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Prayer for God’s intervention

Troubled times now, troubled times in Bible days….
This prayer from God’s Word can be prayed appropriately now and any time we place our praise, trust, and concerns before the Lord.

Psalm 71:1-12 paraphrased into everyday English
I put my trust in You, O Lord. Help me never to be confused about that. Rescue me. Free me for You do what’s right. Stay inclined to listen to me and deliver me. Be to me a Rock where I can safely hide. Give Your command to rescue me, for You are my high ridge and fortress. Rescue me, my God, from the power of evil, from the clutches of cruel oppressors.
O Lord, my only hope is in You. From childhood I have trusted You, Lord. Yes, from the moment of my birth and even in my mother’s womb, You have tended me.
No wonder I’m always praising You. No wonder my life provides an example to many, because You have been my strength and protection. No wonder I daily declare Your praise and glory!
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Praying Psalm 70 in turbulent times

During his lifetime, King David often found himself surrounded by hate and ill will. In physical, mental, and spiritual danger – as we are today – this beloved man of faith turned to God, seeking protection, deliverance, and peace. 
In the midst of his own troubles, however, David prayed for others who sought God’s help. Like Christ, King David prayed for us.


Psalm 70 – prayer of David from King James Version 
Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O Lord.
Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt. Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha, aha.
Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.
But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O Lord, make no tarrying.
From the Book of KJV Prayers - actual prayers from the King James Version of th…
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Moses’ prayer of complaint

Earlier this week, someone posted an article on the Internet with images showing what happens to the brain when we complain. Reportedly, a habit of complaining rewires the brain, making a person more and more aware of every little negative thing!
When Moses led God’s people out of slavery and toward the promised land, he had to deal with countless complaints by countless people. As mediator between them and the Lord, he presented the grievances directly to God in prayer:
Exodus 5:22-23 – a prayer of Moses
And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me?
For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.
From the Book of KJV Prayers – actual prayers from God’s Word collected by Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2019, from the King James Version of the Bible
Exodus 5:21-22 – a prayer of Moses
Lord, why have You brought so much trouble on Your p…
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Praying Bible prayers and Bible promises

For several years, the Bible Prayers blog has focused on actual prayers in the Bible – prayers that have been prayer-a-phrased (prayerfully paraphrased) into contemporary language after comparing many of the translations found in my home and also on the Bible Gateway website.
If you’ve followed this blog (thank you very much and God bless you!) you’ve probably noticed long gaps between posts, which I pray will be only temporary.
Meanwhile, I’ve been collecting and paraphrasing Bible prayers for a book, which, Lord willing, will soon be available because I believe so strongly in its importance – first as a means of providing an up-to-date version of actual Bible prayers in one easy-to-read book - and also because praying those prayers means we automatically have prayer partners from the past, present, or future, who agree with us in prayer as two or more of us gather in Jesus’ Name.
In addition to that goal, a thought recently came to remind me that powerful, timeless, and relevant praye…
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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
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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.

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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.

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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.
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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.

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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 serv…
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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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A Psalm to pray, to sing

Psalm 18:1-2

A psalm of David:
The servant of the Lord
sang this song to the Lord
on the day the Lord rescued him
from his enemies.

I love you, my Lord
You are my strength.
my rock,
my fortress,
my deliverer.

You are solid rock
in Whom
I find protection.
You are my shield,
the power Who saves me.

You are my
safe place.

Prayer-a-phrased by Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2018, with scriptures from Bible Gateway.

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The Bible Prayer of Jesus

“Thou art my father, my God,” Psalm 89:26.
Our Father which art in heaven

“The Lord our God is holy,” Psalm 99:9.
Hallowed be Thy name.

“Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,” Psalm 145:13.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done

“I will be exalted in the earth,” Psalm 46:10.
in earth, as it is in heaven.

“And the Lord God humbled you, let you hunger, then fed you with manna….to make you know that we do not live by bread alone, but by every word from the mouth of the Lord,” Deuteronomy 8:3.
Give us this day our daily bread.

“Hear in heaven Your dwelling place and forgive! To those whose hearts You know, let it be according to their ways – for You, Lord, You alone, know the hearts of all,” 1 Kings 8:39.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

“Listen, O Shepherd of Israel, You Who lead us like a flock,” Psalm 80:1.
And lead us not into temptation,

“Fear the Lord your God, and God will deliver you from the hands of all your enemies,” 2 Kings 17:39.
But deliver us from evil

“Yours, …
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My First Bible Prayer

Growing up in a church that relied on spontaneous prayer, rather than prayers from the Bible, I didn’t hear the Lord’s Prayer aka Our Father right away. However, my Sunday School teachers encouraged us to get into the habit of bringing a Bible to church and reading it regularly at home, which I did at the time and have kept doing for decades.

At some point in those early years with God’s Word, I ran across a short prayer in Psalm 19:14 that’s often referred to as “David’s Prayer.” Whether King David was the actual psalmist for these particular lines, I don’t know, but I do know that the prayer became my prayer.

Since I first learned “my prayer” in the King James Version of the Bible (KJV), that’s still my first choice for praying and sharing with you:

“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer,” KJV.

Today’s “Verse of the Day” on Bible Gateway featured this Bible prayer, which I then searched out in ot…
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After Irma: Psalm 80 for today

After being without power all week due to Hurricane Irma’s sweep through Florida, my electricity has been restored, thank God! May our spiritual power be restored with this prayer-a-phrase of Psalm 80.

Listen, O Shepherd
Who leads us like a flock –
yes, You, Lord, who lives
among cherubim and us –
shine forth!

For we who feel powerless,
stir up Your mighty power,
so we can see Your help.

Turn us toward You, O God.
Let Your face shine on us,
and we shall be saved.

O Lord God of hosts,
some say You’re too angry with us
to hear our prayers.

Some say You feed us with
bread made from our moans
and flood us with tears.

Some say You cause quarrels between us,
so our enemies laugh among themselves.

Restore us, O God of All.
Show how Your face glows over us.
We praise You for we have been saved.


Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2017, prayer-a-phrased Psalm 80 with the help of scriptures on Bible Gateway.

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Praying through the flood of tears and Hurricane Harvey

Save us, O God!
The waters have come up to my neck!

I sink in mire so deep, my foot
finds no place to rest.

In these unfathomable waters,
the flood sweeps over me.

All this crying wearies me,
but only my throat goes dry.

Hope starts to dim
as I wait for my God,
but, still, I pray to You, O Lord.

In Your flood of steadfast love,
answer me!

With Your faithful help, rescue me
from sinking deeper and deeper!

Deliver me, O Lord, from every
foe and flood.

Do not let these deep waters
sweep over or swallow me!

Do not let the bottomless pit close its mouth.


Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2017, prayer-a-phrased Psalm 69:1-3, 13-15 after researching scriptures on Bible Gateway

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Praying for God to empower the church

Kneeling before the Father –
from Whom every family
in heaven and earth
has its true Family Name –
let's pray for God’s great glory
to give us the power to be
strengthened in our spirit
through the Holy Spirit.

Let's pray for Christ to quicken
our hearts with faith,
so our lives will be built
on unshakable love.

And pray for all of God’s people
to be fortified by Christ’s love,
so we can see how wide,
how long, how high, how deep
His Fortress of Love really is.

For Christ’s love is greater
than anything we can know!

And His love fills us with God.

Now to Him Who Is Able
to do far more than we
can ask or imagine,
let's let His power be at work in us,
the Body of Christ, and may we,
as one church, bring glory to God
for ever and ever.

Ephesians 3:14-21 prayer-a-phrased by Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2017, using scripture from various translations on Bible Gateway.

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Praying for the media with Psalm 12

As you read Psalm 12, keep the media in mind and prayer. Perhaps our complaints about them and our prayers for them might help them to see the tremendous power they have for good, for healing, and for unity in this country and around the world.

Help, LORD!
Have godly people gone?
Have the faithful disappeared
from the human race?

Who’s lying now? Slick speech
and double-mindedness
make it hard to tell.

LORD, please put a stop to slick talk!
Shut boastful mouths who have said,
“We can say what we like!
Who will stop us?”

LORD, You know how
poor people have been oppressed,
and needy people
from every race and culture
groan.

Help us to stand up for them!
And, please, LORD, provide the help
they’re gasping to get!

Only Your promises
have no self-serving motives.
Your Word is like silver
purified seven times.

You, O LORD, will protect us from all ills.
You will guard us from all jadedness,
even while wickedness struts about,
and people keep lifting up the evils
in the land.


Mary Harwell S…
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Praying with Psalm 11

LORD, I choose to hide myself in You.

Some might say, “Fly like a bird
to the mountains to escape
the bow and evil arrows
ready to shoot in the dark
the upright in heart.
If our foundations
collapse, then what could
a good person do?”

LORD, from Your holy temple –
from Your holy throne in heaven,
surely Your eyes see! Surely
You lift Your eyelids to see
how people are acting, LORD.
You examine each action, but
Your soul hates wicked ways
and violence.

Someday You’ll rain coals of fire
on all evil and fill the cups
of Your enemies with nothing
but a scorching wind!

You alone are righteous, LORD,
and You love what’s done right.
May decent, honest people
see Your face
everywhere.

Psalm 11 prayer-a-phrased by Mary Harwell Sayler, using many of the translations found on Bible Gateway, ©2017.

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