Prayer For Retiring Pastor
Heavenly Father, I pray for the men and women who are getting near to their retirement and perhaps are growing weary as a result of the stresses and strains of the world, or who are concerned that during their post-retirement life they will be ill-equipped to provide for their daily needs.
Comfort and strengthen, all those that are in this situation. Draw alongside each one and create in them a vision of the future that You have for their lives, with You at the helm of their lives.
Motivate them to look beyond the world's view of retirement, which so often devalues the older generation and help them to see that with You they have the rest of their lives to love and serve You in newness of love, as You lead and guide them in ways that they may never have imagined, to Your praise and glory.
Provide I pray, for all their needs and necessities of life, and draw each one into a closer fellowship with You in the years ahead. In Jesus' name,
Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father, I come to You with grateful thanks that You have permitted me to reach my retirement after so many years of service. Thank You for the health and strength that You have given me day by day to enable me to work, and thank You also for those that have been instrumental in giving me work and working alongside me.
Please bless all my work colleagues and bosses, my friends and those that have mentored me over the years. May each one be sheltered and protected by Your love and I pray that those that have resisted the gospel of grace over the years, will one day open their hearts to Jesus and accept Him as their Lord and Saviour.
Thank You for the skills that I have learned and the opportunities that You have put in my path throughout my career, and I thank You for the opportunities that You have purposed for me, that are yet hidden in the future.
Thank You for being with me throughout my working life and Lord, I pray that with You at the helm, You will continue to give me many more years in Your service, so that this time of retirement may continue to be an opportunity to serve You in spirit and truth and to draw ever closer to You, until I come to be with You in heaven. In Jesus' name I pray,
Amen.
Heavenly Father, how I praise and thank You for bringing me to this important point in my life, this point of my retirement. Father, in one way I find it daunting and yet in another way it is one of the most exciting times of my life.
Help me not to dread the thought of retirement but rather use it I pray, as an opportunity for me to be used in Your service, in whatever capacity You would choose, to carry out the good works, which You have prepared beforehand for me to do in Your strength and for Your glory.
I pray that You would give me the wisdom to push on different doors, and allow You to open any through which You would have me to pass. I want to be in Your will and I desire to do Your purpose in my life. Keep me I pray, from trying to orchestrate a life in my retirement that is not under the shadow of Your leading and guiding.
Lord, I pray that You would take whatever time I have left in this world and use it to Your praise and glory. Bring into my life Christian friends, where we can find mutual edification, but also I ask that You would bring into my path the people to whom I can witness of the Lord Jesus Christ and His saving grace. Take every day of my life, from this day forward I pray, and live Your life through me. In Jesus' name,
Amen.
Loving Lord, I thank You for the opportunity to step aside from the hustle and bustle of work-a-day living and for the opportunity to enjoy a slower pace of life, in the twilight years of my retirement.
Thank You for the way that You have led me and been with me throughout my busy working career and I pray that You will not forsake me now that life is about slow down as I face my forthcoming retirement.
Keep me I pray, from regretting the passing of my life and may I see this time as an opportunity to seek You more and to live in the expectation that You will open new horizons and opportunities to serve You in ways that will bring blessings to many and glory to Your name.
Help me Lord to see that as this one door on my past life is closing that the exciting door of my eternal future starts today. Thank You that I am Your child. Thank You that You died for me and that heaven is my ultimate "retirement" home and may I live the rest of my days in closer fellowship as I seek to do Your will in every area of my life, from this day forward--even for evermore.
Dear Father God, Thank you for the seasons of life, for the joy of childhood, the excitement of youth, and the stability of maturity. Thank you for the blessings that come with age, for all the happy memories to enjoy, for the wisdom that comes through experience, and for the freedom that is given with retirement. Lord, we give thanks for the tremendous blessing that has come from the work of many years, and thank you that you still anoint and use us always, in all seasons. We pray that this would be a new beginning, may your hope arise, and your vision be the guide. May a new rhythm emerge, one that forms a beautiful balance between rest and engagement with life. And now Lord, we ask for your blessing. May there be good health, joy in abundance and peace in heart and mind, from this day forwards and each day that follows. In Jesus name, Amen.
Father, thank you for nourishment. For the warmth of the sun and the refreshment of water. For the miracle of the seed and the reaping of harvest. For the wonder of taste and the blessing of food with loved ones. Thank you, Lord. Amen.
Lord, here I stand with a new horizon ahead of me. I know I am entering a later phase of life, yet I feel so much the same inside. Help me to seize each sunrise, and fully live each day. May I be guided by You, and walk into this new landscape with hope and confidence. May I engage with the beauty of creation, and connect with the passions, hopes and dreams I had as when young. My prayer is not to leave anything behind, but to walk forwards into all I can be, all I can enjoy, and all I can give. To this new page The next chapter of my life - Shared with You. Amen.
Almighty and ever-living Father, before whose face the generations rise and fall, we give you thanks and praise for all the blessings of this day, and for all the ways, in season and out of season, that you provide for us.
In this season, on this day, we invoke your Holy presence upon this congregation as it gathers in memory and hope to thank and bless this, your servant, Theophilus, at the conclusion of his active ministry.
We give you thanks for those early promptings of your gentle Spirit that stirred his heart to consider this holy calling. As young men shall see visions and old men shall dream dreams, we praise you for the persistent vision that led him through long years of service as a minister of your Word.
We thank you for bestowing the necessary graces upon him for carrying out the work to which you called him. Through trials and temptations your eternal presence strengthened and comforted him. In the dry seasons you provided him with living waters to restore his soul. Your unseen hand supported him with the courage needed for the struggles to make real the love of Jesus Christ by word and deed. In the face of disappointments you surprised him again and again with unexpected joy.
Lord God, without whose daily grace none could stand, we earnestly entreat you now to forgive Theophilus all his shortcomings and failures in your service, and to endow him with a calm mind and a peaceful heart as he concludes his days of active service. Remind him that your ways are not our ways, and your thoughts are not our thoughts, and that the seeds he sowed and planted and watered during his ministry often only bear fruit in your good time, unseen and unknown except by you.
Our times are in your hands, O God. Bless Theophilus now in this new season of his life and this new chapter in his calling, that his remaining years may be full and fruitful, and assure him of his place, by your grace, among the great cloud of witnesses, living and dead, who have witnessed to your truth and lived out your love. And when his days come to an end grant him the gift of peace and the assurance of everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.