November 18, 2005

Famous Words and Prayers

I’ve Been to the Mountaintop, by Martin Luther King, Jr.

    “Well, I don’t know what will happen now.

     We’ve got some difficult days ahead.

     But it doesn’t matter with me now,

     Because I’ve been to the mountaintop.

     And I don’t mind.

     Like anybody, I would like to live a long life.

     Longevity has its place.

     But I’m not concerned about that now.

     I just want to do God’s will.

     And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain.

     And I’ve looked over,

     And I’ve seen the promised land.

     I may not get there with you.

     But I want you to know tonight, that we,

     as a people, will get to the promised land.

     And I’m happy tonight.

     I’m not worried about anything.

     I’m not fearing any man.

     Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the

        Lord.”

 

Create in Me a Clean Heart, by King David

     “Create in me a pure heart, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me from your presence

or take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of salvation

and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me” (Ps. 51:10-12, NIV).

 

The Serenity Prayer attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I

    cannot change,

    courage to change the things I can,

    and the wisdom to know the difference.”

 

The Spell of Immortality, by Peter Marshall

“We pray to Thee, O Christ, to keep us under the

spell of immortality.

 

May we never again think and act as if Thou wert dead. Let us more and more come to know Thee as a living Lord who hath promised to them that believe: ‘Because I live, ye shall live also.’

 

Help us to remember that we are praying to the Conqueror of Death, that we may no longer be afraid nor dismayed by the world’s problems and threats, since Thou hast overcome the world.

 

In Thy strong name, we ask for Thy living presence and Thy victorious power. AMEN.”

 

A Prayer attributed to Richard of Chichester

     “Day by day, O Lord, three things I pray:

To see Thee more clearly, love Thee more dearly,

follow thee more nearly, day by day.”

 

Make Me an Instrument, attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi

    “Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

 

    O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. for it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”

 

Jesus’ Last Prayer

     “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you” (John 17:20, 21, NIV).

Advertisement
Advertisement