unutterable Name?
Tell me, I still beseech Thee, tell;
To know it now resolved I am;
Wrestling, I will not let Thee go,
Till I Thy Name, Thy nature know.

’Tis all in vain to hold Thy tongue
Or touch the hollow of my thigh;
Though every sinew be unstrung,
Out of my arms Thou shalt not fly;
Wrestling I will not let Thee go
Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.

What though my shrinking flesh complain,
And murmur to contend so long?
I rise superior to my pain,
When I am weak, then I am strong
And when my all of strength shall fail,
I shall with the God-man prevail.

My strength is gone, my nature dies,
I sink beneath Thy weighty hand,
Faint to revive, and fall to rise;
I fall, and yet by faith I stand;
I stand and will not let Thee go
Till I Thy Name, Thy nature know.

Yield to me now, for I am weak,
But confident in self-despair;
Speak to my heart, in blessings speak,
Be conquered by my instant prayer;
Speak, or Thou never hence shalt move,
And tell me if Thy Name is Love.

’Tis Love! ’tis Love! Thou diedst for me!
I hear Thy whisper in my heart;
The morning breaks, the shadows flee,
Pure, universal love Thou art;
To me, to all, Thy bowels move;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

My prayer hath power with God; the grace
Unspeakable I now receive;
Through faith I see Thee face to face,
I see Thee face to face, and live!
In vain I have not wept and strove;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

I know Thee, Savior, who Thou art.
Jesus, the feeble sinner’s friend;
Nor wilt Thou with the night depart.
But stay and love me to the end,
Thy mercies never shall remove;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

The Sun of righteousness on me
Hath rose with healing in His wings,
Withered my nature’s strength; from Thee
My soul its life and succor brings;
My help is all laid up above;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

Contented now upon my thigh
I halt, till life’s short journey end;
All helplessness, all weakness I
On Thee alone for strength depend;
Nor have I power from Thee to move:
Thy nature, and Thy name is Love.

Lame as I am, I take the prey,
Hell, earth, and sin, with ease o’ercome;
I leap for joy, pursue my way,
And as a bounding hart fly home,
Through all eternity to prove
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

(a hymn by Charles Wesley)

Dispose the Day

How Thou pleasest, God,
Dispose the day.

(William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act IV, Scene III)

In Our Day

Reclothe Us in Our Rightful Mind

My Shepherd

Everything

My Symphony

Dear God,
Help me
To live content with small means,
to seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion,
to be worthy, not respectable,
and wealthy, not rich,
to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly,
to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart,
to bear all cheerfully,
do all bravely,
await occasions,
hurry never--
in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious,
grow up through the common.
This is to be my symphony.
Amen.

(by William Ellery Channing, from Bedside Prayers; photo by analogicus via pixabay.com)

To Make Me Flee Forward

My Father and my God, I see that my life
will be made or broken at the place
where I meet and deal with my obstacles.
Help me not to run away from them,
but to run toward them,
to tackle and overcome them.
Help me to take the impulse to flee
and compel it to make me flee forward. Amen.

(a prayer of E. Stanley Jones, from Abundant Living, p. 117; photo by royharriman via pixabay.com)

Whatever

Abba, into your hands I entrust my body, mind and spirit and this entire day--morning, afternoon, evening and night. Whatever you want of me, I want of me, falling into you and trusting in you in the midst of life. Into your heart I entrust my heart, feeble, distracted, insecure, uncertain. Abba, unto you I abandon myself in Jesus our Lord. Amen.

(a prayer of Brennan Manning, from Ruthless Trust, p. 11; photo via photoxpress.com)

Work

This prayer, abundantly answered for my children, I now pray once a month for my grandchildren (from the iPhone/iPad app, "31 Ways to Pray for Your Kids," available in the iTunes app store, here):

Success and Blessing

Lord, please let my life reflect

the difference between success

and blessing.

Amen.

(photo by ChadoNihi via pixabay.com)

A Great "Give Me" Prayer

Lord, give me love. Give me faith. Give me hope. Give me passion, purpose, and determination. Give me utter devotion. Give me a divine discontent with formality, ceremonialism, lukewarmness, indifference, sham and noise, parade and spiritual death. Give me singleness of eye and a consecration unto death. Give me that which emboldened David to run out to meet the insolent giant and Esther to face the king and plead for her people, saying, "If I perish, I perish" (Esther 4:16). Give me God the Holy Spirit burning in and through me, with humble, holy, faithful effect, in Jesus' name, amen.

(based on lines from Take Time to Be Holy, by Samuel Logan Brengle, p. 228)

Faithful to the End

The Secret of Being Content

Today's prayer from the "31 Ways to Pray for Your Kids" app for iPhone and iPad...and my prayer today for my kids and my grandkids.

Wildfire Prayer

Abba, Father, Lord, have mercy on all of those affected by and contending with the wildfires throughout California, including my son and daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Save them, Lord. Protect them. Preserve them, their loved ones, neighbors, friends, pets, and livestock; their homes, churches, and businesses; grant that the flames and smoke may be turned back and away, and dangers and damages miraculously limited by your strong hand, in Jesus' name, amen. 

To Know Your Zeal

Lord, I praise you because you are
a God of joyful shouting,
a God of celebration,
a God who leaps and dances,
a God who sings,
a God who is (in Tozer's words)
"having a good time!"

God, help me to know your joy, your zeal, your zestful nature.

Put me in touch with your singing, dancing, shouting heart. Let me laugh with you today and enjoy what you enjoy. Restore to me the joy of your salvation...of your very nature, in Jesus' name, amen.

Until the End

Meteoric

Be Gracious

Come, My Way

Generous and Willing to Share

My prayer today for my kids and my grandkids, from the "31 Ways to Pray for Your Kids" app for iPhone and iPad.

Drop Thy Still Dews of Quietness

Shepherd of the Stars

You are Shepherd of the Stars.
Whole galaxies form your royal train.
The countless host of heaven,
blazing suns,
mighty planets,
dappled moons,
comets, asteroids, vapors, black holes,
all follow after you like so many ducks behind their mother.
And yet, Lord, my immmense, mind-boggling, Star-Shepherd,
you condescend to me,
to sit with me,
whisper to me,
commune with me.
Such thoughts are too marvelous for me,
I cannot attain unto them!
But I praise you and thank you,
in Jesus' name, amen.

(photo by skeeze via pixabay.com)

Unfailing Love

Until Respondent Voices Rend the Air

Omnipotent God, whom through the worship of my heart alone I know, to the wicked unknown, yet known to every devout soul, you are without beginning and without end, more ancient than time past and time to come; your fashion and extent no mind can ever grasp, no tongue express....

Son of the All-highest, bringer of salvation to the human race, you to whom your Begetter has committed all the powers of his Fatherhood, keeping none back in envy, but giving freely, open a way for my prayers and safely convey them to your Father's ears.

Grant me a heart, O Father, to hold out against all deeds of wrong, and deliver me from the serpent's deadly venom, sin....

Prepare a road that I, being freed from the fetters of this frail body, may be led up on high, where in the clear heaven the Milky Way stretches above the wandering clouds of the wind-vexed moon--that road by which the holy men of old departed from the earth; by which Elias, being caught up in the chariot, once made his ways alive above our lower air; and Enoch, too, who went before his end without change of body.

Grant me, O Father, the effluence of everlasting light for which I yearn, and bring to your altar the offering of a stainless life.

Grant me your pardon, Father, and relieve my anguished breast...and when the hour of my last day shall come, grant that the conscience of a life well spent cause me not to fear death, nor yet long for it. When, through your mercy, I appear cleansed from my secret faults, let me despise all else, and let my one delight be to await in hope your judgment. And if that day delays, keep me far from that fierce tempter, the serpent, with his false allurements.

Claim these prayers as your own before the eternal Father, Son of God to whom I pray, Savior, God and Lord, Mind, Glory, Word and Son, very God of very God, Light of Light, who remains with the eternal Father, reigning throughout all ages, whose praise the harmonious songs of tuneful David echo forth, until respondent voices rend the air with "Amen."

(a prayer by Ausonius, shortened and updated slightly)

Radiancy

Christ, Whose glory fills the skies,
Christ, the true, the only Light,
Sun of Righteousness, arise,
Triumph o’er the shades of night;
Dayspring from on high be near;
Day-star, in my heart appear.

Visit now this soul of mine,
Pierce the gloom of sin and grief;
Fill me, Radiancy divine,
Scatter all my unbelief;
More and more Yourself display,
Shining to the perfect day.

(from a hymn by Charles Wesley; photo via everystockphoto.com)

Respectful

My prayer today for my kids and my grandkids, from the "31 Ways to Pray for Your Kids" app for iPhone and iPad.

Saturday Psalm #150

Hallelujah, Lord!

I praise you
for the capacity to praise you.
I praise you
that I can praise you in song,
and for the privilege of praising you
in harmony with others who praise you.

I praise you
under your great blue blanket of sky;
I praise you for your mighty acts
and your magnificent greatness.
I praise you with joyful laughter
and with quiet weeping.
I praise you with dance,
and I praise you by kneeling.

I praise you loudly
and I praise you softly.
I will praise you facedown
and I praise you with a fist pump!

I praise you with all that I have,
and all I am;
let every living thing join in!

Amen.

To Walk in the Day

Grant, Lord, that I may walk in the day,

and not stumble,

because I see the Light of this world (John 11:9),

in Jesus' name, amen.

(photo by Nordseher via pixabay.com)

Enter and Enlarge

My soul is like a house, small for you to enter, but I pray you to enlarge it. It is in ruins, but I ask you to remake it. It contains much that you will not be pleased to see: this I know and do not hide. But who is to rid it of these things? 

(a prayer of St. Augustine of Hippo, from his Confessions, Book 5.1; photo via pixabay.com)

Today in Your Classroom

Rabbi, Teacher, Lord, thank you for all you are teaching me these days.

Through self-quarantining and semi-seclusion, you are teaching me to persevere and deny myself. 

Through scarcity and need you are teaching me to recognize you as the source of my daily bread, to rely on you for the supply of all my needs, and to plan carefully and choose wisely. 

Through delay and waiting you are teaching me patience and trust, reminding me that "in quietness and confidence" is my strength (Isaiah 30:15).

Through changing circumstances you are are teaching me (again) to pray, and to remember from whence my help--and help for my children and grandchildren--comes.

Through disappointment and difficulty, you are teaching me humility, contentment, and new ways of doing old things.

Through it all, Lord, I can see your hand, and your wisdom. Through it all, teach me some of that wisdom, the kind that comes only from you. Help me to learn such lessons well so as to learn the next one--and the ones after that--quicker and better, in Jesus' name, amen.

Worthy

Hiding Place

Healer of My Soul

Saturday Psalm #149

I praise you, LORD.
I will sing to you,
a new song,
an old song,
a slow song,
a fast song,
my own song,
anyone's song.

I will rejoice in you, my Maker;
I will be giddy in your presence, my King.

I will praise your name with dancing
(try not to laugh);
I will turn anything into an instrument of praise to you.

For you delight in your people;
you crown your lowly subjects with salvation!

I rejoice in honor from you,
I sing for joy that you listen to my prayers!

Your praise will be in my mouth,
your Word a double-edged sword on my lips,
to wield spiritual warfare
and send petty demons fleeing,
to bind them with fetters, with shackles of iron,
for it is my glory to be your lowliest soldier
in the struggle of the ages.
Amen.