(a prayer by Malcolm Muggeridge)
Stay With Me
(a prayer by Malcolm Muggeridge)
Mistakes
How amazing that you can redeem my mistakes. I never want to take that for granted or use it as an excuse to sin. Still, the wonder of grace is that you can use my worst failures to strengthen my faith and enable me to better comfort and help others. Thank you, Lord.
(an excerpt from the book, 365 Pocket Prayers, by Ron Beers)
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Im Hashem Lo Yivneh Bayis
Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the guards stand watch in vain (Psalm 127:1).
שִׁ֥יר הַֽמַּֽעֲל֗וֹת לִשְׁלֹ֫מֹ֥ה אִם־יְהוָ֤ה׀ לֹא־יִבְנֶ֬ה בַ֗יִת שָׁ֤וְא׀ עָמְל֣וּ בוֹנָ֣יו בּ֑וֹ אִם־יְהוָ֥ה לֹֽא־יִשְׁמָר־עִ֝֗יר שָׁ֤וְא׀ שָׁק שׁוֹמֵֽר׃
Refuge
Blessèd Lord, in you is refuge,
Safety for my trembling soul;
Pow’r to lift my head when drooping
’Midst the angry billows’ roll.
I will trust you;
All my life you shall control.
In the past too unbelieving
’Midst the tempest I have been,
And my heart has slowly trusted
What my eyes have never seen.
Blessèd Jesus,
Teach me on your arm to lean.
Give me trust that brings the triumph
When defeat seems strangely near;
Grant me faith that changes fighting
Into vict’ry’s ringing cheer!
Faith triumphant,
Knowing not defeat nor fear,
amen.
(a prayer of Herbert Booth, slightly revised, photo via everystockphoto.com)
I Come
but that thy blood was shed for me,
and that thou bidd'st me come to thee,
O Lamb of God, I come.
I come.
Sparrow
catch and cushion your children...
let your everlasting arms shield
and strengthen
and support us all,
in Jesus' name, amen.
(photo via everystockphoto.com)
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,
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 via everystockphoto.com)
Ghoulies and Ghosties
From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!
(Traditional Scottish prayer; the artwork pictured above can be ordered here)
Another Psalm 19
horizon to horizon,
one day after another,
night after night.
They speak in a celestial tongue
that transcends language!
Their proclamation extends from pole to pole,
from east to west,
from the moment the sun leaps out of bed
until it kisses the moon goodnight.
As you speak in Creation,
you speak in the perfection of your Word,
which refreshes the soul as a mountain stream slakes a hiker's thirst.
Your utterances bring clarity,
like first light drawing shapes out of shadows.
Your precepts are as welcome
as raindrops on drooping leaves.
Your commands make perfect sense,
as rising temperatures chase the fog.
Your whispers refresh the soul
like an afternoon breeze in summer.
Every sentence and syllable you speak
is sure and sweet,
more pleasing than an autumn day
or flowers in spring,
and sweeter than the juiciest watermelon,
fresh from the vine.
Your words teach and guide,
and help and bless.
You even speak in the human heart,
to cajole and convict,
to cleanse and recreate.
Speak to me in my innermost parts,
and root out the worst parts of me.
Let my voice sound like yours,
let my life speak of you,
my Lord, my rock, and my redeemer.
The Word I Need
I hear and say so many words,
yet yours is the word I need.
Speak now,
and help me listen;
and, if what I hear is silence,
let it quiet me,
let it disturb me,
let it touch my need,
let it break my pride,
let it shrink my certainties,
let it enlarge my wonder.
(a prayer from Ted Loder's Guerrillas of Grace; photo via everystockphoto.com)
A Chaos of Uncalculating Love
It was your custom,to go to the temple,
to the noisome temple
sometime to the scandalised temple
listening to the mumbo jumbo,
but it was your custom to go.
...
Give us grace in our changing day
to stand by the temple that is the present church,
the noisome temple
the sometime scandalised temple that is the present church,
listening sometime to what again seems mumbo jumbo.
Make it our custom to go
till the new outline of your Body for our day
becomes visible in our midst.
(from George MacLeod, The Whole Earth Shall Cry Glory, p. 39)
For Prevenient Grace
Thank you, Lord, for your prevenient grace.
You are always previous, always before, always ahead.
"Christ is risen, and he has gone before" me.
Thank you for drawing me, not once, but ever.
Thank you for suffering me again to come to you.
Thank you for the grace to thank you,
in Jesus' name, amen.
You are always previous, always before, always ahead.
"Christ is risen, and he has gone before" me.
Thank you for drawing me, not once, but ever.
Thank you for suffering me again to come to you.
Thank you for the grace to thank you,
in Jesus' name, amen.
A Writer's Evening Prayer
If I have driven any of your thoughts away,
If I have written my own willful way:
Dear Lord, forgive!
If I have written idle words or vain,
If I have worked for earthly gain,
If my words should bring one soul pain,
Dear Lord, forgive!
If I appropriated words not mine,
If I failed to give a credit line,
If I've cast my pearls before swine,
Dear Lord, forgive!
If I've failed in substance or in style,
If in anything I've stooped to guile,
If I've failed at all to win your smile,
Dear Lord, forgive!
Forgive the sins I have confessed to you,
Forgive the sins I don't know I do,
And make my writing both good and true;
All else forgive.
Amen.
(based on “An Evening Prayer,” by C. Maud Battersby)
Sail
Lord God Adonai,
teach me please not to be blown around
on the waves of circumstances,
but to sail solely
by the wind
of your Spirit,
in Jesus' name, amen.
Like a Tree
planted by streams of living water.
Let my roots go down deep into you,
your love and kindness.
Let me grow stronger and taller
and give shade to many,
in Jesus' name, amen.
(based on Psalm 1:1-3 and Jeremiah 17:8)
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