Prayer For Shelter
Dear God,
Watch over your children,
Especially those with no homes to return to at the end of long and weary days.
Protect them from all harm and keep them from despair.
Open the hearts and eyes of those of us with blessings to share.
Unite our voices in a call for justice:
So that no man need ever lay down for the night on a wooden park bench because he has no home;
So that no woman need ever tuck her children into the backseat of her car because she has no home;
So that no child need ever wonder, Where will I feel safe? because he has no home;
So that all those who wander and all who are in need, find the shelter and the peace they seek.
Remind us, O God, that we cannot rest fully secure in our homes each night until all your children are, at last, home.
Amen.
O God of Mercy:
We hear the persistent call to feed the hungry and find shelter for the homeless. Stir our hearts to move more deeply in our walk with Jesus.
Help us answer the question, Why do we feel comfortable living beyond our needs when others do not have their basic needs met?
Help us not be hypocrites of lip service but the disciples of action.
Keep our hearts soft enough to keep hearing the cry of the hungry and the homeless.
Amen.
O God, though we pray asking that you comfort your people, make your
grace known to us in real and substantial ways, and always offer us the hope
of life through Jesus Christ, I also ask that you make us uncomfortable,
that the despicable injustice that a child does not have a place to sleep at
night will jar us to the core of our being, challenging us not just to pray
with our hearts tonight, but to pray with actionto work and volunteer and
build a community in accordance with your Kingdom. Stir our souls, ignite a
passion for compassion, make us uncomfortable with the status quo that we
might see you glorified through our work for a better world. And as small and
inadequate as we are, as humble as we try to be, empower us with your Holy
Spirit which strengthens that your will be done in Citrus County. God in
your mercy Hear our prayer. Amen.
Dear Lord, I've just heard the order to continue to shelter in place for an extended period of time and I'm devastated. Staying home, not being able to travel freely or to see my family and loved ones who don't live with me is driving me crazy. I've gone to the grocery store and the drugstore, but I haven't lingered to visit. People are scared! I'm scared too, but I'm also angry about the way my life has changed. I miss church. I miss being able to visit with friends. I miss eating at my favorite restaurant. I miss hugging.
Each day bleeds into the next, Lord, even on weekends. Easter Sunday felt like just another day since I couldn't go to church. I'm not even sure what day it is today! It's so hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that there's nowhere I need to be. I thrive on my routine but that's down the drain. I feel unproductive and useless. I know I have to do this for safety's sake, but I'm a social person. I'm feeling depressed and just plain lonely. I've heard the words, ALONE TOGETHER. What does that even mean? I have my phone and my laptop as ways to communicate, but I yearn for in-person contact.
Please help me be strong during this time, dear God. Many people are suffering from disease, from not being able to be with loved ones in the hospital, from being stranded far away from home. My situation could be so much worse. Help me stop feeling sorry for myself. Assure me that there's going to be an end to this confinement. Give me strength and courage and guide me in ways I may help someone else. You have promised You will always be with me, even to the end of the age. Remind me of that. I do trust you, Lord, and I believe You will see me through this trial, as You always have in the past.
Amen
Dear Lord, whether I am a Sarah, or a friend of a Sarah, give me wisdom. Make me aware if You desire for me to take a role in helping someone. I give You everything, including my fears, worries, and stress. Shine Your light on my family, I pray. And lead me to Your safe place. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
God of heaven and earth, God who carries our lives and the lives of our whole community in your hands, be with us in the peril of this day/night. Help us to release our anxieties and fears into those same caring hands, knowing in faith that your will for us is life and everlasting good. Send your holy angels to watch over us and guard us. May they spread their holy wings to give us shelter against the storm. For you alone, O God, are all good, all life, all love, and that love is for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers where.
Hear my prayer O LORD, Help me in my time of despair and give me the opportunity to purchase my first home. If you will O LORD, it will be for my and my families goodness, I humbly pray that you may grant me my request.
Amen
Leader: Loving God, you made us in your image and blessed us with wisdom, creativity, skill, compassion and love.
People: Give us sight to see your children in need, ability to hear your call to serve and willingness to be your hands and feet.
Leader: How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! Even the sparrow has found a home and the swallow a nesta place near your altar, O Lord.
People: Heaven is your throne and the earth your footstool. Empower us with your strength and wisdom to build safe dwellings.
Leader: You have called us to share our food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelterwhen we see the naked, to clothe him.
People: Give us willing hearts, Lord, and inspire us to action.
Leader: When you call upon the Lord, spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, the Lord will always guide you. He will satisfy your needs and strengthen you.
People: Grant us safety and protect us as we build your kingdom through building homes and communities.
Leader: He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?
People: To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Leader: My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.
People: May our obedience to serve you with our wisdom, creativity, skill, compassion and love cause the weak to say I am strong, the poor to say I am rich because of what the Lord has done for us.
Leader: Transform our world and transform our hearts and minds.
People: Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
ALL: Make us into one people, your people like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.