Prayer

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Prayer sermon ideas

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What are the different types of prayer?

    There are many different types of prayer that are appropraite for different circumstances and concerns.

    How do I write a prayer for worship?

    In corporate worship, prayer too is corporate. Consider ways to invite the congregation to participate actively in the prayer:

    • Use phrases like "we offer . . ." or "we join our hearts . . ." or "let us bring our concerns and thanksgivings"
    • Use a corporate spoken response throughout the prayer, such as "Lord, hear our prayer"
    • Use a sung refrain throughout the prayer

    Who hears our prayers?

    In the heavenly realms prayer is heard (or overheard) by more than one listener. For one thing, God is triune. Strong trinitarians may conclude that three listen, not just one. But then there's also the heavenly council, the ranks of angels and archangels. Perhaps they hear prayer. For all we know, so do the saints and martyrs. We surely don't know they don't. The point is that we likely pray into a whole cloud of witnesses.

    Paul says that not only mere humans intercede. So what if a homeless Christian under a bridge prays to God? He doesn't have a prayer chain from his church to lobby God. The two other guys under the bridge are too out of it to intercede. But what if Christ, our mediator, intercedes for him? What if the Holy Spirit groans over him? What if angels and saints and martyrs light heaven up with their intercessions for him? "Lord—and anybody else who may be listening—hear my prayer."

    Prayer calls for reverence before a holy God. Christians are aware that it is God to whom they pray. God is high—in fact, most high. God dwells in realms of glory. God is terrifying in purity, and the sworn foe of all evil. The Bible tells us that God's holiness in the temple was sometimes so intense that the priests had to back up. God was too hot for them that day. Once upon a time people loved God, but they also feared God because God is not domestic, not predictable, not safe at all.

    Finally, prayer is opportunity for fellowship with a loving God. We have a God who listens, who loves, who yearns for the best in us. We may pour ourselves out to God, knowing that at the end we will get ourselves back—stronger, cleaner, and more deeply loved than ever.

    How do I write a prayer for students and teachers going back to school?

    Corporate prayer may provide a good opportunity to acknowledge community events and seasons in worship. For instance, you could offer aprayerof intercession or commission for students and teachers going back to school, as in these examples from our search results:

    • "Hear the word of the Lord. I knew you before I gave you life. I chose you before you were born. I send you now to school. Be my people there. Share my love with everyone you meet there. Stand up for my ways in classrooms, in locker rooms, on playgrounds, in lunchrooms, and on the bus." (from Jeremiah 1:4-10) Carolyn C. Brown from Worshiping with Children
    • "O Lord, you who have called and equipped the teachers in our community, we pray for them today. Watch over them, provide for them, guide them, sustain them. May you be their sun and shield, so that they might do the work that you have entrusted to them. Amen." W. David O. Taylor

    • More worship ideas for "back to school" from Zeteosearch.org

    Where is prayer in the Bible?

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    Lord's Prayer sermon ideas

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    Where does the Lord's Prayer appear in the Bible?

    The Lord's Prayer appears twice in the Bible:

    What is the Lord's Prayer?

    The Lord's Prayer is the prayer that Christ taught his disciples to pray. As we pray the words from Matthew 6 or Luke 11, we can think about each phrase.

    Prounouns

    Pay attention to the pronouns. What holds understated importance in The Lord's Prayer is the pronouns, beginning with "Our Father." God belongs to the Christian community together. God is the One who draws us toward one another as children of the same Heavenly Parent.

    God's will

    Similarly, when we pray "Your kingdom come" and "Your will be done," we are distinctly not praying for our own kingdoms of power or our own desires to be the most important things. The prayer continues in the communal language of "our" rather than "my," and that matters immensely because this prayer does not simply help us to become more Christian. It teaches us how to be Christian together, in community.

    The will of God. This is a topic of endless fascination, especially for people in transition. We often hear people say things like "What job does God want me to take?" or "Who does God want me to marry?" Without denying that God is immanent and benevolently invested in our lives, perhaps the request in this prayer is to align our lives to clear biblical, moral injunctions and to align our desires and imagination to the overarching narrative of God's presence in the world. Thus, "Your will be done" is followed up with "on earth as it is heaven." In heaven, God's will isn't stymied by human rebellion, ignorance, or carelessness. On earth, well, we tend to get in the way. So to pray "Your will be done" is to follow John's summation of God's will, "God must increase; I must decrease."

    Our daily bread

    With a rising awareness of gluten allergies and intolerance, has the petition "Give us this day our daily bread" become obsolete? How does it translate into the Asian countries of my growing-up years, "Give us this day our daily rice?" John Calvin broadens the parameters of this petition so that this request covers everything we need to sustain us through a given 24-hour day. The insomniac might pray, "Give us this day our daily sleep." The lonely soul might pray, "Give us this day our daily human connection and affection." Give to each person what we stand in need of this day. Amen.

    Although the parameters of "Give us this day our daily bread" can be expanded to include each of our daily needs, perhaps the greater challenge is for those of us with easily filled bellies to expand our compassion and imagination to embrace those who are haunted by hunger. So when we pray "give us this day our daily bread" we are also asking how we can help to make "daily bread" available to those who are hungry, homeless, or hopeless.

    Forgiveness

    Nowhere else does the Lord's Prayer falter on our lips as it does when we get to this petition: "Forgive us our sin as we forgive those who sin against us." It is a dangerous prayer for those of us aware of pockets of resentment, unresolved conflict, or the fact that we've abandoned hope that "that person" will ever change. The Heidelberg Catechism tells us that this petition means "Because of Christ's blood, do not hold against us, poor sinners that we are, any of the sins we door the evil that constantly clings to us." (Heidelberg Catechism, Question and Answer 126) Though we might recite this line, by rote or on auto-pilot, it is not the intention of God that this petition is easy in practice. "Rather, in commanding us to forgive, Jesus is inviting us to take charge, to turn the world around, to throw a monkey wrench in the eternal wheel of retribution and vengeance." (William Willimon, {{Lord Teach Us: The Lord's Prayer and the Christian Life}}.Abingdon Press, 1996, 84) As it has been done for us, may we be "fully determined" to demonstrate our gratitude to God in ways that will surprise and benefit those in need of our forgiveness.

    For thine is the kingdom

    The last line, "for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." does not appear in scripture but has been added by some protestant traditions over time. This line was not added to the prayer until the early church tried using the prayer in liturgy and found that "lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil" didn't have quite the gusto that a proclamation of a risen Savior and reigning Lord requires. The last word isn't temptation or sin. It isn't suffering or evil. The prayer required a truthful last word, God's great last word of triumph, of resurrection, of life and hope and victory and celebration and peace. The prayer needs to end the way we believe the story will end, with saints gathered around a throne proclaiming the glory of God.

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