Tag: Prayer

Be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18 ESV) 

Heavenly Father, through the ascension of your Son Jesus, our Lord, you sent the Holy Spirit to come alongside us and to fill us, to give us power to live lives of faithful obedience, to love our neighbor and minister effectively. We know you to be a good Father who gives good gifts to His children and the Holy Spirit to those who ask. Fill me, my family, and my fellow believers afresh with your Holy Spirit today. Give us the gifts of the Spirit so we may minister to each other and our community in His power. Lastly, manifest through us the fruits of your Spirit so that our lives display Jesus and bring you glory. Amen.

~~ Fr. Scott Howard

This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9 NLT).

Lord, forgive us for giving in to fear. We fear debt and poverty, so we don’t give as You’ve directed us. We fear for our children, so we worry about them instead of seeking Your guidance for their lives. We fear how the actions of politicians will affect us so we put our trust in different politicians. We haven’t practiced your presence so we lay awake at night in fear over what has happened, what could happen, and what will likely never happen. We’ve given in to fear and have turned from You, the fountain of living water, and have sought for answers from false sources.

We repent of practicing fear, and seek Your grace and presence to direct our every thought. Your word tells us that perfect love casts out fear. Fill us with Your perfect love that You displayed on Calvary, and let that love cast the fear out of our lives. Let our gaze and thoughts always be centered on You, for only in love can we know perfect love, and experience lives where fear has been cast out. Amen.

–Fr. David Surrett

 

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons (Galatians 4:4,5 ESV). 

Lord, thank you that you did not create and then abandon this earth, but that you intervene in human history. Thank you that you are working out your sovereign purposes despite our rebellion to your will. You have not left us to our own devices. By your sovereign hand, you led your people Israel out of Egypt. By your power, you gave them the Law and the Prophets, working miracles and deliverances even though they disobeyed you. Thank you for personally entering into human history and taking on our likeness and frailty. Thank you for offering yourself as the ultimate sacrifice on the cross.

You have made us a part of your covenant people and allowed us to share in all the blessings and promises of Abraham. Pray, Lord Jesus Christ, work in our lives as you did in the lives of the faithful men and women of old. O’ Lord, work in us as you worked in them. Pray, transform into us the likeness of your incarnate Son, that our lives may reflect the beauty of your holiness. In Jesus’s blessed name, we pray. Amen.

~~Nicholas Beckham

Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved (Psalm 55:22 ESV). 

Lord, we cast our burdens upon you for they are heavy. Our hearts are broken and downcast. Our spirits are burdened over loved ones who are sick, lost, and dying. Please come and sustain us as you have promised. Please heal and save those we fervently love and diligently serve. Let us not be moved from steadfast faith and complete trust in your all-mighty power. Do not allow Satan to come and steal our hope in your faithfulness. We thank you, Lord, that you hear our prayers on behalf of our loved ones. Come and have mercy on us, we pray in Jesus’s name. Amen!

~~India B. Davis

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness (Acts 4:29-31 ESV).

Father, you know I am afraid of rejection, of being seen as one of those weird Christians, but I know that so many around me need Jesus as I need Him. Open my eyes to opportunities to tell people about Him, to share how He has been my help in times of need, my healer and friend. Give me boldness and words to speak when these opportunities come. And show yourself strong on their behalf by healing, providing, encouraging and meeting them in their deepest needs. Amen.

~~Fr. Scott Howard

He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross (Mal. 3:3).

Father, in Jesus’ name, burn away every dream, desire, attitude, thought, feeling, word and action that is not a result of Your Spirit reigning in my life.

Burn away everything that is more important to me than my revelation of You and my relationship with You.

Burn away everything that hinders me from loving You with all my heart and loving my neighbors as I love myself.

Burn away everything that hinders me from hearing and obeying Your voice.

Burn away everything I believe about who You are and what You are like that is not the Truth.

Burn away everything in my heart and mind that causes me to desire to harm or destroy those who desire or act to harm or destroy me.

Burn away the lust of my eyes, lust of my flesh and pride of life.

Burn away everything that causes me to desire to own or possess anything that is not rightfully mine.

Burn away everything that causes me to desire to lie or exaggerate to get what I want or impress or harm others.

Father, in Jesus’ name, I ask that I will be deeply intimate with You, filled with your Holy Spirit, free of pride, lust, and fear, loving, patient, kind, tenderhearted, forgiving, joyful, thankful, grateful, humble, considerate, healthy, successful, prosperous and very generous. Amen.

~~Dr. James “Jay” H. Ferguson

Yet a time is coming and has come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks (John 4:23-24).

Father, we love and adore you and we desire to worship you in Spirit and in truth. You seek worshipers who long for you as a deer seeks water. Only through your grace can we lay down our personal desires for our needs, set aside the way we want things to turn out and surrender our will to yours. As we release our demands, change our hearts so that we can be true worshipers; those who know the truth about you and your will toward us and who blissfully gaze on your holiness and are remade in your image. Let our hearts be flooded with the kind of love that leads us to seek your face, not your hand. In Your Blessed Name. Amen.

~~Nancy Beckham

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).

O’ Lord, most beautiful, caring in all your ways, unrelenting in your love and devotion toward us in Christ Jesus. Your love for us has no beginning and has no end. Your love is not limited by space or time because your love is immense and vast like a beautiful, bottomless ocean. Your love never wavers in its pursuit of us: it is undeserved, unsurpassed, unmerited, and free. Your love conquers our deepest fears, overwhelms our greatest worries, and heals our deepest hurts. Your love is unsurpassed for it was displayed in all its glory on the hardwood of the Cross.

Pray, Lord Jesus, open our minds and free our hearts to grasp the width, length, height, and depth of your love. Help us to comprehend that every act of your will and every work of your wisdom is love; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

–Fr. Glenn E. Davis

 

Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! (Rom. 11:33 NLT).

O’ God, all-wise, all-knowing, who always knows what is right, chooses what is right, and performs what is right. We are grateful that you never lead us astray: nothing takes you by surprise, nothing happens by chance, nothing is beyond your purpose and workings. We rejoice that we can trust your all-pervasive wisdom, we never need fear being lead into blindspots. We never need fear being overwhelmed by the world with all its problems and disappointments.

We can know with certainty that our wise God will never leave us confused, bewildered, or forsaken. We pray Lord Jesus Christ, who is all wisdom and knowledge, generously gift us with your wisdom for it is peace-loving, always gentle, full of mercy, and the fruit of good deeds; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

–Fr. Glenn E. Davis