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The Lord's Prayer is the best-known prayer in
Christianity. On Easter Sunday 2007 it was estimated that 2 billion
Protestant, Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox Christians read, recited, or
sang the short prayer in hundreds of languages in houses of worship of all
shapes and sizes. The Lord's
Prayer from Matthew Chapter 6 verses 9 -13.
MT 6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in
heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
MT 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
MT 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.
MT 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
MT 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For
thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Washington in Prayer at Valley Forge
Apparently the exact spot and time of George
Washington's prayer has been disputed, but I for one have no doubt that
George Washington and probably most of the other men at Valley Forge
prayed a considerable amount of time.
For more on George Washington in prayer at Valley Forge
George
Washington art prints A
Prayer for Guidance
O eternal and everlasting God, I presume to present myself this morning
before thy Divine majesty, beseeching thee to accept of my humble and
hearty thanks, that it hath pleased thy great goodness to keep and
preserve me the night past from all the dangers poor mortals are subject
to, and has given me sweet and pleasant sleep, whereby I find my body
refreshed and comforted for performing the duties of this day, in which I
beseech thee to defend me from all perils of body and soul....
Increase my faith in the sweet promises of the gospel; give me repentance
from dead works; pardon my wanderings, and direct my thoughts unto
thyself, the God of my salvation; teach me how to live in thy fear, labor
in thy service, and ever to run in the ways of thy commandments; make me
always watchful over my heart, that neither the terrors of conscience, the
loathing of holy duties, the love of sin, nor an unwillingness to depart
this life, may cast me into a spiritual slumber, but daily frame me more
and more into the likeness of thy son Jesus Christ, that living in thy
fear, and dying in thy favor, I may in thy appointed time attain the
resurrection of the just unto eternal life bless my family, friends, and
kindred.
--An undated prayer from Washington's prayer journal, Mount Vernon
Abraham
Lincoln
A Prayer for Peace
Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war
may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it continues... until every
drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid another drawn with the
sword... so still it must be said that the judgments of the Lord are true
and righteous altogether.
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right
as God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in, to
bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the
battle, and for his widow and for his orphans, to do all which may achieve
and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all
nations.
--Second Inaugural address, March 4, 1865
Franklin D. Roosevelt
A Prayer in Dark Times
Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a
mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion and our
civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity...
Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to
their hearts, steadfastness in their faith. They will need Thy blessings.
Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl
back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall
return again and again; and we know by Thy grace, and by the righteousness
of our cause, our sons will triumph...
Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy
kingdom. And for us at home--fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters,
and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever
with them--help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith
in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice... Give us strength, too--strength
in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical
and the material support of our armed forces.
With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy.
Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to
the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity
that will spell a sure peace--a peace invulnerable to the schemings of
unworthy men. And a peace that will let all men live in freedom, reaping
the just rewards of their honest toil.
--D-Day, June 6, 1944
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