Lifting hands in prayer

Prayer-a-phrase from the first letter Paul wrote to Timothy:

First of all I urge you
to plea, pray, intercede,
and give thanks for everyone –
including leaders in high places,
so we can lead
quiet, peaceful lives
of godliness and holiness.

Isn’t this a good thing to do?

Yes, and it pleases God our Savior,
Who desires for everyone to be saved –
for everyone to come to know the truth –
the truth of the one God and the one
mediator between God and mankind,

Christ Jesus, Who, as a man,
gave Himself as the one ransom
Who pays for all people

To this I attest.
For this God blessed
and appointed me to be
a messenger, a proclaimer
of God’s good news,
a verifier of truth –
and that’s no lie!

So I teach this faith and truth,
hoping to reach all,
desiring that everywhere everyone
will pray, lifting holy hands
that hold nothing back – hands
lacking anger or argument –
clean hands – smudge-proof –
holding no grudge.

© 2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrase of 1Timothy 2:1-8 from today’s Daily Bible Readings in the Epistles

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Praying for the Body of Christ

When I heard of your faith
in Jesus the LORD
and your love for one another
in the family of God,
I just had to thank God for you
constantly in my prayers.

I pray for you all the time,
asking God,
the glorious Father
of our LORD Jesus Christ,
to give you the spirit of wisdom
and the discernment to know Him.

Then the eyes of your heart
will open to the light
of knowing
the hope to which God has called you,
the riches of all the LORD has given
to you, His children.

I pray, too, for you to know
the power of God’s greatness
at work in those who believe.

This is the same power God
put to work in Christ when He arose
from the dead and rose to the realm
of heavenly places far above
every ruler,
every authority,
every power,
every kingdom, and
every name you can name,
not only now
but in all times to come.

For God has put all things
under the feet of Christ
and given Him the full authority and power of God
and made Him the head of all things in the church –

the full church Body of Christ,
which is being filled with Christ
and completed in Christ,
Who will fully fill all in All.

©2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrase of today's Daily Bible Reading in the NT Epistle, Ephesians 1:15-23

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Praying for God to get speedy

O God! Please hurry!
O LORD, please hurry to my help.

People make so many demands
on me and my time,
they ought to be ashamed!

If they intend to bring me any hurt, let
their words become mumble-jumble.

Let them stop such behavior!
Let them stop saying “Ah” and Aha!”
or else be disgraced and ashamed
of their own words.

As for those who seek You and know
their need for You, LORD,
let them rejoice in You and be glad.
Let them say, again and again,
“How great is our God!”

But, as for me, O God, I’m feeling
pitiful and needy today,
so I speedily need Your help.

You are The One I count on
to release me from all harm,
so please hurry! Please!
O God, don’t linger too long.

©2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrased poem of Psalm 70 from today’s Daily Bible Reading

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Paul prays for our discernment

Background: Paul, who became an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God after the Resurrection rather than during Jesus’ earthly ministry, wrote this letter (epistle) to his young friend and fellow Christian Timothy and to the faithful followers of Christ who formed the church in Colossae, but also to all people made saintly by belief in Christ.


Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

In our prayers for you we always
thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
for we have heard of your faith
in Christ Jesus and of the love you have
for all the saints because of your hope in heaven.

You heard of this hope in the word of the truth,
the gospel that came to you, growing your faith
and bearing fruit to nurture the whole world.

From the first day you heard of the grace of God,
the Gospel began bearing fruit among you,
thanks to Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant, who
faithfully ministers to you in Christ and who
made known to us your love in the Spirit.

And from the first day we heard this,
we have not ceased praying for you
and asking for you to be filled
with the knowledge of God's will
in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
so you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully
pleasing to God as you bear fruit in every good
work and grow in the knowledge of God.

May you be made strong with the strength
that comes from Christ’s glorious power,
and may you be prepared to endure everything
with patience while joyfully giving thanks
to the Father, Who enabled you to share
in the inheritance of the saints in the light
of the Lord Who rescued us from the power of darkness
and transferred us into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son
in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

©2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, Bible prayer from Colossians 1:1-14, today’s reading in the Epistles

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Jesus touches the untouchable

Background: In Jesus’ earth era, leprosy had become a common skin condition, which included everything from a flesh-eating illness to a bad case of zits. To avoid spreading serious disease, the affected person had to remain outside the city in a most solitary place, isolated from family and the rest of the community. If skin eventually began to clear, the person still could not rejoin the community without first showing evidence to the priest, who also served as physician. Until the priest gave an “all clear,” the person could not come near anyone without loudly crying, “Unclean! Unclean!”

In a town
[yes, in town where lepers were not allowed]
a man filled with leprosy came to Jesus
and fell down onto the ground
on his face –
[his pitiful face, which, maybe, had only a little left
of a nose, a lip, a chin.]
And when he’d fallen face-down before the LORD,
he implored, “If You will,
You can heal my skin and make me clean again.”

“I will!” Jesus said. “Be healed!”
and He reached out His immaculate hand
to touch the untouchable man,
and immediately the leprosy left.

Jesus charged him to tell no one
he might meet, but go
to the priest and make an offering
as Moses commanded and show
skin proof
evidence of healing.

Still, the news spread,
and more and more people came to Jesus
to hear Him and be healed of all that ailed
them each day until He withdrew His
own face into a most solitary place
to pray.

©2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrased lines drawn from today’s Daily Bible Reading in Luke 5:12-16.

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Praying boldly

I’m writing to you who already believe
in the Name of Jesus, the Son of God,
so you may know you have received
the life unceasing.

In Christ you can be bold!
In Christ you can hold up anything
in prayer,
according to His will, and He will
hear.

When we know God hears us
and what we ask, we know we have
what’s been requested.

So if you see a brother or sister in Christ
doing something wrong, ask God on behalf
of the person’s life,
and God will give it
to all who haven’t killed the spirit.

About that, I do not say to pray
for some sins kill the soul, but know
that those born of God do not do this
for God protects those who belong to Christ
from even a touch of the evil one.

Know this! We’re God’s own children!
The whole world has fallen under
the power of the evil one,
but we know the Son of God has come
and given you
and me an understanding of Who
is True.

And through His Son, Christ Jesus,
we are in God, Who is True,
Who is life everlasting!

O Child of God, keep yourself
from believing any untrue word
or idolizing anyone but our Lord.

©2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrase of 1 John 5:13-21

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Daniel prays for mercy

Background:

After the Hebrew people had been taken captive in Babylon (ancient Babel and modern-day Iraq), King Nebuchadnezzar had a troubling dream that kept him awake at night. In hope of sleep the king called magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers to tell him the meaning of this dream, but no one could. Instead, the not-so-wise men admitted that no one on earth could possibly do what the king asked. No one could possibly reveal the meaning of the dream except gods, who do not lower themselves to live on earth. This made the king so angry, however, that he ordered every supposedly wise person in the kingdom to be put to death!

When Daniel (known to the king by his Babylonian name Belteshazzar) heard of this predicament, he asked the king to give him a little time for the meaning of the dream to become clear. Then, hurrying home, he explained the situation to his Hebrew friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, also known by their Babylonian names of Hananiah, Mishal, and Azarish. Daniel urged his friends to plead for mercy from the God of heaven, so they would not be condemned to die nor would the wise men of Babylon.


Then during the night, the mystery was revealed. During the night, a vision came to Daniel. During the night, Daniel prayed to the God of heaven, praised the God of heaven, and said:

Praise be to the Name of God for ever and ever
for wisdom and power belong only to Him.

God alone can change times and seasons.
God alone can depose and raise up leaders and kings.
God alone can give wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning.

The God of Heaven reveals deep things
and knows what hides in the darkness,
for with God alone, all light dwells.

And so I thank You and praise You,
O God of my ancestors
for You have given me wisdom and power
and made known to me what we have asked
for You alone know the dream of kings.

Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had selected to slay the wise men of Babylon, and said, “Do not kill the wisdom of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will decipher his dream.”

So Arioch took Daniel to the king and said, “I found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell what dreams mean.”

“Belteshazzar,” the king said, “Are you able to tell what came in my dream. Are you able to tell and interpret?”

Daniel replied, “No wise man, no enchanter, no magician, no diviner can explain the mystery the king has seen, but God in heaven reveals mysteries."

Dreams and visions came to your mind as you lay in your bed, and these dreams and visions show days ahead – days in a mystery revealed now to me, not from my wisdom, but my God, the Revealer of Mysteries, Who wants you to know what will happen, Who wants you to know God of heaven, Who wants you to understand what turns and turns and awakens your mind.

© 2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrase of today’s Bible reading from Daniel 2:17-30


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