In You, Only in You

Lord, I am helpless without you.
I am powerless without you.
I am wholly, thoroughly inadequate without you.
I am empty, weak, ineffectual without you.

But in you, abiding in you, only in you
I am more than a conqueror. 

In you, I can move mountains.
In you, I can scale a wall,
overthrow kingdoms,
shut the mouths of lions,
rout armies...
in you, abiding in you and walking in your Spirit,
I can face all things through Christ, who is my strength. Amen.

When I Look into Your Holiness

Pierce Our Souls with Your Love

O God and Lord of the Powers,

and Maker of all creation,

Who, because of your clemency

and incomparable mercy,

sent your Only-Begotten Son

and our Lord Jesus Christ

for the salvation of mankind,

and with His venerable Cross

tore asunder the record of our sins,

and thereby conquered the rulers and powers of darkness;

receive from us sinful people, O merciful Master,

these prayers of gratitude and supplication,

and deliver us from every destructive and gloomy transgression,

and from all visible and invisible enemies who seek to injure us.

Nail down our flesh with reverential fear of you,

and let not our hearts be inclined to words or thoughts of evil,

but pierce our souls with your love,

that ever contemplating you,

being enlightened by you,

and discerning you,

the unapproachable and everlasting Light,

we may unceasingly render confession and gratitude to you:

The eternal Father, with your Only-Begotten Son,

and with your All-Holy, Gracious, and Life-Giving Spirit, 

now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

(a prayer of St. Basil, slightly modernized; photo by Jacob Bentzinger via Unsplash.com)

Refuge

 

May I So Know What I Desire

 

Witness to Your Kindness

I give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. I give praise and thanks to you for the privilege that is mine to witness to your kindness, to your beauty, to your great salvation. I confess that it is both privilege and pain to me—-sweet and bitter. I ask you, please, to make me faithful to speak at your urging and to refrain at your prompting. Light my lamp, and keep it burning. Make my witness bold and unconquerable, reminding me that by your grace and in your strength I can have a greater impact than that of earthquakes and armies. Amen.

(a prayer from the upcoming book, How to Survive the End of the World)

In You

 

Aubrey

It's my favorite daughter's birthday, Lord, 

and I still can't fathom, 

can't even process, 

that she is all she is. 

I'm still and always amazed 

at how kindly, fully, and generously 

you've answered my prayers 

and her mother's prayers 

for her. 

You have made her faithful like Ruth and regal like Esther, 

fierce like Deborah and brilliant like Abigail,

industrious like Lydia and a leader like Junia.

I give you so much praise and thanks

for my only daughter, 

my firstborn, my Blossom; 

for the child you gave me, 

the woman she is, 

the love we share, 

the pride and joy I feel in her, 

the blessings you've given her, 

and the blessings you've given me through her.

Please bless her abundantly today 

and in all the days to come. 

Keep her safe and well. 

Keep her marriage strong and beautiful. 

Prosper her and her husband, 

answer their prayers, 

supply their needs,

fulfill their dreams.

Let her children continue to grow in happiness, health, and holiness.

Reward Aubrey's love and faithfulness and diligence as a mom

with beauty and grace, 

charm and wisdom,

health and wholeness, 

integrity and strength in each of her children 

as you have done for me in mine.

Show her every kindness, 

grant her your favor, 

use her,

bless her,

hold her,

in Jesus' name, amen.

For Loved Ones Who Are Hurting

Lord God, God of all comfort, strength, hope, and help, please draw near to our loved ones who are enduring an unfathomable grief right now. Be there. Please send comfort and strength. Please hear and heed the rage and pain and anguish, and send ministering angels to surround and hold them. Save from hurtful "helpers," from their own regrets and recriminations. Lift them up in your everlasting arms and carry them through these awful days and weeks and months ahead. Supply wisdom and stamina. Help them sleep. Help them when they wake. Walk with them in their grief, and bring healing and blessing in your great love and wisdom, in your perfect timing. Meet their need. Meet them in their need. And be there. Be there. Be there, in Jesus' name, amen. 

Psalm 77

Strong and Courageous

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

On Yom Kippur

On this day our Christian thoughts are turned
to Jewish possibilities of forgiveness and reconciliation.
On this day we stand with them in covenant,
before you,
before your Torah,
amid a world torn asunder.

Our thoughts are of death and destruction,
of fragility and life under threat.
We ponder cities mired in mud and
mountains wrecked in quake;
we notice melting ice and rising water;
we name places of violence
far away and close to home.

We tremble in our insecurity,
afraid to be victim,
but now and then noticing that we are perpetrators;
we finance and applaud faraway violence,
usually not naming the torn bodies or
raped mothers or forgotten children.
We feel uneasy but not frontally guilty,
not until we face your thoughts
that are remote from our thoughts;
we imagine that you think in grief and disappointment
over the mess we have made;
we imagine that you shudder in dismay and anger
over the violation of your good dream;
we imagine that you are ready to abandon us.

But we also imagine that your thoughts are interrupted
by your own poets and prophets,
who line out newness...
new exodus,
new covenant,
new forgiveness,
new life.

While we watch in our dis-ease,
we hear Easter news again,
and your resolve of new beginning.

And so we begin to move
from sadness to joy,
from hurt to dance,
from enslavement to freedom.

And then we wait again for your wonder to become visible
in the world of empires and colonies,
of mudslides and torrents.

We wait. Come fully, come soon.


(a prayer by Walter Brueggemann, from his book, Prayers for a Privileged People)

Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies

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)

Come and Dwell

Sovereign Lord, I come to you with my will, my affection, my very self, and ask you to cleanse me from every evil temper, from every selfish wish, from every secret doubt, and to come and dwell in my heart and keep me pure, and use me for your own glory, in Jesus' name, amen.

(suggested by lines from Helps to Holiness by Samuel Logan Brengle, chapter 19; now revised and updated for modern readers)

Your Regret

 

On October 7

Lord God Adonai, 

who brought your people Israel out of Egypt

and gave them a land and a future, 

have mercy on the remaining hostages 

from the October 7, 2023, massacres, 

who now have suffered a year of captivity, 

on all who await their return in fear and uncertainty, 

on all who grieve the victims of that massacre, 

and their countrymen and women whose lives 

continue to be upended by violence and hatred. 

Please defend all who seek to eradicate terrorism 

and prevent such horrors in the future. 

Plant brotherhood, peace and friendship in the hearts of all,

remove envy and baseless hatred

and spread over your people the Sukkah of Your peace,

for the sake of your great name, amen.  

Promise/Great is Thy Faithfulness

Refuge

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.

(image by blanca_rovira via pixabay.com)

On Rosh Hashanah

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 avert the severity of the decree.

(photo via everystockphoto.com)

Harvest Home

Almighty God, who holdest the yellow moon like a cherry bowl on the tips of thy fingers, is not our newly cleaned and covered corncrib an altar to thee?

As the silk retreats into the browning shuck, as the sap recedes and the day grows shorter, as the dahlias dance and the fringed gentians put on blue veils, as the apple seed darkens and the milkweed blows fairy cotton all over the place, as the blackbirds hold county convention and the patriarch swallow calls his family together, as the ewe weans her lambs and the calves let their hair grow, we know, Good Landlord, that another Harvest Home is come.

We thank thee for all this plenty that we are now too ingather.

And we pray thee for peace.

For enduring peace, based on this plenty, around the world.

Amen.

(from the book, The Farmer Gives Thanks; photo by 6151189 via pixabay.com)

Before My Eyes

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)

For All Those Affected

Gracious God, Merciful Lord, please have mercy on all those suffering in any way from the effects of Hurricane Helene. Rescue those in peril, comfort those who grieve, heal the wounded, strengthen the first responders and others who provide care. Give wisdom and unity and collaboration to those in decision-making roles. Restore power, turn back floodwaters, reunite those who are separated, help those who must repair and recover. Move those in comfort and health to give or send aid, and grant that those who are now exhausted, bereaved, and at wits' end may soon find hope and blessing, in Jesus' name, amen. 
 

Sensate

I give you thanks today, Lord God, Adonai; 

I give you thanks for the day, 

for the gift of waking, 

the grace of breathing, 

for the bounty of breaths I will draw 

and thoughts I will think, 

words I will exchange, 

and work I will do. 

Thank you for every moment of safety I will enjoy, 

for every bite of nourishment, 

every taste of pleasure. 

Thank you for every moment of sight, 

for the grace of seeing, 

the privilege of gazing on my wife, my children, my grandchildren, my friends, 

and the thousands of objects and images my eyes will see today. 

 Thank you for the sounds I will hear, 

the grace of hearing, 

the blessing of lover's voice and music and speech and even the cacophony of traffic and machinery. 

Thank you, Father, for all your kindnesses to me, 

which daily go unmarked, unthanked, unappreciated. 

Make me more mindful of the thousands of graces you bestow on me today, 

and make me glad to be alive, and sensate, and able to enjoy so much. 

Grant me to enjoy even the least enjoyable, 

remembering that the sense to taste bitter as well as sweet is a grace as well, 

in Jesus' name, amen.

(photo by DreamPixer via pixabay.com)

So Much Corruption

Lord God, there is so much hate and violence, 

so many lies, 

and so much corruption in this world, 

and so much of it

so well financed and organized. 

Expose it all, Lord. 

Depose the corrupt. 

Deliver us from evil, 

in Jesus' name, amen. 

(photo illustration by Will Porada via unsplash.com)

For My Friend

 

Flow

I don't want my life, Lord, to be a meandering stream,

its course altered by every stone

and diverted by each depression,

following the path of least resistance.

I want it to be a direct, undiverted flow

through the wide, inviting gates

that lead to your will in Jesus Christ. Amen.

(from the Sept. 25 reading in Eugene Peterson's Praying With The Psalms).

As Old Age Overtakes Me

O Lord, as old age overtakes me, save me from two evils: on the one hand, the querulous, critical, fault-finding habits into which so many old people fall; and, on the other, the soft, gullible spirit. Keep my eyes wide open to the weakness, foolishness, guilefulness, and sin of men; yet keep my heart tender and sympathetic and hopeful. Help me to be firm and steadfast in my loyalty to truth, and always clear as to what truth is. Don't let me be deceived. Don't let me go astray the very least in my old age. Don't permit me to fall into even a little folly that, like a fly in a pot of ointment, will spoil the influence of a life devoted to Thee. Help me, O Lord.

(a prayer of Samuel Logan Brengle, recorded in Portrait of a Prophet by Clarence Hall; please feel free to share this prayer with others using the Twitter, Facebook, and other buttons below. You can also subscribe to this blog in your blog reader or enter your email address at top right to receive posts via email)

It's 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)

How Can I Better Serve Thee, Lord

The Seasons of My Life

Thank you, Lord, that the seasons of my life

have included so many births, and so few deaths;

more times to plant, than times of plucking up that which is planted;

No times to kill, and many times to heal;

infrequent times to break down, and frequent times to build up;

Fewer times to weep than times to laugh;

Fewer times to mourn than times to dance.

Thank you for those times to cast away stones,

and times of gathering stones together;

thank you for times of embracing, and times to refrain from embracing;

Thank you for so many times to get, and so few times to lose,

so many times to keep, and so few times to cast away.

Make me wise to recognize times to rend, and times to sew;

times to keep silence, and times to speak;

times to love, and times to hate;

times of war, and times of peace,

in Jesus' name, amen

(based on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, KJV).

To Walk with You

 

How wonderful it is to walk with you

Along the road your holy servants trod; 

How wonderful it is to hear you say: 

Fear not, have faith, and let me lead the way. 

(from a hymn by Theodore H. Kitching, revised and updated)

Firm Footing

Here at the Cross

Here at the cross in this sacred hour, 

Here at the source of reviving power, 

Helpless indeed, I come with my need; 

Lord, for Thy service, fit me I plead. 

(from a hymn by Bramwell Coles). 

Beauty and Comfort

For all the beauty and comfort I enjoy, I give you thanks, Lord God. For all the people in my life, for my bride, my children, my home, my friends, my possessions--spiritual, mental, emotional, material--for the years and days I have lived, for my victories and my disappointments, for all my worries that never happened and all my dreams that did, I give you thanks, in Jesus' name, amen.

Instead

Abba, 

please make me grateful instead of self-pitying, 

optimistic instead of merely diligent, 

energetic instead of so dreadfully weary, 

in Jesus' name, amen.

My Lord, I Did Not Choose You

Measure

Teach me God the economics of enough. 

If in greed I ask too much of you. 

If in fear I ask too little. 

Measure daily my bread. 

Amen. 

(from http://twitter.com/twitturgies; photo by Mae Mu via unsplash.com)

Father Zosima's Prayer

Lord, save those whom there is no one to pray for,

save also those who do not want to pray to You.

It is not in my pride that I pray for this, Lord,

for I myself am the greatest of sinners.

(from The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky; photo by tedkerwin via everystockphoto.com)

Avery

I know you know, Lord, but this girl--

this fierce, funny, friend-making, firecracker,  force of nature--

turns ten today. TEN! 

"Though she be but little, she is fierce."

And though she be but ten, it feels like she has held my heart for much longer. 
And though she be the youngest in the family, you have done great things in her, and I know you have great plans for her. 

Oh, Lord, thank you for her health, vivacity, personality, perspicacity, and all the sugar and vinegar with which you've filled her. Please make this coming year the best yet for her. Give her a wonderful birthday, a blessed school year, and every joy in the days, weeks, months, and years to come, in Jesus' name, amen.

Spiritual Feast

Lord, how wide is my vista now. What a rich and varied spiritual feast is mine. I am not impeded by dividing lines but can fellowship and worship and learn from and enjoy Thomas Merton (Catholic), A. W. Tozer (CMA), Henri Nouwen (Catholic), John Bevere (charismatic), Andrew Murray (Dutch Reformed), Charles Swindoll (EV Free, nondenominational), Samuel Logan Brengle (Salvation Army), Max Lucado (Church of Christ), and so many others. How blessed I have been through Episcopalian podcasts, and Catholic monasteries, and Methodist chapels, Baptist baptistries, and Church of God in Christ T.V. preachers, and so much more. How beautiful is the whole Body of Christ to me!

For a Strong Self-Esteem

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

Like a Bird Before a Man

O Lord,
I have a wild heart
And cannot stand before thee;
I am like a bird before a man.
How little I love thy truth and ways!
I neglect prayer,
By thinking I have prayed enough and earnestly,
By knowing thou hast saved my soul.
Of all hypocrites,
grant that I may not be an evangelical hypocrite,
Who sins more safely because grace abounds,
Who tells his lusts that Christ’s blood cleanseth them,
Who reasons that God cannot cast him into hell, for his is saved,
Who loves evangelical preaching, churches, Christians, but lives unholily.
My mind is a bucket without a bottom,
With no spiritual understanding,
No desire for the Lord’s Day,
Ever learning but never reaching the truth,
Always at the gospel well but never holding water.
My conscience is without conviction or contrition,
With nothing to repent of.
My will is without power of decision or resolution.
My heart is without affection, and full of leaks.
My memory has no retention,
So I forget so easily the lessons learned,
And thy truths seep away.
Give me a broken heart that yet carries home the water of grace.

(from The Valley of Vision, a collection of Puritan prayers, edited by Arthur Bennett)

Oh My Soul

Let Me Not Forget

When Israel came out of Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,
Judah became your sanctuary,
Israel your dominion.
The sea looked and fled,
the Jordan turned back;
the mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.

How often have you provided me
with such deliverance,
and established me
with such kindness,
and I have quickly moved on
to my next need,
my next request,
my next demand,
and have not trembled at the presence of the Lord,
nor given appropriate thanks
to the One who turned the rock
into a pool,
the hard rock
into springs of water? (based on Psalm 114)

Symphony of Seasons

Abba, Father,
Mighty God,
Adonai,
I praise you:
for the grace
to praise you.

I praise you:
for the symphony of seasons,
four movements,
winterspringsummerfall.

I praise you:
for the marvelous variety of tastes
you've placed in this world,
grapes, apples,
bread, potato,
cheese, milk,
asparagus, peas,
egg yolk and white,
chocolate, coffee,
salt and pepper,
beef and chicken, pork and fish,
cinnamon,
sugar,
and so much more.

I praise you:
for your endless creativity,
your awesome majesty,
your thundering power,
your gentle caresses,
your incredible patience,
your immeasurable condescension
to listen to me
praise you.

Little Things

Let us be thankful, Lord, for little things -
The song of birds, the rapture of the rose;
Cloud-dappled skies, the laugh of limpid springs,
Drowned sunbeams and the perfume April blows;
Bronze wheat a-shimmer, purple shade of trees -
Let us be thankful, Lord of Life, for these!

Let us be praiseful, Sire, for simple sights; -
The blue smoke curling from a fire of peat;
Keen stars a-frolicking on frosty nights,
Prismatic pigeons strutting in a street;
Daisies dew-diamonded in smiling sward -
For simple sights let us be praiseful, Lord!

Let us be grateful, God, for health serene,
The hope to do a kindly deed each day;
The faith of fellowship, a conscience clean,
The will to worship and the gift to pray;
For all of worth in us, of You a part,
Let us be grateful, God, with humble heart.

(a prayer by Robert William Service; photo courtesy of http://www.everystockphoto.com/)

Open-Handed Giver

Lord, isn't your creation wasteful? Fruits never equal the seedling's abundance. Springs scatter water. The sun gives out enormous light. May your bounty teach me greatness of heart. May your magnificence stop me being mean. Seeing you a prodigal and open-handed giver let me give unstintingly like a king's son like God's own. 

(a prayer of Archbishop Helder Camara; photo by kirttu via pixabay.com)

When Shall I Come

When shall I come unto the healing waters? 

Lifting my heart, I cry to Thee my prayer.

Spirit of peace, my Comforter and Healer,

In whom my springs are found, let my soul meet Thee there.

From a hill I know,

Healing waters flow;

O rise, Emmanuel's tide,

And my soul overflow.

Wash from my hands the dust of earthly striving,

Take from my mind the stress of secret fear;

Cleanse Thou the wounds from all but Thee far hidden,

And when the waters flow let my healing appear.

Light, life and love are in that healing fountain;

All I require to cleanse me and restore;

Flow through my soul, redeem its desert places, 

And make a garden there for the Lord I adore.

(a hymn of General Albert Orsborn of The Salvation Army)

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)

Let It Rain

All My Springs

All my springs are in you (Psalm 87:7, ESV).
All my hopes are in you.
All my joy is in you.
All my strength is in you.
All my comfort is in you.
All my energy,
blessing,
integrity,
righteousness,
peace,
wisdom,
security,
encouragement,
freedom,
all,
all,
in you.

Renew

 

A Patient, Victorious Mind

A patient, a victorious mind, 

That life and all things casts behind, 

Springs forth obedient to Thy call; 

A heart that no desire can move, 

But still to adore, believe, and love, 

Give me, my Lord, my Life, my All. 

(a prayer by P. Gerhard, 

photo by Ashley Joseph via unsplash.com)

Happy Life

Grant me a happy life
in all godliness and gravity,
in all purity and nobleness,
in cheerfulness, in health, in good report,
in contentment, in safety, in freedom, in tranquillity,
a happy death, a deathless happiness.

(a prayer of Lancelot Andrewes, from Lancelot Andrewes and His Private Devotions)

Straight and Smooth