Further reading:

- Aquinas on peace (or Peter Kreefts summary)

- the rare jewel of Christian contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs

Transcript:

Come Holy Spirit, help me to become aware of the things that I think I need to happen today. in order for me to be at peace, to be content with today.

Speak to me even now as I sit in silence and tell me what they are.

Help me to let go. of the things that are outside of my control.. How we to be wise about the things that I choose to tether my peace and my contentment to. Help me to hold all of them with an open hand. or just preemptively to let go of them.

Help me to grow in my trust, and my capacity to release those things to you. By your grace, help me to get. Eventually, all the way down to the only thing that I need today to be at peace. and to be content. as your presence. Is the trust. that you are with me. That everything that comes my way. is. within your loving plan for me. Whether it's a joyful thing or a sorrowful thing.

Holy Spirit, that is a hard place to get to. I ask for your help. to grow day by day, in that direction. to that my my perspective on the day, my attitude, the day, the way that I evaluate whether it's going well. And the way that I experience peace and contentment in my soul. is more and more. anchored in you and less and less anchored in my feelings and circumstances.

I believe it's possible to grow in that direction. I believe that you are eager to help me do that. Thank you. Amen.

This prayer also has music that goes with it which you can hear in my song “Psalm of blessing our bodies” by Ben Johnson Music Factory.

Transcript:

Come, Holy Spirit.

Give us eyes that see our responsibility.

Give us ears that hear the warnings of the things that we should truly fear.

Give us noses that breathe the holy wind that blows to the tops of the trees.

Give us fingers that release all the things that do not lead to peace.

Give us tongues that taste the thirst for righteousness and the desolation that gives weight to grace.

Amen.

This was inspired by this talk by Sara Groves entitled “Telling the truth with your art”

https://youtu.be/ZysL8jzLnNI?si=Lroh0NG7dSHHECcK

Transcript:

Come, holy Spirit, I lift up coco. I ask for. openness, courage for her, as she looks at. What's happening in her community, in her family, in her own heart, and mind. that she would be open, to reality, to be open, to the things that are good and growing, and to the things that are hard and painful and dissonant.

And I pray that you would help her wholeheartedly to bring all of that to you in prayer and conversation and in her times of making art. And I pray that that holy offering and courage would imbue her art with divine power and blessing that I might bless other people. because she's inviting you into it. Because you are helping her think through it, process it, and make it. that it's no longer something she's making by herself. You are making with her.

I Pray that it would imbue her art with this divine power to bless others. That She would be richly blessed from it, from the process of making it. She would be able to share it with great joy. And then it would be a doorway for other people and her family and friends. to know some facet of you Amen.

This is a beautiful song that is part of my evening ritual when I say good night to my daughter. If you’re looking for a version of the whole song, Sara Groves has a good one.

I find this first verse especially to be an excellent prayer of trust and humility. When things are going well, we feel secure, but we see the truth of our helplessness and need for God when “other helpers fail and comforts flee.” May God give you grace to trust him in prosperity and adversity, and to rejoice in his tender care.

Transcript:

Abide with me

Fast falls the eventide

The darkness deepens

Lord with me abide

When other helpers fail

And comforts flee

Help of the helpless

Abide with me

This is inspired by Galatians 5:6. Here it is with verses 4-5 as well for context:

“You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5:4-6‬ ‭NIV

—

Transcript:

Come, Holy Spirit.

Your servant, Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, says, that the only thing that counts. is faith expressing itself through love. I lift up to you my desire for that kind of faith.

By your grace. Fill me with that kind of faith. Help me to grow in trust. of you. Expectation of your goodness. help me to see the truth in the goodness. of your word and your ways. And I ask that you'd remove any obstacle. in the way of that faith, expressing itself in love.

Help me to become aware of anything in me That is preventing that faith. from expressing itself in love. And by your grace, help me to let go. Help me to let go of those things. So that the pathway may be clear. for full expression of love. Amen.

This was inspired by a line from a Björk song. The song is “it’s not up to you” and the line is “I can decide what I give, but it’s not up to me what I get given.”

I think it’s a profound insight into our powerlessness over what God or others will give us. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but rather showing that surrender and acceptance is the path to peace, and that our generosity ought to flow freely and from love and not as an attempt to manipulate.

Here’s the transcript:

Come, Holy Spirit.

As I think about today and the things that I may or may not receive from you or other people. and the ways that I want to be treated, that I may or may not happen. I ask your grace to let go of. Knowing in advance, whether they will or will not.

Help me to let go of. Specific things happening, specific ways. Help me to not try to control it or. Use force or manipulation to try to ensure a certain outcome. I want to release all that. and accept that it's not up to me what I get given.

I do ask that you would kindle in me generosity. and delight and the freedom that you have given me. that I do get to choose what I give.

I get to choose what I give to you. my prayers, my time, my attention, my worship. And I get to choose what I give to other people. Help me to see that as a precious gift from you, that freedom.

And I ask that you would fill me the spirit of generosity. so I might delight. in scattering my gifts. far and wide. Amen.

Prayer for yielding today to God

Come, Holy Spirit.

Help me to let go of my plans for today. Help me to let go of my narrow understanding of what it would look like for today to go well. Help me to let go of any a mindset that we try to force certain outcomes.

I ask for the grace of faith and hope. That.... The joy of today is far deeper than any specific good thing or pleasure that could happen in my life. But that you. are weaving today. Into your plan. for the renewal of all things. And you are.. shepherding all of history toward a joy. that is deeper than we can imagine.

I ask for faith and hope in those things. That is able to somehow.. find joy in the anticipation and peace and the trust. that everything that you do is guided by love and wisdom.

And that I am one person among many who is a beneficiary. I am a beneficiary of. your love, that is just the way you are. You are so generous and kind. and inclusive. Amen.

This prayer was inspired by this line in a song called “At Your Mercy” by Jess Ray:

“What will win in the end: love or questions?”

It’s a good question, and this prayer is an expression of desire that, although questions matter and are worthwhile, love is supremely valuable and is what my heart longs for most.

Prayer for awareness and strengthening of weakness (Ignatius rule 14)

Prayer for honest and healthy confiding (Ignatius rule 13)