Wealth of Mercy & Grace

Father of all grace and mercy, thank you. Thank you for being God like you are God. Thank you for extending grace when I have not deserved it. Thank you for giving mercy when I most needed it. Thank you for giving life when I thought my life was doomed and hopeless. May my wealth be in mercy and grace much more than money and gold. Help me be more like you. In the name of Jesus, my older Brother and Savior, I pray. Amen.

Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:4-5

(via Verse of the Day)

Strong hearts

Almighty God,

You see our shortcomings and difficulties; please have mercy on us. We are weak, but You are the Divine Healer and Strengthener of all hearts and souls. Where there is even but a trace of weariness or carelessness, put even more love, joy, patience, and understanding. Make our bond so strong that we may never surrender to whatever challenges may come our way

Bless us with a peaceful, happy relationship, and help us radiate our mutual, thriving love out into the world. Bring us together emotionally and spiritually for the highest good of all those whose lives we touch, and for the greater good of humankind. Guide us to do Your will in this world, to love and respect each other, and to be Your representatives among the people.

Thank You for Your kindness toward us, frail as we may be, and for the strength of Your Loving Spirit manifesting in our hearts. Amen

(inspired by Linda Jo Martin)

A Valentines Day Prayer

Dearest Heavenly Father, I thank You for the precious gift of love You have given to the world and to me. Thank You for blessing me every day with You almighty love and the power that I get from receiving it. I need Your love to sustain me. It’s like food and medicine for my soul, Lord. Your holy love is my strenght!

Please continue to let me feel Your comforting love in my life. Perfect in me this gift of love that I may be able to express it and share it with others. I have not always been good at this – some people are harder to love than others – but I want to be like your Son Jesus, ever loving and compassionate, so please continue the work You are doing in my heart so my heart will be like Yours. This in Jesus holy name I pray.

I love you, O Lord, my strength. Psalm 18:1

The Act of Love

O my God, I love you above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because you are all-good and worthy of all love. I love my neighbor as myself for the love of you. I forgive all who have injured me, and I ask pardon of all whom I have injured.

Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself’’. Matthew 22:37-39

Invisible Things

Lord, I ask that You would give me greater faith. Help me to trust You for the things I can’t see. Help me to believe You for the things I hope for. I thank You in advance for hearing and answering my prayers, even though I may not see those answers manifest for some time. Help me to not lose hope when the answer to my prayers is delayed. Help me to grow ever stronger in faith as I wait on You. Thank You for my healing and wholeness that is yet to come.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

(via Stormie Omartian)

For Loved Ones Far Away

Loving Lord!You know my anxiety when my dear ones are far away from me. I turn to You, Father, because I know Your heart is always with us. I also know that You are concerned about the wellbeing of my loved ones more than I am, for Your Divine Love is so much more powerful than my human love. So I commit my dear ones into Your loving hands always but especially as they are not with me, travelling or living away.

O Lord! Protect them from every evil, harm and danger and keep them under Your mighty care. Be with them and meet all their needs whatever they might be. Grant them robust health and peace. Let Your presence go ever before them O Lord! Let me hear only good news from them. Keep my heart calm in the knowledge that no better caretaker of my loved ones can be besides You. I ask this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen.

For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. And I rejoice that you are living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong. Colossians 2:5

Love First

Holy Father, I want to sing your praises for Your only Son, given to us as a sigh of your everlasting love for us. Through Him we are saved and in Him we are given to touch a bit of the divine even from the lowering of our earthly condition. Thank You, Eternal Lord, for the best gift anyone could ever ask for.

Thank you for that beautiful day we remember the birth of our Savior: it is indeed merry and bright.  Thanks be to you, Eternal Lord, for the chance You have given me to celebrate such a joyful occasion with many loved ones. I recognize that, while I have a beautiful family, not everybody is surrounded by love. I realize that these are precious gifts, that one should care for and protect from the evil of the world. Help me always remember how blessed I am.

Father in heaven! You have loved us first; help us never forget that you are love so that this sure conviction might triumph in our hearts over seduction of the world, over the disquiet of the soul, over anxiety for the future, over the fright of the past, over distress of the moment.  But grant also that this conviction might discipline our soul so that our hearts might remain faithful and sincere, in the love which we bear to all those whom you have commanded us to love as we love ourselves.

Let us join in with all to celebrate Christmas and its wonderous gift! Let us be one family as we proclaim your Kingdom! Not only with our family and friends, but the whole human Family, as we are made brothers and sisters through Your Holy love, in Jesus Christ our Lord, in whose name I pray! Amen.

Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife. Proverbs 17:1

(inspired by a prayer by Søren Kierkegaard | via Come Weary Mom)

Unfathomable Love

Dear God, I thank You that before I ever knew You, You loved me enough to send Your Son to die for me so I wouldn’t have to pay the price for my own sins. Love so great as that is unfathomable. Help me to love others the way You love me. Help me to sacrifice something of myself in order to show love to the people around me. I know that in order to be loved by others, I must show love to them. Enable me to do that in a way that can be perceived.

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. John 4:10-11

Challenging Times

Lord, You are Holy above all others, and all of the strength that I need is in Your hands. I am not asking, Lord, that You take this trial away. Instead, I simply ask that Your will be done in my life. Whatever that means, that is what I want.

But I admit that it’s hard, Lord.

Sometimes I feel like I can’t go on. The pain and the fear are too much for me, and I know that I don’t have the strength on my own to get through this.

I know that I can come to You, Jesus, and that You will hear my prayer. I know that it is not Your intent to bring me to this point just to leave me in the wilderness alone. Please, Lord, give me the strength that I need to face today. I don’t have to worry about tomorrow: if You just give me the strength that I need today that is all I need.

There is no place I can go that will cause me to be lost from You. If I go to the greatest depth, You see me. If I travel to the most remote place on earth, Your love still finds me. Jesus, even when all deserted You, You were never alone because God was with You.

Keep me from sinning during this trial, by giving in to doubts and fears, and to the voice of the evil one. Instead, help me to keep my eyes on You and remind me of Your loving presence. You are the Holy Lord, and all of my hope rests in You.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. John 16:32