Among All Peoples
Unless I am Kept by Thy Power
O God the author of all good, I come to Thee for the grace another day will require for its duties and events. I step out into a wicked world; I carry about with me an evil heart. I know that without Thee I can do nothing, that everything with which I shall be concerned, however harmless in itself, may prove an occasion of sin or folly, unless I am kept by Thy power. Hold Thou me up and I shall be safe. Preserve my understanding from subtilty of error, my affections from love of idols, my character from stain of vice, my profession from every form of evil. May I engage in nothing in which I cannot implore Thy blessing, and in which I cannot invite Thy inspection. Prosper me in all lawful undertakings, or prepare me for disappointments. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny Thee and say, Who is the Lord? or be poor, and steal, and take Thy name in vain.
May every creature be made good to me by prayer and Thy will. Teach me how to use the world and not abuse it, to improve my talents, to redeem my time, to walk in wisdom toward those without, and in kindness to those within, to do good to all men, and especially to my fellow Christians. And to Thee be the glory.
Amen.
(from The Valley of Vision, a collection of Puritan prayers, edited by Arthur Bennett)
Saturday Psalm #84
Lord God Adonai!
I hunger to worship you,
I thirst to gather with your people,
and commune with you.
Like a sparrow in its nest,
or a swallow sheltering in a chimney,
I am utterly at home in your presence,
O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.
I love your house;
I love your people.
I love being around those whose strength is in you,
who enter your house intent on worship.
Thank you for those who worship you
wherever you show up,
in a tiny chapel or a majestic cathedral,
in a desert or a rainforest.
You lead such true worshipers from strength to strength,
you show yourself to them without fail.
Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty;
listen to me, O God of Jacob.
Look upon us, Lord God;
look with favor on your servants and ministers.
Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand anywhere else;
I would rather sweep your floors, O Lord,
than be exalted in the palaces of the wicked.
For you, LORD God, are a sun and shield;
you bestow favor and honor;
you withhold no good thing
from those who walk with you.
O LORD Almighty,
I am thrilled and honored to trust in you
and call you mine.
Hope and Hopefulness
A Prayer for a Creative Church
O Lord, let not the church be the place where good ideas come to die. Make creativity the church's way forward, not creativity's final forwarding address.
(a prayer by Leonard Sweet; image via pixabay.com)
For Children Yet Unborn
Remove All Bitterness
God remove all bitterness from my heart
and give me the strength and courage to face any disaster that comes my way.
(a prayer from "Thou, Dear God": Prayers That Open Hearts and Spirits; photo via everystockphoto.com)
Saturday Psalm #83
O God, do not keep silent;
O Lord, don't choose now to hold your tongue.
Your enemies are not holding back;
they are yet plotting and scheming.
Evil takes no holiday;
their cunning has not ceased.
Though they may hide,
they still act against your people.
Though they may lie under cover,
they continue to oppose you,
to hinder your work,
to divide your people,
to prevent your kingdom from expanding.
Do to them as you did to Midian,
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon;
defeat all evil
and rout all workers of evil
and drive them from our midst.
Blow them away,
like tumbleweed, O my God,
like chaff before the wind.
As fire consumes the forest
and sets whole mountainsides ablaze,
so pursue them with your fury
and dispel them with your rage.
Humiliate our Enemy,
break his teeth before our eyes,
so that men will seek your name, O LORD,
so that all will know that you, LORD, King of my heart,
that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.
Only in God
Only in God is my soul at rest;
In Him comes my salvation.
He only is my Rock,
My strength and my salvation.
My stronghold, my Savior,
I shall not be afraid at all.
My stronghold, my Savior,
I shall not be moved.
Only in God is my soul at rest;
In Him comes my salvation.
Only in God is found safety,
When my enemy pursues me.
Only in God is found glory,
When I am found meek and found lowly.
My stronghold, my Savior,
I shall not be afraid at all.
My stronghold, my Savior,
I shall not be moved.
Only in God is my soul at rest;
In Him comes my salvation.
1980 Birdwing Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)|(Admin. by BMG Music Publishing)
BMG Songs, Inc. (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)|(Admin. by BMG Music Publishing)
Saturday Psalm #82
yours is the authority over every authority.
How you must grieve at our injustice,
at our petty squabbles,
at our failure to defend
the weak and fatherless,
at our attitude toward the poor and oppressed,
our failure to rescue the weak and the needy
from the hands of the wicked.
We stumble around,
and get it wrong most of the time.
You have made us
just a little lower than the angels
and crowned us with honor and privilege,
yet we fail you as though we’ve practiced it.
Forgive us, O God, judge of all the earth,
and rise up to lead us and teach us and change us,
amen.
(based on Psalm 82; photo via pixabay.com)
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