Prayer for the Weekend: The Prayer of St. Patrick

The Prayer of St. Patrick
Anonymous

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.

I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me;
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's hosts to save me
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a multitude.

Christ shield me today
Against wounding
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through the mighty strength
Of the Lord of creation.

Read more at http://www.beliefnet.com/Prayers/Catholic/Morning/The-Prayer-Of-St-Patrick.aspx#CQROwbdgsobsuQAv.99

Spiritual Formation: Technology and Intercessory Prayer

How many times this week have you told someone that you would pray for them? Maybe it was a Facebook message, a passing conversation, or a telephone call in which someone stammered out a painful problem or stressful situation. Regardless of the situation, I often catch myself replying, thank you for telling me - I'll pray for you. And do you know what happens next? I either pray for them, or shamefully, I forget. My intentions are good, but my harried pace doesn't always lead to remembering things well, even my prayer list. 

I don't want prayer to become a meaningless reply that I use when I don't know what else to say. 

I don't want to use the topic of prayer to end a conversation that I'm trying to hurry out of. I don't want prayer to become something that I say because I don't know what else to say or because the conversation is heading in a difficult direction.  I want to mean it when I tell someone I'll pray for them. 

Whenever it's appropriate, I stop what I'm doing and pray right then and there. The words, "May I pray for you right now?" are surprisingly powerful. Those words alone can soften hearts and words and needs. If I don't know what to pray? Well, I just say that in my prayer, because the Holy Spirit intercedes for us when we don't know what to pray. Usually, the person in need just tells me and that's how I direct my prayers. 

If it's not appropriate to pray at that time, I make myself a note. An Evernote, to be exact. I use my iPad for everything, so it isn't crazy for me to use it for my prayer list. I keep an extended prayer list on my iPad using the Evernote App. This app is a gem for organizing your life - you can create individual notebooks (ie personal, sermon ideas, song ideas, worship planning by month, etc). And then create individual notes in each notebook. 

I have one single note for my prayer list, and I have it divided up into 4 sections: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication (otherwise known as the ACTS method). Often, I'll come up with an idea for the adoration section during my Bible reading time, from a story I heard, or just from my own daily life. I write it down, and read through it every time I pray (It's getting rather long!) and it helps me focus on the attributes of God and the blessings of God. In the Thanksgiving section, I write down answers to prayer, blessings - anything big or small. Sometimes I'll add dates. It helps me remember all the prayers God has answered, and all the times He has been faithful in difficult situations. And I make sure to thank Him as I read through the list. Then, of course, we have Confession. It's not easy to write down the ways that I sin, but I try to name and seek forgiveness for the things that I do wrong - this section is the smallest, but some of that is because I seem to miss the mark on the same things over and over again. And lastly, we have supplication. This is by far, the largest section. Here is where I write down all of the prayer needs that I have heard or seen or received. And I pray for them as I read over the list. When the prayer is answered, I move it to Thanksgiving. Otherwise, it stays on the list until it's 'expired!' My iPad is always with me, so I can jot down a prayer request at any time. 

If you don't use the Evernote app, any note taking app will do. In fact, if you have a recent iPhone, you can tell my BFF Siri to create a new note - and then tell him/her what you would like to have written down in this new note. You can add alarms and reminders so that you don't forget to pray and add this request to your regular list. 

Does it seem like this technology takes the mystery away? For me, it allows me to be more consistent when I intend to pray for others, and it also helps me see how God has answered or is answering those prayers. And this fuels me to pray all the more, when I see how my prayer time can make a difference in someone else's life. It also helps me remember to check up on those who I'm praying for. It means so much more when I remind someone that I'm praying for them and ask for an update so I can continue to pray. 

I want to be faithful to my words, especially when I say that I will pray for someone in need. The Bible says that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective; if I'm not praying, then I am failing to show love to the person who truly needs it. What techniques do you use to stay on top of your prayer list? 

Prayer for the Weekend

The Prayer of St. Francis 

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. 

Where there is hatred, let me sow love; 

where there is injury, pardon; 

where there is doubt, faith; 

where there is despair, hope; 

where there is darkness, light; 

where there is sadness, joy. 

 O, Divine Master, 

 grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; 

 to be understood as to understand; 

 to be loved as to love; 

 For it is in giving that we receive; 

 it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; 

 it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

Prayer for the Weekend

Dear God,

Thank You for hearing our every prayer, no matter how we feel.

Thank You for caring about our every need, no matter how small.

Thank You for being ever-faithful, ever-loving, ever-lasting.

In our weakest moments, help us to lean on You.

In our saddest moments, help us find our comfort in You.

In our most insecure moments, help us put our trust in You.

As we approach the weekend worship services, Lord please help us to prepare and plan well, to practice with excellence, and pray with urgency and expectancy. Lord, please use us, no matter how insecure or insignificant we feel, to give You glory and praise and help others to do the same. Help us to draw near to You, to know and hear Your voice, and follow You. Help us to respond to You in worship, and may our worship be sweet to Your ears. Please remove the distractions that prevent us and others from being focused on You.

Please pour out Your Holy Spirit upon us a we seek to serve You. We ask that You move our hearts, move in our families, move in our churches in such a might way that there is no doubt that You are present.

Dear Lord, please move me and through me.

Amen.

Prayer for the Weekend

Dear God in Heaven, 

We praise You because You are all-knowing, we worship You because You are compassion, and we love You because You first loved us. 

You know our every word and thought before it meets our lips. You love us. 

You know the depths of our hearts where the pain and sorrow, the joy and laughter, the beautiful and the ugly, reside together.  Yet, You love us. 

You know every thing we feel and You meet us where we are, offering comfort in our pain, hope in our despair, love in our emptyness. And You love us. 

Give us wisdom to discern the difference between what we feel and what is Truth. Your Truth. 

As the weekend gives way to worship services, we ask that You give us the presence of mind to lead, give us joy to share with others, and let us be so full of You that we leak Your love on those around us. 

Lord, give us the energy to complete our work with the mindfulness to foster relationships with others. 

Let us be effective for You, made Holy by You, and alive because of You. 

And as the worship services give way to Monday, please give us rest for our bodies, sabbath for our souls, and joy for our hearts.

We need You to restore us so that we are ready to start anew. 

And most of all Lord, we pray that in all things, we will ever seek You.

Amen  

Prayer for the Weekend: The Word

Lord God Almighty,

At Your Word, the world happened. You spoke, and life came. With Your words, You created.

You are the Author of creation, the Author of life.

You sent us the Word to dwell among us, to be with us, to be one of us. Your Word became flesh, and took on human skin, and paid the highest price so our wandering souls could be Yours again. You left for us Your written Word so that we might know You.

Your spoken Word breathed life in the beginning; Your begotten Word redeemed life that was lost. Your written Word reveals truth so we might thrive in this world and in the next.

Almighty God, there is power in Your Word.

Please draw us to Your written Word so that we might be drawn to You. Speak Your Word into our hearts, so that we might love and worship You. Enable us to live out Your Word, so we might bring Your Word to others. Help us believe Your every Word.

Thank You, God, for Your Word, and may we have an insatiable hunger for it.

Amen

John 1:1-5, NLT

Prologue: Christ, the Eternal Word

1 In the beginning the Word already existed.
    The Word was with God,
    and the Word was God.
² He existed in the beginning with God.
³ God created everything through him,
    and nothing was created except through him.
⁴ The Word gave life to everything that was created,^[a]
    and his life brought light to everyone.
⁵ The light shines in the darkness,
    and the darkness can never extinguish it.^[b]

Prayer for the weekend.

Dear Heavenly Father, 

You are the Master Creator and the author of creativity. 

You designed the flow of the earth and the flow of our lives. 

You set the earth on its axis 

and you set in our hearts the desire to know and worship you. 

How we want to know You more, how we want to bring You delight. 

Give us the heart to worship You with our lives and our music.

Give us the words to praise Your Holy Name.

Give us the songs to sing of our love for You. 

Give us ears to listen to Your unfailing direction.

Give us guidance and wisdom for every detail, every note, every word

That we might worship You with our best gifts and inspire others to do the same. 

Thank You for the gift of worship, may we offer our worship well. 

Thank You for the gift of song, may ours be pleasing to You. 

Thank You for the gift of Your Word, may we read it, learn it, live it. 

Amen

A Few Thoughts on Prayer from Dr. David Earley’s book, Personal Prayer: the Timeless Secret of High-Impact Leaders

If the Son of God, Jesus Christ, needed to spend time alone with God the Father in prayer, how much more do fallen humans like me need to pray? If Christ prayed in order to lead His disciples and to carry out His ministry, how much more important is it for spiritual leaders, pastors, Sunday School teachers, and worship leaders to pray? Nothing can be more important in the life of a spiritual leader than time in prayer. For example, Dr. Earley discusses Martin Luther’s daily prayer time, which was generally two hours per day for any typical week.  But during a particularly busy week, Luther claimed that he had so much to accomplish that he would start the day with three hours of prayer.[1] Luther’s example demonstrates the need for spiritual leaders to pray: Busy leaders need to pray because it may “be the best time-saving device you have.”[2] Earley, like Martin Luther, believes that spiritual leaders are too busy not to pray. That is a serious re-prioritization that we all need to consider. What would our lives look like if we prayed first and most, and did the rest later?

The Apostle Paul provides instructions for the church when he writes “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” [3] Paul means that prayer needs to be a priority and that Christians need to be spiritually alert, watchful for how prayer worked, and thankful for God’s blessings. Apostle Paul also knew how critical prayer was in the life of the believer.

Dr. Earley wrote about many great prayer ideas, but especially three that I will attempt to apply to my own life include: establishing a daily prayer time (23), institute a regular space for prayer (27), and praying for others (33). Dr. Early recommends establishing a daily prayer time because, “most of need to set a daily prayer time or times if we hope to build a dynamic prayer life.”[4] Dr. Early also recommends establishing a place for prayer: “I have found it very helpful to establish a set, solitary place for my daily prayer time.”[5] Lastly, Dr. Earley encourages Christians to pray for others: “One of the purest and most powerful ways for a leader to express and exercise such love is intercessory prayer.”[6] Intercessory prayer, according to Earley, is “coming to God on behalf of another.”[7] I can’t think of any greater gift to give.

I am forever grateful to the person who told me that she threw herself down on the altar to cry out to God to spare my infant son’s life. She prayed fervently –desperately – and hopefully for my child, who is now a bursting-with-energy, happy, healthy 7 year old.  I always believed in the power of prayer, but I never believed in it so much as when my son’s tiny life hung in the balance. I realized that when there is no other recourse, we believe most fully. So how do we carry that depth of belief and certainty in the power of prayer into our daily lives? I guess,  more than anything, it just takes practice.

Prayer works and we need to do it.

Bibliography

Earley, Dave. Personal Prayer: the Timeless Secret of High-Impact Leaders. Chattanooga, TN: Living Ink Books, 2008.

---

[1] Dave Earley, Personal Prayer: the Timeless Secret of High-Impact Leaders (Chattanooga, TN: Living Ink Books, 2008),  5.

[2] Dave Earley, Personal Prayer: the Timeless Secret of High-Impact Leaders (Chattanooga, TN: Living Ink Books, 2008), 5,

[3] Col. 4:2, NIV.

[4] Dave Earley, Personal Prayer: the Timeless Secret of High-Impact Leaders (Chattanooga, TN: Living Ink Books, 2008), 24.

[5] Ibid., 28.

[6] Ibid., 33.

[7] Ibid., 34.

A spiritual plan.

It is as critical to living as breathing, as necessary as water and air. And yet few Christians - pastors included - don't struggle with carving out a time-slot from our busy lives to spend time with the Lord through prayer and Bible study. Something always seems to get in the way, and even good things can keep us so busy that we gloss over the most important thing- our relationship with Jesus.

One of the few things that I recall from visiting my grandparents was their daily devotional time. I'll never forget watching my Grandma, white-head bowed over her Bible, pouring herself out over the Words of God.  She with her cup of hot water, and Grandpa with his grapefruit. Nothing between them but their open Bibles and open hearts. Perhaps it was easier because they were  retired, or perhaps not. But I hope to cultivate such a strong habit in my life that my children and my children's children want that daily devotional time, too. I hate to admit it, but it's hard for me  to accomplish.

My life is busy, as yours is as well- I have a husband, small children,  ministry, writing, and teaching. Family and friends and bills and dirty clothes and a thousand other things all demanding my time and attention. And I am almost never alone in this phase of life with small children in need of love and attention. So where do I begin? How do I create space in my day for the most important Person?

A professor of mine in seminary, Dr. David Earley, had an idea that I return to when my spiritual life begins to wane. He taught me that if I want to grow in my relationship with God, I need to have a plan. In his class, we practiced creating and using 2 to 4 week spiritual growth plans. I tried and failed, tried and failed, and I even failed some more, but even my failed plans took me further than I would  have been if I had no plan at all.

Dr. Earley suggested that we use our plan at first to increase the time we spend with The Lord. Where am I right now and where do I want to be in 2 weeks? How do I get there?  How much time do I spend with The Lord? How much time would I like to spend? What is a realistic increase for the next few weeks? Do I use a reading plan or a prayer model? These should be incorporated in the plan, he shared. And then we pulled out our calendars and scheduled the plan. A consistent time and place was the ideal means of making our plans stick, but that wasn't always practical. I tried getting up at 4am, and found out that didn't work at all. So I changed around meetings and work schedules, weaving in a little time here and there. When I finished a plan, I evaluated where it had taken me and then created a new one. I felt like most of my plans failed, but still my relationship with my God grew.

I believe God rewarded my efforts to know Him better, to hear His voice, and to love Him more.  The more time I spent with Him, the more I wanted to be with Him, whether sitting quietly in prayer or soaking up His Word. As I reflect on those early plans that I created, I realize I need to create another. It's time for me to re-evaluate my schedule, my priorities, and my time spent so that I can make course corrections that will keep me in step with the Holy Spirit.

How do you make your time with God a priority?

Prayer for the Weekend

Father in Heaven,

Your Word is truth. You always keep Your promises, every single one.

You are a shelter in the storm, a help in time of trouble, comfort in sorrow, and strength when we are weak. You heal our broken bodies and mend our broken hearts. You hear our cries of pain and our cries of praise. You listen to our voices when we call. You love us. You have made us Your own.

As Sunday comes close, we ask for You to give us a sense of Your Holy Presence, an expectation of Your nearness, a desire to know You more. Provide us peace in anxious preparation. Give us the words to say and sing.  Help us praise and preach with eloquence and excellence. Give us love for those who hear us. Grant us time to rest.

We ask that you will move in our hearts, our homes, our sanctuaries. Move in mighty and mysterious ways that can only come from You. Protect us in times of spiritual warfare; defend our families and guard our hearts.

Please pour out your Holy Spirit upon us all. Anoint us for this weekend’s worship. Let us praise You with our whole hearts so You can fill us up again.

In the powerful name of Jesus,

Amen