Seven days of prayer
Prayer can be simple.
We can find its rhythm
in the midst of ordinary things.
Here are prompts for seven days of prayer.
Monday
Seek
When you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will heal you.
When you search for me you will find me, if you seek me with all your heart
[Jeremiah 29: 112-13]
We pray when we reach out to God from our heart.
Our prayer might have words or run too deep for words.
All our restlessness and longing is gathered together as we pray.
And all the time, God seeks us with compassionate and resourceful love
A prayer to hold and keep, as you go through the day:
O God you are my God. I seek you.
My soul thirsts for you [Psalm 63:1]
Tuesday
Notice
Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears, for they hear
[Matthew 13.16]
A disciple is one who is willing to listen and learn. Today, if we give our attention, moment by moment, we will be open to receive the word of God spoken in ‘ordinary’ things. In the middle and at the end of the day pause to recall those things you have ‘seen’ and ‘heard’.
A prayer to hold and keep, as you go through the day:
Lord, open my ears this day to hear you.
Open my eyes to see you.
Open my mind to understand you.
Open my heart that I may desire to follow you in all things.
Wednesday
Bless
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits [Psalm 103: 1-2]
Gratitude warms the heart.
Saying ‘thank you’ keeps us in remembrance of relationship.
We are not alone, we are cared for, and each day has its gifts.
A prayer to hold and keep, as you go through the day:
Generous God, help me to see how goodness and mercy follow me this day.
Gladden my heart through your presence with me
Thursday
Pour
I pour out my soul
[Psalm 42.4]
Prayer is a pouring out of our soul. We let go to God what is deepest in us, without fear or inhibition: our concern for one we love, our puzzlement or pain at the course of events, our wonder at what is beautiful. ‘Pouring’ is a movement of the living water of our own spirit and of God’s Spirit.
A prayer to hold and keep, as you go through the day:
Holy Spirit,
let my prayer this day
be as a river,
flowing strong and free.
Friday
Forgive
Bear with one another, and if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive.
[Colossians 3.13]
To forgive is not to cling to our complaint against another.
We remember the wrong done, we feel the hurt, we become aware of our anger rising – and all of these are natural,
But in forgiving we allow that hurt that has flowed into our life to also flow away. We do not cling.
A prayer to hold and keep, as you go through the day:
Free me this day, Lord,
from the need to hold on to my complaint.
Help me find release,
in the release of those who have harmed me.
Saturday
Serve
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.
I was a stranger and you welcomed me
[Matthew 25,35]
Today, express your prayer bodily in some service of another.
Let it be something you freely choose to do, rather than an ’ought’ you unwillingly come to.
Be awake today to the moment when Jesus meets you in a stranger...or in someone very close to you whom you tend to take for granted.
A prayer to hold and keep, as you go through the day:
Lord Jesus
let me be available to you today.
Let me have time for you
when you come to me in need.
Sunday
Abide
Abide in me as I abide in you
[John 15.4]
To abide is to be with another. Jesus abides in us; we are invited to abide in Jesus. Here is home for our homelessness, rest for our restlessness. This place of abiding is always available to us, even as we move about our day.
A prayer to hold and keep, as you go through the day:
Lord, let me abide in your house today.
Let me be at home in you, as you are at home in me.
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