Bible Prayers: redemption

Showing posts with label redemption. Show all posts

May 14, 2020

Praying for mercy

We often equate mercy with clemency and compassion, but God’s mercy offers much more. His mercy offers us forgiveness, redemption, and peace. That’s true for us individually and also for God's family.

We’re all in this together! So let’s pray to receive God’s mercy over us and our country. Let's do all we can to be at peace with God, each other, and ourselves.

Deuteronomy 21:8-9 – a prayer of Moses

from the King James Version of the Bible

Be merciful, O Lord, unto thy people Israel,

whom thou hast redeemed,

and lay not innocent blood

unto thy people of Israel's charge.

And the blood shall be forgiven them.

So shalt thou put away the guilt

of innocent blood from among you,

when thou shalt do that which is right

in the sight of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 21:8 – a prayer of Moses

paraphrased into everyday language

Lord, You freed us!

Now please

make peace with us.

Don’t let the guilt

of unsolved offenses

reside with Your people.

Give us peace, Lord.

Give us peace.

…

April 14, 2020

Praying for God to redeem

This Bible prayer of Moses speaks for us, too, as we seek God’s protection and redemption from all ills, including COVID-19.

Deuteronomy 9:26-29 – a prayer of Moses

as translated in the King James Version

I prayed therefore unto the Lord, and said,

O Lord God, destroy not thy people

and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed

through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth

out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;

look not unto the stubbornness of this people,

nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin:

Lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say,

Because the Lord was not able to bring them

into the land which he promised them,

and because he hated them, he hath brought them out

to slay them in the wilderness.

Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance,

which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power

and by thy stretched out arm.

Deuteronomy 9:26-29 – a prayer of Moses

paraphrased into everyday English

O Lord God, You have redeemed Your people.

Your mighty hand has released us from all that

enslaved us, so please don’t do away with us now!

Think about Your faithful servants who came before us

and forget about the stubbornness – the wickedness

so obvious at this moment. Otherwise, people will say

You weren’t able to help or give us what You promised.

They’ll say You hate us and brought us to this place

to die. But, Lord, we are Your people, Your family –

the ones You rescued with Your enormous power

and open arms.

…

April 3, 2015

Praising God on Good Friday

In Psalm 31:5 (Psalm 31:6 in the New American Bible, Revised Edition, NABRE), we find this prophetic Bible prayer of faith:

“Into Your hand I commit* My spirit,
and You have redeemed Me,
LORD God of truth.”

In Luke 23:46 Jesus quotes that Bible prayer in Psalms but pluralizes God’s “hand.”

“And with a loud voice,
Jesus called out,
`Father, into Your hands
I commit* My Spirit,'
and having said this,
He breathed
forth the Spirit
with His very last breath.”

*Commit or Commend?

In KJV, NABRE, and other translations, the word “commend” is used, rather than “commit.” As Jesus Christ the Son of God hung on the cross, He surely committed Himself wholly to the Father. However, “commend” is even more awesome (in the truest sense) as the word indicates approval, praise, and applause!

© 2015, Mary Harwell Sayler prayer-a-phrased today’s readings from many of the translations found on Bible Gateway.

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