Year End

Lord, as this year draws to a close, teach me how precious time is.  Let me never put off till tomorrow those words of love and forgiveness that I need to say today.  (Minute Meditations from the Popes, 31 December)

Lord, I look forward to the new year, and all the blessings it will bring.  (Wisdom from the Bible, 31 December, adapted)

Thank you, Lord, for all you did this year ... and all you will do in the next. (Joni Eareckson Tada, More Precious Than Silver, 31 December)

I give thanks that all my needs are being met - emotional, spiritual, and physical.  I live in peaceful harmony - body, mind, and soul.  (Perry Tilleraas, The Color of Light, 23 December)

Hear my prayer and come to save me.

Lord, help me find and share the positive in any situation.  (Three Minutes a Day, Vol. 38, 25 December)

Lord, thank You for this day and all it offers.  I am at peace.  (The Promise of a New Day, 22 December, adapted)

Suggest all my decisions.

Keep me from sinful ways.

Lord, may I heed the danger signals that you send.  (Food For Thought, 23 December)

Help us to see that in doing Your will our lives will not only be blessed, but they will be abundant.  (Moravian Daily Texts - 2001, 22 December)

Holiday Prayer

God, help me enjoy and cherish this holiday.  If my situation is less than ideal, help me take what's good and let go of the rest.  (Melody Beattie, The Language of Letting Go, 25 December)

Thank You, Lord, for satisfying my needs and helping me grow old gracefully.  (Larry W. Wilson, Daily Fellowship with God, 14 December)

What Child Is This?

What child is this, who, laid to rest, on Mary's lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet while shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the king, whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
Haste, haste to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary!

 

Help me, Lord, to have courage and determination to face even seemingly insurmountable odds.  (Three Minutes a Day, Vol. 38, 17 December)

Lord, let me not ask more of others, than I do of myself.  (REH)

Billy Graham in Day by Day, 23 December

To Christians the joy of Christmas is not limited to His birth.  It is built even more on the triumph of His death and resurrection -- that gave meaning to His birth.  The mysterious spirit of generosity which possesses us at Christmas is the afterglow of Calvary.  The fact of the cross illuminates this day and hallows it.  As we exchange our gifts, let us remember that they are symbolic of the unspeakable gift of God's love.  I do not believe that Christians should be giving expensive gifts to each other.  We should quietly give simple little gifts that are expressions of our love and devotion to the recipients.  These gifts become symbolic of the gift of God's love.  How much money could be saved and invested in the Kingdom of God by thousands of Christian families every year if the true meaning of Christmas was observed.

Let me be generous in my judgment of others.  (John Baillie, A Diary of Private Prayer, 11th day)

I pray that You will direct my concentration.  (Food for Thought, 18 December)

Make me gentle, Lord, with my loved ones.  (God's Minute, 18 December)

Make me brave to face all the changes in my life.  (John Baillie, A Diary of Private Prayer, 12th day)

Teach me to listen, O Lord.  (Minute Meditations from the Popes, 11 December)

Forgive me, Lord, for this I pray, the wrong that I have done today.  May peace with God and neighbor be, before I sleep, restored to me.  (Moravian Daily Texts - 2001, 10 December)

Support me in time of temptation.  (Brooke Foss Westcott)

Help me to do Your work with good courage.  (Brooke Foss Westcott)

Thank You, Lord, for this day!

Teach me to listen that I might be a blessing to others.

Show me how to nourish myself for my good and the good of others.  (Three Minutes a Day, Vol. 38, 9 December)

Inspire me, O Lord, to accomplish more and worry less.  (Three Minutes a Day, Vol. 9, 7 December)

God, thank You for the many blessings bestowed upon our family.  (Three Minutes A Day, Vol. 38, 7 December)

Son of God, who didst marvellous things of old; be favorable in our day also.  (Early Schottish Prayer)

Keep me from looking elsewhere for initiative, O Holy Spirit, when I should do something constructive myself.  (Three Minutes a Day, Vol. 9, 9 December)

Lord, help me to use my program to restore myself to a reasonable and secure frame of mind.  (One Day at a Time in Al-Anon, 2 December)

Stop me when I want to boast about my accomplishments.

Teach me to be faithful to the tasks you assign to me.  (Joni Tada, More Precious Than Silver, 6 December)

Lord, forgive me, day by day, debts I cannot hope to pay, duties I have left undone, evils I have failed to shun.  (Moravian Daily Texts - 2001, 1 December)

Help me recognize and accept my limitations, O Lord.  (Minute Meditations from the Popes, 5 December)

God help keep me on the course that will change my life for the better.  (One Day at a Time in Al-Anon, 4 December)

Start the day in prayer knowing that your prayer invites God to walk through your day with you.  (What Would Jesus Do?, 5 December, adapted)

O Lord, help me!

Help me to give whatever I can, whenever I can.  (Wisdom from the Bible, 3 December)

 

Advent Prayer

O Lord, as Christmas draws near, there are so many things to do and I lose patience so easily.  Let me not allow the trials of these days to rob my peace.  Help me to see them as opportunities for greater efforts to be charitable.  (Minute Meditations from the Popes, 13 December)

Abraham Lincoln said

We on our side, are praying to Him to give us victory, because we believe we are right; but those on the other side pray to Him too, for victory, believing they are right.  What must He think of us?

God, give me the courage and strength to see clearly.  (Melody Beattie, The Language of Letting Go, 24 Jul)

Calm me, Lord.

Lord, help me to cherish my children for who they are, not for what I expect them to be.  And, let me support their dreams, too, through all their seasons of change.  (Linda Ching Sledge in Guideposts, 13 Aug 1994)

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Whatever you do, do not make all your prayers into the form of asking God for something.  The prayer of thanksgiving is much more powerful.  (Norman Vincent Peale, Positive Thinking for Every Day of the Year, 11 December)

God bless me with a keen sense of humor.

Thank You, Lord, for guiding me through the storms of life.  (Larry W. Wilson, Daily Fellowship with God, 29 November)

Thank You, Lord, for the sheer joy of sleep when I'm terribly tired.  (Larry W. Wilson, Daily Fellowship with God, 1 December)

 

Some prayers are followed by silence because they are wrong, others because they are bigger than one can understand.  It will be a wonderful moment for some of us when we stand before God and find that the prayers we clamored for in early days and imagined were never answered, have been answered in the most amazing way, and that God's silence has been the sign of the answer.  (Oswald Chambers, Daily Thoughts for Disciples, p. 75)

Heavenly Father, I ask for Your blessing.

Lord Jesus, let me find a quiet place where I may pray and gain perspective.  (Minute Meditations from the Popes, 3 December)

I give thanks for my body, however sagging and worn, which insists on continuing for at least another day.  (Today's Gift, 28 November, adapted)

Lord Jesus, I know that apart from You I can do nothing of lasting value.  Help me to come to the end of self and allow You to control the reins of my life.  (Billy Graham, Day by Day, 28 November)

Eliza M. Hickok

I know not by what methods rare,
But this I know: God answers prayer.
I know not if the blessing sought
Will come in just the quise I thought.
I leave my prayer to Him alone
Whose will is wiser than my own.
 

Christmas Season Prayer

God of wisdom, help us to see through all of the distractions of this season, so that we might wait only for you.  May we not seek our salvation in the mad rush of commercialism, but in the quietness of your presense with us each and every day.  (Moravian Daily Texts - 2001, 7 December)

Lord, I seek the blessing of a joyful heart, the gladness of a happy countenance, and the delight of Your eternal pleasure today.  (Joni Tada, More Precious Than Silver, 28 November)

Author of all life, give me the strength to face the challenges of this day.  (Three Minutes a Day, Vol. 38, 28 November)

Rid my heart of all vain anxieties and paralyzing fears.  (John Baillie, A Diary of Private Prayer, 29th day)

Deliver me from fretfulness.

Enable me to live so as to not spoil a single day or grieve a single heart by deeds that may never be undone, or words that may never be recalled.  (God's Minute, 27 November, adapted)

Your power in my life, God, is greater than suffering's grip can ever be.  Help me to believe that.  Help me to live it.  (Joni Tada, More Precious Than Silver, 21 November)

Help me to give love freely today.

I pray that my thoughts will no longer get trapped in the past.

Remind me how important it is to listen to Your still small voice at every moment of the day, God.  (Three Minutes a Day, Vol. 38, 3 December)

 

Lord, accept our prayers and petitions as the first fruit of our day.

Help me open myself to healing in all areas of my life.  (Melody Beattie, The Language of Letting Go, 23 November, adapted)

God, you're up all night.  You can worry about it.  I need to get some sleep.  (Mary S. in A Woman's Spirit, 21 November)

Help us to live in such a way, Holy Spirit, that hardships do not throw us for a loss.  (Three Minutes a Day, Vol. 9, 21 November)