Prayers to Grow On

Copyright © 2018 Sue E. Trout.

Interior Art Credit: Janice Hughes

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Unless otherwise indicated, scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Publisher’s Cataloging-In-Publication Data

(Prepared by The Donohue Group, Inc.)

Names: Trout, Sue E.

Title: Prayers to grow on / Sue E. Trout.

Description: Bloomington, IN : LifeRich Publishing, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: ISBN 9781489716804 (softcover) | ISBN 9781489716811 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: God (Christianity)—Prayers and devotions. | Christian life—Prayers and devotions.

| Faith—Prayers and devotions. | LCGFT: Prayers.

Classification: LCC BV245 .T76 2018 (print) | LCC BV245 (ebook) | DDC 242.8—dc23

ISBN: 978-1-4897-1680-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-1681-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018904869

LifeRich Publishing rev. date: 5/17/2018

Dedication

This book is dedicated to

my husband, Don Trout

my friend since childhood, Jeanie Clay

and

the Guy Harden Sunday School Class

and in memory of

my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Tate

my deceased husband, Rev. Alex Horvath

and

close friends,

Ethel Morrison and Sister Noreen Hurter, O.S.B

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. God the Father

2. God the Son

3. God the Holy Spirit

4. God the Trinity

5. Discipleship

6. Life

7. And Just One More Thing…

PREFACE

It all started with my Sunday School class, a class of senior citizens that I was invited to teach a few years ago. We did the usual things – we’d sing a couple of hymns, I’d present the lesson, with plenty of opportunity for discussion, and then I, or someone from the class, would offer a short closing prayer. One day, as I was preparing the lesson, I was inspired to write a closing prayer that highlighted the heart of our lesson, something that they could take home with them and pray through the week, something that might help them understand and remember the inspiration and the truths of that Sunday’s lesson. Soon I was writing a closing prayer for each Sunday, and the class members seemed to look forward to each one. Some tell me that they have saved them, and sometimes go through them and pray them over again.

Those prayers were so well received by my class that I dared think that perhaps others might also appreciate them. The prayers were a bit different from the ordinary prayer, as they were focused on some particular idea, a specific Bible story, or a life situation that may be common to all of us. Some dealt with a Biblical theme, some with a theological or doctrinal principle, and others with the life situations that pop up to delight or confound us. And the poetic type of format I used, to make it easier for us to read the prayer aloud in unison, proved to be very popular with the class. It also aids the reader to slow down and think about each individual phrase of the prayer, to use it as a meditation while praying alone.

Some of the prayers included in this book are those which I prepared for my class. Others were written specifically for this book. I have tried to cover the bases, with sections on God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as well as discipleship and life.

I pray that you, the reader, may find these prayers to be inspirational and challenging, and that through them you may grow in your relationship with God. God bless.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to publicly thank my dear husband, Don Trout, for his patience and encouragement as I have spent so many hours in my study preparing this book of prayers for publication.

I also wish to thank Rev. Bruce Jacobs and Nancy Huffman for their help in reviewing the manuscript and offering helpful suggestions.

I send a special thanks to Janice Hughes, who graciously did the illustrations, including the cover.

Thank you to Marisa Martires, Geoff Stewart, Rick VanDeventer, Dana Scott, Rebecca Freeman, and all the people at LifeRich Publishing for their assistance in transforming my manuscript into a book!

And I especially want to give credit to the Holy Spirit, who inspired me to write this book, gave me ideas for the content, and helped me find the right word at the right time. And He nudged me to get busy writing again when life’s interruptions slowed me down!

God’s blessings on all of you!

INTRODUCTION

Prayer is universal. It is not limited to Christians or Jews, or any other religion. Even those who claim no religion at all will cry out for help when life or limb is at stake. Even the most self-sufficient will recognize, in very dire straits, that they are incapable of saving themselves. And they will cry out in the hope that someone out there may hear and come to their rescue. Their prayer may not be addressed to God as we know Him, but they have, at last, recognized that they are not sufficient unto themselves. In that recognition, their plea becomes a prayer.

Prayers come in all sizes and shapes, from Now I lay me down to sleep to Our Father, which art in heaven to the lofty words of the most educated preacher, to the cry of the desperate for help. Toddlers may be taught to pray soon after they learn to string words together into a sentence. The dying may reach out to their God wordlessly. The tears of the grieving may be their prayer, while joyous thanksgiving spills from the lips of others. Some pray only when in desperate need. Some recite memorized prayers without giving any thought to the words. Most of us, if we pray at all, have, at times, prayed in each of the above ways.

We pray for ourselves, our loved ones, the sick, the dying, and for peace, or in thanksgiving. We pray for forgiveness, for wisdom, and for guidance. We pray in church, in a traffic jam, alone, and with others. We pray in silence, in song, in unison, and in our journals. There is no limit to what we can pray for or how we can pray. God hears every one of our prayers.

But our prayers are not all equal. Our prayer for the right answer on the math test we didn’t study for is not on the same level as our prayer for guidance in making a big decision. A prayer for a selfish desire is not as virtuous as the prayer, Thy will be done. Our prayer to win the ballgame is not as worthy as the prayer for the victims of a tornado.

Sometimes we expect an immediate answer to our prayers, and we expect the answer to be yes. But God answers our prayers at the time that is right from His perspective, and sometimes His answer is no. Often those things we pray for are not in our best interest, or in the best interest of others. Many times, God has better things in mind for us than we ourselves envision. We don’t always understand His answer. But then, neither does a three-year-old always understand why his parents don’t give him everything he asks for when he asks for it.

In fact, we often fail to understand God well at all. Even those who sit in church every Sunday do not always understand what the pastor is saying. Even those who read their Bibles every day do not always understand its meaning. Even those who are most learned in religious studies do not have a full understanding. For God’s ways are not our ways. His wisdom is in great contrast to our confusion. He is God; we are mere humans. In the words of an old hymn, we’ll understand it better by and by. But we need never expect full understanding in this lifetime. It will be unveiled for us in the next.

That is not a good excuse, however, to fail to pursue understanding while here on this earth. God created us, He loves us as his children, and He wants, more than anything, to have a relationship with each of us. But He doesn’t force it. It is up to us to pursue a relationship with Him as He is pursuing one with us. How do we do so? By reading Scripture, by participating in a community with other seekers, and perhaps most of all, by communicating with God in prayer.

The prayers I have written for this book are prayers that I hope can help you in your own faith journey, in your own pursuit for a stronger relationship with God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Some of you are at the beginning of that journey – or even just contemplating whether you want to take that journey. Others may already have a very strong relationship. But none of us has learned all we need to know about God, nor do we have the perfect relationship while we are still on this side of the great divide between heaven and earth. It is my hope that, in some little way, you may hear God’s voice speaking to you as you pray the prayers in this book, and that your life may be enriched through that experience.

GOD THE FATHER

God,

      Creator of the universe –

            it is impossible for my mind to fathom

                  all that You created.

                                                From the most minuscule atom

                                          to the vast Milky Way,

                                    from the one-cell amoeba

                              to the tyrannosaurus rex,

                        from the most delicate blossom

                  to the mighty sequoia trees,

            You envisioned them, said the word, and they came into being!

            And the crown jewel of all that You created

                  was not the Grand Canyon,

                        nor the aurora borealis of the northern night,

                              nor the stars that hung in the sky,

                                    but the human being!

                                          You made us – humanity – in Your own image,

                                    and brought us to life by breathing Your life into us!

                              You cherished us as Your children.

                        Your love knew (and knows) no bounds.

      O God, Great Creator –

            O God – My creator –

                  You created me,

                        You have blessed me,

                              and most of all, You love me.

                                                                        I am a child of God!

                                                                  I did nothing to earn Your favor;

                                                            I am not worthy of Your love –

                                                      but You give it freely!

                                                I can only join with the universe,

                                          and rejoice in You.

                                    Amen.

Creator God,

      You had a plan for all of eternity

            before You ever created anything!

                  You knew every molecule that would ever be,

                        and when and how it would exist!

                              You had a plan for every star,