Protestant Prayers

Prayers inspired by those who practice one of the Protestant traditions, the second largest form of Christianity.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

We thank you, O God for your love for us.
Love that reaches out to accept us, wherever we are, whoever we are.
Love that demands a lot, but at the same time, somehow, amazingly, enables us to meet those demands.
Love that reassures, affirms, prompts, challenges, and overwhelms us with the completeness of its response.
Help us, your people, held within the security of your love, to risk showing that same love to others.
May our love, too, be known for its abundance, its readiness to speak out, and its healing power.

- Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand

Prayer for Serenity

O God, grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference;
living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardships as a pathway to peace;
taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;
trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will;
so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever in the next.

- Reinhold Niebuhr

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A Grace Before Meals

Be present at our table, Lord,
Be here and everywhere adored.
Thy people bless, and grant that we
may feast in paradise with thee.

- John Wesley

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Protestants' Prayer of Thanks

Almighty and eternal God, we desire to praise thy holy name, for so graciously raising us up, in soundness of body and mind, to see the light of this day. We bless thee in behalf of all thy creatures; for " the eyes of all look unto thee, and you give them their meat in due season." But above all we acknowledge thine inestimable benefits bestowed upon mankind in Christ Jesus. We thank thee for his miraculous birth, his most holy life, his bitter agony, his bloody death, his glorious resurrection on this day, his ascension into heaven, his triumph over all the powers of darkness, and his sitting at thy right hand for evermore.

- John Wesley

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Prayer upon Rising from Sleep

My God, Father, and Savior, since you have been pleased to give me the grace to come through the night to the present day, now grant that I may employ it entirely in your service, so that all my works may be to the glory of your name and the edification of my neighbors. As you have been pleased to make your sun shine upon the earth to give us bodily light, grant the light of your Spirit to illumine my understanding and my heart. And because it means nothing to begin well if one does not persevere, I ask that you would continue to increase your grace in me until you have led me into full communion with your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the true Sun of our souls, shining day and night, eternally and without end. Hear me, merciful Father, by our Lord Jesus Christ,

- John Calvin; Adapted by Tim Keller

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A Prayer of Martin Luther

Behold, Lord, an empty vessel that needs to be filled. My Lord, fill it.

I am weak in the faith; strengthen me.

I am cold in love; warm me and make me fervent, that my love may go out to my neighbor.

I do not have a strong and firm faith; at times I doubt and am unable to trust you altogether. O Lord, help me. Strengthen my faith and trust in you.

In you I have sealed the treasure of all I have.

I am poor; you are rich and came to be merciful to the poor.

I am a sinner; you are upright.

With me, there is an abundance of sin; in you is the fullness of righteousness.

Therefore I will will remain with you, of whom I can receive, but to whom I may not give.

- Chaplain Mike

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A Peace Prayer

Lord, give me grace to hold righteousness in all things
that I may lead a clean and blessed life and prudently flee evil
and that I may understand the treacherous and deceitful falseness of the devil.

Make me mild, peaceable, courteous, and temperate.
And make me steadfast and strong.

Also, Lord, give Thou to me that I be quiet in words
and that I speak what is appropriate.

- John Wycliffe

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A Prayer Before Falling Asleep

O Lord God, who hast given man the night for rest,
....as thou hast created the day
....in which he may employ himself in labour,
grant, I pray, that my body may so rest during this night
....that my mind cease not to be awake to thee,
....nor my heart faint or be overcome with torpor,
....preventing it from adhering steadfastly to the love of thee.

While laying aside my cares to relax and relieve my mind,
....may I not, in the meanwhile, forget thee,
nor may the remembrance of thy goodness and grace,
which ought always to be deeply engraven on my mind,
....escape my memory.
In like manner, also, as the body rests may my conscience enjoy rest.

Grant, moreover, that in taking sleep
....I may not give indulgence to the flesh,
but only allow myself as much as
....the weakness of this natural state requires,
to my being enabled thereafter to be more alert in thy service.

Be pleased to keep me so chaste and unpolluted,
not less in mind than in body,
and safe from all dangers,
that my sleep itself may turn to the glory of thy name.

But since this day has not passed away
without my having in many ways offended thee
....through my proneness to evil,
in like manner as all things are now covered
....by the darkness of the night,
so let every thing that is sinful in me lie buried in thy mercy.

Hear me, O God, Father and Preserver, through Jesus Christ thy Son.

- John Calvin