Prayer of suffering

Help us Lord to become you and to sacrifice ourselves at the altar for you. We are so concerned about our status and our future that we have forgotten the gospel and the suffering which accompanies it. In Matthew 16 our Lord Jesus, when Peter said that you are the Messiah, you declared that you would build your church on Peter the rock. But when he took you aside and said that you will never suffer, you declared to him “Get behind me Satan”, for he became a stumbling block for you. May we God, never be a stumbling block before you and prevent the poor from being fed and the needy from getting help. Instead let us declare that you are the living God who takes care of all who come to you. May we never see and experience the gospel as comfortable but as suffering which will bring victory and the foretaste of the kingdom of God. Bless us and strengthen us Lord to carry our cross cheerfully. Amen.

Prayer for true friendship

What a friend we have in Jesus and how wonderful it is to know that. Loving God, you have loved us like a friend through Jesus Christ your son. He told us to do the same and love each other and lay down our life for our friends. Today we thank you for the gift of friendship and for the spirit to make new friends so that we may sacrifice for them. We know that unless we accept others into our circle of friendship, we will never love them completely. They will always remain strangers and we will never help strangers. Help us to build circles of friendship instead of one circle which is limiting and small. You have accepted us Jesus in so much that we are not just your servants but your friends. May we accept each other unconditionally and know that we have been created by God for each other and to be in each others caring arms. In the name of Christ Jesus we pray. Amen.

Prayer of assurance

Gracious Lord, we start today knowing that there will be problems at every juncture without you. And yet we are assured in the belief that every time we think of you and fold our hands in thanks and prayer, no mountain will be big to climb.
Many are already planning their weekend and thinking of where to go. But we are blessed knowing that with you God we are relaxed and at peace. May we pray for those who are having parties and fun for the weekend. May they relax knowing that we are praying for them and thinking about them. Help us God to feel blessed knowing that others are covered by our prayers and good thoughts.
May those travelling be protected by your shadow of mercy. May those working find strength to continue. May those in hospitals recuperate and get healthy. May children enjoy their childhood. May the young explore new things and may the elderly savour their memories. May those praying find themselves time and again. We pray to you God without boundaries and divisions. Amen.

Prayer for gender equality

Today Lord we thank you again for deep and resounding mercies that you have knowingly granted us. Help us to realize the importance of equality in our lives and in the world we live. May we learn to respect women and share with them what is genuinely and rightfully theirs. As men, may we pray and do away with masculine tendencies which hurt women. As women, may we pray and stop copying patriarchal power concepts and instead be good human beings to other women who are not comfortably placed as us. May Jesus be our model. He adored his mother for her courage and strength, he loved Martha and Mary for their eagerness to do ministry and he respected the Canaanite woman for her unshakeable faith. Fill us with the power of the Holy Spirit we pray God that we may be good to and do good for the women around us in whichever and whatever way we can. Amen.

Prayer of thanksgiving

This morning dear Lord we thank you for small and big things. Help us we ask and pray to make us identify all that you have done in our lives. You chose to create us, gave us the opportunity to live fully and unconditionally and gave us the earth and all in it so that we could be care takers and responsible people. Every day our list of wants grows like a never ending shopping list but we forget that there is a bigger and longer list which includes all that you have done in our lives. Help us to be thankful Lord for what we have even as we are already looking to the other things that you have graciously opened for our view and use. We pray God that we may be satisfied and feel peaceful about what we have instead of feeling grumpy and irritated about what we don’t have.

We realize this day O lord that if you could create someone so insignificant as us that you will have all that we will ever need in store for us. We do have deadlines to meet but we just cannot go from one deadline to another without stopping and taking time to breathe and be thankful for every step that has been made possible by your merciful care. How much can we thank you God for all that you are to us every single minute of our life? We today turn our gaze to you and thank you with all our heart, mind and soul knowing that you are listening, not expecting to be praised but feeling happy that we are bowing ourselves before you and setting free all that binds us under evil and unnecessary bondage. We thank you God, from deep within, and whatever happens today and in the days to come, that is not going to change. We thank you God for this moment and the numerous moments that have been possible by your sacrifice on the cross for us. We thank you God for loving us first and for setting the tone of how to love in our lives. Thank you Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Prayer for building relationships in the new age

Gracious God, may we use this day to send an email, sms or message on a social network to a friend or family member to show that we are thinking of them just as God thinks of us and takes care of us. We are losing the gift of managing our time to create and continue our relationships. Instead we are using it to acquire knowledge. The tower of Babel went down despite the best of knowledge whereas simple people communicated the Lord's presence on the day of the Pentecost.

Teach us today dear Lord to make time to send a message inspired by the Holy Spirit. Let it be a message asking the well being of a dear one, a small prayer for spiritual sustenance or a symbol of love. One message or prayer God is all we sometimes need to feel cheerful and hopeful. May we today be that message through our mobile and laptop. Bless and empower us loving God to be your message to others today. Amen.

Prayer on a worship day

Help us today God to find peace and to strengthen our souls. Teach us to gauge what we need to feel happy and satisfied. As we go to worship places and sacred spaces allow us to understand that we are all one and the same. Each and every one of us O Lord has been created by you. We cannot be different and better than the other. Loving God, help us to understand what we are supposed to do by ourselves and how we are supposed to bring a balance to the wonderful plans of growth and peace that you have for us. Today, help us to grow spiritually and feel strong from inside rather than flaunting all that we have achieved in the six days of our worldly life. This day, help us to love each other and forget about our material wealth as they are only pawns towards our need for spiritual growth. Teach us Jesus to let go of anything that prevents us from seeing God in those we come across. If anything comes in between that, let it be offered in the incense box so that, it, along with our ego may be burnt as a sacrifice and offering to you. Bless us and those who we have as your plan and as your wish. May we feel energized knowing that today we are resurrected from the ashes we offer. Like Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Prayer during a holiday

God of rest and peace, we seek your guidance during this weekend. May those who have a day off from work be able to spend time with family and friends. Even as we rest may we be reminded by your presence in us that we have to dream, think and prepare for doing good and being effective for you Christ Jesus in our own different ways. You are ever present in us Jesus and you never take rest and that is evident by the fact that we are safeguarded and guided every single second of our lives.

May those of us who are travelling be cheerful and show acts of help, dignity and mercy to those next to us. May others experience Jesus through our acts of love. May those who go to supermarkets, parks, shopping malls and public spaces act with the prudence of Christ to diffuse difficult situations, help others, respect others and be Christ to others. We may be on vacation from work but Lord Jesus we are never on vacation from experiencing and acting on your behalf. May those who celebrate festivals and holidays be happy with our presence next to them in different public spaces so that Christ lives in the hearts of people.

Today help us be a daughter/son to our parents, a mother/father to our daughter/son/children, a sister/brother to our sibling, a friend to our friend and a blessing to a stranger. May the elderly be considered as our own parents and helped and loved. May we visit those who are sick and share their concerns and anxiety. Bless us O lord to be you during this weekend. Amen.

Prayer for responsible use of technology

Teach us God this day to focus on important things so that we become better performers for your kingdom. Even as we say we are busy to show acts of compassion and mercy on your behalf, we are reading numerous messages on whats app which are cruel, racial and inhuman and we end up forwarding them without a thought or care for others. We have become news junkies reading every bit of information and yet it isn’t benefitting us, our family or society. Help us God to use technology and all that your hands have inspired to make, in ways that will be beneficial to us and those around us.
May we stop reading and distributing news which incite violence, instill hatred and make us negative. Instead, programme us dear Lord to sift through the happenings and find positive stories to read and send. Strengthen us to send inspiring bible verses which bring people together and don’t create walls of separation. Help us to focus God on things that are good so that we wake up inspired and thrilled to engage with the various mediums around us. May we say no to the limiting aspects of technology and instead embrace the liberating world of technology. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Prayer of trust

Help us God this morning to submit ourselves to your care. May we remember how carefree we were during our childhood. We trusted our parents, family and friends because we knew they would bring us no harm. We had no qualms in holding their hands and did not feel embarrassed to hug them and ask them for the moon and the smallest and biggest of things. Yes Lord, we were children and so we believed. We had great wishes and not every one of them was fulfilled. But we were happy and satisfied with our way of living. Transform us God today and in the days to come to feel assured in your presence, knowing that you can give us small and great things if and when you want.

Let every day Father, be spent in complete trust in your love for us. There is nothing more we want as everything else will be trivial and insignificant for us. As we sit praying in our house, office space, car, bus, train, plane, work place or walk on the road or in a park, and as we work in the field or garden,  ease us into your care. Like a child may we submit without shame and a care in the world because you are with us. As St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:10-13 “We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.  To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless, and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we speak kindly.”  Bless us O Lord. Amen.

Prayer of hope

God who gives hope to those at the brink of destruction and desolation, we seek your counsel and advice in our life. May we always trust in you God and live by your plans for us. Whenever we face moments of despair may we be strengthened by the fact that you are always looking over us. Not a moment goes by without your presence in our lives and every step, every decision, every move, and every word is guided by you when we surrender willfully to your care. St. Paul lovingly tells us “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

This morning we pray that we may overflow with hope so much that it will positively affect those around us. Help us Lord to be a blessing to many just as you are a blessing which overflows in us. May our presence with your blessing bring a smile to others, assure others, give them confidence and through that make us Christ bearers. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Prayer for strong commitment

Help us God to say no when no is the right thing to say and even if there is no one along with us to say no. When evil is being committed in different corners of the world and in our own country and locality give us the strength to say no because that is what you would have done dear Lord Jesus. Give us the wisdom Jesus to say no along with you to the oppression of the poor, the hungry and the weak.

Help us God to say yes when that is the need of the hour and even when no one else will raise their hand. When the Lord asks "Who will go for me", show me the way Jesus to say "Here I am". Let me be the first one to say that I will preach the gospel of love to all people in my country. Come and dwell inside me Holy Spirit so that I may speak the language of love in the midst of persecution and suffering. Yes Lord Jesus. Show me the way of gladly suffering for the sake of those who have suffered so much. Amen.

Prayer of satisfaction

Thank you Lord Jesus for a day which has been fruitful through work, interactions, the patience to listen and the boldness to take decisions. As we rest, let it not be with negative feelings that we could not do much, but with positive thoughts that we can imagine and do our best. Dear God, teach us that life is not a competition or a bettering of a previous record, but is an opportunity to do what best we can with your guidance.

Holy Spirit, inspire us to stop fighting with ourselves and instead use the strength that you have gifted us in a meaningful way. As we sleep and rest let it be with a smile of accomplishment and not with a frown of unfulfilled goals and projects. We know loving God that tomorrow will be ours if we let it be. Help us do just that. In Jesus' most confident name we pray. Amen.

Prayer after Sunday worship

Thank you God for another Sunday where we worshipped you, and received energy and strength for our body and soul. We are grateful for having a father or a father figure in our life who helped in significant ways. Thank you for the opportunity to come to your presence every Sunday. We stray and we sin in various ways and yet you ungrudgingly take us back and give us gifts like the father gave the prodigal son who came back to him. God, you have been gracious to us and that itself is a chance for us to become better people. As we sleep for energy to start a week, you Father God have given us the memory to sleep assured that we will wake up to see your smiling face and your pleasant ways . Thank you Father, son and Holy Spirit, one God in love. Amen.

Preparatory prayer for a Sunday

Our God who is worthy of worship, we pray for good thoughts and preparation for a Sunday which will help us pray, sing, hear the gospel, listen to sermons and worship in spirit and truth. May we reconcile with one another before approaching the Holy altar to partake of the body and blood of Christ. May we have communion knowing that communion nudges us ever so lovingly to serve each other and forgive each other and seek forgiveness from one another.

Gracious God, each one of us is undergoing some pain. Someone hasn’t got married, someone doesn’t have a child, someone else is seeking admission to a course, another one is struggling to study well, many are looking for jobs, others are struggling to hold on to theirs, so many don’t have food, others don’t have shelter, so many homes don’t have peace and others don’t have resources, plenty are struggling for medicines and care, others are fighting death, people we know are struggling with loneliness and depression, children are finding it difficult to cope with the pressure to do well, parents are thinking about what next for their child, a community is thinking of building a church, other church members are trying their best to hold on to what they have.

There are so many needs and yet we know for sure that you are a God who can assure us that all our needs will be fulfilled. Help us to be powered and inspired by your presence in us Jesus, and to be workers and helpers in your kingdom so that no one may starve, no one may hurt, no one may feel lonely and no one may be killed. Fill us with deep, sincere and good thoughts this night and early morning. May tomorrow be ours in hope and prayer. In your worshipful name dear God we pray. Amen.