Silent Holy Nights

Nights are rarely silent and holy in too many places in the world.

Let us pray:

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.

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Know, Love and Praise

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

It's What You Pray

I said to the Lord this morning,
O God, yet another phone call about tragedy, loss, poor prognosis, emergency surgery, tumors, pain and suffering. What can I say?

There is yet another sound bite of misfortune and misspent opportunities. What can I say?

There are yet too many crises in too many places with too many people we care about and a multitude of people we do not know. What can I say?

God said to me, Daughter, it’s not what you say it is what you pray.

So, I prayed, God of grace and glory, hear the cries of your people. Where healing is needed, dispense it now, in Jesus name, where help is needed, give it now in the name of Jesus. Where shelter is needed, provide now in the name of Jesus, and where there is a need for sustenance, supply it now, in the name of Jesus.

In the name of Jesus, let your healing waters flow, let your love abide and your mercy endure forever in this Advent season. Amen.

God With Us!

Have you ever been in God's presence and hardly noticed it? Have you ever suddenly realized that God had been with you long before you knew God was there?

The good news of Jacob's story is not simply that there was a stairway to heaven or that Jacob was a special kind of man despite his deceitful ways. The good news is that God comes into our lives even when we don’t deserve God’s presence. For surely the Lord entertains us and we do not even know it.

God will surprise us by turning our greatest afflictions into sources of strength and healing. God will surprise us by converting moments of pain into stripes that heal. God will surprise us by changing a time of death into an eternity of glorious life. Yes, God is in our lives, even when we do not know it.

“When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”

Genesis 28:16

Let us pray:

Lord God, help us to know that you are here to bless and heal, comfort and guide, change and transform, and help and reassure us. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Dr. Calvin H. Sydnor, III,

Editor The Christian Recorder

AME Church

ADVENT

Today, do not allow the crush and crises of a hectic holiday season blind you to the presence of God in your life. God is with us!

Behold!

It's Advent! This is the four-week season to prepare us spiritually for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. The sounds of Christmas will be everywhere. Carols will be sung in church, heard on the radio and while shopping in over crowded malls.

The sound of Advent is the sound of prayer, fasting, study, meditation and worship that seeks the face of God. The sound of Advent is a longing for God to appear. It is the anticipation of the arrival of God's promise and at the same time looking beyond what we can see.

This is the time of year when I seek to increase my prayer time. I listen intently to the voice of God seeking instruction for the celebration preparation as well as guidance for the coming new year.

Advent is more than which grinch will try to steal Christmas or how many sugarplums should be dancing in our heads. It is a concerted seeking season to dig into the Word of God, increase prayer time, worship abundantly and practice authentically your Spiritual Disciplines.

Start with Praycation, a companion for those who want to go deeper in Christ and practice spiritual disciplines, now through Christmas. Stay with Praycation in the coming new year to grow stronger in the things of God. Many people will watch faithfully a favorite television show, football or basketball game. It only takes a minute to stick with Praycation daily. Make it a part of the regular devotions. Seleh: stop here before moving forward!

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“ Be not afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all people; …”

Luke 2:10

Let us pray:

Behold! Lord you have our undivided attention. We confess that we have been so busy with the minutia of life that we failed to hear again the good news you have for us all. We have been so caught up in black Fridays and cyber Mondays that we missed the good news about our Christ being born again in our hearts.

Lord we want to see what matters to you in this Advent season not what merely matters to our financial status. Open our eyes to see beyond the natural to behold the wonder of the good news you still have for us. Prepare our hearts to anticipate the gift of the Christ child. Cultivate within us a deeper spiritual attentiveness so we yearn to learn to love you more than decking the halls. In Jesus name, amen.

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Running Low

Gracious God, I confess that I have often run ahead of you. I have run in so many different directions that I've become road-weary. I've rushed by others trying to find my own way. I've failed to stop long enough to build relationships with you and others. I find myself alone in the corner of life unable to speak or act having lost all hope. I've allowed the running to drain my inner spiritual landscape. I'm running on empty.

Fill me and forgive me again! Order my steps so that life will no longer be a blur of too much to do in too little time. Restore unto me the joy of my salvation. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and help me today to rediscover the joy of your love. Help me to shed aimless thinking, speaking and doing. Help me to walk the path you have set for me. In the name of Christ I pray, Amen.

D. Carr

ADVENT

What are you doing to spiritually prepare for the celebration of Christmas. Advent is an excellent opportunity to make more room in your life for Jesus Christ. Share your thoughts, holiday traditions, prayers and blessing at praycation2@gmail.com.

Silent Night

Nights are rarely silent and holy these days. Lord, help us to carry a little bit of the silence that is pregnant with your perfect peace 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 the extra calm so that wars and worries won’t capture us today. Help us to reach beyond our own midnight wanderings to help someone trapped at the threshold of Christmas.

When we come to the door of the celebration, Lord show us how to set down our bags and baggage to reach to the door of a new year. It is hard to open the door while holding on to our heavy burdens. Free our minds, freed our hearts and our hands to grasp your new emerging realities.

And when the night comes, may we sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace. In Jesus name, Amen.

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Merry Christmas to you and your families. Plan to begin the New Year with us for a new discipline: The First 31 Days. Do not lose Christ in the celebration but keep Christ in the center of all you do this holiday season. Share your prayers, prayer requests and prayer experiences at praycation2@gmail.com.

Unexpected Blessings

Heavenly father. Often I marvel when your blessings appear when I am empty and tired, and without exaltation, expectation or anticipation. Empower me to pour out to others what you have given me. Grant me the endurance to be a blessing where you lead me. Keep me humble in heart to continue to worship you particularly in this season as we celebrate your birth. I honor you and thank you for your presence. Amen.

Herschelle Reed-Morris

Share Your Prayers

As we approach the Christmas Day and the end of 2010, share you prayers and thoughts with the Praycation/Selah family. Just send to praycation2@gmail.com.

One More Time

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.

Help us to rise above the noise that calls us to less than lofty activities. Help us to ignore the invitations to promote the secular rather than the sacred things of God.

Open our hearts so that we will continue to rescue the lost, strengthen the weak and support your call to this ministry of reconciliation. Open our hearts to create a new place for your glory to dwell.

In spite of what our eyes see and our ears hear, this is the season to rejoice and again I say rejoice!

Awaken old discarded dreams, restart the vision and reset the goals for the coming new year. Show us which one of our priorities of the past your want to be active in our present. In Jesus Name, Amen.

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Advent, Christmastide and New Years Prayers

If you have a prayer to share, send it to bishopvashitmckenzie@gmail.com. Loved to hear your prayer concerns for this season of our lives as well. Blessings!

Change Agent

Dear God,

We are constantly guilty of being wrapped in materialism this season and the fast-paced journeys of our lives that we forget about those around us who are without this season. We are wrong for allowing any of our brothers and sisters to go without food and clothing during this winter season while we continue to shop until we drop. Father, forgive us for what we have done and for what we have left undone.

During this Advent Season, challenge us to be good stewards of your word and bless those who we come in contact with either by word or deed. Allow us to be a blessing to someone else today and allow others to see the spirit you have placed within us. Today allow us to be change-agents through our expression, attitude and demeanor which represent the Love you share for us. Amen.

Stephen A. Green

O, Give Thanks!

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.

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Unconditional 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

Spiritual Vigilance

"And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.”

Romans 13:11

Amazing God, thank you for this season, this moment to draw closer to a love that gave the ultimate sacrificial gift so that we can enjoy by faith through grace eternal life. Thank you for this season where we can stir up the gifts that is within us to apply them according to your will. Thank you for these days where we can shake off a lethargic faith that has been lulled to sleep by disappointments.

We know what we do matters to you, O Lord, and to those we life and work with. Therefore, in Jesus name help us to keep a spiritual vigilance over our words and deeds as we are no longer children of the darkness but children of light. Amen.

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A SEEKING SEASON

First Sunday in Advent
It's Advent! This is the four-week season to prepare us spirituallyfor the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. The sounds of Christmas will be everywhere. Carols will be sung in church, heard on the radio and while shopping in over crowded malls.

The sound of Advent is the sound of prayer, fasting, study, meditation and worship that seeks the face of God. The sound of Advent is a longing for God to appear. It is the anticipation of the arrival of God's promise and at the same time looking beyond what we can see.

This is the time of year when I seek to increase my prayer time. I listen intently to the voice of God seeking instruction for the celebration preparation as well as guidance for the coming new year.

Advent is more than which grinch will try to steal Christmas or how many sugarplums should be dancing in our heads. It is a concerted seeking season to dig into the Word of God, increase prayer time, worship abundantly and practice authentically your Spiritual Disciplines.

Start with Seleh, a companion for those who want to go deeper in Christ and practice spiritual disciplines, now through Christmas. (Seleh, formerly called Praycation is under construction) Stay with Seleh in the coming new year to grow stronger in the things of God. Many will watch faithfully a favorite television show, football or basketball game. It only take a minute to stick with Seleh daily. Make it a part of the regular devotions.

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Save Us!

"Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; For he hath visited and wrought redemption for his people, And hath raised up a horn of salvation for us..." Luke 1: 68-69

Today we lift our voices to you to thank you for salvation. You have visited us with grace, mercy, forgiveness and redemption. You have raised us up to save us from our enemies and ourselves. Forgive us when we want to keep you to ourselves when others need to drink from the well of living water that never runs dry. Forgive us when we have kept the gospel to ourselves when everyone needs to feast on its wholeness.We commit today to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. Guide our feet in the way of peace. In Jesus name, Amen.

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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

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.