“To pray is to descend with the mind into the heart, and there to stand before the face of the Lord, ever-present, all-seeing, within you.” Theophan the Recluse, a 19thcentury Russian mystic. … [Read more...]
Five Great Thanksgiving Prayers
Image by *clairity* via FlickrSaying thanks right now may be the farthest from your mind as you rush to get the house ready for company before the big meal on Thursday. In the United States we celebrate Thanksgiving this week.My prayers during many of the holidays become more chaotic. Sometimes my prayers on a week like this take on a desperate tone of “please let’s not have any family drama this year and all get along, like in the Norman Rockwell sketches.”As we sit down to eat our Thanksgiving meal we do pause to give our thanks to God for all He has done for us. Sometimes we share something we are thankful for and someone offers to say the prayer. I found five great examples of Thanksgiving Day Prayers to share with you. I pray that your holiday may be blessed and maybe one of these prayers will help:Psalm 100Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, … [Read more...]
Prayer for God’s Unfailing Love and Faithfulness – Psalm 92: 2
Image by Nutmeg Designs via FlickrMark Roberts wrote a reflection a few weeks ago on the Higher Calling website about framing your day with God’s love and faithfulness.Roberts based his idea on Psalm 92: 2: It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning, your faithfulness in the evening.,He wrote, “ I wonder what would happen if you were to take Psalm 92:2 very literally. What difference might it make in your life if the first thing you did when you got up in the morning was to proclaim God’s unfailing love, and the last thing you did was to proclaim his faithfulness?I took him up on his challenge and have been praying about God’s unfailing love first thing in the morning and His unfailing faithfulness as I go to sleep at night. Here is what I have learned:1. Since I already have the practice of Examen at night (see my post re this here) adding a prayer of thankfulness for God’s faithfulness was easy for me. Yet I paused as I have been praying this, wondering how … [Read more...]
Apache Prayer – Quote of the Week
Image by aronki via FlickrLooking behind I am filled with gratitude. Looking forward I am filled with vision. Looking upwards I am filled with strength. Looking within I discover peace.Quero Apache Prayer … [Read more...]
Silence – The First Step in Prayer
Image by Mara ~earth light~ via FlickrToo often I rush into my prayers. Listing my perceived needs and coveted wants to God like putting coins in a vending machine. I do add some praise. I pause for a moment of gratitude. I really try to worship.But noise fills up all the nooks and crannies of my prayers.Mother Teresa’s words stopped me cold when I read them the other day:The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, the fruit of service is peace.Silence is the first step – the critical element that we can’t miss.Many of you know the verse from Psalm 46:10: Be Still and Know I am God.I have begun using this at the beginning of my prayers. Repeating it slowly with silence in between, dropping a word each time from the ending.Be Still and Know I am God.Be Still and Know I am.Be Still and Know.Be Still.Be.This simple mantra quiets the chattiness in my mind and brings me silently into God’s presence. The focus … [Read more...]
Pray without Ceasing
Image by Dane Low via Flickr“Pray without ceasing” Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17. “Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer” appears in Romans 12:12.“Pray in the spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication” is found in Ephesians 6:18.And then “Continue steadfastly in prayer…” in Colossians 4:2.Ok, Ok I get it. Not only is prayer important, but God invites to pray continually. More than an invitation, it sure sounds like a command to me, yet so hard, even unfeasible to maintain. “God never asks the impossible for us. If one had always to be in church, one would die for lack of the necessities of life; and were one obliged to be always on one’s knees, who could bear the constant fatigue? But God asks only for a conversation to continue always between the two of us, and it can continue when you are working, eating, drinking, writing, and even while sleeping.” 17th century Protestant mystic of the French Reformed Church, Pierre Poiret.I have … [Read more...]
Dangerous Prayers
Image by spcbrass via Flicr“You are brave. That is a dangerous prayer.” This is what one friend said to me the other day when I shared a personal prayer that recently been on my heart.“Lord, do what You need to do with me in order that I become what You best choose.”I guess I didn’t think of this honest submission to God as dangerous or that I was suddenly full of courage – I just prayed.That reminded me of another prayer I read about a year ago:May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, superficial relationships, so that you will live deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people so that you will work for justice, equality and peace. May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war, so that you will reach out your hand to comfort them and change their pain into joy. And may God bless you with the foolishness to think that you can make a difference in the … [Read more...]
Praying for What is Right in Front on You: Praying the News
Image via WikipediaWhat do you do when you hear a siren?If you are driving, you pull the car over to the side of the road to let the emergency vehicle pass.But my mom taught me one more thing: When you hear a siren, say a prayer.Pray for where the ambulance is heading. Pray for safety for the EMTs, law enforcement, or fire fighters. But always remember to pray.We live in a rural area and sometime hear or see the emergency helicopter fly over transporting someone who needs immediate medical care. Another time a sound or sight triggers prayer.The Carmelite Sisters in Indianapolis Indiana offer prayer in response to another set of sights and sounds. They pray the news. Now I have noticed one of my favorite spiritually-related web sites, Spirituality and Practice, is also praying the news:What a different mindset to have when watching the evening news or reading the paper or when a headline pops up on the computer. Our Sunday newspaper … [Read more...]