Five Great Thanksgiving Prayers

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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...]

Bowing with Thanksgiving – Lectio Divina

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Image by RMaltempo via Flickr     Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.      Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.    Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Psalm 92: 1-2, 6-7Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our MakerA week, Lord. No really all month where we focus on being thankful.I know I should be thankful all the time and have felt the practice of gratitude increase in my life.I do join the psalmist here in singing for joy unto you, Lord.I shout my praises aloud to You, my Rock.With overflowing thanksgiving, I worship You with songs and music.But Lord I almost missed the sixth and seventh verse.I dash into your presence with my thanks.I jump up and dance with the music.I am more than willing to praise You in my manner of worship.But how often do I … [Read more...]

Prayer for God’s Unfailing Love and Faithfulness – Psalm 92: 2

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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...]

Creating a Thankful Home

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 My two-year-old granddaughter, Kyla, is learning manners. Her mom won’t let me respond to Kyla until she says, “Please” and “Thank you.”And I must say in all humble grandmotherlyness, a toddler answering with a exceedingly cute, “You’re welcome” just warms the heart.Growing up in a home where thanks and gratitude is expected will help her as an adult express thankfulness.We can create thankful homes even as adults.A few years back I looked around my house. What would a stranger know about me walking though this place I call home?    Is love spoken here?   What do the residents believe?   Is the atmosphere warm and inviting?I remember that experience when I decorate, remodeled, or hunt for just the right painting for the walls.  I look for ways to express hospitality.November focuses on being grateful and is a great time for creating a thankful home environment.I have a basket of fresh Honey Crisp apples on the counter. Thankful for fall harvest.On my front door hangs a wreath – … [Read more...]

Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant – Lectio Divina

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Image by LSE Library via Flickr“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! Matthew 25: 21Well done, good and faithful servant.Master, what will you say to me when I come to You in my final moments on earth?Will you ask my about my sins?  How I used my gifts? What I accomplished? I heard one man reflect that he thought You would ask “Did you enjoy life?”  Yes life is also about joy.Master, I want to hear “Well done, good and faithful servant”Lord, I don’t know all the answers.I make tons of mistakes.I let my eyes drift away from You and onto shiny bright objects of the world.But I have a deep desire to be faithful – faith that only comes from You.Lord help me be true in the use of my time.Faithful in being who You made me to be.Attentive to Your presence in every detail, every person, every circumstance.My prayer? My desire? Show me how to be a good and faithful servant. … [Read more...]

Asking for Directions – Spiritual Discernment

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Sometimes life is confusing. The signs we see are real. Yet we still get lost in this world    This road sign was recently erected in our county. Imagine you are driving north in traffic. You need to know if you should turn or keep going straight. Quickly what does this sign mean?     East is still east and west is still west in my county, Here Ohio 15 runs north and south for the last 80 years, but that is not what the sign signifies.    In their wisdom of seeing the whole picture, the Ohio Department of Transportation replaced the road sign recently, striving for consistency throughout the state. State Route 15 is designated in Ohio an east-west route even though you travel north and south here.   Confused yet?   Look at all these signs as a whole – East goes in three different directions. You can travel both south and east at the same time. What a mess.      Spiritually, don’t you just want a sign sometime?     The world shows me puzzling and often misleading notices on how I should … [Read more...]