For Dark Times

The light keeps shining in the dark, and darkness has never put it out. (John 1:5 CEV)

Lord of light and truth have mercy and take note of my cry to you this day.

Eternal one who works in time hear the heart of this little creature made in your image and seeking you today.

I need to sense that you are mindful of me today. You are mindful of everything always yet I need to know that what I say matters to you personally. That I am not lost within the billions of cries and prayers. That you are able in your vastness to care for me personally. That these particular words at this particular time is really showing up on your radar and that you are focusing on them as if they were the only words in all the universe for you to hear. I need a revelation of your personal concern and love for me.

Lord, help me to see that darkness cannot put out your light.

It seems that the darkness of sin, chaos, confusion, hurt, pain, and discord grow.

It seems like abandonment, rejection, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, and physical abuse grow.

It seems like there is no safe place, no safe relationships, no refuge, and only more betrayals of trust.

Let me see your light.

Let me see you are a safe place, a safe relationship, a refuge, and fully trust worthy. Be my foundation. Be my light in the darkness.

Let me see that you will not abandon me, you will not reject me, you support me emotionally, you speak words of comfort to me, you honor my sexuality, and never abuse me. You are the light.

Let me lose faith in the power of the darkness. Darkness really has no power at all. The more the light the less the darkness.

Lord shine your light of love into my heart and help me experience that love in a real way in the midst of my struggles. Let the lies and deceptions that twist and pervert relationships die. Allow your truth to win over lies.

Help me to know how to live among people vastly different than me. How can I communicate to others when how they see things is so different than I see things? How can people from different worlds understand each other? Lord, be the translator that allows us to speak heart to heart.

Lord, I am living afraid of the dark today. Like a little child who has had a bad dream my heart is shaking because of the darkness that surrounds me. I rock back and forth with my eyes closed afraid of what is in the darkness. Bring light to me today and comfort my fears. Help me to better understand your ways and better see your light. Calm me and hold me close. You who are eternal and yet come to me in time. Help me today.

Lord of light and love come to me and help me believe that you care about me. Help me walk in the light as you are in the light. Let me be a child of light today.

Amen

Prayer of Acceptance

Dear Lord who creates and guides all things.

Ruler of all events.

Broken hearted eternal lover.

Help me to accept the things I cannot change

Help me see how little I can change

Help me be content with what I can change

Give me a heart that wants to change for the better

Help me to let go of my frustration

Help me to trust your wisdom

Help me believe in the process of purification

Let me not become bitter but better

Help me to want what I have today even as I ask you to change tomorrow

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy upon me

Prayer for Haiti 2010

To send help to Haiti go to https://processor.pcanet.org/mna/donationsII/donation.cfm?MinistryTypeID=48


Lord, be with Haiti

They have suffered so much in this earthquake.

Lord, help those trapped to be found and given medical aid.

Lord, help those injured get help.

Lord, help the children who have been orphaned find homes.

Lord, help the homeless find shelter

Lord, help the thirty find water

Lord, help the hungry find food

Lord, give the fearful patience

Lord, silence those who encourage violence

Lord, provide comfort to those who have lost loved ones

Lord, destroy faith in voodoo to save

Lord, manifest your love in Haiti

Lord, send revival and renewal to Haiti

Prayer for Love

Lord, maker of humanity

In our wandering from you we also wander from each other. We do not seem to know how to live in peace with each other. Families fight, friends are critical of each other, and lovers hate. Our insanity is clearly seen in our inability to remain in fellowship with each other.

The tension Lord is that we are made in your image. We are drawn to each other because we reflect in some measure by your grace the wonder and bueaty of your heart. Yet, in our brokeness we also represent that which is choatic, dark, perverted, imbalanced, addicted, blind, and poisoned. We can even baptize these elements and connect them to our virtues so that we cannot clearly make a distiction between that which is a reflection of you and that which is a refection of darkness. And then we begin to hurt and abuse each other in so many ways.

Lord have mercy on us.

You have called us to love each other. To love each other in our fallen and broken condition even as we are striving to escape this darkness. Lord teach us to love. Teach us to love in this real world. Teach us to love when the strife begins, when the gossip begins to be told, when we wander from the path of sanity, and help us be able to see our own darkness. Lord, help us to love one another.

Lord have mercy on us.

Prayers for when we hit bottom

Lord, you have all power .

Lord, you have all wisdom.

Lord, you have answers even when I see no solutions.

Help me to trust in you even in the dark.

Help me to hang on to your sanity when I have become insane.

Help me to hang on to your stability when I have become unstable.

Help me to feel your Spirit in me when I have become dead bones.

Lord have mercy upon us.

I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength, (Psalms 88:4 ESV)

Lord be my strength when I am burned out.

Lord be my courage when I am afraid.

Lord be my hope when I have despaired.

Lord have mercy upon us.

Seeking New Faith

Lord, you are the ultimate reality

In you I trust

But teach me to trust you more

You are awesome

But help me see just how great you really are

Help my faith reflect what is real

Help my faith deal with the brokenness of life

Help my faith not lose heart but to believe in prayer

Lord you are the one who gives faith as a gift

I need faith today

So for your glory and my good; give me more faith

Lord comfort my tired heart

Help me hear your WORD in my heart

In the WORD give me strength

I praise you LORD for you are worthy of faith

Lord help us do church well

Lord of the Church be with me today.

Lord we need you to teach us how to do church well. Your word has the wisdom but we fail to live by it. We end up making church like every other one of our human institutions except we baptize our abuse of each other in religious words and self righteous phrases.

Lord have mercy upon us all.

Just reading Church history it is clear that things are all out of line. We have divisions, fights, and politics. Christians are killing Christians along with others in your name. How could we believe this was all your will?

Lord have mercy upon us all.

We do depart from your truth. We also depart from your love. We do not seem to be the manifestation of your manifold wisdom. We do seem to reflect your foolishness and the greatness of grace. For you do send revival and renewal to restore us and help us. Yet, always we lose our way once again.

Lord have mercy upon us all.

Lord, teach us to do church well. Brothers and sisters who prayed more than we pray failed to do church well. Brothers and sisters who studied more than we have studied failed to do church well. Brothers and sisters who sacrificed more than we have sacrificed failed to do church well. Dear Lord, have mercy and teach us to do church well.

Lord have mercy upon us all.

When church is done well then our faith is made stronger. When church is done well unbelievers are aided in coming to faith. When church is done well your name is glorified. When church is done well we are blessed. Lord teach us to do church well.

Lord have mercy upon us all.

Prayer for Evangelistic Passion

Lord of mercy have mercy on those who do not believe.

Give me a passion to seek and to save the lost even as you had the passion to leave heaven and come to earth to see some saved.

Help me be a faithful ambassador of your kingdom and represent you in word and deed to those outside the kingdom.

Give me wisdom in answering questions and let me not be afraid of the questions that may be asked.

Lord, give me faith in the gospel being your power by which people can be and will be saved. Increase my faith in the gospel.

Lord have mercy and fill me with the Holy Spirit. Let me speak in the power of the Holy Spirit.

For your glory and for the good of many hear this prayer.

When Wounded

Dear Lord

When we started this journey I expected the world to hate me.

I was ready to be persecuted by unbelievers for my faith in you.

But most of my wounds have not come from the world.

Most of my wounds have been caused by people I love in your church.

The gossip, the judgment, the critism, the insanity.

It has caused me more pain than anything else in my life.

You know it has pushed me to the edge at times.

Lord, heal the wounds I have suffered at the hands of my friends.

Help me to see that you had both Judas and Peter to deal with.

I should not expect any better.

Lord, have I also caused pain to your children?

At times I know I have. My own insanity getting the better of me.

Lord forgive me for hurting other Christians.

Lord heal me from the wounds caused by those I love.

Lord have mercy on us all

A prayer for boldness

Lord, help me find a way to be more bold in speaking your truth and living your truth.

You are truth.

You are wisdom.

Increase my faith in your truth and wisdom.

Boldness comes from faith.

The more one believes the more one will proclaim.

Help me believe more deeply and think more clearly.

Overcome my fears of rejection and abandonment.

Help me see your were rejected and abandoned in order to save me.

Help me be willing to join you in being hated for the truth. In your case for being the truth itself come in the flesh.

Let me love your fellowship more than I false "fellowship" of the world and the flesh.

Give me boldness in speaking your truth.

Prayer to do Church well

Lord, how can we do church well?

Each of us have short comings and limits in our vision.

Each of us have sins we have not faced.

Each of us have self righteousness we have not abandoned.

Each of us is better at judging than loving.

Lord, how can we show forth your manifold wisdom?

We are so weak.

We are so flawed.

We are so easily tempted.

We call our evil good.

Lord, teach us to do church well.

You have said the powers of heaven will see your wisdom in us.

It wouild have been easier to see us as your foolishnes instead of your wisdom.

It is hard to do church well.

Teach us to do church well for your glory and our good

Lord have mercy on your children.

Prayer for a New Year

Maker of all things.

Infinite one who is outside of time and yet living in time.

Eternal WISDOM and LOVE

FATHER, SON, and HOLY SPIRIT

Please hear me now.

I thank you for your blessing in this last year. You have healed friends, You have kept disastor from wiping everything out. You have kept us from having any weopen of mass destruction released. You have forgiven our sins. You have provided your presence. You have been faithful to all your promises. Thank you for being a firm foundation.

Thank you for the opportunity to share your gospel. Thank you for those who for the first time said yes to your grace. Thank you for giving opportunity to give a reason for the hope that is in us. Thank you for allowing us to help the poor. You have granted us the privilgege to serve. How honored we are to be your people and servants.

Lord, help us to overcome our doubts. Comfort us where those we loved have died. Help us as we face problems that make no sense to us and which are not being solved. Give us faith in the middle of our struggles. Keep us from despair.

Open the doors this year for us to love. Help us to learn to love you more. Help us learn to express your love more. Make of us a people of love.

Great and Eternal One

Use this new year for your glory and for our good

Remember us in Messiah Jesus

Amen