- 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.
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.
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
Welcome to our list of short prayers. We have sourced the best short Christian prayers on the most popular prayer topics. Prayers that are short are easy to memorize, and great for children to learn as an introduction to Christian prayer.
The nice thing about these prayers is that they are easy to teach to children. If you have ever tried to teach a bunch of Sunday School kids the Nicene Creed, you probably know what I’m talking about. Lets start off with some brief prayers for strength.
Short Prayers for Strength
Prayers for strength are great to say on a daily basis, either in the morning, or nightly before bed time.
Read more Prayers for Strength Here
Guide Me Lord
Guide me lord, you are my heart
you are my strength, you are my hope.
Teach me Lord, and guide my way
I love you more each passing day.
A Prayer for Being Grateful
Lord God, may we be grateful for our lot,
and compassionate toward all those who are
suffering every kind of distress at this
difficult time. May we hold back nothing, and
hasten to be the ministers of prayer and mercy,
like the disciples of Him who went about doing
good in times of need.
Hold my Hand in Weakness
Lord God, you are my strength.
Hold my hand in my weakness and
teach my heart to fly. With you,
there’s nothing to fear, nothing
to worry about. Hold me tight
in your embrace, so that I can
be stronger than the challenges
in my life. Amen.
Short Christian Prayers
Here are some great Christian prayers to memorize and say on a daily basis.
It is good to remember that with God, anything is possible. God gives us hope and guidance when we commit to prayer every day.
A Morning Prayer
Lord help me
to remember
that nothing
is going to happen
to me today
that You and I
together can’t handle.
Amen.
Morning Light
For this new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends.
For everything Thy goodness sends,
We thank Thee, dearest Lord. Amen.
A Short Prayer to Jesus
Short Opening Meeting Prayers
May the grace of Christ, our Savior,
And the Father’s boundless love,
With the Holy Spirit’s favor,
Rest upon us from above.
Thus may we abide in union
With each other and the Lord
And possess, in sweet communion,
Joys which earth cannot afford.
Amen.
A Short Prayer for Healing
Many of you have asked me to include as short healing prayer as well. This is a good place to start.
Read more Prayers for Healing Here
A Prayer for Healing
Heavenly Father, You are intimately aware
of the struggle I am experiencing --
the pain and the despair. You know
the desire of my heart to be healed
of this illness.
I ask now for Your
healing touch. I know that You are
able and that just like in Bible times,
You can heal me.
“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.”
[Psalm 56:3]Click here to read more Short Bible Verses
Related Prayers…
Prayer Request: Post Your Own 'Short Prayers'
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Prayer, Religion-related Activities at School Athletics Events
By Lee Green, J.D. on April 13, 2016 hstPrintThe Legal Issue
An ongoing challenge for school and athletics administrators is the question of the legal permissibility of prayer being conducted and other religion-related activities taking place at school events – both at sports contests and on other occasions. Dozens of disputes arise each year across the country regarding the issue, and the following are four examples that have occurred in just recent months.
On January 29, 2016, the Texas Supreme Court ruled 8-0 that a lawsuit should proceed by cheerleaders at Kountze High School who displayed banners bearing Bible verses at football games, overturning a state Court of Appeals ruling in 2014 dismissing the cheerleaders’ claims as moot because the policy prohibiting the banners had been reversed by the district. The Texas Supreme Court held that the issues in the case were not moot because the district never explicitly agreed that its elimination of the policy was a permanent decision and therefore the possibility existed that the district might reinstate the ban in the future. In 2012, Kountze School District administrators prohibited the banners believing that school-sponsored religious messages in a public setting like a high school football game violated the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The cheerleaders argued that their banners were non-school-sponsored, student-initiated religious expression protected by both the Free Exercise Clause and the Free Speech Clause in the First Amendment. The suit will now go forward to resolve the issue whether the Bible-verse banners are legally impermissible, school-sponsored religious messages or legally permissible, purely-student-driven communications.
Event Prayer Examples
In December 2015, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) denied requests from school officials at Cambridge Christian School and its opponent, University Christian School, to use the public-address system in Orlando’s Citrus Bowl Stadium to conduct a public prayer before the Florida Class 2A state championship football game. Although pre-game prayers at private school sports events have consistently been held by courts not to violate the Establishment Clause because private schools are not “state actors” (governmental entities), the FHSAA argued that its state championship game was a public event sponsored by a state actor (the FHSAA) being held in a public facility (Citrus Bowl Stadium) owned by a governmental unit (the city of Orlando) and that a pre-game prayer would therefore constitute government sponsorship and promotion of a religious message in violation of the First Amendment. In January 2016, the Liberty Institute, a law firm specializing in religious freedom issues, sent a letter on behalf of Cambridge Christian School to the FHSAA demanding a policy change for future state playoff contests and threatening a federal lawsuit asserting violations of Cambridge Christian School’s rights under the Free Speech Clause and Free Exercise Clause in the First Amendment. As of the press date for this article, no suit had yet been filed.
In December 2015, Joe Kennedy, an assistant football coach at Bremerton (Washington) High School filed a religious discrimination complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after, in November, the Bremerton School District placed him on paid administrative leave and then declined to renew his year-to-year, terminable-at-will coaching appointment because of Kennedy’s refusal to comply with a request from district officials to discontinue participating in pre-game locker room prayers and on-field, post-game prayers with players. At issue in the dispute is whether the coach, a paid employee of a public school, was engaging in a legally impermissible religious activity by impliedly promoting religion to or coercing participation in a religious activity by the players or whether he was engaging in a legally permissible private religious activity independent of his role as a government employee.
In February 2016, two bills were introduced in the Georgia General Assembly – House Bill 870 and Senate Bill 309 – that if enacted would mandate that schools which receive state funding “cannot participate in an athletic association which prohibits religious expression on the clothing of student-athletes.” The inciting incident that led to the introduction of the legislation was the fall 2015 situation involving John Green, a cross country runner from West Forsyth High School, who finished third in the Georgia Class 6A state meet, but was disqualified for wearing a headband bearing the notation Isaiah 40:30-31 (NIV: “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”). The Georgia High School Association (GHSA) issued a press release stating that the runner was disqualified not for what was written on the headband, but for violating a rule that uniforms must be “unadorned except for a logo” and for wearing the headband despite being warned by GHSA personnel before the race to take it off. The Green family, several religious freedom advocacy groups, and numerous Georgia legislators argued that despite the GHSA’s claims that its actions were “content neutral,” the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause and Free Speech Clause require that a religious exception should be incorporated into the rules regarding uniforms for non-school-sponsored messages that are intended to be communicated solely by an athlete.
The passions inflamed among the parties in all four of these cases, and in the dozens of similar situations that arise each year across the country, reflect the tension between two conflicting viewpoints regarding the constitutionality of prayer and religious activities in schools. The first perspective is that the need for educational institutions to play a role in the moral and character development of our nation’s youth necessitates that the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause and Free Exercise Clause be interpreted to provide ample latitude for religious activity initiated by persons acting privately, including coaches and student-athletes, to facilitate the role-modeling of the values society wishes to be instilled in young people. The second viewpoint is that the Founding Fathers, most of whom hailed from countries where coercion and duress regarding religious beliefs were commonplace, wrote the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause specifically to protect those of faith by ensuring that even if an individual’s religious beliefs are in the minority in a particular community – including school community – that person will be free of any form whatsoever of government-sponsored pressure to listen to or adhere to the tenets of a faith with which he or she disagrees.
The Prevailing Legal Standard
In its 2000 decision in Santa Fe ISD v. Doe, the United States Supreme Court established a rule of law that strikes a balance between the two conflicting viewpoints regarding the constitutionality of prayer and religious activities in schools. Specifically, the Court addressed the question whether a school district policy permitting student-led prayer over the public-address system at a public high school football game violates the Establishment Clause or whether the practice must be permitted under the Free Speech Clause and Free Exercise Clause.
The dispute began when Doe, allowed by the federal courts to litigate anonymously as protection against intimidation and harassment, challenged the policy of Santa Fe (Texas) High School which allowed the student who held the elective office of Student Council Chaplain to deliver or choose another student to deliver a prayer over the football stadium’s PA system before each game. The Supreme Court held that because the school was a public institution, because it was involved in the selection of the speaker, because the message was broadcast over the stadium’s PA system to a captive audience, and because the communication occurred at an official school function, members of the crowd would certainly interpret the prayer as a school-sponsored message. “Regardless of the listener’s support for or objection to the message, an objective Santa Fe High School student will unquestionably perceive the pregame prayer as stamped with her school’s seal of approval.” Therefore, the Court found the practice to be in violation of the Establishment Clause.
However, it is important to note that in the Santa Fe ISD case, the Court also clarified that the Establishment Clause does not “impose a prohibition on all religious activity in our public schools. Indeed, the common purpose of the Religion Clauses is to secure religious liberty. Thus nothing in the Constitution as interpreted by this Court prohibits any public school student from voluntarily praying at any time before, during or after the school day.” The religious liberty protected by the First Amendment is violated only when the school “affirmatively sponsors the particular religious practice of prayer.”
In other words, the Court concluded that the Free Speech Clause and Free Exercise Clause protect prayer or religious activity initiated by individuals acting privately. Only prayer or religious activity initiated by governmental entities (public schools) or governmental agents (those acting at the direction of schools such as school officials, teachers and coaches) is prohibited.
Recommendations
Based on the precedent set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Santa Fe ISD case, student-athletes acting on their own, without any involvement of the school or its personnel, may engage in prayer or religious activity. Members of a team may, therefore, spontaneously decide to take a knee in the locker room for a pre-game prayer or gather on the field for a post-game prayer or engage in other religious activity solely as individuals acting privately. Schools need only focus on ensuring that coaches and other school personnel – who even as much as institutions might desire to have them involved in the spiritual development of students – remain detached from student religious activities to preserve the constitutionality of those student practices, keeping in mind the intent of the founding fathers to use the Establishment Clause to protect those of faith by ensuring that they are not expressly or impliedly coerced by the government or government officials into listening to religious messages that conflict with their personal beliefs.
With regard to the handling by educational institutions of the many permutations of issues regarding religious practices in schools, the U.S. Department of Education in 2003 issued a policy directive titled Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools, which sets forth a detailed summary of constitutional principles governing topics such as accommodation of prayer during instructional time; prayer during non-instructional time; organized student prayer groups and activities; prayer by teachers, administrators and other school employees; moments of silence; religious expression in class assignments; prayer at graduation and baccalaureate ceremonies; and religious expression at student assemblies. The full-text of the policy guidance is available at www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/religionandschools/prayer_guidance.html.
Learning to Pray
Health and Wellbeing
Love and Marriage
Children and Family
Mealtime Blessings
Holidays and Special Occasions
These blessings are traditional dinner prayers for saying grace at mealtimes. The prayers are short and simple, great for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, or any dinner gathering.
Bless Us, O Lord
Traditional Catholic Prayer
Bless us, O Lord,
And these Thy gifts
Which we are about to receive,
Through Thy bounty
Through Christ our Lord we pray.
Amen.
We Give Our Thanks
Traditional
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For food that stays our hunger,
For rest that brings us ease,
For homes where memories linger,
We give our thanks for these.
Truly Thankful
Traditional
Lord, make us truly thankful for
these and all other blessings.
I ask this in Jesus Christ's name,
Amen.
God Is Great
Traditional
God is great!
God is good!
Let us thank Him
For our food.
Amen.
God Is Great (Extended Version)
Traditional
God is great and God is good,
Let us thank Him for our food;
By His blessings we are fed,
Give us Lord, our daily bread.
Amen.
Give Us Grateful Hearts
Book of Common Prayer
Give us grateful hearts,
O Father, for all thy mercies,
And make us mindful
Of the needs of others;
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Make Us Grateful
Traditional
For this and all we are about to receive,
Make us truly grateful, Lord.
Through Christ we pray.
Amen.
Bless, O Lord
Traditional
Bless, O Lord,
This food to our use
And us to thy service,
And keep us ever mindful
Of the needs of others.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen.
God Our Father, Lord, and Savior
Traditional
God our Father, Lord, and Savior
Thank you for your love and favor
Bless this food and drink we pray
And all who shares with us today.
Amen.
Our Heavenly Father, Kind and Good
Traditional
Our Heavenly Father, kind and good,
We thank Thee for our daily food.
We thank Thee for Thy love and care.
Be with us Lord, and hear our prayer.
Amen.
Moravian Dinner Prayer
Traditional Moravian Prayer
Come, Lord Jesus, our guest to be
And bless these gifts
Bestowed by Thee.
And bless our loved ones everywhere,
And keep them in Your loving care.
Amen.
Dinner Prayer Hymn
Traditional Hymn
Lord, bless this food and grant that we
May thankful for thy mercies be;
Teach us to know by whom we're fed;
Bless us with Christ, the living bread.
Lord, make us thankful for our food,
Bless us with faith in Jesus' blood;
With bread of life our souls supply,
That we may live with Christ on high.
Amen.
Humble Hearts
Traditional
In a world where so many are hungry,
May we eat this food with humble hearts;
In a world where so many are lonely,
May we share this friendship with joyful hearts.
Amen.
Here is a collection of opening and closing prayers that can be used
for meetings, sunday school classes, and prayer groups.
Also, we invite you to add your own opening or closing prayers using the form at the bottom of this page.
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another ” and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
[Hebrews 10: 24-25]Opening Prayers
Prayer to Open a Meeting
Lord, as we gather today at this meeting we ask that
You will be in our midst. Help us to make decisions that will be
pleasing to You. Help us to be able to discuss the matters at
hand in a reasonable way, and to be willing to give up having our own way.
God let this meeting be productive and, as should be the case
in all areas of our lives, help us to keep You at the forefront of our minds
as we do the work set before us.
Amen
Prayer Before Sunday School
Jesus as we gather together to learn about You,
may You meet us here. Help all of the teachers to be able
to answer the questions posed, and help all of the children
listen and retain what they hear.
Help the students to be attentive, and the teachers
to be patient. May the lessons that are taught help to
instill righteousness in these children, and may the seeds
planted here continue to guide them throughout their lives.
Amen
Teachers Prayer Before Class
You, O God, are my strength, my patience, my light and my counsel.
It is you who make responsive to me the students confided to my care.
Abandon me not to myself for one moment.
For my own conduct and for that of my students, grant me the spirit
of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of knowledge and piety,
the spirit of holy fear of you, and an ardent zeal to procure your glory.
I unite my efforts to those of Jesus Christ, the master teacher,
and I beg all saints in Heaven to assist me in the exercise of my teaching ministry.
Amen
Prepare Our Minds
O God of truth, prepare our minds
To hear and heed your holy word;
Fill every heart that longs for you
With your mysterious presence, Lord.
Almighty Father, with your Son
And blessed Spirit, hear our prayer:
Teach us to love eternal truth
And seek its freedom everywhere.
Amen
Check out our prayer meeting ideas.
Closing Prayers
Prayer to Close a Meeting
As we close this meeting, Lord, we want to give honor to You.
Thank You, God, for the time we had today to discuss issues and make decisions.
May You bless each person who took the time to gather here today and let
Your hand of protection be on them throughout the rest of the week.
Let the work done here tonight come to fruition, and let it all be
for Your glory. Help us each to do our parts to bring the plans discussed to life.
Amen
End of Service Prayer
God we thank You for meeting us here tonight, and for delivering
Your Word through the speaker. May each soul in this place have been
touched through the songs and the preaching, and may each take to heart
the Word that came forth.
We pray that those seeking an answer received it, and that those
who needed a special touch were granted that touch. Bless each of us
and keep us safe until we are able to gather together again.
In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen
Go Forth
Go forth in peace, for you have followed the good road.
Go forth without fear, for God who created You has made you holy,
has always protected you, and loves you as a mother.
Amen
The Dismissal
Now go into the world with confidence, trusting that Christ is walking with you.
Amen
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
[2 Timothy 3:16]Read bible verses about Teachers or Missions.
Related Prayers…
Return to Prayers for Meetings