Intercessory prayer is the purifying bath into which the individual
and the community must enter every day.
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
and the community must enter every day.
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
Before You Ask
And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6:7-8)
Many people think their prayers won’t work if they don’t utter them clearly enough, or fail to explain to God exactly what they mean, or don’t speak loudly enough to him with sufficient earnestness. But when this happens, prayer becomes so exaggerated that our Savior even forbids it.
Obviously Jesus does not want to discourage us from praying. His point is that when we pray we must have a sense of proportion. Once we have prayed, we must be quiet. We need to be like the farmer who has sown his seed. Help will come only when you are quiet in faith. Also in your sickness or with other needs, learn to be still and look to the Kingdom of God.
We can share our needs with the Father in a few words, without making a fuss, and rest assured that God already knows what we need and what he will do to help us. We don’t have to explain our requests in great detail to God, or try and make quite sure that he knows our needs. God knows about even the smallest matters and takes them straight into his heart. We can turn to him by glancing Heavenward, with no words at all. We can do this even when we pray about something concrete and tangible, or about something that specifically troubles us. We may realize that what we thought we needed is actually not necessary and that we can find a way right in the midst of how things are now.
This doesn’t mean that we just let things happen – as if everything will come of its own accord without our longing for it. Nor should we just cast a brief and hurried request at God’s feet. When this happens, we too easily lose sight of God, assume that everything comes to us without his help, and we forget to thank him. Then we cease to have a believing heart and are consequently not true children of God.
Jesus said, “Before you ask him.” Therefore we do need to make our requests known to him, otherwise many things will not be given that could have been given. It never displeases God when we come to him with our heartfelt requests. A real child asks for everything, knowing God has an ear for him. We should bring all our burdens and needs to him, for at the very least this helps to make us ever more aware that in all things God is the giver.
God always has our interest in mind. He carries our various needs with fatherly concern, eagerly waiting for us to come to him. He has not forgotten us. And when we feel tempted to think so, then all the more we should remember that he knows it all and cares for us. In fact, he knows much more about us and our needs than we do. Simple, childlike prayer is enough to move his heart, give you something out of the fullness of his compassion, and save you from all sorts of fear and trouble.
(Johann Christoph Blumhardt)
(The God Who Heals, Words of Hope for a Time of Sickness)
Request a prayer and pray for others
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Julia
The Lord’s Prayer From New Zealand
Eternal Spirit,
Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is Heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your Heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on Earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and testing, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and for ever.
( The New Zealand Prayer Book)
Received: June 5, 2018
Julia
A PRAYER FOR OUR NATION
And then all that has divided us will merge
And then compassion will be wedded to power
And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and unkind
And then both men and women will be gentle
And then both women and men will be strong
And then no person will be subject to another's will
And then all will be rich and free and varied
And then the greed of some will give way to the needs of many
And then all will share equally in the Earth's abundance
And then all will care for the sick and the weak and the old
And then all will nourish the young
And then all will cherish life's creatures
And then all will live in harmony with each other and the Earth
And then everywhere will be called Eden once again.
(Judy Chicago)
Received: June 5, 2018
Julia
Holy Spirit, comforter, on this day of Pentecost, we welcome your presence. Jesus had promised his friends that you would communicate a lasting joy to them; in our turn, we hope to receive from you this joy. In all our diversity, you put us in communion with each other. And we ask you: spread your peace across all humanity. Amen.
(Taizé)
Received: June 5, 2018
Kristy DiGeronimo
For all those in bondage of any sort...in bondage to addiction, any form of slavery or human trafficking...that they be sent comfort and a means of escape and restoration and healing of body, mind and spirit. Lord, you are the Lord of Love and freedom. We pray your freedom over your people in the name of the Risen Christ, who sets us free.
Received: June 5, 2018
Julia
Agta People of Luzon Island, Philippines
The old Agta woman showed her granddaughter how to pull back the bow. Everyone knew that women had better success with hunting than men, but everyone also observed that the long-preserved Agta way of life was fading, and this girl could be the last generation of Agta people to hunt.
The Agta or Aeta are an impoverished indigenous people who traditionally live in the isolated mountains of Luzon Island. One of the oldest tribes, their way of life had remained unchanged for thousands of years until recently. They are still nomadic, although many are forced into urban resettlement areas. Some still build temporary shelters made of sticks driven into the mountainous ground covered with the palm or banana leaves. The more modernized, settled Agtas live in villages and open spaces. They build houses with bamboo and cogon grass. These dark-skinned “Negritos” (or goblins as they are derogatorily referred to) are mostly unskilled laborers who work for or trade with lowland farmers. The change in Agta lifestyle has mirrored the decline in their population, now less than a thousand. Meanwhile the Philippine government offers them little or no protection.
The Agta are monotheistic, and many are even Evangelical due to early missionary efforts. Most are animistic, meaning they believe in the spirits of mountains and other earth elements.
Pray that the Agta believers will teach the gospel and demonstrate the power of Jesus. Amen.
(Global Prayer Digest)
Received: June 4, 2018
Julia
We pray for the victims of massacres committed by rebel groups against the civilian population of the Central African Republic. The suffering of this far exceeds what is reported outside the country or what is seen on television in the West. Death has become an everyday friend. The morgues of the Bangui General Hospital and the community hospital are no longer sufficient to receive corpses. The coffin business, which culturally represents a taboo, is becoming very profitable right now.
It seems as if there is a planned depopulation project in some parts of the country. Villages, infrastructures, human lives are destroyed; entire families eradicated due to ethnicity, race, and religion. It can be said that at present there is an atypical form of genocide in the CAR.
We pray that in God’s mercy help comes to the CAR and protects these people from further harm. Amen.
(Agenzia Fides)
Received: June 4, 2018
Julia
After enduring a year of drought and then the heaviest rainfall in over three decades, more than 750,000 Somalis must now figure out how to secure food and shelter and deal with emerging health risks. We pray to God the resources will be supplied to help people affected by flooding in the south and center of the country. Amen.
(IRIN)
Received: June 4, 2018
Julia
We give thanks to God that the Supreme Court ruled 7 to 2 in favor of Colorado cake artist Jack Phillips in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The ruling reversed the state’s decision to punish Phillips for living and working consistent with his religious beliefs about marriage. Amen.
Received: June 4, 2018
Julia
Prayer To The Holy Trinity
10th Century Hymn
Father most holy, merciful and tender;
Jesus our Savior, with the Father reigning;
Spirit of mercy, Advocate, Defender,
Light never waning.
Trinity sacred Unity unshaken;
Deity perfect, giving and forgiving,
Light of the Angels, Life of the forsaken,
Hope of all living.
Maker of all things, all thy creatures praise thee;
Lo, all things serve thee through thy whole creation:
Hear us, Almighty, hear us as we raise thee
Hearts adoration.
To the almighty triune God be glory:
Highest and greatest, help thou our endeavor;
We too would praise thee, giving honor worthy,
Now and for ever.
Received: June 4, 2018
Julia
As fish-seller Josephine Ikoko prepares to board a barge from Mbandaka to Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, she is painfully aware of the heightened risk of catching Ebola, which has already reached the outskirts of this city of one million people.
Ebola is spreading along the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is being spread by passengers and boat crews who travel along this river. Screenings for this disease are not being made at ports along the river.
We pray that the Congolese government addresses this lack of attention to the people who work on or live near the river; that a night-time curfew on the river be enacted in order to stop boats from coming into the Congo from outside the country on the river; and that patrol boats are deployed to stop unauthorized use of the river.
Amen.
(IRIN)