- Meg BucherCrosswalk.com Contributing Writer
- 201813 Aug
- COMMENTS
“Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” Ephesians 6:18 NLT
Instead of back-building worry and anxiety as we attempt to forecast an unknown future, Paul begs us to “Pray about everything in every way you know how!” (Ephesians 6:18 VOICE). Stop to consider what the situations of our daily lives might look like if we paused to pray into them and about them more feverishly. Whether you are starting a business meeting, church service, or family event you can use these prayers to join together to ask God for guidance and blessing.
Prayer can change our situation. It can move the heart of God. And I believe sometimes prayer allows us to understand our situations, rather than affect the outcome. Our hearts change as we seek God’s wisdom and Truth.
King David, living in OT times, did not experience prayer the way we do today. Yet, even He knew that true peace came only from God. In Psalm 3, as he faces yet another terrifying and humiliating season of his life, he chooses to focus on God’s character and faithfulness. “O Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, ‘God will not deliver him.’ But you are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.”Psalm 3:1-3 NIV
Here is a wonderful prayer to use to close a meeting, church service, or any type of gathering! Closing Prayer - to End a Meeting or Gathering. Short Prayers The Lord's Prayer.
- A page with short opening prayers suitable for beginning meetings, bible studies, church services & worship events. There is also a simple prayer for printing in a program.
- Short Opening Prayer for a Meeting. Everlasting and loving father, we thank you for the gift of life, good health, and sound mind. We come to your holy presence this special day, with reverence and humility in our hearts.
Here are five powerful opening prayers to help focus our efforts on striving for the peace that transcends all understanding. Use them to begin asking God to bless and guide your time together!
1. An Opening Prayer for a Meeting
Father,
Thank You for every seat that has been filled here, today. For each mind and heart that fills the presence of this room, we thank You. Only You truly know what we are setting out to accomplish today. We have an idea, a vision, hints, and daily instructions. We have talents, abilities, and time to work. However, only You can see in perfect detail the end of every beginning. Every project, every season, every life. Nothing is ever in vain, for even mistakes and missteps are used for good.
Your righteousness transcends all our efforts and understanding. Forgive us for our pride. The pride that puffs us up and the pride that threatens to unqualify us. Strengthen our confidence in who You have made us to be. Set us free from comparison in order to work together efficiently.
Bless this meeting today, all those present, as well as the lives of those we will encounter afterward. Ready us to make every moment count.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
2. A Prayer to Open an Event
Father,
Praise You for this event, and Your purpose for it. We know that when we gather together, You always have a divine agenda. We love You for that, Father. That even when we have done what You have asked, the results are so much greater than we ever could have imagined. Even in failed attempts, You blow us away with Your faithfulness to provide what we need.
Our prayer today is that Your will be done through this event. Take what we have prepared and multiply our efforts as only You can. Steer our intentions to align with Your righteous will. Remind us of Your faithful provision when our efforts fail us or fall short. May all glory go up to You when we reach the finish line and climb over benchmarks. Blanket us with Your peace today, Father. Keep us physically safe and guard our hearts and minds from pride and selfishness. Keep love at the forefront of our minds today, and the guiding light for all we set out to accomplish and celebrate.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
3. An Opening Prayer for Group Humility and Peace
Father,
As we gather together, we praise You for this day and Your purpose for it. Reset our agendas, as we sit in Your presence. For You assure us that where two or more gather in Your name You are here. Recalibrate our intentions and refocus our hearts. Your will for our lives does not always reflect our plans. Change them to reflect Your will. Help us to understand that we don’t need full clarity to walk into the unique purpose You’ve inlaid in our lives.
Lift our eyes to seek You first today, and always, surrendering our need to achieve, understand, and be known. Shift our perspective to seek Your peace above all else. In every situation we ponder in our daily lives, let the Holy Spirit translate Your commands. Give us renewed strength and godly courage to obey You without questioning. Forgive us for striving beyond our means, worrying, and forcing results.
Only You know what lies ahead. You are our good Father, just and righteous. Though our circumstances will be unfair from time to time in this life, You are always our unwavering protector and shield (
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
4. A Prayer for Group Peace and Understanding
Father,
As the events of the day continue to unfold, we seek Your clarity and Your peace. We know You are with us and for us as we gather together to seek Your counsel. Scripture reminds us the more we seek You the more we will find You. Lead our surrendered hearts to the path of Your peace today.
Come fully into our situation, both as a group and individually. And sort out the muddled feelings and distorted thoughts that plague us. Cover us with a blanket of honesty and patience that is not of this world.
Holy Spirit, translate our desires and pleadings, and may we understand the faithful response of our great Father. Jesus walked the earth to explain so much to us, and to save us from eternal suffering. Yet, on this earth He promised us that we would encounter much pain.
Struggling for solutions amidst differing personalities can seem impossible. Thankfully, we are not expected to be perfect. Thankfully, we’re told in the Bible that we will all fall short. So, as we sit here today, let us release the bind of blame in exchange for accord. Help us to endure disagreement and strife with godly courage and love. Grant us peace in knowing we are pursuing Your purpose for our lives.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
5. A Prayer to Glorify God after Group Success
Father,
We are here today to celebrate great success! In a world full of chaos and calamity, we are embracing a moment of triumph in Your name and for Your glory. Once again, we have experienced the miracle of Your sustenance, as King David so appropriately penned in Psalm 4:7: “You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound.”
Father, our hearts, the very center of our humanity and our souls, are filled by You. In extreme emotion, this indescribable feeling is even more pronounced. We are aware that we could not see this great success come to fruition without the individual purpose You have put in each person here today. Thank You for bringing us together to accomplish this great feat for Your glory, though the odds were stacked against us as they often are.
Guard our hearts from pride and selfish gain as we celebrate today. Let it fuel our faith in You as our provider and our sustainer. Filler of our hearts. May all glory for our achievements go up to You today and always.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
Meg writes about everyday life within the love of Christ on her blog, https://sunnyand80.org. She is a stay-at-home mom, freelance writer, blogger, and preparing to release her first book, “Friends with Everyone.” She resides in Northern Ohio with her husband of eleven years, two daughters, and their Golden-doodle.
This article is part of our larger Prayers resource meant to inspire and encourage your prayer life when you face uncertain times. Visit our most popular prayers if you are wondering how to prayor what to pray. Remember, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us and God knows your heart even if you can't find the words to pray.
Prayer for Employment
Prayer for Healing
Prayer for Strength
Prayer for Protection
Morning Prayers
Good Night Prayers
Now available is our new Daily Prayerdevotional! An easy way to start your day with prayer; read today’s prayer and sign up to receive it by email.
Photo Credit: Unsplash/Samuel Martins
- Meg Bucher (Megs)Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer
- 201730 Jun
- COMMENTS
“Make every effort to preserve the unity the Spirit has already created, with peace binding you together.” (Ephesians 4:3)
Here is a wonderful prayer to use to close a meeting, church service, or any type of gathering! Use your departure as a time to thank God and ask for His protection and blessings.
Father, praise You for the gift of unity that the Spirit creates in our relationships! You place others perfectly in our lives, and inspire us as Christians to work together with the gifts that we have been blessed with. When we look at this meeting through Your eyes, we see Your gifts fostered in us to further Your plans.
Forgive us, Father, for the control and the credit that we grasp for in these meetings while planning and accomplishing projects together. We confess that honoring You through our work is not always at the forefront of our minds as we strive for end goals. In the spaces of our hearts that harbor envy and ambition, we prayerfully ask You to make room for humility and shared credit.
The church doesn’t stand on any one person's’ shoulders. Not one of us can further Your plans on our own. But together, we can complement each other’s strengths and cancel out our weaknesses. As a team, a unified body focused on the gospel of Christ, we can do great things in Your honor as we were purposed to do.
Thank You for the ideas that You spoke life into here today, and for the courage of each voice that stood to be heard. In each one of us lies a puzzle piece. One by one, as we stand and speak and work, we see our individual pieces moving into place. We continue to strive for Your will, piece by piece, until You call us home.
Bless all of us in this meeting today. Each of us have a life outside of these walls. There are very real hurts that some are coping with, and needs of others that we ache to help with and meet. Take that stirring of love that we feel for each other and guide our steps to be faithful friends and extensions of Your love to those that You have seated beside pf and across from us today. As we bow our heads and lift up our plans to You, we pray that You bless our hearts and minds to know we have done well in Your eyes. We pray for your assurance that we are operating within Your will.
Lord, we believe that You will provide for us. We look forward to the ways that You will surprise and amaze us with Your faithfulness. The lives that You will touch and the people in this room You will use to brighten dark spaces and lift sad hearts. Our passion for discussion today is fueled by You, our Father, who with the same note of passion created us to be light to the world… color to dullness… life to dead places… and love to lost faces. Bless our work and our time. Guide our steps and our progress. Grant us the power of Your Holy Spirit to work together because it’s impossible to see past our human stubbornness without You.
Bless us Lord, as we leave here today, to take Your passion with us. Fan its flame after we part and inspire our best contributions. Remind us always of Your love, as we see our plans unfold and accomplish the goals we set here today.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells in us through our belief in Jesus, our Lord and Savior, inspire our hearts to seek You in Your Word daily. Grow us both individually and together, as we seek the peace of Your presence. Help us to walk faithfully and fiercely after Christ, reflecting His love. May we always lift our progress up to You, who holds the honor and glory for who we are and what we do. Use our lives, Lord, to reach those who desperately need to know You love them. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Public Prayers Before Meetings
Meg Bucher writes about everyday life within the love of Christ on her blog, http://sunnyand80.org. “Mom” is the most important calling on her life, next to encouraging others to seek Him first… authentically. A dance mom, occasional substitute teacher, and youth worship leader, she can often be found having some kind of an adventure in the small little lake town she resides in with her husband of ten years, two daughters, and their doodle-dog.
Photo credit: ©Thinkstock/vadimguzhva
This article is part of our larger Prayers resource meant to inspire and encourage your prayer life when you face uncertain times. Visit our most popular prayers if you are wondering how to pray or what to pray. Remember, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us and God knows your heart even if you can't find the words to pray.
Simple Opening Prayers
Prayer for Healing
Prayer for the Sick
Miracle Prayer
Prayer for Strength
Prayer for Protection
Morning Prayers
Good Night Prayers
Short Prayers
The Lord's Prayer
Serenity Prayer
A Birthday Prayer
Prayer for Forgiveness
Prayer for Guidance