March 2012

The simplest prayers can sometimes be the most powerful. These 10 prayers from the Bible convey so much in just six words. What's your favorite six-word prayer?

Consider the lilies of the field.
(Matthew 6:28)

God is our refuge and strength.
(Psalm 46:1)

Comfort the discouraged. Help the weak.
(I Thessalonians 5:14)

Freely ye have received, freely give.
(Matthew 10:8)

My soul doth magnify the Lord.
(Luke 1:46)

I do not leave you comfortless.
(John 14:18)

We should all have had a Sunday School teacher like Mrs. Clarke. She was probably the most saintly person I had ever known, with a calm demeanor no matter how unruly we kids were and a lovely Texas drawl to slow our wild California chatter down. She turned the pages of her much-marked Bible with long bony hands and stared us down with dark eyes so deep I figured they went straight to her soul.

Every time you wonder if you’re praying right, take a look at the Lord’s Prayer. I don’t mean the words that you probably memorized as a kid and can repeat as fast as you say the Pledge of Allegiance. I mean: Look at the Lord’s Prayer in the Bible.

It appears twice, once in the book of Luke (11:2-4) and in a slightly longer form in the book of Matthew (6:9-13). Context says a lot here.

A book landed on my desk with the curious title The Poems of Jesus Christ. “Somebody putting words in Jesus’ mouth?” I wondered. Not at all. The poet and scholar Willis Barnstone has simply gone back to the biblical text, translating from the original, and shown how Jesus in the gospels speaks in pure poetry.

This week's guest blogger is Anne A. Simpkinson, Guideposts' online managing editor. Anne, who’s been practicing Centering Prayer since 1996, shares about this prayer practice and how silence can bring us closer to God.

Last year was pretty stressful for me. I kept waiting for the dust to settle, but just when it did, something else came down the pike. Counter-intuitively, I spent less time in prayer. When Lent rolled around this year, I seized the opportunity to commit to praying more.

Ever get that feeling that you’ve got too many people to pray for? When an email comes in or I get a phone call or I hear some news, I’ll scribble the name down on a yellow Post-it note I keep on my desk or a purple Post-it note I’ve got in my pocket, just to keep track. Lately the names have been piling up.

Terrible news appeared in my inbox. A dear neighbor, one of those people we run into at the supermarket or at the drugstore or at the mailbox, someone we’ve known for years, has had a medical scare.

The bad news came from a mutual friend: “She’s got a mass that looks like a malignancy. They’re still waiting for the biopsy.”

“Yuck!” I typed back. “I’ll pray for her.”