I come as myself.
Just as I am.
This moment.
My feelings, my fears
My joys, my sadnesses.
You see me as I really am
You know me
Through and through
You see all
All that I am
Or ever have been.

Every experience in my life is laid before you.
Every image I have seen
Each touch, each sensation
Every word I have ever heard or spoken
Each word, each idea, each thought which is imprinted in my soul
And is known to you.
You know me better than my closest friend
You know me better than I know myself
You know…
And because of who I am
And in spite of what I am – You love me.
I am of inestimable value to you
You love me through and through
Nothing, nobody can remove me from your love.
Nothing, nobody can separate me from your love or your presence.

You knew me at the moment of my creation
And even then you loved me.
You knew me and loved me in my mother’s womb.
My nature was known to you
You called me by my name
You held me in your arms
You embraced me
You breathed upon me
You gave me your life and your love.
You watched over me from my earliest childhood
You were present at all times and in all places
My unseen playmate, schoolmate, workmate
My unseen guest at every meal
You shared in every encounter
You watched over me silently
Even in the long hours of the night.
You shared in every journey
You travelled with me
You were at the beginning of each journey
You were my companion on the way.
Without you I lose my way
My journey has no purpose.
I become exhausted on the way.
But You are my Alpha and Omega
You are my way
You are the way itself, the Way of Life.

So Lord I lay before you my life
All my yesterdays,
My todays and tomorrows.
I praise and thank you for your presence in my life.
I lift up in gratitude all the goodness and all the joy.
I now offer you all my hurts, my bruises, my rejections,
I offer you all those things of which I am ashamed
What I have said, and done, and thought,
All that has brought hurt to you and to others.
Lord pour your cleansing streams of living water all over me.
Make the parched deserts of my being spring to life
Refresh me, Renew me.
Lord breathe on me afresh now
and I will receive your life.
Lord reach out and touch me
and I will receive your healing.
Empty me utterly of all the rubbish within me.
This moment, Lord, take away all distractions,
All temptations, all evil thoughts and desires.
Remove from me all my anxiety
Take away every hidden fear
Help me to know
That your perfect love casts out all fear.

Bring me now into the deep silence of your presence.
I give you my body and ask that it may become your dwelling place
This moment may every part of my being be at peace.
Let my heartbeat
Be in harmony with your heartbeat
Let every part of my body be filled with your Spirit
Take each blood vessel.
Take every part of my nervous system.
Take each muscle, each organ, each cell.
Fill me now
With your stillness
With the reality of your living presence.

Help me now to pray – even without words.
Help me to pray with my breathing
To breathe in of your love and your peace
To breathe out of my pain and sadness
To breathe in of your cleansing and forgiveness
To breathe out of my guilt and impurity.
So in my breathing may my body and soul be at one with you
In harmony with you
At ease with you.
May I be still and know that you are God.
May I be still and know that you are the Lord who brings healing.

Help me to hear your still, small voice
Lord Jesus
May I now hear your words – ‘peace, be still’.
May all my storms subside as I accept your real presence.

As I kneel before you
I give you my heart and all my emotions
All my deepest feelings that lie hidden within me.
I give you my stillness
but I also give you the turbulence, the cross currents of my life,
My feelings of failure and rejection.

I give you every relationship
Every situation in my life
All my reactions
All my outbursts of joy and of anger
All my moments of elation and despair.

Lord I give you my intellect
I lay before you all my frail thoughts and ideas
I give you all my searching and striving
My grasping after truth.

I give you all my ignorance and confusion
I give you all my questions and doubts
I acknowledge you to be truth
Truth in its entirety
Total truth in all its purity.
The Truth which can set me free, in my body, my mind and my spirit.
Free from all the bondage
Free from all the lies and deceit of the world
Free from my own selfishness and pride and greed.
Break the chains which hold me back Lord,
Fling open the door of my prison,
that I may pass from the darkness of this world – my world
And walk out into the bright light of your presence.
Father, may I now feel the radiance of your love upon my life
May I feel the warmth of your fatherly love upon me, your child.
Trusting, depending, loving
Help me to know what joy my response brings to You.
Give me the grace in my weakness to cry ‘Abba‘, Father.
Help me to know that beneath me are your everlasting
arms bearing me up.

Lord Jesus, be the Lord of my life
Be the Lord of my thoughts and feelings
My memories and hopes.
I accept your authority over everything I have been,
am or will be.
I bow down before you.
As I see you on your Cross

Held down by cruel nails
I see your arms stretched out
Seeking to embrace the whole world
Seeking to embrace me
Seeking to love
Seeking to forgive
Seeking to make whole.

I praise you that you died for me
Help me to know that because your love for me was so great
I too must love myself
I must recognize
My great worth to you.

Holy Spirit, source of all truth, giver of power
Come upon me now
As gently as a dove
Or like tongues of living fire
As quietly as a summer breeze
Or as a mighty roaring wind.
Come and dwell within me.
Enable me now to do those things which before were impossible
Unworthy as I am, Holy Spirit of the living God
Give me those gifts which I can use to your honor and glory
That I may show forth your fruit
Even in my life.

Glory be to you Father
Glory be to you Lord Jesus Christ
Glory be to you Holy Spirit.
Amen

—Dennis Wrigley

You can listen to this prayer at this website.

© Maranatha Community, UK office Maranatha
Email: info@maranathacommunity.org.uk
www.maranathacommunity.org.uk

In order to grow towards wholeness,

accepting our brokenness

and gradually becoming more compassionate,

we need the power of the Spirit.

But we are humans

and we must also know the ways of our own bodies and beings…

Each one of us must find our own secret rhythm

of how to rest, relax and find re-creation

for each one of our bodies is different.

We need personal space and time.

God gave the Jewish people the Sabbath

as a day of rest.

Each of us must discover our own Sabbath,

our real nourishment…

We must learn

not just to free ourselves from tension and fatigue

on the Sabbath day, our day of rest.

We must also learn

as the mother must learn

in front of the never-ending needs of her children,

how to respect our energy

and relax in all the moments of our day

filled as they may be with arduous work

or often tiresome meetings,

and crises of all sorts,

and the hundred and one things that have to be done.

To do this we must discover how to harmonize

the active and the passive in us.

if we are just doers,

feeling terribly responsible and serious,

we will crack up one day.

We must nourish the passive part of us,

our hearts made for a personal love,

learning to listen to others,

to marvel at nature,

to rest a moment in the presence of Jesus,

to receive the love of those around us

and be nourished by their trust,

enjoying the little things of each day,

not taking ourselves too seriously,

accepting to become like little children.

­            --Jean Vanier

(from 1000 World Prayers edited by Marcus Braybrooke)

http://praylikeagourmet.com/book/summer-blog-picnic/

BLESSING OF THE AGES

On the day when your inner child
Curls up in fetal mode With thumb in mouth
And blanket clutched

May a thousand memories of childhood play
On rocks, in creeks
On lookouts, in hideouts
Call out to you, caress you
And carry you onward

When the inner crisis of mid-life
Grabs your throat tight at midnight
And drowns you in droves of unrealized dreams
May you find a pause on the path
A rock on which to rest
With a view above the valleys
And a peace in the present

When your soul feels as useless
As hunched-back old man
In nursing home wheelchair
May you awaken in the world around you
A renewed hope in humanity
By welcoming care and concern
With a single, simple smile

May the wonder of children be yours
May the dreams of youth be yours
May the pragmatism of adults be yours
May the wisdom of elders be yours

And may the Ancient of Days
He who looms large and long over your life
Your past, your present and your path yet unknown
Whisper deeply and daily
Into the depths of your soul

–David Brazzeal from www.praylikeagourmet.com
(in the spirit of John O’Donohue’s “Beannacht”)

Another "delicious" review of PRAY LIKE A GOURMET. 
"Not since Richard Foster's Prayer (which Brazzeal often cites) have I read a better book on the various practices of Christian prayer, and Pray Like a Gourmet is filled with so much creativity that I could never do the book the justice it deserves in a review."

Thank you Little Friar.

http://the-little-friar.blogspot.ca/2015/07/pray-like-gourmet-book-review.html?spref=fb