PRAYING WITH FRIENDS FROM THE PAST

Today we want to once again pray along with some folks from times past whose prayers somehow touch places in our hearts that we long to express to God. 

It’s always good to begin with giving thanks.  This somehow opens our hearts to realize again all that God is doing on our behalf.  Giving thanks helps us notice all that is good and that leads us to a true sense of peace and well being.

Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love.

We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side.

We thank you for setting us at tasks that demand our best efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments that satisfy and delight us.

We thank you also for those disappointments and failures that lead us  to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.

Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast obedience by which he overcame temptation; for his dying, through which he conquered death; and for his rising to life again, in which we are raised

to the life of your kingdom.

Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know Christ and make him known; and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.

But all the good around us isn’t much if we are not experiencing the beauty of God living in us by His Spirit and making us whole.

O God, without whose beauty and goodness our souls are unfed, without whose truth our reason withers: Consecrate our lives to your will, giving us such purity of heart, such depth of faith, and such steadfastness of purpose, that in time we may come to think your own thoughts after you; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

As we move forward into our day we ask God to give us discernment and wisdom and to guide us safely along the way in times of light or darkness.

PRAYER FOR GUIDANCE

O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what  you would have us do, that the Spirit of wisdom  may save us from all false choices; that in your  light we may see light, and in your straight path we may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.