January 1 - Prayer to know how to pray

Dear heavenly Father, I am thankful that you are greater than my prayers. You know the concerns of my heart and respond to them even when I lack the words and the discipline to ask. Your love for me is infinite. Please teach me to pray as I ought to pray. Give to me a hunger and thirst for prayer that will allow me to know your presence, power, and peace. Deepen my understanding of prayer and my sense of need for prayer. Save me from the pride that would keep me from prayer. Lord, we desperately need your intervention. As individuals we need greater faith, hope, and love; as families we need greater peace and harmony; as churches we need more of your power and love; as communities we need greater wisdom in understanding the common good; as a nation we need insight into how to establish a just republic; as a world we need to hear, understand, and believe your gospel. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy. Amen