Prayer of Praise

October 22, 2017 No Comments

October table setting of praise By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Lord Almighty,

All praise and honor be to your name,

the name of all names.

Lord of our comings and goings, our beginnings and endings, our good moods and bad ones.

For you have shared yourself with us graciously, the person of Jesus of Nazareth,

who lived as a good example to sinners,

died for our salvation from sin, and

rose from the dead that we might have life and hope eternal.

And in spite of our sinful state,

you gave us the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit,

who provides us with every good gift,

provisions and sustains our world, and

remains with us on good days and bad.

Accept our praise as we give ourselves to you.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Prayer of Praise

Also see:

Prayer for Shalom

A Place for Authoritative Prayer

Other ways to engage online:

Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.

Newsletter at: http://bit.ly/2fEPbBK

Prayer

Prayer for Evangelists

October 15, 2017 No Comments

Photo of Stephen W. Hiemstra — Stephen W. Hiemstra

Almighty Father,

I pray for evangelists whose words of faith that can be shared, heard, and responded to.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on all those that have yet to hear your name

or have yet to listen to your voice

or have yet to open up their hearts.

Be especially present with those whose ears have been stopped.

Soften their hearts and our own.

May your voice be heard even as we mumble incoherently to one another.

In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.

Prayer for Evangelists

Also see:

End Prayer Shaming

Prayer for Shalom

A Place for Authoritative Prayer

Other ways to engage online:

Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.

Newsletter at: http://bit.ly/2fEPbBK

Prayer

Self-Care: A Prayer for the Little Things

October 8, 2017 No Comments

Doldrums, Sand Dune in Ocean City, Maryland Holy Father,

I praise you for the quiet days, when I am able to practice self-care, my world seems peaceful, and my mind is at ease.

Forgive my selfish inability to focus on the noise around me, other people’s pain, wars around me, and the distress of so many others.

I give thanks that the weight of the world is on your shoulders,

because I cannot bear it—not today, not ever.

For you alone are God and I can never be.

In the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to be faithful servant in the ways that you made me to be.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Self-Care: A Prayer for the Little Things

Also see:

End Prayer Shaming

Prayer for Shalom

A Place for Authoritative Prayer

Other ways to engage online:

Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.

Newsletter at: http://bit.ly/2fEPbBK

Prayer

Beginning and Ending Prayer

October 1, 2017 No Comments

Beginning and Ending Prayer

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Almighty Father,

We praise you for creating us, male and female, in your image, not for our glory, but yours in the beginning (Gen 1:27).

In humility, we confess that we have not always preferred to live in your light or to be good (Gen 1:3-4).

We give thanks that in creating heaven and earth you made your presence abundantly clear (Romans 1:19-20)

and that we might escape perdition through the death and resurrection of your son (1 Cor 15:3-4).

We beg you that we might choose the light and honor your son through the power of your Holy Spirit (John 14:6).

Through Jesus Christ, who is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end (Rev 1:8), Amen.

Also see:

Prayer for Shalom

A Place for Authoritative Prayer

Other ways to engage online:

Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.

Newsletter at: http://bit.ly/2fEPbBK

Prayer

Prayer for the Potter

September 24, 2017 No Comments

Prayer for the Potter

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Almighty God, Father of our Lord, Spirit of Truth:

Why have you formed me, all-knowing potter, the way that you have? (Jer 18:2-7)

In your creative urge, did you have a special use in mind?

Did you mean me for everyday use, something to hold the baked beans

or maybe a casserole or a tuna salad?

Are my colors plain to all who see me even as I am wholely blind?

Did you mean me for a special holiday, stored away in a special place until the season,

only to be displayed on a particular day, highlighted and remembered and cherished?

Am I brightly colored, festive, memorable even if only for a day?

Thank you, Lord, for veiling your purposes from me.

That I may serve you as you see fit, each and every day.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Also see:

Prayer for Healing, Comfort, and Deliverance

Prayer for Shalom

A Place for Authoritative Prayer

Other ways to engage online:

Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.

Newsletter at: http://bit.ly/2wVZtbb

Prayer

A Risk Manager’s Prayer

September 17, 2017 No Comments

A Risk Manager’s Prayer

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Almighty Father,

Forgive me for leaning on insurance policies rather than my faith in you.

Forgive me for building barns while children go to bed hungry (Luke 12:18).

Forgive me for a hard heart taking my cues from Pharoah when Jesus has shown us a better way (Matt 6:26).

As the hymnist [1] writes:

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Oh Lord, shape me in your image again in spite of my ignorance, my selfishness, my greed, and my self-pity.

Turn my heart to you, that I might live a better way through the power of your Holy Spirit.

And in Jesus’ name, Amen.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Be_Thou_My_Vision.

Also see:

Prayer for Healing, Comfort, and Deliverance

Prayer for Shalom

A Place for Authoritative Prayer

Other ways to engage online:

Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.

Newsletter at: http://bit.ly/2wVZtbb

Prayer

Giving Thanks

September 10, 2017 No Comments

Giving Thanks

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Almighty Father,

We praise you for your compassionate presence, your redeeming love, and your boundless blessings.

For we are often absent when we are needed, unloving in our relationships, and grasping when we should be generous.

Forgive our sin; overlook our iniquities; redeems us from our own trespasses.

Thank you for hearing our confession, forgiving our wrongs, and healing our wounds.

In the power of your Holy Spirit,

save us from ourselves; teach us to order our lives on your word; restore our sense of right and wrong,

that we might survive the storms of this life.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Other ways to engage online:

Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.

Newsletter at: http://bit.ly/2wVZtbb

Prayer

Prayer for Healing from Sin

September 3, 2017 No Comments

Prayer for Healing from Sin

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Oh Lord Almighty:

Teach us to humble ourselves, to live into your call, to be your people in thought, word, and deed.

Teach us to pray aright,

to seek your face, and

to turn from all wickedness, but especially the wickedness of racism.

Hear our prayer, oh Lord.

Be not far away, but especially near when our hearts are weary.

Let not our youth or our old age be an excuse.

Forgive our sin in Jesus name.

And in the power of your Holy Spirit, heal our land. Amen

2 Chr. 7:14

Other ways to engage online:

Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.

Newsletter at: http://bit.ly/2wVZtbb

Prayer

Prayer for Silence and Solitude

August 27, 2017 2 Comments

Prayer for Silence and Solitude

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Quiet Lord,

All praise and honor be yours as you announce your presence in silence.

The oceans roar, volcanos explode, and the thunder thunders,

but you sit with us in peace when we are alone,

respecting our silence our hearts,

letting our voices be heard even when we do not speak.

Teach us to be like you.

Do not let us project our anger, our pain, our emptiness on those around us.

Do not let our childish way yield to childish violence.

Let us honor your peace.

Let us mirror your adult attitudes.

That we might one day be adults ourselves.

Through the power of your Holy Spirit and in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Also see:

Prayer for Shalom

A Place for Authoritative Prayer

Other ways to engage online:

Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.

Newsletter at: http://bit.ly/2vfisNa

Prayer

Prayer for Peace

August 20, 2017 No Comments

Stephen W. Hiemstra, Twins — Art by Stephen W. Hiemstra

Prayer for Peace

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Almighty God,

Grant us shalom, your peace, which is more than just the absence of war.

Save us from ourselves, from greed, from selfishness, from hardened hearts and stopped ears.

May we never pray for peace, but harbor war in our hearts.

May we never pray for peace only when we have gotten our way.

Teach us how to be ashamed; may we learn again to blush.

May your ways again be our guide and your truths a joy to our hearts.

Teach us to order our lives by your word.

May we listen to your watchman and not ignore the trumpet.

Remove your stumbling block from our feet, the blind from our eyes, that we may no longer sin and perish.

Forgive the sins of our fathers and our temptation to repeat them,

That the day of judgment would not be today. (Jer 6:13-23)

In the power of your Holy Spirit, enter our hearts and cleanse them,

that we might be saved through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Also see:

Prayer for Shalom

A Place for Authoritative Prayer

Other ways to engage online:

Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net, Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.

Newsletter at: http://bit.ly/2vfisNa