It’s Monday. Most of us have meetings to go to today or later this week. Here is a prayer before a meeting. It’s published on the St. Louis University Prayerbook, a site where members of the SLU community share prayers.
Heavenly Father, we come to you today asking for your guidance, wisdom, and support as we begin this meeting. Help us to engage in meaningful discussion; allow us to grow closer as a group and nurture the bonds of community. Fill us with your grace, Lord God, as we make decisions that might affect the students, staff, faculty, alumni and friends of Saint Louis University. And continue to remind us that all that we do here today, all that we accomplish, is for the pursuit of truth for the greater glory of You, and for the service of humanity. We ask these things in your name, Amen.
For other prayers on this site, see the Prayers by St. Ignatius and Others.
www.ignatianspirituality.com
by Micai (Philippines)
Almighty God, our Father, we praise and thank you for this day. You have given us another opportunity to appreciate life and to fulfill our mission as Your instruments of peace and progress. Please pardon us for our shortcomings. Help us to amend our impieties, may we learn to pattern our lives through Your Sons example.
Father, bless all our endeavors, especially todays meeting. Guide us in our discussions. Enlighten our minds in every decision that we make. Give us Your grace that we may effectively do our parts as public servants. Bless our plans, programs and projects, so that we may achieve our objectives, for Your greater glory.
All these we ask in Jesus name. Amen.
Return to Prayers for Meetings
www.praywithme.com
Fodder for preparing your heart for worship in prayer.
Going to church is not like a trip to the grocery store, visiting a friend, or just a Christian task to complete. It is a declaration that worshiping the risen Christ is more important to you than sleeping in, eating brunch, playing sports, or working around the house. It is celebrating the uniting of our broken world under the headship of Christ (Ephesians 1:10) and a proclamation to the spiritual realm of God’s manifold wisdom (Ephesians 3:10).
As such, we should not enter church like any other place, but should prepare our hearts in prayer. Let these ten prayers set your mind on God’s purposes for church and prepare your heart to worship the King.
1. Lord, help me worship You with an undistracted heart.
Heavenly Father, this morning—and all of history—is about You. Please help me worship You with an undistracted heart. You know how my mind wanders to my upcoming week, present worries, and thoughts of others and other things. Help me put those thoughts away and focus on You and Your glory. Would your Spirit cause my heart, soul, mind, and strength to exalt Your Holy Name in my singing, listening to Your Word, and interacting with Your people.
2. Lord, reveal to me the wonders of Your Word. (Psalm 119:18)
Father, You spoke the world into existence (Genesis 1). You speak new life into Your children to give us the light of the knowledge of Your glory in Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). Give us the grace to receive Your Word and rejoice in it. Convict us of our sins and Christ’s sufficiency so that sinners would be converted (John 16:7–11), the weak strengthened, and Christ’s body built up.
3. Lord, deepen my faith and joy in the glories of Your gospel.
Father, You know the multitude of sins I have committed in my life and even this past week. Help me hate my sin more and grow in grace as I contemplate what Christ has done to forgive me and free me from sin’s death grip. Open the eyes of my heart to see the glorious hope we have in Christ, Your love for all of the saints, and Your power at work in us who believe (Ephesians 1:18-21). Cause my heart to burn within me as we celebrate the gospel in song, learn and apply the gospel through the preached Word, and see the gospel in baptism and communion.
4. Lord, cause me to treasure Your bride as You do.
Father, Your Son’s bride often gets a bad rap, and assembling together can seem like a drag. But physical appearances not only betray spiritual reality, they fail to grasp the centrality of the church in Your eternal purposes for this world. From men and women who were Your enemies, You are assembling a community of born-again worshippers from every tribe, and tongue, and nation to proclaim Your matchless wisdom to the world and spiritual realm (Ephesians 3:1–10). All of history will culminate in Your Son’s wedding to His beautiful bride (Revelation 21:1–2). Oh, Lord, help me treasure Your bride as You do and pour myself out to build her up.
5. Lord, lead me in building others up with the gifts and opportunities You have given me.
Father, forgive me for long having a “me first” consumer mentality at church. Help me put others first and seek to use the spiritual gifts You have graciously entrusted to me to build up others (Ephesians 4:16; 1 Corinthians 14:12). Guide me in my interactions so others are blessed and You are glorified. Show me who to talk to, where to sit, and how to encourage others with Scripture. Help me be a channel of encouragement as we see the Day drawing near (Hebrews 10:24–25).
6. Lord, may our love greatly adorn the gospel.
Father, Your Son said that the love we have for our brothers and sisters will proclaim to the world that we are Your disciples (John 13:34–35). Deepen our love for one another and make us eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit (Ephesians 4:1-3). Help us care for all, not showing favoritism. May love compel us to strengthen the weak, bind up the injured, and serve patiently as we remember our service to others is service to You (Matthew 25:31–46). Help us model Your unfathomable love for us in our honoring of one another, and so prove to the watching world Christ has risen and reigns.
7. Lord, protect us from evil men and evil ideas.
Lord, since the beginning, the enemy of our souls seeks to destroy Your glorious purposes for the world and Your people. We pray for Your protection against all powers and principalities seeking to sow division, anger, envy, greed, and lust among Your people. Keep evil men with destructive intent and unsound doctrines far from us. Expose our culture’s ugly lies and the lies we want to believe by setting our hearts on truth that leads to love, a good conscience, and sincere faith (1 Timothy 1:5).
8. Lord, guide our leadership in faithfully shepherding the flock.
Thank You, Lord, for the gift of pastors and leaders. Strengthen our leaders’ faith and joy in the gospel and help them faithfully and unashamedly fulfill their ministry of shepherding the church and equipping the saints for ministry (Ephesians 4:11–13; 1 Peter 5:1–4). Give them great wisdom and direction in every aspect of ministry and may their example show the church and the world who You are (Titus 2:7). Bless the wives and families of leaders with great gospel joy in the ministry. Help us honor them as Your undershepherds who sacrifice much for our sake (Hebrews 13:17).
9. Lord, equip us for our mission on earth.
We are not saved by our good works, but for good works (Ephesians 2:8-10). Focus our hearts on the mission You have for us to share the gospel and make disciples of Christ (Matthew 28:18–20). Remind us how our marriages, family lives, work, and hobbies can be avenues to adorn the gospel through our proclamation and Christ-exalting lifestyles. Use our time as Your gathered body to build us up and send us out for ministering Your gospel in the power of Your Spirit to our broken world.
10. Lord, deepen my longing for Christ’s return.
So often I pursue comfort and earthly joy in this sin-bent world when my heart should long for the return of Christ, our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). Help my time among Your people draw me into Your holy presence and show me the glories of a sin- and suffering-free eternity where we will worship You face-to-face (Revelation 21:1–4). Oh, Lord, I long for Your presence and perfect restoration! Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Related Links:
- 50+ Things You Miss Out On By Not Attending Church
- If the Devil had a church…
- What if My Church Doesn’t Preach the Bible?
www.kevinhalloran.net
Here are five prayers for a staff meeting.
Table of contents
Board Meeting Prayer
Father God, You alone are sovereign over all things and I pray right now that Your will be done in this board meeting and that Your Son and His Name would be glorified in how we conduct our business matters for the church. We seek to always do Your will and ask for Your Spirit to give us guidance in how to make decisions, the freedom to speak up when somethings on our mind, and to make sound and wise decisions that would be for the benefit of the church and for this I pray and in the most glorious name of all names, Jesus Christ, amen.
Staff Meeting Prayer
Righteous God, I ask for Your presence in this meeting today that You would bring to mind the things that are most important and that we would be unified in purpose and not take things personally when someone disagrees with me or someone else or when there are disagreements between others. Help us to focus on the issue and not the person and avoid personal attacks so that the meeting can be more productive and we can do things as You would have us do them. That means we must sometimes humble ourselves before others and acknowledge that someone else’s ideas are better than our own. We must keep in mind what the desired outcome is and not what we think it should be, and so I ask for Your help in these areas and for the glorification of the name that is above all names I pray, and that Name is Jesus Christ, amen.
Prayer before Meeting
Father God in heaven, I ask You to fill us with Your Spirit and give us the courage to speak in the meeting if we have reason to and that the meeting would be in the best interests of everyone involved. The decisions we make can make huge impacts and so give us Your wisdom that is from above and not lean on our own human understanding. Open our minds to the ideas of others and open our ears to hear the words of others and to make fair assessments of what others might say and to treat with dignity and respect, everyone who is present. We want to be godly in our actions with one another and this means we should be slow to speak and quick to listen and value the opinions of others, so with regards to this, I pray for Your help and in the mighty name of Jesus Christ I pray, amen.
Prayer for Unity
Great God in heaven, You are in perfect union with Your Son and Your Spirit and so please I pray that You would give us unity. A unity of one mind, one purpose, and of one spirit so that we can be agreeing upon the one, true purpose for which we are meeting. I need You and everyone here needs You and so send us Your guidance through Your Spirit so that we can more easily be joined together in a common purpose and that all things would be done decently and in order as You would have them done and in a respectable manner that would bring You glory and in Jesus Christ’s beloved name I pray, amen.
Prayer for Humility
I ask You of Father God to help me focus on being humble in this meeting because I don’t want this to be about bringing my own personal agenda to the meeting. I want to esteem others and their opinions better than my own and want to humble myself before them and admit when I make mistakes and confess to everyone present when I was wrong. I desire to model the humility that Jesus Christ our Lord showed (Phil 2:4-9) but I also don’t want to be inhibited from speaking about what I think is best so please give me boldness to speak with I feel it is important but not because it’s my idea; but because I sincerely believe it is best and help me to keep my focus on You and Your will in making decisions in alignment with Your will. Let that be the chief purpose in my soul and in Jesus Christ’s precious name I pray, amen.
Conclusion
Staff meetings can be tumultuous and sometimes confrontational but they are sometimes called “bored meetings” for very good reason; they’re not much fun. They are necessary but sometimes grueling. Consider praying before every board meeting, every staff meeting, or any meeting that you have and ask for God’s presence and His leading by His Spirit because that will be the best goal and it will bring more glory to God.
Article by Jack Wellman
Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.
www.patheos.com
