Cornelius Plantinga - Morning and Evening Prayers

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

4035 Park East Court SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

www.eerdmans.com

2021 Cornelius Plantinga

All rights reserved

Published 2021

Printed in the United States of America

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ISBN 978-0-8028-7881-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Plantinga, Cornelius, 1946 author.

Title: Morning and evening prayers / Cornelius Plantinga.

Description: Grand Rapids, Michigan : William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, [2021] | Summary: A compilation of prayers centered on basic Christian longings, intended to be used daily in the morning and eveningProvided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020051108 | ISBN 9780802878816

Subjects: LCSH: Prayers.

Classification: LCC BV245 .P53 2021 | DDC 242/.2dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020051108

For Kathleen

A lot of us pray on our own. We pour out our thoughts and feelings to a listening God. We praise and thank God. We confess to God. We ask God for things. And its entirely natural to do so. How else would we maintain fellowship with God?

But, some of the time, others pray on our behalf. A spouse, a family member, a friend, or our pastor prays, and we listen and endorse in our minds and hearts. We pray vicariously. Some of the prayers on our behalf get published. Think of the Book of Common Prayer, with its glorious addresses to God. Think of John Baillies Diary of Private Prayer, with its one months worth of morning and evening prayers. Think of many of the psalms, of Pauls prayers, of the Lords Prayer.

In a lifetime of devotions, I have used others prayers quite a bit. I pray words of a psalm or hymn or spiritual song. I pray John Baillies prayers for a month and then, six months later, pray them again. I pray the Lords Prayer virtually every day. Sometimes I pray silently and sometimes aloud. Often, I choose a wonderful sentence from someone elses prayer, memorize it, and thread it through my day. If, say, a John Baillie prayer is laid out in paragraphs, I may choose to pray just one or two of the paragraphs and save the others for subsequent days.

You will have your own reasons for using published prayers. Here are four of mine.

First, other peoples prayers jog me out of my rut. I use them to ask for things I hadnt thought to ask for. I thank God for things I had entirely overlooked. I intercede for some kinds of people I had lamentably ignored. On the spot, my prayer life expands.

Second, my spiritual life sometimes flags. Doubts nag at me. Energy fails me. Spiritual depression drags on me. But these same things happened to some of the psalmists. If I pray one of their prayers, I feel bonded and understood. I feel as if Im in a fellowship of flaggers and that God still wants to hear from all of us.

Third, some of us go through trauma that silences our prayers. Wary and numb, we go mute. How wonderful, then, that others keep right on praying for us and that we can silently join them.

Finally, certain forms of prayer cry out for company. Theyre not meant to be prayed alone. Thats why psalmists keep calling to others to praise God with them. They call not only to themselves (Praise the Lord, O my soul), but also to angels, shining stars, fire and hail, mountains and cattle, old people and young people together. Let them praise the name of the L ORD , for his glory is above earth and heaven. If I use a published prayer to join this great chorus of witnesses, I will be powerfully uplifted. And if I use a published prayer to lead others in prayer, they may be uplifted too.

What follows is a month of morning and evening prayers, with a concluding prayer suitable for use on a Sunday. You will notice that some prayers use the first-person-singular pronoun. It is I who pray. But some use the first-person-plural pronoun. It is we who pray. I want first-person-singular praying because it allows for more intimacy. I want first-person-plural prayers because they let me pray from the company of all believers. It is I who pray, yes, but not as a stand-alone Christian. I pray only as a member of the church and her fellowship.

The pages include a number of empty spaces. You may want to use them for notes, or to add a pertinent verse of Scripture, or to lay down your own additional praise, petition, or thanksgiving. Or you may want to urge yourself on. As in so many spiritual things, the ability to pray, especially in times of trouble, is Gods gift. But the resolve to pray is our calling.

In the collection that follows, if any prayer seems too long, break it up and try it in shorter lengths. On some days its just whats needed. In any case, I hope that just as others prayers have helped me, some of the ones that follow may help you.

Psalm 148:13 NRSV.

F aithful God, I have awakened to your new day. Let me rejoice and be glad in it. I turn to you at its threshold because I depend completely on your strength. I have not made myself, cannot keep myself, could never save myself. And so, loving God, I give myself to you for this daymy creator, keeper, and savior.

Thank you that I may awaken refreshed from a nights sleep, that I may awaken alert and ready for what the day may bring. Thank you that I may today hear your name on the lips of people I love. Thank you for all your gifts that come clearly marked as gifts

nourishing food and nourishing friends

work to do and energy to do it

wonderful expressions

on the faces of children

your love that speaks my name and looks for me

with eyes that have longing in them

Surely your goodness is beyond all thinking and beyond all telling.

But thank you this morning also for gifts that arrive under wraps. Today I may be interrupted and annoyed, only to discover later that the interruption was entirely necessary for my growth. I may be vexed by a difficult person I later find to have been my teacher. I may feel your absence and find myself pining for you even more.

O God, in your mercy tend to the church across the world today. Tend to all of us pastors and members, worship leaders and musicians, council members and custodians. I confess to you that we often preach a better gospel than we live. I confess to you how often we are tempted to use the gospel for entertainment, or for making money, or for molding others to our will. Forgive us. Then revive us and make us strong, so that we may serve your purposes and add luster to your reputation and bring joy into all the precincts of heaven.

I start this day, good God, confessing that I did not make myself, cannot keep myself, could never save myself. And so, I turn to youmy maker, keeper, and savior through Jesus Christ. Amen.

T heres a wideness in your mercy, O God, and a kindness in your justice. Wider and deeper than the oceans, your mercy stretches from everlasting to everlasting. Firm to the end, your justice persists just because you love so deeply. There is none like you.

Saving God, from you comes every kindness that surprises and lifts. You are the one willing to suffer so I may be healed, willing to stoop so I may stand straight. You have served me even when I was unwilling to serve you. Right through my ups and downs your love has always endured.