August 11, 2018

Nehemiah’s Prayer is surely ours

“Great Lord, God of heaven,
Who inspires us to awe,

You always keep Your Word,
Your love, Your promises
with mercy shown
to those who love and obey You.

So now I ask You to open Your eyes,
Your ears to this prayer as I pray -
night and day - for Your servants,
Your children.

Lord, I confess we have sinned
against You,
and so have those before us.

How greatly we have wronged You!

We have failed to obey
Your commandments and laws given
to us through Your servant Moses.
But, Lord, do You remember what
You told us back then? You said,

‘If you are not faithful to Me,
I will scatter you among the nations.

But if you return to Me
and obey My commands - even
if you are as far away as you can go -

I will come and get you.

I will bring you to the place I have chosen
for My Name’.”


Nehemiah 1:5-9

as prayer-a-phrased by Mary Sayler after reading various translations on Bible Gateway

©2018













July 7, 2018

Praying for Christ to be glorified in you!


And so, with the Apostle Paul:

we’re always praying
for God to make you worthy of His calling,
fulfilling every good purpose
and every work of faith
by His power.

And then, the Name
of Jesus Christ our Lord
will be glorified in you –
and you in Him,
by the grace of God and Christ Jesus.



Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2018, prayer-a-phrased 2 Thessalonians 11-12 using scriptures from various translations provided by Bible Gateway.


June 14, 2018

Praying triumphantly with Psalm 20

May the Lord answer us
in times of trouble and distress.

May the Name of the God of Jacob
protect us.

May the Lord send help from His holy place
and sustain us from on high.

May the Lord remember
and graciously accept
all we have to offer.

May He give us the desires of our heart
and fulfill our plans and life purpose.

Let’s sing a song of triumph
and raise our flag in the name of our God!

May the Lord fulfill our requests.

Now this is what we can know for sure:
the Lord gives victory to His anointed.
The Lord answers from a place of holiness
with success in hand.

Some depend on war machines
and others on horses,
but we rely on the Name of the Lord our God.
They collapse and fall,
but we rise and firmly stand.

Give success to our leaders, O Lord.
Answer us on the day we call.


Mary Harwell Sayler
, ©2018, prayer-a-phrased today’s Psalm reading in the ecumenical Revised Common Lectionary, with the help of many translations on Bible Gateway.

June 6, 2018

Getting grounded in the love of God

I’m asking God to gift us
the riches of His glory,
so we will be given
Inner strength and power
through His Spirit,
and Christ will live in us
through faith.

And I pray our roots will spread
deeply
into His love,
so we - and all of God’s children -
can begin to glimpse

how wide,

how long,

how high,

how deep

is His love for us.

Then we will
know
Christ’s love reaches far
beyond our understanding
and fills us wholly
with our Holy God.


Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2018, prayer-a-phrased Ephesians 3:16-19 as found in many translations on Bible Gateway.

May 21, 2018

One Lord, One Praise, One Power

May our God,
Who encourages us
and empowers us to endure,

help you to hold yourselves in harmony
with one another and
with Christ Jesus,

so that you may praise and glorify
the God and Father of our Lord,
Jesus Christ,

with one voice -
always
on-key.

Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2018, prayer-a-phrased Romans 15:5-6 after referring to these and other translations on Bible Gateway.

March 9, 2018

Bible Prayer and Confession for Us Today

O, Lord, God of heaven,
Our great and awesome God,
You keep Your promises and
give mercy
to those who love and obey You.

Please let Your ear be attentive
and Your eyes open to us,
so You may hear our prayer,
which we pray before You,
day and night,
for Your children,
for our children,
for our country.

We confess our sin against You
for we have done wrong.
My family and I have done wrong.
My country and I have done wrong..
We have acted badly toward You
and have not kept Your commandments,
which You gave to Your servant Moses.

Remember what you said to Moses?
‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you,
but if you return to Me
and keep My commandments
and do as I ask -
even though you’ve been cast
as far from Me as you can get -
yet I will gather you and bring you
to the place I have chosen to be.’

We are Your servants and Your people,
whom You have redeemed
by Your great power and strong hand!

O, Lord, please let Your ear be attentive
to this prayer and those of Your servants
who desire to honor Your name.

Give us Your success today.
Grant us Your mercy.


Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2018, prayer-a-phrased Nehemiah 1:5-from many of the numerous translations found on Bible Gateway.


March 6, 2018

Bible Prayer for our Nation


Let the peoples of God cry out before the Lord and pray:
Spare us, O Lord!

Help us to be above reproach.
Do not let us be ridiculed among the nations -
nor a mockery among ourselves!

Let us not be ridiculed
nor a joke to unbelievers
anywhere.

Why should anyone ever say,
“Where is their God?”



Mary Harwell Sayler
, ©2018, prayer-a-phrased Joel 2:17 from many of the numerous translations on Bible Gateway.



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