Prayer Monday | November 25, 2013

“My First Thought”

Eternal Father of my soul, let my first thought today be of You, let my first impulse be to worship You, let my first speech be Your name, let my first action be to kneel before You in prayer.

For your perfect wisdom and perfect goodness:

For the love with which You love mankind:

For the love with which You love me:

For the great and mysterious opportunity of my life:

For the indwelling of Your Spirit in my heart:

For the sevenfold gifts of Your Spirit:

I praise and worship You, O Lord.

Yet let me not, when this morning prayer is said, think my worship ended and spend the day in forgetfulness of You. Rather from these moments of quietness let light go forth, and joy, and power, that will remain with me through all the hours of the day;

Keeping me chaste in thought:

Keeping me temperate and truthful in speech:

Keeping me faithful and diligent in my work:

Keeping me humble in my estimation of myself:

Keeping me honorable and generous in my dealings with others:

Keeping me loyal to every hallowed memory of the past:

Keeping me mindful of my eternal destiny as a child of Yours.

Through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

–John Baillie, A Diary of Private Prayer

Prayer Monday | July 29, 2013

What does prayer do for God? For one thing, he likes your company.

I cannot imagine a greater motivation to pray—that God enjoys having me in his presence. He enjoys my company and delights in listening to me! He doesn’t get bored with my repeated requests, and he doesn’t moralise if I get it wrong in what I ask for. He doesn’t laugh at me if I put silly, even impertinent, requests. He never makes me feel stupid. There is no rejection, only total acceptance.

… It is such a dazzling thought, that the same God who has countless billions of angels worshipping him sixty seconds a minute day and night, to whom the nations are but a drop in the bucket and who knows all about every leaf on every tree in the world, also welcomes my company—because I am indeed very important to him.

—Did You Think To Pray? By R.T. Kendall

Prayer Monday, February 4 2013

Lord God

I am elated and honoured to serve You.

Your joy and peace fill my mind, heart, body and soul.

I surrender every aspect of my life to You and to Your Glory.

I mirror and magnify Your grace to all the people I meet and interact with.

Your love and forgiveness mould my actions.

Every minute I die to myself, to what I want, need, think and feel, and come alive to You.

I am alive in You.

I am free in You.

Your loyalty is everlasting.

I am perpetually and endlessly cherished.

I am in love with You.

Amen.

Speaking of prayer metaphors…

As I’ve prayed through many a “Call Me, Maybe” song in the van with my too-close-to-tween girls, I’ve wondered what alternative images for prayer might guide those longing to draw closer to God. These images are drawn from poets, saints, biblical writers and contemporary seekers. While there are many to be named, I offer nine, in the spirit of those numbers on the cell phone pad.

Read the whole article here.

To pray

“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.” –Theopan