June 1, 2009

Many of my friends are pastors, deacons, or lay persons involved in the leadership of the church. As many of us prepare to make moves and minister in new areas, I thought I would share some of my favorite prayers out of A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants and published by Upper Room Books. I invite you to join me this month in praying these prayers for yourself, your church leaders, and the church at large.

Here is today's prayer:

O Holy Spirit of God, visit now this soul of mine, and tarry within it until eventide. Inspire all my thoughts. Pervade all my imaginations. Suggest all my decisions. Lodge in my will's most inward citadel and order all my haste and in my leisure, in company and in solitude, in the freshness of the morning and in the weariness of the evening; and give me grace at all times to rejoice in thy mysterious companionship.

-from A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie (A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants, pg. 23)