Tag Archives: loving others

Prayers based on Matthew 25.31-46

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week 11Prayers Based on Matthew 25:31-46
The Sheep and the Goats

Prayer: All Brought to Light
Royal One, grant us strength
to serve and keep on serving
to risk and keep on risking
to love and keep on loving

Holy One, grant us faith
to stand, trusting all will be revealed
to bow, knowing all will be revealed

The hidden will be brought to light
hidden actions of our hands
hidden motives of our hearts
hidden words, hidden thoughts
your hidden presence

Find us gracious
Find us generous
Find us faithful

Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy

Prayer: True Love
Merciful Jesus
Give us courage to deny privilege
to lay down favor and safety
in order to take up the cross of opportunity and justice

Merciful Jesus
Give us courage to deny consumerism
to lay down convenience and gratification
in order to take up the cross of sustainability and generosity

Merciful Jesus
Give us courage to deny comfort
to lay down apathy and ease
in order to take up the cross of service and true love

Merciful Jesus
Our King and our Neighbor in Need
Reveal your true love in us and through us
Faith and Works
Prayer and Action
Now and Forever
Amen
______________

For the next few months, I’ll be posting prayers to accompany Bishop Ken Carter’s Bible Study on Facebook. Each week, Bishop Carter will bring in a guest to speak about the passage. We’ll be walking through the last chapters of the Gospel of Matthew. 

You’re most welcome to read along and to join this Facebook discussion group. You don’t need to be a Methodist or attend a Methodist church. All are welcome and all means all.

May the grace of God’s word, the challenge, and the call, inspire us to great faith and great good works in Jesus’ name. – Lisa <

All Brought to Light © 2020 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
True Love © 2010 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Please leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Prayer Prompts and Breath Prayers based on Luke 5-6

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summer in the scriptures luke (4)

Prayer Prompts based on Luke 5:12-16
Jesus Cleanses a Leper
Use one or more of the following prompts as you pray. Just finish the sentence again and again or use it as a springboard for your prayers. Share your prayer in the comments. What prayer prompt would you write? Share that as well.

Jesus, I bow before you, for you are…

Jesus, I am desperate for…

Jesus, if you choose you can…
Pray this for yourself
Pray this for those you know
Pray this for groups of people or situations

Jesus, cleanse me of…
Jesus, cleanse us of…

Name all that distances you from God, others, and your true self
Jesus, restore relationship…

Jesus, I receive and celebrate your healing…

Jesus, grant me opportunities to testify…

 

Breath Prayers based on Luke 6:17-19; 27-36
Silently pray the phrase after IN on your breath in. Then silently pray the phrase after OUT on your breath out. Take your time. Breathe deeply. Choose one, a few, or all of them as is most helpful to you. ⁠

IN: Jesus, I’m listening
OUT:

IN: Heal me, Jesus
OUT:

IN: Deliver me, Jesus
OUT:

IN: Jesus,
OUT: Come in power

IN: Love your enemies
OUT: Do good to those who hate you

IN: Bless those who curse you
OUT:

IN: Pray for those who abuse you
OUT:

IN: Here is my cheek
OUT: Here is my shirt

IN: Jesus,
OUT: Make me generous

IN: Jesus,
OUT: Make me mercy-full
_______________

For the next few months, I’m reading a chapter from the Gospels each day. This is part of the Summer in the Scriptures reading plan sponsored by the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. Click Here for the reading plan.

You’re most welcome to read along and to join the Facebook discussion group, Summer in the Scriptures. You don’t need to be a Methodist or attend a Methodist church. All are welcome and all means all.

As part of the Facebook group, I’ve been supplying prayers based on the day’s reading. Feel free to post your prayers and observations based on the readings here or there as well.

May the grace of the Gospels, the challenge, and the call, inspire us to great faith and great good works in Jesus’ name. – Lisa <

Prayer prompts and breath prayers based on Luke 5-6 © 2020 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Please leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Long-Awaited Messiah, a prayer based on Luke 4

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summer in the scriptures luke (2)Long-Awaited Messiah, a prayer based on Luke 4:17-19

The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Long-awaited Messiah
Lord of Hope
Have mercy

Long-awaited Messiah
Defender of Compassion
Have mercy

Long-awaited Messiah
Provider, Protector, Liberator
Have mercy

Release us from
the chains of this moment, born of imprisoned years
the distractions and false calls of those who cannot help

Release us from
the blindness to our complicity, frailty, and poverty
the apathy keeping us from seeing, speaking and caring

Release us from
the weight of needs stealing our courage to try
the slowness of change chipping away at our enduring

Have mercy on us
Finish your good and generous work

_______________

For the next few months, I’m reading a chapter from the Gospels each day. This is part of the Summer in the Scriptures reading plan sponsored by the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. Click Here for the reading plan.

You’re most welcome to read along and to join the Facebook discussion group, Summer in the Scriptures. You don’t need to be a Methodist or attend a Methodist church. All are welcome and all means all.

As part of the Facebook group, I’ve been supplying prayers based on the day’s reading. Feel free to post your prayers and observations based on the readings here or there as well.

May the grace of the Gospels, the challenge, and the call, inspire us to great faith and great good works in Jesus’ name. – Lisa <

Long-awaited Messiah © 2020 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Please leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Make Your Way, a prayer based on Luke 3

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summer in the scriptures luke (1)

Make Your Way, based on Luke 3:1-14
John the Baptist, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord…” – Luke 3:4

How do we prepare the way in this time and place?

I’ve witnessed the modern-day prophets
Dipping your two-edged sword in fear and hate
Divining pure from sin, saved from heretic
Confident in their judgments

There are others, too, who take a different path
Coating your sword with sugar and stories
Tickling our ears with prosperity and self-help

We’ve come so far from Brother John
Your blade in hand
Sharp yet washed in the wilderness of prayer
Dripping with Good News
The antidote for our stealthy, venomous existence

“Sever your selfishness so generosity may grow
Cut out the cheating so honesty may flourish
Amputate all falsehoods and threats
That your power may raise the powerless”

This is Your Way
Repentance
Integrity
Compassion
Solidarity

Make your way in us, O God
Make your way in us

_______________

For the next few months, I’m reading a chapter from the Gospels each day. This is part of the Summer in the Scriptures reading plan sponsored by the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. Click Here for the reading plan.

You’re most welcome to read along and to join the Facebook discussion group, Summer in the Scriptures. You don’t need to be a Methodist or attend a Methodist church. All are welcome and all means all.

As part of the Facebook group, I’ve been supplying prayers based on the day’s reading. Feel free to post your prayers and observations based on the readings here or there as well.

May the grace of the Gospels, the challenge, and the call, inspire us to great faith and great good works in Jesus’ name. – Lisa <

Make Your Way © 2013 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Please leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

A Prayer for Storm Survivors

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Jesus Calms the Storm by the Benedictine Sisters of Turvey Abbey

Jesus Calms the Storm by the Benedictine Sisters of Turvey Abbey

The knowledge that we are never alone calms the troubled sea of our lives and speaks peace to our souls. – A. W. Tozer

I am grateful Taylor Burton-Edwards for making excellent suggestions to improve this prayer.

A Prayer for Storm Survivors
Jesus, we see you calming storms-
storm-tossed seas and stormy lives.
Extend your power and grace again,
especially upon these most recent storm victims.

Speak peace and healing over bodies and spirits broken by the chaos.
Jesus, speak peace. Silence

Speak peace and hope over families and communities devastated by sudden loss.
Jesus, speak peace. Silence

Speak peace and unity over diverse groups of people
bring them together for greater provision,
just distribution, and effective rebuilding.
Jesus, speak peace. Silence

Speak peace and protection over rescue workers
as they reach out to those who are suffering.
Jesus, speak peace. Silence

Speak to us, moving our prayer to action⠀
Jesus, speak, we are listening. Silence ⠀

You are the Prince of Peace.
You are the Resurrection and the Life.
You are strong to save.
Our hope and trust are in you. Amen.

*************
A Prayer for Storm Survivors © updated 2019, Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution. Please leave a comment below for information and permission to publish this work in any form.