Love like YOU love, even when it hurts

November 30

Dear heavenly Father,
while I am on this journey through life,
I pray that I may always listen for Your voice, whether it is for praise or discipline.

Please, please may I always know Your presence,
especially if I am to journey through life’s valleys.

When I am weak fill me with Your strength, and help me to love like You love,
even when it hurts.

May nothing matter to me more than becoming the person You want me to be.
Amen

-Dianne Parsons-

FiLLed with FERVOR

November 29

O Lord, enable me to live the life of saints and angels.
Take me out of the irritability, the sensitiveness, in which my soul lies,
and fill it with Thy fullness.

Breathe on me with that Breath which infuses energy and kindles fervor.
In asking for fervor, I ask for all that I can need,
and all that Thou canst give.

In asking for fervor, I am asking for faith, hope and charity,
in their most heavenly exercise;

I am asking for perception of duty,
I am asking for sanctity, peace and joy, all at once.

Nothing would be a trouble to me,
nothing a difficulty, had I but a fervor of soul.

Lord, in asking for fervor, I am asking for Thyself,
for nothing short of Thee, O my God.

Enter my heart, and fill it with fervor by filling it with Thee.
Amen.

-John Henry Newman-

Serving YOU

November 28

Loving heavenly Father,
hallowed be Thy name,
Thou art from everlasting to everlasting,
the Father of my Savior the Lord Jesus Christ and
one with the Holy Spirit in the blessed Trinity.

I come boldly but reverently into Your holy presence in the name of Jesus.
I come to You washed in the blood of the Lamb and
knowing that I am holy and blameless in Your sight,
O God, by Your altogether lovely Lord Jesus.

I love You with all my heart, soul and mind.
I am unworthy of Your love, mercy and long-suffering.
You have been generous to my family and me.

Grant, I beseech, every gift of the Holy Spirit according to Your sovereign will
that I may lift up the name of Jesus for His glory alone.
I confess I have sinned in word, thought, and deed,
that I have been unfaithful in the face of Your faithfulness to me.
Wash me in the blood of the Lamb for I am truly sorry for my sins.
Renew in me the joy of my salvation.
Grant me wisdom according to Your promise, integrity, and compassion
that I may be fitted to serve You in the fulfillment of the Great Commission
until Jesus comes to calls me home.

All this I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

- Graham F. Lacey-

To be like YOU

November 27

Father, I want to be like You.
I want my heart to be as big as Yours.

As far as revival is concerned,
I ask You to find those who will be guileless and
entrust them with the wonderful treasures of Your power and Your presence.

Please don’t hide from us because our hearts are divided.
Make us one big family rejoicing Your love.

Lord, I hunger for Your Word,
but I don’t believe that knowing You is only about memorizing Scripture
or learning about how You’ve moved in the past.

Knowing all that is valuable only if I can trust You like a little child.

I’m so glad, Father,
that loving You with a childlike spirit is all that is necessary to please You,
and knowing that makes me love You more.

-John Arnott-

Lord,
live so completely within me
that all my life will be the natural outpouring of the
divine power- the consequence of an indwelling
Spirit of purity and truth.

-Walter James-

Truth in LOVE; Gifts of GRACE

November 26

Lord Jesus Christ,
grant me Your special grace to speak Your Truth in love
and to challenge every way that would exclude Love from Truth or Truth from Love.

You who are both Truth and Love,
enter my poor heart and mind afresh to bring forth this
miracle of Truthful Love and Loving Truth for which
I pray in Your most worthy Name. Amen.

-Michael Cassidy-

Come, Holy Spirit,
and daily increase in us Thy manifold gifts of grace;
the spirit of wisdom and understanding;
the spirit of counsel and ghostly strength;
the spirit of knowledge and true godliness,
and fill us with the spirit of Thy holy fear, now and for ever.
Amen

-Gelasian Sacramentary-

Lead our life according to Thy good pleasure...

November 25

Grant, O heavenly Father,
that we so faithfully believe in Thee,
and so fervently love one another, always living in Thy fear,
and in the obedience of Thy holy law and blessed will,
that we, being fruitful in all good works,
may lead our life according to Thy good pleasure in this world and,
after this frail and short life, obtain the true and immortal life,
where Thou livest and reignest, world without end. Amen

-Thomas Becon –

O merciful Lord, of Thy bountiful goodness,
receive us evermore into Thy protection,
maintaining and increasing from day to day Thy grace and goodness towards us,
until Thou hast brought us unto the full and perfect unity of Thy Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord, who is he true light of our souls.

-Liturgy of Geneva-

Fix upon Thyself..

November 24

O Light eternal, transcending all created suns,
cause Thy bright beams to shine into our hearts.
Purify, warm, enlighten, and quicken our souls with all their powers:
so that they may find their rest, their joy, in Thee.

The days of this present life are short and evil,
full of troubles and sorrows:
when wilt Thou bring the reign of Satan to an end:
and grant to us to walk at liberty,
without trials or temptations,
seeing Thy face, and wearing Thy likeness?

Until then, preserve us, O Thou eternal Truth;
come unto us, O heavenly Love;
draw our affections away from earthly things,
and fix them upon Thyself.

Blessed are they, O Lord,
whom Thou choosest, and whom Thou causest to approach unto Thee.

-Thomas A Kempis-

Glory to HIM

November 23

Glory to our ascended Lord that He is with us always.

Glory to the Word of God, going forth with His armies conquering and to conquer.

Glory to Him who has led captivity captive and given gifts for the perfecting of His saints.

Glory to Him who has gone before to prepare a place in His Father’s home fo us.

Glory to the Author and Finisher of our faith;

That God in all things maybe glorified through Jesus Christ,

To whom be all worship and praise, dominion,

And glory;

Now and forever and ever. Amen

-Sursum Corda –

Strengthen US

OcTOber 11

Preserve us, O most holy LORD God,
from the cares of this life, that our feet be not entangled by them;
and deliver us from spiritual hindrances and temptations, that we be not wearied and cast down;
let not the world and the things of the world deceive us:
keep us from the power and malice of the devil.

Rather than all this world's allurements, give us the blessed unction of Thy Holy Spirit;
and drive from our hearts the love of worldly things,
by pouring into them the love of Thy holy name.

Confirm us in Thy ways, O Lord, by the grace of Thy Holy Spirit.
Strengthen us with might so that no trouble or temptation may draw us away from Thee.

-Thomas A Kempis -

Know that I am blest

OCtober 10

It is not that I feel less weak, but Thou
Wilt be my strength; it is not that I see
Less sin; but more of pardoning love with hee,
And all-sufficient grace. Enough! And now
All flutering thought is stilled; I only rest,
And feel that Thou art near, and know that I am blest.

- Frances Ridley Havergal -

We beseech THee, Almighty God, to behold our prayers,
and to pour out upon us Thy loving tenderness;
that we who are afflicted by reason of our sins, maybe refreshed by the coming of our Savior; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

-Gelasian Sacramentary -

The Victories

October 9

Through death immortality has come to all,
and through the incarnation of the Word
God’s universal providence has been made known.

God the Word revealed Himself through a body
that we might receive an idea of the unseen Father;
and He endured humiliation at men’s hands that we might inherit incorruption.

In Himself He was in no way injured,
for He is impassible and incorruptible, the very Word and God;
but He endured these things for the sake of suffering men,
and through His own impassability He preserved and saved them.

In short, the victories achieved by the Savior through His incarnation are so great and so many
that, if one wished to describe them,
it would be like gazing across the open sea and trying to count the waves.

- St. Athanasius -

Hosanna in the highest!

October 8

Hosanna in the highest!

Remember me, O Lord,
with the favor that Thou bearest unto Thy people.

O visit me with Thy salvation;
that I may see the felicity of Thy chosen,
and rejoice in the gladness of Thy people,
and give thanks with Thine inheritance.

There is glory which shall be revealed;
for when the Judge cometh some shall see Thy face cheerful,
and shall be placed on the right,
and shall hear those most welcome words,

“Come, ye blessed.”
They shall be caught up in clouds to meet the Lord;
they shall enter into gladness,
they shall enjoy the sight of Him,
they shall be ever with Him.

- Lancelot Andrewes -

Feb 17 and Oct 7

February 17

O God, I asked for strength that I might achieve;
I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for help that I might do greater things;
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.

I asked for riches that I might be happy;
I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men;
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for but everything I hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am among all men most richly blessed.

- A Confederate Soldier -

October 7
O LORD, take us into Thy care and keeping;
lest our cruel enemy gain the advantage over us.
We fight under Thy banner, that our enemy may know that our confidence is
in Thy aid, in Thy strength and wisdom.

Where Thou art,
O LORD is the land of lierty, and of everlasting blessedness.
Give quietness to our minds, and grant that we may have some
taste of the everlasting joys of Thy heavenly kingdom;
whereby those worldly things which
we so earnestly seek and so eagerly embrace shall seem loathsome and defiled.
So shall we refuse them as bitter and worthless things,
and fervently desire the blessedness of Thy heavenly kingdom,
where there are pleasures for evermore.
And unto Thee, LORD Jesus, be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

- Thomas Cranmer -

STRENGTH for your DAY

STRENGTH for your DAY, a prayer book from my mum.

I will try my best to post up every prayer inside this book.

First of all, let me post up the foreword of this book.

There are three stages in prayer. The first is basically "God bless me, Mommy, and Daddy," with a shopping list to a God who is there to deliver our wishes. The second is once we have come alive to the Lord Jesus as our Saviour. The Holy Spirit brings us into a personal relationship and prayer normally moves into worship, conversation, sharing and desiring God's will, although remnants of the first srot of praying can sadly linger and confuse. The thrid is when we begin to hunger and thrist for God, to become like St. Paul when he longs to know Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings. Here paryer starts to explore the deep wonders of God in devotion and worship as well as in far more comprehensive intercession. This is where this marvelous book takes us.

When Louise Kendall talked about her exploration into the prayers of Christians across the centuries, her passion, excitement, and deepened devotion to God glowed from her heart. She had been ready to explore the prayers of saints who had different Christian affiliations and found the throb of her own heart matching theirs. Although extempore prayer is still integral to her prayer life, she discovered that in written prayers there could be gathered expressions of deep devotion, phrases with profound insight, and a range of confession, worship and intercession that left much extempore praying in the fading shadows.

That Louise and RT have now turned that great discovery into this book is a gift to the whole church. Not all the prayers will ring bells with us, but most will strike an inner chord and will come to be part of our own prayer life in years to come. We move over the centuries with prayers from Augustine, Corrie ten Boom, Newman, Campolo, Luther, Chaike, Lancelot Andrewes (who blew my prayer life into new orbits), and so many others. Our hearts are warmed by Timothy Dudley-Smith’s beautifully poetic yet insightful prayers, with glorious phrases like “the choir of stars.” I am so glad that the prayer (February 17) of the Confederate soldier just before he died in the battle of Richmond is here, as I use it frequently. Whenever I quote it everyone wants a copy… it is penetratingly moving. You will want t mark the prayers that stand out for you as you use the book across a year and then return to embrace them as part of your own devotion. It will help us all to move deeper into true prayer to our glorious Lord. For all the passion, research and hard work that has goneinto this gem of a book we are all in the debt of two very special people....
Louise and R. T. Kendall.

-Rt. Rev. Dr. Michael S. Baughen
Bishop of Chester, 1982-1996
Rector of All Souls, Langham Place,
London, 1970-1982 –

This prayers book has 365 days of prayers. Every single day comes with different prayers.
Since today is 7th of October 2008, I will start with the prayers for October 7.

Besides, I will also post up the February 17 prayer, the prayer which Rt. Rev. Dr. Michael frequently used.

Till then, stay tune with my 365 timeless prayers and conversations with GOD!