“All that God does is for His glory first and for our benefit second. We pray because God commands us to pray, because it glorifies Him, and because it benefits us.”[1]
Prayer: Communication with God primarily offered in the secondperson voice (addressing God directly). May include a petition, entreaty, supplication, thanksgiving, praise, hymns, and lament.[2]
O HEAVENLY Father, thou understand all thy children; through thy gift of faith, we bring our perplexities to the light of thy wisdom and receive the blessed encouragement of thy sympathy and a clearer knowledge of thy will. Glory be to thee for all thy gracious gifts. Amen.[3]
O GOD, our FATHER; look with favor upon the youth of the world. Bless them in action and care while they work their way through life. Open their hearts to your truth and bring them into your affectionate embrace. Guide them into making hard decisions at the right time and show them the benefit of sacrifice. Pick them up when they fall and extend to them your loving grace to their efforts. We pray that you look after our youth and protect them from thy enemy, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
[1] R. C. Sproul, Does Prayer Change Things?, vol. 3, The Crucial Questions Series (Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2009), 18.
[2] Leslie T. Hardin, “Prayer,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
[3] The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: The Seabury Press, 1976), 596.
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