\u201cListen closely, my God, and hear.\u00a0 Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city that bears your name.\u00a0 For we are not presenting our petitions before you based on our righteous acts, but based on your abundant compassion.\u201d\u00a0 Daniel 9:18
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Praying for others can be difficult. Often, we say we\u2019re praying for someone but we don\u2019t say what we\u2019re praying. I\u2019m a big believer in specific prayer, the more specific the better. The Serenity Prayer, written by Rienhold Niebuhr is one of the most beautiful prayers written outside of those in the Bible. Most people know the first few lines of the prayer, but they don\u2019t know it in its entirety. If you need help writing an encouraging prayer for someone, maybe the full version of this prayer will help:
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God, grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The courage to change the things I can, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the wisdom to know the difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Living one day at a time,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One moment at a time, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taking as Jesus did,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This sinful world as it is,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not as I would have it;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trusting that You will make things right<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If I surrender to Your will,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amen
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The beauty of this prayer is it covers everything. There will always be things in life we cannot change, and there will be things we can. We need to know the difference between the two or we will waste time on the wrong thing. When we accept life as it is, we can find joy in the moment, trusting God\u2019s plan, no matter how difficult the circumstances. There will always be sin in this world, but if we trust that the hardships of life lead to peace, we will have peace. Peace can be found in surrender to God\u2019s will. Remembering this life is temporary, helps us understand we aren\u2019t meant to be completely content here on earth. If we were content, we wouldn\u2019t have the longing to be with Jesus, we wouldn\u2019t need Him. But we do need Him, we can find reasonable happiness in this life, but our supreme happiness comes when we are reconnected with our Creator in heaven.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Take time today to write a specific prayer for someone in your life who has asked you to pray for them.\u00a0 Be specific in what you are praying and asking God for on their behalf. If they need financial blessing, ask for an amount and let them know what it is.\u00a0 If they need healing, be specific the type of healing you\u2019re petitioning God for on their behalf. Whatever their need is, write out a prayer for them and send it to them.\u00a0 Just knowing you are being specific will help them find the pathway to peace through the hardship they are facing because they will know they are loved.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cListen closely, my God, and hear.\u00a0 Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city that bears your name.\u00a0 For we are not presenting our petitions before you based on our righteous acts, but based on your abundant compassion.\u201d\u00a0 Daniel 9:18 Praying for others can be difficult. Often, we say we\u2019re praying for someone… Continue reading WRITE SOMEONE AN ENCOURAGING PRAYER<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1055"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1056,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055\/revisions\/1056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}