The good news of Christ
Lord, fight my battle for me!
Your power and wisdom win the struggle.
I stand in place to see
the walls collapse, for Christ is able.
Lord, save your child in flight!
Your wind can open the way to safety.
The watery walls in height
Let feet be quick to travel bravely.
Ephesians 3.14-21
Father, go beyond my puny prayers —
Your power is able, far above my thoughts,
To accomplish more that I could ever imagine —
All praise is yours and glory in the church!
You act behind the scenes that we can see,
Providing from your glorious, boundless riches
For inner strength, for Christ to dwell in us —
His home in our hearts — what greater thing to ask?!
How wide! How long! How high! How deep his love!
Send down our roots in him to keep us strong.
What we sorely lacked he makes complete —
My joy to know he hears and cures and cares!
Father, you know all and are able to do everything. Your mind and will and power have no limits. Work in us and among us in this place so that the Word may run and reach many. There is no doubt that even among a people whose interests focus in money and pleasure your power can do great things. Show us your glory, that we might glorify you.
You can do so much, far beyond our ability to imagine. And you actually do them! Keep our small thinking from holding back your kingdom. We stand ready, O Lord, to observe your mighty hand. Show yourself to be the God who rules and performs great works in our midst. Help us to do greater things. Make us people of faith. Create in us confidence to launch out with your promises.
Dear God, help me to accept the present and not pine for the past, nor worry about the future. Make me content in this moment. Help me to see how you are fulfilling each need of mine. I trust in you. I will call upon you, confident of answer. I will set my watch for your movement in my direction. You are God who feels compassion for his people. You care for your own. You are the fountain that slakes our thirst.
Build me up in faith, so that I, like those of old, might patiently wait upon the arrival of what I seek. Make me worthy to be included in their midst. Move your Spirit among us. Pursue your plan with us as your instrument of peace. Let the devil not frustrate your will for us. Keep us from temptation and from evil. Let us not return evil for evil, but rather good. Make us light in this world of darkness.
Be present, O Lord, in the small things today, and make them grow by your immense power. Act in this day to bring forward the kingdom’s cause. Let each brother and sister be sensitive to your will, desiring your glory, working for the gospel, rejoicing in the Spirit. So we pray in Christ, Amen.
Heavenly Father, prayer is such a privilege! To come before your holy and magnificent presence is an honor that has no equal. Stretch my language abilities, that I might be fluent in speaking to you. Often I feel the limits of language. When I do, I thank the Spirit for carrying my inexpressible thoughts to your throne.
Bring me often to your glory, that I might spill out before you my hurts and heart-felt questions, offer my gratitude for hope and blessings, ask your help for strength and courage.
Make eternity turn upon my prayers, that it might rescue many who stand upon its brink. Give us our daily bread and our eternal sustenance.
Open our eyes to power in your word and work. Sweep us along in your will, for we desire to go in your direction, behind the cloud of your movement.
Father in heaven, praise belongs to you for your justice, for bringing through Christ our justification, for carrying through with your saving purpose, for the promise of judgment in the last day, when the righteous will be seen as righteous and the wicked will be revealed for what they are. May I and mine and all whom I touch be found among the righteous, because of our confession of Christ.
Praise belongs to you for your faithfulness, for your word which never fails, for frustrating the plans of the nations and the evil purposes of the people, for your protection of those who fear you, those who have anchored their hope in your love, those who imitate the perseverance of your Son and our savior Jesus Christ. May I and mine and all whom I touch be found among those who reverence your Name and place their future in your hands.
Praise belongs to you for powerful help, for looking down from heaven upon us in your mercy, for your protection of your people who have no other source of strength but you, who have surrendered the politics and wars and human efforts at bringing about the divine kingdom, who have submitted themselves to your sovereign rule and benevolent reign. May I and mine and all whom I touch be found among those who belong to the kingdom, who have entered into Christ by obedience and faith, who dedicate their lives to the progress of the gospel.
Praise is yours, O God, and glory, and dominion. Yours, too, are wisdom, and power, and might, and splendor forever and ever. And ours is the joy and hope and love found only in Jesus Christ.
In this prayer you’ll find echoes of Psalm 33. If you can say amen to this prayer, please share it with others who might join us in that amen. Also, consider signing up to Believing Prayer, and receive the full text of the prayers by email.
Make real in us your Spirit’s presence —
Let truth take form, your fullness expand
To occupy all emptiness —
Bring power, O Lord, by your command!
Lord, thank you for the success of the gospel.
Inspired by a prayer of Alcuin of York (c. 735-804).
Eternal Light, pierce the dark with day,
Eternal Goodness, deliver me from wrong,
Eternal Power, be my strength and stay,
Eternal Wisdom, teach me where I belong,
Eternal Pity, turn me back to the way,
Eternal Joy, place on my lips your song.
Eternal Victor, with you I never lose;
Eternal Will, the heavenly glory I choose.
By J. Randal Matheny © 2016
Oh, God above, look down upon us,
Have mercy on our suffering souls;
We seek your presence, come redeem us,
With kindness heap your hottest coals.
Our God of mercy, work your wonders,
Melt our dross and sin away,
Mold us, Lord of light and thunders,
Your rod of pain to shape this clay.
Great God who stirs the ocean’s depths,
Whose holiness corrects each wrong,
Who shares with all your thousand strengths —
For lifelong battle make us strong.