Power of Prayer : Prayer Log : Examples of Prayers
At the Institute, we believe in the dynamic power of prayer !
Whatever your tradition, prayer is a cornerstone of spiritual practice. There are many different ways to pray. In the end, though, all of them involve an intimate conversation with God.
The late Catholic writer, Henri Nouwen, wrote movingly about the importance of prayer in his book, Here and Now. His observations were prompted by a rememberance of the large wagon wheels that were often used as decorations in his native Holland.
"These wheels help me understand the importance of a life lived from the center ... To pray is to move to the center of all life and all love ... the hub of life ... What does the hub represent ? I think of it as my own heart, the heart of God, and the heart of the world. When I pray, I enter into my own heart and find there the heart of God, who speaks to me of love. And I recognize, right there, the place where all of my brothers and sisters are in communion with one another. The great paradox of spiritual life is ... that the most personal is most universal, that the most intimate is most communal, and that the most contemplative is most active."
Recognizing as we do the power of prayer, we have set aside this space where you can experience the richness and diversity of different types of prayer.
In addition, it is also a place where you can log your own prayer requests. Looking at the prayer log gives us all an opportunity to pray for one another's needs. A prayer log also provides a useful tool for self-reflection. It is interesting to see how our own prayers change over time as our perspective deepens.
If you wish to post a favorite prayer of yours or a prayer request, please email them to rev.susan.sager@gmail.com. We will not include whole names but will include your first name or initials if you wish. Please keep in mind that there may be a delay of a day or two before your message is posted.
Before you leave, we ask that you take a moment to pray for our world. Pray for all those in need of healing in mind, body and spirit. Hold our world and everyone in it in the Light. Affirm that each prayer is being answered in a way that supports the highest good of all concerned.
And, as you leave, remember ... you are also enfolded in prayer!
Prayer Log
PLEASE INCLUDE IN YOUR PRAYERS...
Guard, guide, direct and protect the people of Japan...bless Samantha on her mission to Haiti ...surround Lisa with your protection and love during this transition ... bless Deb and Bob for their kindness and hospitality; wrap them in your love...bless baby Raviv and big borther, Micah as well as his parents, Erica and Ken... ..help us all to see each other as You see us, Lord...give wings to Mischief's and Lexus's spirit...bless Debbie in her recovery...bless Kathy as she recovers from surgery and raise her up....bless Talya's pregnancy with your angels of protection...bless Meredith in her chemotherapy and lift her spirits...bless Mariya and Clay's marriage...Assist Marilyn in finding the perfect position to support her as she continues her treatment ... bless Marcia as she recovers from surgery and grant her perfect healing ... surround A., I. and L. with strength and solace as they face the loss of their loved one....guide J. in his transition from this realm of experience to the next... bless Micah with complete healing as he recovers from encephalitis and be with his family during his recovery....continued recovery for Hana following surgery....be with Alan as heals from prostate cancer and bless him ....bless Bob D. as he undergoes testing.... strengthen Sharon as she supports her family.... strengthen R. and her kids in the face of their loss... heal Gigi in mind, body and spirit ... bless S. and T.'s marriage... bless Aimee and Philip on the day of their wedding and all of the days to come ... may the light of Divine Love dissolve any negativity or jealousy around A and P ... support and strengthen Billy as he undergoes treatment for liver cancer ... guide Phillip as he grows toward manhood; reconcile him with his family ... may Marilyn C. be granted total strength and complete healing as she completes her chemotherapy ... help Ada to see herself as You see her, Lord ... grant continued healing to Susan....bring healing to fourteen year old Loretta who was paralyzed in an ocean accident .... support and strengthen Linda as she faces medical tests and surgery... comfort Hubie's family as they grieve his death ...direct the total healing of Ruby in mind, body and spirit ... heal Kathy and restore her faith in herself ... heal the painful arthritis that affects M ... watch over our service men and women abroad; guard, guide and direct them ... bless Robbie's recovery from breast cancer ... grant continued health and strength for Frances ... complete recovery for Alan from his eye surgeries ... release for L from the bondage of an abusive past ... surround Elizabeth, Rachel and Debbie with white light of protection; seal them in its peace, harmony, protection and perfection.... comfort Stacie and Annette during their mother's illness ... bless Loyce in her living and dying ... grant grace and healing to Juanita, Christine, Eddie, Alyce and Dorothy ... guidance for little Isabelle as she grows ... support Annette in following Your will for her ... comfort M. in her grief ... rekindle the friendship of LL and AR ... bless L and M's relationship and help them to see each other through Your eyes ... direct S to a vibrant and supportive sense of community ... protect those affected by violent storms and weather conditions ... bless the work of the Trinity Center and its director, Beverly Williams-Hawkins ... CC's gratitude for the blessings of her two beautiful children ... Erica's gratitude for her life and all the people in it ...guide Bonnie and her family as she goes through her divorce ...
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Prayers From Around the World
Starting a Conversation with God
I want to be with You, God.
I want to give You my total attention.
Thank You for my life and my many blessings.
I am sorry for all the things I have done to hurt myself and others and all the things I have left undone.
Lord, it is easy to love You and hard to love myself and others.
Help me.
You know better than I do what I really need. And I trust You to provide them. I trust You will not demand of me more than I am able to do. Your grace is sufficient for me.
Now I will stop talking, Lord, and let You speak.
I will sit still, with my eyes closed, quietly breathing, as I open to Your presence. I will not focus on the past or future, but only on this moment. I can be at peace with myself because You love and forgive me. You are always with me, but my preoccupation often makes me unaware of Your presence.
For the next few minutes, I will think only of You and welcome You. Any distractions that arise will float away of their own accord
I love You, Lord. Help me to pray.
Adapted from Breaking Though God's Silence by David Younts
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An Example of Centering Prayer
Psalm 46, verse 10
Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.
Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.
Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.
Be.
Be.
Be.
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A Contemporary Prayer
I'm wide awake and it's three a.m., Lord. I'm unable to turn off my mind.
I keep going over and over the events of the day.
I worry about what I said and did.
Reconstructing conversations and encounters in a thousand different ways.
I wish I could turn off my mind.
I need sleep but it's like the accelerator of my mind
Is Racing, racing, racing.
God, why don't you let me sleep ?
I guess I'm supposed to feel pious at a time like this and pray
But I don't want to pray, I want to sleep.
~Richard J. Foster
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A Prayer to Make You Smile
O Lord, help me to be the person my dog thinks me to be. Amen.
~ Canon Charles S. Martin
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Prayer for a Normal Day
Normal day,
let me be aware of the treasure you are.
Let me learn from you, love you,
bless you before you depart.
Let me not pass by in quest
of some rare and perfect tomorrow.
Let me hold you while I may,
for it may not always be so.
One day I shall dig my nails into the earth,
or bury my face in the pillow,
or stretch myself taut,
or raise my hands to the sky and want,
more than all the world, your return.
~Mary Jean Iron
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The Serenity Prayer
O God,
Grant me the serenity
to accept what cannot be changed,
the courage to change what can be changed,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the path to peace;
Taking this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it:
Trusting that You will make all things right
if I surrender to Your will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with You
forever in the next.
(Many are familiar with the first part of this prayer, although they may not be aware of its origins.
It was written by Protestant theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) and is a wonderful prayer
for any of us in times of trial and uncertainty)
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A Prayer for Troubled Times
In me there is darkness.
But with you there is help.
I am lonely, but You do not leave me.
I am feeble at heart, but with You, there is help.
I am restless, but with You, there is peace.
In me there is bitterness, but with You, there is patience;
I do not understand Your ways, but You know the way for me ...
Lord, whatever this day may bring,
Your name be praised.
(Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote this prayer while he was in a Nazi prison camp.
Bonhoeffer was executed only weeks before the war ended just after conducting worship services for the camp)
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A Muslim Prayer
O God, give me light in my heart
and light in my tongue
and light in my hearing
and light in my sight
and light in my feeling
and light in all my body
and light before me
and light behind me.
Give me, I pray Thee,
light on my right hand
and light on my left hand
and light above me
and light beneath me, O Lord.
Increase light within me
and in light illuminate me.
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Every Act of Love is a Prayer.
~Mother Theresa
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A Prayer for Protection
The Light of God surrounds me.
The Love of God enfolds me.
The Power of God Protects me.
The Presence of God watches over me.
Wherever I am,
God is.
~James Dillett Freeman
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A Hindu Prayer
May there be peace in the heavens,
may there be peace in the skies,
May there be peace on earth,
may there be peace in the waters,
May there be peace in the plants,
may there be peace in the trees.
May we find peace in all the divine powers.
may we find peace in the Supreme Lord,
May we all be in peace. may that peace be mine !
Peace ! Peace ! Peace ! (Shanti ! Shanti ! Shanti !)
from the Vedas
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I once was lost but now am found,
Christ has no body now on earth but yours;
yours are the only hands with which He can do His work,
yours are the only feet with which He can go about the world,
yours are the only eyes through which His compassion
can shine forth upon a troubled world,
yours is the mouth through which He speaks of truth and love.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
~ St. Theresa of Avila
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Oh Lord,
Thou knowest how busy
I must be this day;
If I forget Thee,
Do not Thou forget me.
~Sir Jacob Astley
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A Native American Prayer for Peace
Let us know peace
for as long as the moon shall rise
for as long as the rivers shall flow
for as long as the sun shall shine
for as long as the grass shall grow.
Let us know peace. 
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If the only prayer you ever said was "thank you," it would be enough.
~Meister Eckhart
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A Hasidic Prayer
Wherever I go -- only Thou !
Wherever I stand, only Thou !
Just Thou, again Thou, always Thou !
Thou ! Thou, Thou, Thou !
When things are good, Thou !
When things are bad, Thou !
Thou, Thou, Thou !
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The Prayer of an Unknown Confederate Soldier
I asked for strength that I might achieve;
I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health that I might do greater things;
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked for riches that I might be happy;
I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men;
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I had asked for,
but everything that I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself,
my unspoken prayers were answered;
I am, among all men, most richly blessed.
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The Prayer of Saint Francis
Lord,
make me an instrument of your piece.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Whre there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
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MIRACLES ... PASS 'EM ON!
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