Tag Archives: Prayer

Writings and reflections on prayer. The prayers section at prayerscapes features over 100 original contemporary prayers.

Prayer for my Family

Family is the most incredible place to reside, yet it is also the most difficult place to navigate. Living in close fellowship with others always requires us to become more real, more forgiving, more giving and more mature as individuals. There is much to be gained in terms of intimacy, security and nurture, yet also much at risk in terms of conflict, resentment and loss. It is as sons and daughters of the living God that we find the craving for this union, the search for oneness and the need for exclusivity. For we read in the bible that we are made after the image of our maker (Gen 1:27). Our very desires to be one in marriage echo the oneness that is central to the Trinity. And our longings to create a family and have children mirror the creative nature of the Holy Family (Gen 1:26).

Yet family is more than flesh and blood. It is those whom we walk with daily, the ones that get to know the real “us”, those with whom we feel bonded to and devoted to. The following prayer is one that covers and encircles those whom we call family. It is a blessing prayer, it rolls forever like a beautiful ocean wave over our dear ones. The extraordinary thing is that when we invite Jesus into our lives, he inhabits our daily family life by the power of his Holy Spirit, and his father becomes father over our families. May I encourage you to speak out this prayer of belonging, blessing and keeping over your loved ones now:-

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Prayer for my family

Lord be beside us, every day
Guiding and leading us gently always.
Lord be above us, help us to see
The hope of the future, of all we could be.

Lord be beneath us, carry us when
We’re too shattered or tired to really have strength.
Lord be ahead of us, smoothing our paths
Protecting and blessing the places we pass.

Lord be behind us, healing our wounds,
Forgiving our mistakes and making us new.
Jesus, be within us, this family is yours
Now and forever, you are our Lord.

Prayer for a Friend

How can we pray for a friend who is currently having to contend with a very difficult life experience? It might be they have just lost their job, or perhaps it is a serious illness or even a bereavement in the family. Sometimes it is a friend whom we are in fellowship with, the two of us walking beside Jesus, where much prayer will be needed. In this situation, no matter what the storm is, it is essential to remain sure of “Immanuel”, that God is with us. You will find yourself praying for them at many times and in many places. They will rest so close to your heart that every thought of them will be a prayer.

However, it is much harder when your beloved friend is yet to know the fullness of Christ. Here it is the presence of God in us that will be Christ alongside them. Christ dwells in us, we are a temple for the Holy Spirit and there are many ways for the Spirit of God to prompt your prayers, actions, words and being to bless them.

He will not abandon us or them.

He is the beginning and the end.

He will call us all home.

Sorrow will end.

Pain will cease.

He is peace.

He is grace.

He is all love.

He is with you.

I have written the following words as an “anchor” type prayer. Here a remind myself of when Jesus was in the boat with his friends, in the middle of a great storm. With just these three words “Quiet! Be still!” the winds and lashing rains were calmed. It will be hard “heart” work to carry, support or lead a friend through difficult trials. But in the middle of the tempest we shall rest in the very breath, heartbeat and essence of Jesus.

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Prayer For a Friends Strength

O Lord,

You know how much I long to see my friend restored.
You are with us all, at all times, and in all places.
Your love gives us the strength to endure,
And breathes hope into our lives.

So I pray for rivers of your love to be flowing in their life.
Through the care of friends and family,
Through the beauty of creation,
Through your life-giving words and healing Spirit.
Everlasting Father you promise to be our strength in times of weakness,
So I trust my friend into your hands.

Please lead me as I pray and care for them,
So that I may reveal more and more of your great love and grace.

Amen.

Prayer for Youth

When I look back on my own “youth years” I realise now what an extraordinarily difficult period it was – the explosion of hormones, the pressure to be in the “in” crowd, the stresses and expectations placed upon you – it all seemed to come together at the same time! When you are a teenager, you have no concept that this cauldron of racing thoughts, emotions and confusions will settle down. You have no idea that ahead lies easier seasons and that life is not all or nothing, “living the dream” or complete failure, but that there are many pathways and possibilities for happiness. At this age I remember how my life would see-saw between great moments of maturity and then complete meltdowns just hours later as though I was a toddler! Yet amidst all this I remember chinks of clarity, times of connection and flashes of faith forming in my soul. Nurturing and sometimes nursing a young adult through these years can be a roller coaster of a ride. As we seek to care for our in-betweeners, let’s remember the challenges of life as a teenager and extend fountains of grace to them as they navigate their way through.

The following prayer seeks to bring order and hope into this maze of teenage existence. It recalls all the different elements that bring inspiration and meaning to life and offers these beautiful things back to God in love and service. If you are a young person, use this film now as a space to hear and connect with God and his heart for your life. And if you are of an older generation, please use this video as a prayer for someone you know who is going through this period of great transition in their lives, and ask for God’s presence and voice to be with them: –

Prayer for Youth

Dear God,

Thank you for the amazing world you have made.
Help us to care for every aspect of your creation.

Thank you for the wonders of physics, medicine and astronomy.
Help us to engage with each facet of the universe.

Thank you for the power of the creative arts.
Help us to pioneer new vision and sounds in our generation.

Thank you for our incredible minds and bodies.
Help us to become all we could be as individuals.

Thank you for our family, friendships, community and relationships.
Help us to accept, nurture and forgive one another.

Thank you for all these great things in our lives.
May we play our part in bringing peace, prosperity and justice to all.

Amen.

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Prayer for Couples

The closeness found in marriage can provide a really beautiful space in which you learn together, grow in maturity and enjoy a deep friendship and intimacy. It was for me an extraordinary trigger to becoming more of who God created me to be and is such a blessing. However, that same close perimeter can be hard to live in if you are both encountering darkness, rejection, despair or confusion. Loving each other through the challenging times can be difficult as the closeness and intimacy of a marriage means that it is here that we are real, here where we let off steam, here where we will need to offload!

The following prayer is a helpful reminder that marriage is a three-cord relationship, that the cord of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit weave into our lives and within our love. The prayer asks for God’s light to shine in the dark days, for protection to cover our weaknesses, hope to return by the wind of God’s Spirit and sight to have new vision. So even if the road is so arduous that your marriage has taken the toll, take your partners hand and pray. Pray together if that is possible, pray silently if easier and on your own if your loved one has lost faith. Light will come, a shield will surround you, hope will arise, and vision will be found again. Your marriage is a beautiful thing, a rich treasure, and a great gift – to each of you and those who surround you. Here is the prayer:-

Lord be our Light

Lord be our light.
When the darkness seeps in,
brighten our days with the power of praise.
Lord be our light.

Lord be our shield.
When the arrows of hurt tear us down,
help us to hold a covering of gold.
Lord be our shield.

Lord be our hope.
When despair starts to rise
keep us afloat, blow the sails of our heart.
Lord be our hope.

Lord be our sight.
When confusion ensnares,
free us to see, to hold onto our dreams.
Lord be our sight.

Lord, come be our light,
our shield, our hope and our sight.
For in you we trust,
in you we arise.

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I am a miracle

I am a miracle. A living, breathing, thinking feeling creation. A masterpiece of intricate biology, a perfect balance of chemicals, an extensive network of connections and systems. We are the work of the Creator, the potter, the master craftsman! Life is miraculous, and it’s all around us – growing, bearing fruit, reproducing! Yet as God’s children, made in his likeness, created to walk in the garden with him, we also have great intellectual depth, strong feelings and emotions. And more than these, the promise that our souls carry the very spirit that Christ carried, to guide us and help us. Wow!

Yet to tell the truth I often feel the antithesis of this wonder, especially at this time of year. I become lethargic with routine, uncertain of my direction, burdened with anxieties or heavy with fatigue. It’s time to “refresh”, like the page on a search engine, to reboot, rethink, remember…to remember that I the clay could never fathom, perceive or understand fully the mind of the potter. That I the clay must trust, retrace my steps back to find the beauty, love and wonder that signpost the way to the Creator. And allow faith to arise in God, my Lord, Almighty one, Father, Shepherd, Prince of Peace, King and Saviour, merciful Redeemer.

We are unique, precious, known and loved by a God who yearns to be with us. So as the New Year begins, the most important thing on our “to do” list should be to begin to value ourselves the way that God values us. He loved us so much, enough to pay all our debts, to take the most dreadful acts of man upon himself, and by doing so to transform heaven and earth. We “the clay” can trust that death is defeated and look forward to the eternal wonder and expanse of God’s creation. We are sons and daughters that inherit the Kingdom of God, forever.

When Everything Lines Up…

As a “prayer woman””, I am instinctively led to study, practice and mentor in prayer. In my experience, there seems to be a combination of things that can connect together and can lead to my prayers being answered in miraculous and transformational ways. The first factor is “who” is praying.

Who

Intimacy with the Holy Spirit comes from the foundation of grace and acceptance of Christ’s death and resurrection lived out in the believer. The “who” can be undermined by so many things…anger, fear, bitterness, failure, regret, disappointment, sin, sorrow, hopelessness….I could go on! Yet we are all endlessly cleaned and made worthy. May we grasp the depth of forgiveness and love that Christ brings us! In this place we can stand and ask with complete confidence.

Asking

Here we lay our hopes and dreams at the foot of the cross. Our prayers will be bold and filled with the faith. Remember that our prayers only need faith the size of a mustard seed for the mountains to move!

Atmosphere

Timing can be essential in prayer. This comes from being Spirit led. What is the condition of the spiritual atmosphere? Worship can be key in leading us metaphorically from the noise, speed and commotion of a “motorway” to become a people, united in journey with Heaven, experiencing the “country lane” of God’s presence – bathing in the safety, the quiet and the space we need.

I truly believe in prayer as a way of life, as prayer in action, in thought, in place and promise. Yet I also believe that sometimes it all lines up! The “who”, the “ask” and the “atmosphere”. This is why my prayer life is such a mix! Prayer in petition, prayer in gifts, prayer in action, and prayer in worship – seizing the moment in that sacred place.

Closing Prayer

I find that there is a unity that arises through worship that it is difficult to express in words. We sometimes encounter glimpses of this when we are joined together in hymns and worship songs, as we fix our eyes on eternal things and are in awe again of Jesus, our remarkable redeemer. I’m sure that the first disciples must have sensed this very powerfully when the Holy Spirit came to them at Pentecost, where we read that “they were all together in one place” and many heard them “declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” (Acts 2:10, NIV)

The Holy Spirit gathers us together by being present with each believer in a personal and unique way. As we enter this inner sanctuary as the bride of Christ – the church in all its vulnerability, brokenness and fragility, we open the door for an outpouring of God’s love into our hearts. We find balance, acceptance and a place to dwell in worship. No matter how tough my life is, or how distant I feel from God, I find I always benefit from pushing closer in worship to our eternal Father.

The following closing prayer reflects this filling, this outpouring, and this transformation as we pledge ourselves to give out. We can rest in the Holy Spirit’s work in our hearts and allow the love and goodness of Christ’s legacy to seep out of us into every area of our lives. It becomes a never-ending story of receiving and giving, as we become like dancers moving in time with the heart of the Father.

Closing Prayer

Lord, thank you that we are a family in Christ. Help us to share his love and legacy with everyone that we encounter this week. May we lavish Christ’s abounding goodness upon our families, friends and colleagues. Holy Spirit, come and equip us in our workplace, guide us in our school life, and inspire us in our neighbourhood. May we be your hands and feet to the needy, your words of affirmation to the oppressed and your arms of comfort to the lonely.

Thank you for choosing to use us to bring your kingdom here on earth.

Amen.

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Short Evening Prayer

Sometimes life can feel exhausting by the time evening arrives! With the fading light and a jumble of experiences to sift through from the day we can often feel fatigued, tired, even overwhelmed. It can be easy to block out all these thoughts with a good book or a T.V. show or just some internet browsing. Sometimes I find during the tough seasons in life that drawing near to God becomes a two second prayer as my head hits the pillow for sleep! Yet deep down I know what my soul needs the most. Unless I feast upon some heavenly peace at night time I will feel empty on waking.

A bedtime prayer need not be a prayer of detail. God does not need our prayers of worship – it is us who need communion and intimacy with God. Taking time to rest, to breathe a little slower, to look and to listen can take us to a new level of peace that the fast fixes of our media world cannot reach. Before bedtime, why not take a short evening stroll in the countryside, see the sun go down or watch a flicking candle during a long bath? All these things can be a way to draw close to God and lead us gently into the Lord’s presence.

I pray that tonight whether you are in a place of hope and security or a place of struggle and hardship, this short evening prayer will help you lay down to sleep in the shelter and security of our Lord Almighty:-

Dear Father in Heaven,

Here, safe with you, I drink in your peace. Help me to sift through the many experiences, feelings and thoughts I have encountered today. I allow myself to rest, to wind down and to be still. Help me to surrender all I am to you, my fatigue, my concerns, my hopes and fears.
As I sleep tonight, I choose to hold your hand. I choose to live with you. I choose to believe, I choose to trust, I choose you always.

Amen.

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How can I be fully alive this afternoon?

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he exhorts them to be “fully alive like Christ” (Eph:4:13, The Message). But what does it mean to be fully alive? I believe that being “fully alive” is not some special state we only touch in moments of connection, achievement, joy or participation. To be “fully alive” is to be fully real. When we seek to be fully alive in the presence of our loving Father, we can relax, let it all hang out! We can fully accept ourselves, we can communicate honestly with each other and we are released to engage with the wonder of the world around us in the present moment. We become aware again that we are in the presence of the majesty of heaven.

However, praying in the afternoon presents certain challenges. I find morning prayers easier to say – there is something inspirational about the blank canvas of the day and the promise that it holds that causes my faith to come alive. But as the day passes, my expectations can fade. Afternoon for me can be like the tipping point between the hopes of youth and the acceptance of age, or the refreshing experience of new relationships and the stamina required to maintain an ongoing commitment to someone. So I really need to invite God into my afternoon, the afternoon of my marriage, the afternoon of my career, the afternoon of my parenting and the afternoon of my health.

We are always in the presence of God (Matthew 28:20), so let’s take hold of these afternoon times in our lives and days. Let’s press on to be all we could be and use scripture, music, visuals or our senses to engage with the spiritual hunger that is within us. Let’s allow hope to arise in our hearts and faith to arise from our lethargy. Now is the time to be alive and allow God to engage with us in every moment:-

Afternoon Prayer

O Lord, help me to be fully alive in this moment.
Right now I choose to become
Everything that you have created me to be.
Face to face, I long for you.
Deep to deep, I draw close to you.
Heart to heart, I touch you.
May I feel your perfect love
Know Your heavenly hope
And receive your gift of faith.
May this moment stay with me
For the rest of this day.

Amen.

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Living Stones

I love the metaphor that the Apostle Peter uses in his first letter, that each of us are “like living stones”. I have been thinking about this passage a lot recently. For the believer, we can place our lives on the foundation of Christ, and we are blessed by the intimate and secure relationship we have with him “the living Stone”. God the master builder places his living stones just where he wants us. Each of us are important, unique parts of the whole church, the bride, the beloved! Each of us is in contact with one another, taking the strain together, building something of kingdom beauty:-

^“As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:4-5, NIV)

Our job description is to “declare the praises” – we are speakers of praise (v9), declarers of truth, and of love and light. We are alive because Christ is within us, in truth, grace, love, hope and peace. Just like plants we flourish, we grow, we adapt, we bloom, we bear fruit as out roots go deep into the “living Stone”.

I am often humbled by wonderful neighbours, work colleagues, family and friends I have around me. I see them faithfully loving, giving and caring. I notice their integrity, passion and commitment and I am often blessed by their kindness and compassion. They sense Christ and bless others yet do not know him as Saviour. How do I a “living stone” help them to join the community of followers of Jesus? I think the key is this….to notice when I have ceased to be “alive”. So many things can steal life from me – failure and guilt, confusion, the suffering of others, etc. Sometimes I just harden up, or I cut my myself off or I allow a cloud of despair to cover and quell the life in me. I see this in others too! Yet I know the way out, the way back to life. It can take a little while, but I fully understand the grace and love of Christ’s legacy. So, I would like to spur you on to be real, especially with those who are still searching in life. I want those around me to feel safe to reveal their hardships, struggles and anxieties. Only then will they relate to my journey and ultimately to the one I walk with. I need to be a “living stone” so that I drip with grace, pour out the hope of eternity and ooze love and encouragement. Being alive to the Holy Spirit is a daily need and it is what those around me need me to be!

I’d like to invite you to pray with me this simple prayer:-

Lord,

Help me to be a living stone as I faithfully take my place in the building of your Kingdom here on earth.

May I come alive with love and grace, be ever singing your praises

And supporting others in their own walk of faith.

May I drip with grace, pour out the hope of eternity,

And ooze divine love and encouragement. Amen.