Tag: Holy Spirit

Teach Us To Pray

A Prayer for Peace

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints, extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly, do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil; but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If possible, on your part, live at peace with all. 

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” Rather, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.”  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

– Romans 12:9-21

Teach Us To Pray

Litany of Peace

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

God, so many people are in pain.

Teach us the way to peace.

When people around us don’t agree and think differently,

Teach us to listen and try to understand.

When we see people getting hurt,

Teach us to speak up.

When we see people treated poorly because of their skin color, or language, or religious belief,

Teach us to be an example of love and acceptance.

When we see war and conflict,

Teach us how to make a difference and seek peace.

When we see pain,

Teach us to bring healing,

When we feel confused and afraid,

Remind us to talk to our friends, our family and to you.

In our lives, our neighborhoods and the world,

Teach us to pray and teach us the way of peace.

– Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Teach Us To Pray

Prayer for Justice and Peace

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Eternal Father, You created us in Your own image and likeness, but sin has warped the minds of men and throughout the world there is much injustice and much carelessness of the rights of other people and personal responsibility.

Lord, when You are excluded from the hearts and consciences of men, the inevitable result is that people suffer and Lord, there is much injustice and corruption taking place in our world today, not only in the lives of individuals but also in the corridors of power and the council rooms of many nations.

We pray to the Lord that You will right all the wrongs that are taking place in our world and vindicate those that are being treated unjustly. Keep us Father from trying to take matters into our own hands for vengeance is your and You will repay – but Lord in your grace and mercy we pray that you would give justice and peace to all those that have been cruelly and unfairly treated by their fellow man and may injustice and carelessness that they have had to endure be the means to draw them into Your saving arms of grace – we ask this in the precious name of the Lord, Jesus.

– Author Unknown

Teach Us To Pray

Prayer for Peace

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

O God, Creator of the universe, who extends your paternal concern over every creature and guides the events of history to goals of salvation, we acknowledge your Fatherly love when you break the resistance of mankind and, in a world torn by strife and discord, you make us ready for reconciliation. Renew for us the wonders of your MERCY; send forth your Spirit that He may work in the intimacy of our hearts, that enemies may begin to dialogue, that adversaries may shake hands and peoples may encounter one another in harmony. May all commit themselves to the sincere search for true peace which will extinguish all arguments, for charity which overcomes hatred, for pardon which disarms revenge.

– Pope John Paul II

Teach Us To Pray

Peace Prayer of St. Francis

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, harmony;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born into eternal life.

– Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi

Teach Us To Pray

We Are One With You

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

O God, we are one with you. You have made us one with you.
You have taught us that if we are open to one another, you dwell in us.
Help us to preserve this openness and to fight for it with all our hearts. Help us to realize that there can be no understanding where there is mutual rejection.

O God, in accepting one another wholeheartedly, fully, completely, we accept you, and we thank you, and we adore you, and we love you with our whole being, because our being is your being, our spirit is rooted in your spirit. Fill us then with love, and let us be bound together with love as we go our diverse ways, united in this one spirit which makes you present in the world, and which makes you witness to the ultimate reality that is love. Love has overcome. Love is victorious.

– Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

Teach Us To Pray

Recipe for Peace

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Christian Prayer for Peace

Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be known as the Children of God.
But I say to you that hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
To those who strike you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from those who take away your cloak, do not withhold your coat as well.
Give to everyone who begs from you, and of those who take away your goods, do not ask for them again.
And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

– Author Unknown

Teach Us To Pray

Branches of Understanding

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Dear Lord, 

In this world where conflicts flare up so easily, help me be a beacon of Your peace. When tensions rise and harsh words tempt my tongue, remind me of Your gentle ways. Give me the courage to extend olive branches instead of building walls. 

Open my ears to truly listen, Lord, and guide my words to speak with love. When others push my buttons, help me respond with grace. In moments of disagreement, let me see Your image in those I struggle to understand. 

Thank You for Your peace through Jesus. Help me follow His example and build bridges of understanding. 

In Jesus’ name, Amen

Teach Us To Pray

Little Hope

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Prayer for a World Where Hope Seems Dim

Dear God, the world seems so dark and foreboding.
Where are the signs of hope?
What are you calling us to do?
Wars, uprisings, displacements, hunger, poverty, and disease continue to claim victims by the millions around the world each year.
Our ears do not want to hear their stories and our eyes do not want to see their plight because the suffering and destruction is so massive and cruel.
In our hearts and minds there is a desire to help somehow, but the crisis seem so overwhelming that we shake our heads in dismay and we wonder what the point is for us even to attempt to be witnesses for healing and hope in this hellish morass.
We beg with the song writer to open our eyes that we may see glimpses of truth you have for us.
Help us to follow the path of Jesus, the Suffering Servant. Give us the courage to be willing to walk the path of depression and pain with the victims of injustice here at home as well as abroad.
Help us to seek ways to light candles of hope, however small, through our words, our deeds, and our prayers, to encourage our sisters and brothers to hold onto the faith in spite of the pain and suffering they are facing.
And help those of us who are among the fortunate ones, who have enough bread to eat, good health, and who live in relative peace, to open our heart to learn from our sisters and brothers who are living lives of grace and forgiveness in the horrid circumstances which surround them. O God, help us to light one candle rather than to curse the darkness.
We pray this in the name of Jesus, who knows what being a light in this dark world is all about.

– Larry Kehler, Mennonite Central Committee, Canada

Teach Us To Pray

Work of Peace

Smitten With Goodness
Season of asking in prayer

Open our hearts and minds Lord to see as you do and the courage to act as you would.

For Courage to Do Justice

O Lord, open my eyes that I may see the needs of others,
Open my ears that I may hear their cries;
Open my heart so that they need not be without succor;
Let me not be afraid to defend the weak because of the anger of the strong,
Nor afraid to defend the poor because of the anger of the rich.
Show me where love and hope and faith are needed,
And use me to bring them to those places.
And so open my eyes and my ears,
That I may this coming day be able to do some work of peace for thee.

– Alan Paton, South Africa, United Methodist Hymn