Prayers

A.W. Tozer Prayer

This is a prayer from A.W. Tozer’s The Pursuit of God.  This is a great prayer and so I wanted to share it with you.


O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more.  I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace.  I am ashamed of my lack of desire.  O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still.  Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed.  Begin in mercy a new work of love within me.  Say to my soul, “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.”  Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have
wandered so long. 

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.    

Prayer & Batman (TDKR)

UPDATE:  My heart breaks of the recent tragedy in Aurora, CO.  I had no idea as to what was happening a few hundred miles away in another theater late Thursday night.  I pray this prayer for the victims:

Father, your children need you.  You are holy.  You are good.  You are loving.  You are also the giver of good gifts.  Would you give good gifts to those hurting right now.  I pray for my brothers and sisters affected by the shooting in Colorado.  Would you be with the families who have lost children, parents, brothers, sisters, and friends.  I pray my fellow brothers and sisters suffering right now would feel Your presence in a very special way.  Would You give them grace and strength.  Would You bring beauty from the ashes of chaos.  Father, heal those recovering in the hospital.  Give the doctors and nurses treating all these gunshot victims Your wisdom.  Father, please bring hope to those who need it right now.  We pray this in the Name of Jesus, amen.        

 

I did something very rare last night.  I went with some good friends and waited in line for about an hour to see the new Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises.  It was a midnight showing.  It was a blast!

The movie was great!  Nolan has done an excellent job with this series.  Tom Hardy portrayed a truly evil and this-is-a-classic-bad-guy Bane.  If you have any familiarity with Batman you know who Bane is.  Though Hardy’s character was slightly different, it was still very good and memorable.  I think bad guys have to have a couple of things going for them to really work:

1.  They have to do things that make you want to dislike/hate them.  We don’t want to see bad guys who struggle doing evil, we want to see them being and acting truly evil.  Then, when the hero’s wrath comes down on them it just makes it feel all the better.

2.  They have to have a unique character feature(s).  Think of the bad guys from popular movies and you know there is something unique/odd about them.  Darth Vader comes to mind.  Maybe they have some kind of deformity.  Maybe they wear a mask to help them breathe like Darth Vader.

Bane met both of these requirements.  He was evil and you wanted Batman to show up and wipe the floor with him.  He also had a unique feature to his body.  He had a breathing apparatus, kind of some low, creepy breathing scenes reminiscent of Vader.  I might also add, you don’t want the bad guy to be a dummy either.  You want them to be very smart.  You want them to be cold and calculating.  Bane was, so that just added to his character.  Good movie.  If you want to see what all the hype is about, go rent the new Batmans (1 & 2) and then go see Dark Knight Rises.

Kids Kingdom Prayer

I have a couple of younger kids and I love praying with them and teaching them how to pray.  I actually think God has been teaching me about how to pray as I pray with them.  Know what I mean?  When I pray with my kids I find myself giving a lot more thought to my words.  I think:

  • “Will they actually understand this word and what it means?”
  • “What if I use this word instead?”
  • “What will pop into their minds when they say this phrase?”

So much to ponder when you start praying with a kid.  You should try it.  I’ve created, out of necessity more than creativity, a kids version of the Lord’s Prayer that I use with my kids.  Feel free to use it too.  I tried to keep it simple and understandable to a certain degree.

Father, You are holy.  May Your kingdom come.  Give us food for each day.  Forgive us when we mess up and help us to forgive others.  Keep us safe and protect us.  Amen. 

What about you?  Have any kid prayers you remember saying as a child or that you currently use with your children?

Psalm 61 prayer

In just a few short hours I’ll be heading off to some special meetings for the next couple of days.  So, keeping it simple today.  Another Psalm prayer today.  This one is from Psalm 61.  I’m really enjoying opening up the Psalms and praying them.  They are wonderful tools for prayer.  If you don’t practice this yet, you gotta give it a try!

Psalm 61:1-5 (ESV)

61 Hear my cry, O God,     listen to my prayer; 2 from the end of the earth I call to you     when my heart is  faint. Lead me to  the rock     that is higher than I, 3 for you have been  my refuge,     a strong tower against the enemy.

4 Let me  dwell in your tent forever!     Let me take refuge under  the shelter of your wings! Selah 5 For you, O God, have heard my vows;     you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

With Christ by Andrew Murray

I’m reading an old classic right now.  This is a book I should have read years ago, but didn’t.  Do you have some books like that?  It’s a little book called With Christ In The School of Prayer by Andrew Murray.  Have you read it yet?  The first 3 chapters cover learning how to pray, praying in spirit and truth, and learning how to be alone with God.  Here are some thoughts on chapter 1 of this classic on prayer.

Chapter 1 – Lord, teach us to pray; or, The Only Teacher.  This first chapter came across to me as an invitation to sit at Jesus’ feet and learn how to pray.  This chapter literally focuses in and stays focused on the disciple’s statement to Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.”  Murray looks at each of the words in the disciple’s statement to Jesus.  Murray does a great job of sticking with the text of Scripture he is using in this book.  Something about his style reminded me of my dad who is also a minister.  I love this line,

“Jesus has opened a school, in which He trains His redeemed ones, who specially desire it, to have power in prayer.  Shall we not enter it with the petition, Lord! it is just this we need to be taught!  O teach us to pray.” 

There is a great Christological focus in this chapter.  Murray raises Christ to His proper place as the Master-Teacher.  There’s no doubt about the place of authority Christ has in Andrew Murray’s life.  An interesting note Murray makes in this chapter is that the disciples never ask Jesus to teach them how to preach, only to pray.  Kind of interesting.  One of the things kind of unique about this book is that each chapter concludes with a personal prayer from Murray addressing what the chapter was just about.  In just the few prayers I read, I can tell this guy was a prayer warrior.  I won’t quote the entire ending prayer,  but one line that caught my attention was,

“And fill me, Lord, with the confidence that with such a teacher as Thou art I shall learn to pray.  In the assurance that I have as my teacher, Jesus, who is ever praying to the Father, and by His prayer rules the destinies of His Church and the world, I will not be afraid.” 

Pastors could use some of Murray’s prayers for themselves, their congregation, or to give to someone praying for something similar to each of these chapters.  This is going to be a great read!

 

Psalm 63:5-8

My prayer for today comes from Psalm 63:5-8 (ESV):

My soul will be  satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6 when I remember you  upon my bed, and meditate on you in  the watches of the night; 7 for you have been my help, and in  the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. 8 My soul  clings to you; your right hand  upholds me.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend and enjoy time with family and friends.