One Day at a Time

O God, today I look beyond the inconveniences of 2009 because I'm grateful for the year you've given me. Life is precious. Restrain me from cursing the one who strives to take my place. Help me to extend an invitation to them so that my rivals can be a resource.

Gracious Lord, help me to live one day at a time with a fresh plan of fulfillment. Empower me to act on your divine ideas that I receive in moments of prayer and inspiration. Send these through wholesome, positive thoughts, so they won't get lost in the the uncertainty of the times. Help me to use creative thinking to build upon divine ideas as my activities become more dynamic and my abilities are enhanced. Therefore, I enter this new year with optimism, joy and enthusiasm. In Jesus name, Amen.

PRAYER EXPERIENCE

It has been a joy sharing prayers with you this year. Thanks to all the gracious men and women who shared their special prayers and experiences on this blog. May your God Moments be powerful because you prayed first!

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A Fresh Start

Prepare me Lord to begin a new year. Lead me to do those things that help my heart and mind to be receptive to a fresh start.
Today, I will begin by discarding thoughts, attitudes, and habits that are not compatible with an abundant, beautiful and excellent life. I turn away from negative people, places and things and turn towards that which is positive and uplifting. I let go of whatever caused past discouragement, disappointment, or disagreement. I reach for those things that encourage, support and nourish my body, mind and spirit. So, I stand boldly on your Word.. behold you shall do a new thing in me. I am open and receptive to new ideas, activities and relationships. In Jesus name, Amen

Which Way

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Prayer of Thomas Merton

Know, Love, Praise and Value

Grant to me, O Lord, to know what I ought to know, to love what I ought to love, to praise what delights thee most, to value what is precious in thy sight, to hate what is offensive to Thee. Do not suffer me to judge according to the sight of my eyes, nor to pass sentence according to the hearing of the ears of ignorant men; but to discern with true judgment between things visible and spiritual, and above all things to inquire what is the good pleasure of thy will.

Prayer of Thomas a Kempis

God's Love

Thanksgiving for God’s Love

O, Lord our God, how excellent is Your name in All the Earth!
We pause at this time in the Season of Advent with over flowing grateful hearts
And say, “Thank you, Lord!”
Thank You for Your unconditional love gift of Jesus, the Christ!
Thank You for loving us before we loved ourselves;
Thank You for sending Jesus that we might live through Him.
Thank You God for showing us that true love is patient,
And thank You for teaching us the endurance of true love!
Thank you God, for loving us through our sins
And providing us a way back to You and Your love.
Thank You for Christ’s unspeakable gift of eternal life!
We are truly grateful, Lord, in Jesus Name. Amen.
1 John 4:7a, 9-10

Bishop Sarah F. Davis
16th Episcopal District
AME Church

Help us to Receive

Lord, help us to receive the answers we have been awaiting with joy and gladness. Help us to run with Your promises fulfilled.

Help us to tell the testimony of how You did the impossible, fixed what was broken, solved what was problematic, straightened what was disfigured, and restored what had been taken away. In Jesus name, Amen.

Come Again

God of promises made and promises kept, come again into our hearts. Come in a way we need the most and help us rejoice again for divinity clothed in human flesh.

Open our hearts so that we will continue to rescue the lost, strengthen the weak and support your call to this ministry of reconciliation.

Awaken old discarded dreams, restart the vision and reset the goals for the coming new year. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Blessings of Prosperity

"Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you." Job 22:21

Too often we look at prosperity as our ability to acquire large bank accounts, the best of physical structures and objects one can touch and feel. But what is true prosperity; and is there a big difference or any difference between blessings and prosperity? When one is able to wake up in the morning, get out of bed, be in your right mind, walk, talk, have a job to go to, a house to live in, ability to pay one's bills and have food in the house, to have a house, transportation, leave home and return safely and have relatively good health this is a blessing. How many individuals do we know that are no longer able to celebrate the birth of Christ? Blessings come in so many forms. Did you have a health issue this year and God bought you through? Let us not forget that blessings when added up, equals true prosperity.

It has been more than three years since I had my first heart event and I know I am rich and prosperous because God has chosen to continue to give me so many blessings.

During this Advent season, every night before going to sleep, record and thank God for the many blessings you received that day.

Father-God I am so grateful for the many blessings of prosperity that you have bestowed upon me today. Amen

Margie Day
Metropolitan AME Church, Washington, D.C.

Upon Every Snowy Occasion

Dear God,
Everyday is an occasion to thank you for life and the diversity of experiences even snowy ones. Thank you for keeping us safe on snowy roads. Thank you that sinning wheels and cars that refused to navigate the hills and valleys didn’t end in the loss of life. Thank you for the policeman who helped us up the hill along with 12 others! Thank you for those who worked overtime to plow the roads!

Thank you for the neighbor who came to help us dig out. Thank you for heat, lights, milk, bread, sustenance and family.

Now God, we pray for those who do not have family members, neighbors or those who are sworn to protect and serve to help them. We pray for those who have no heat, light or food.

Help us to work together to find ways to be a blessing to those without, with little, with some and no one to care. Encourage us to reach out today to be sure that everyone on our block made it through the storm safe and sound. Touch someone's heart so that they clear the steps and sidewalk of the elderly, disabled, or persons otherwise impaired and perhaps share a meal with the homebound.

In the Name above all names, Amen.

I Took You For Granted

Dear Lord,
Thank you for this day that you have made. Thank you for the new life you have allowed me to experience through the blessing of my family and my friends. You have been faithful down through the years and during this season of Advent, as I remember the coming of your son Jesus Christ; I ask that you will forgive me for all that I have taken for granted. I have taken for granted my mother, my friends, and the gifts you have granted me. Continue to have patience with me as I find myself and return to my first love.

I ask for your patience with me as you lead me toward the destiny you have ordained for my life. Open my eyes of faith that I might clearly recognize You in every part of my life and then see the greatness you have entrusted to each one of us. Let all of us see this Christmas season as an opportunity to bless someone we don’t know, even as we spend time with family and friends.

Finally, I give thanks for those who sacrifice everyday for my freedom and I ask that you bless the mothers and fathers who will have to sit in a foxhole, patrol a distant border, or fly through the sky somewhere in a foreign country during this season while securing the freedom and safety of our nation. I pray that you will be a blessing to them and remind all of us of the need to die to our selfishness and arrogance so that someone else will know your blessings through our sacrifice. Our song today is, “Come, Lord Jesus! Come and visit your people. We await your coming. ”

Thank you in advance for answered prayer. In Jesus name, Amen!

Rev. Nigel Felder
Louisville, Kentucky

Peace, Possible Peace

Holy God,
As we prepare for all the possibilities of the coming of Christ, we need your peace. We need your peace that surpasses our understanding, so that we do not lose sight of why you come. We need your peace in our homes and in our jobs and in our schools and in our communities and in our churches. We need your peace, so that our living will not is in vain. We need your peace so that we can recognize that this life that we live is not about us, but about you. We need you peace so that in everything that we do and everything that we say, we have the sensibilities to seek your wisdom and your guidance. We need your peace in the wars that rage in our nations, in the wars that rage in our homes and in the wars that rage within us.

Teach us to prepare our minds, bodies and souls to be instruments of your peace. Teach us what it is operate in the possibilities of the coming Savior.

As we seek your peace, let us not cower down from seeking justice for those who cannot seek justice for themselves. Help us through our actions, show what your love looks like that others may come to understand why you have come.
In the Peaceful Name of Jesus Amen

Toni Belin Ingram

PRAYER REPORT

This prayer blog began as Praycation in August 2009. Since that time more than 7,000 persons have prayed. Now 245 people get the daily prayers delivered to their email inbox. Our goal was to have 200 regular prayer warriors. Thanks for helping gather a community of people who don't mind praying everyday. Many of you have shared your prayers, prayer requests and testified your prayer experience. Let's surpass this goal! Help us to have 500 regular prayer warriors and 10,000 prayed prayers! Share this ministry with others, subscribe and encourage others to Seleh: Stop here before moving forward.

Silent Night

Nights are rarely silent and holy these days.
Lord, help us to carry a little bit of silence within us as we meet the busy rush of crowded streets, malls and agendas, tinkling brass and sounding cymbals. Help us to enter into the chaos with your silence to encourage others to be still and know that you are God. Help us to be holy because you are holy in thought, word, and deed. Help us to have extra calm so that wars and worries won’t capture us today. And when the night comes, may we sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace. Amen.

No One

There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus.
There is no one who can help us like you can help us.
There is no other who strengthens us like you do.
There is no one who lifts us above our circumstances and sets us in a place where our enemies can’t reach us.
There is not another who can calms our fears, ignite our joy, or engulf us with such an abiding love – like you Lord.
Thank you for being just that kind of friend.
Ok Friend, there are challenges up ahead. Since nothing is impossible with you, my Friend, what impossible things are we going to handle today?!

Enable Us Lord

Fountain of life, we thank you for the gift of another day. Forgive us of our sins of omission –the things we didn’t do and should have done. Forgive us for the sins of commission- the sins that so easily beset us.

Help us today to offer thanks to you, not in pious gestures or empty words but by living faithful to your call. Enable us to bear the fruit of thankfulness by serving others. Empower us to reach beyond our comfort zones to build community with those around us. Help us to willingly accept the love and friendship of others.

We know that you are with us and for us everyday. In Jesus name, we offer this prayer, Amen

Making Room

Thank you Lord for the call during this Advent season to make all things new. Help us to make room for our own nativity, even where there is no room at our own inns. Grant us peace when we are busy but not blessed. Exchange our sorrows for joy and any bitterness for love. If we are lost and cannot find our way, put salvation under the tree. Let this season be a time of hope in spite of wars and rumors of wars, negative prognosis and ill will; let heaven and nature sing, joy to the world, Amen.

Anxious Anticipation

Gracious God,
We await the coming of Christ with anxious anticipation during this advent season. We thank you Lord that for over two thousand years Jesus comes and that through Jesus coming we remember that you love us so much that you sent Jesus so that through our belief and our faith we will never perish. We thank you Lord for this time of waiting and Hope. We know Lord that in the midst of all that happens around us, sickness, job loss, indiscretions, fear and depression we can put our hope in Christ that through Christ coming, again, our living will not be in vain.

Dear God we ask for blessings for our nation and for our world. As 30,000 troops are being prepared to go off to war, we ask that you give their families the hope that comes from knowing you in the full pardon of our circumstances. We ask you Lord that we learn to be just people. Teach us to be just people who operate in your justice, in your equitable distribution of resources, in your love and in your guidance. We put all our hope in You, because you are our God.

We praise your Holy, your Righteous and your Loving Name as we prepare our hearts and our minds and our souls for the coming of Christ.
Amen

Toni Belin Ingram

Bend, Break and Blossom

Eternal source of hope, help us to prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ. You already know that this is a season of hopes and fears. We hope everything will be all right, everything will get done, everything will be worthwhile and everyone will be a channel of peace to those around them.

Help us to be a blessing to others, even our co-workers and supervisors. Today, we pray that our relationships will remain strong and will not break or bend in the stress of the season but will blossom. In Jesus, name. Amen.

Refresh Us

God of this brand new day, we welcome you with our many morning moods. Some of us barely made it though the night while others couldn’t wait for a fresh start and a new beginning. Some of us dread the crises we must face today while others view the challenges as opportunities to be conduits of your power.

Whatever the circumstance, refresh us with your spirit. Help us not to repeat the mistakes of the past and keep us from new evils that seek to disrupt. Provide the resources for our rescue and redemption today and always…in Christ’s name. Amen.

Eager Anticipation

Dear Lord in this season of eager anticipation of a rebirth of hope, a transformation from distress and gloom-we believe that those things that have held us down and kept us bound—will nevertheless cease and will be no more.

As your people we shall no longer walk in darkness for the Light of the World has come and His name is Jesus. We cling to your name Jesus because it reminds us that you took on human flesh for our sake. We recognize your divinity Christ because you never lost the ability to change your situation but instead chose to save our souls. We pray that through those times of despair that we remember your bright light that guided us all to you.

In this day, we believe fervently that you will again enlarge our territory, restore joy where despair sought to disable it and we will again rejoice in your name always. We shall have no fear of what could go wrong, we have no fear of what will go wrong-we simply believe that because you are Lord, you are Savior and you are God that all things are indeed working together for our good because we have been called by you and because we truly love you.

In you we seek our eternal Wonderful Counselor-the One who is able to guide us into all truth, we believe our Mighty God desires only what is good for us, we know that your mercies endure forever for you are the Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace—we love, adore and anticipate all great things during this most sacred period in our lives-Jesus come, it is you we love, it is you we serve. Father receive our prayer in the name of the One we love-Jesus Christ.

Rev. Deborah D. Jenkins, Wife, Mother, Pastor, Author, Entrepreneur

http://www.dvineexpressionsbookclub.com

Decisive Decisions

It’s been hard making decisions lately. I want to make the right ones because failure is not an option here. Pray with me today, that I am decisive. The livelihoods of other people depend on me making the right decision.

Lord, guide my thoughts and then my feet. Be the wisdom I need to do what must be done. Then help me live with the answer, Amen

Cheryl Perkins

LORD PREPARE ME

Prepare me for your coming again and again. Prepare my mind with your word that creates a path between my mind and your heart. Prepare my voice to join others in song – “Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary, full and holy, tried and true…with thanksgiving, I’ll be a living, sanctuary for you!"

Awaken my Soul!

Merciful God, awaken my soul! Grant me a williness to live in covenant with you even while the surprises of the day unfolds. Lift me to dance and sing your praises today so that all who sees me will see the joy you bring to my life.

Grant me a seeking heart so that among all the options, I may still seek you in everyone, in everyplace and in everything. In Jesus name, Amen.