DAUGHTERS OF THE KING / Prayer

This blend of prayers from the Bible and prayers from “daughters of the King” is meant to join the past and the present of those who have made a significant spiritual impact on this world. The hope is that this will deepen our understanding of prayer and our relationship with our Heavenly Father with beautiful, intentional passages focused on Biblical truth.

PRAYER IN GENESIS

“Adam lay with his wife again and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth saying, ‘God has granted me another child in place of Abel since Cain killed him.’ Seth also had a son and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord.” Genesis 4:25-26

PRAYER IN EXODUS

“I have seen these people,’ the Lord said to Moses, ‘and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.’

But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’’

Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.”
Exodus 32:9-14

Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” Exodus 33:15-17

PRAYER IN LEVITICUS

“The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him…” Leviticus 1:1

“The Lord said to Moses…” Leviticus 4:1; Leviticus 6:1; Leviticus 6:8; Leviticus 6:24; Leviticus 7:22; Leviticus 7:28; Leviticus 8:1; Leviticus 12:1; Leviticus 14:1; Leviticus 16:2; Leviticus 17:1; Leviticus 18:1; Leviticus 19:1; Leviticus 20:1; Leviticus 21:1; Leviticus 21:16; Leviticus 22:1; Leviticus 22:17; Leviticus 23:1; Leviticus 23:9; Leviticus 23:23, Leviticus 23:26; Leviticus 23:33; Leviticus 24:1; Leviticus 25:1;
Leviticus 27:1

“The Lord said to Moses and Aaron…” Leviticus 11:1; Leviticus 13:1; Leviticus 14:33; Leviticus 15:1

“Then Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them. And having sacrificed the sin offering, the burnt offering and the fellowship offering, he stepped down.

Moses and Aaron then went into the tent of meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.” Leviticus 9:22-24

PRAYER IN NUMBERS

“The Lord said to Moses, ’Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

“The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”

‘So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” Numbers 6:22-2

PRAYER IN DEUTERONOMY

“What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?

Deuteronomy 4:7

Listen, you heavens, and I will speak;
hear, you earth, the words of my mouth.
Let my teaching fall like rain
and my words descend like dew,
like showers on new grass,
like abundant rain on tender plants.

I will proclaim the name of the Lord.
Oh, praise the greatness of our God!
He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he.”

Deuteronomy 32:1-4 (Moses)

PRAYER OF JOSHUA

“The five kings of the Amorites joined forces. They moved up with all their troops and took up positions against Gibeon and attacked it. The Gibeonites then sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: “Do not abandon your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us! Help us, because all the Amorite kings from the hill country have joined forces against us.”

So Joshua marched up from Gilgal with his entire army, including all the best fighting men. The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you.”

After an all-night march from Gilgal, Joshua took them by surprise. The Lord threw them into confusion before Israel, so Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely at Gibeon…As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, the Lord hurled large hailstones down on them, and more of them died from the hail than were killed by the swords of the Israelites.

On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel:

“Sun, stand still over Gibeon,
and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!” Joshua 10:5-14

PRAYER IN JUDGES

“A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, ‘You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.’’ Then the woman went to her husband and told him, ‘A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. But he said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and have a son…’’

Then Manoah prayed to the Lord: “Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.” God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again…” Judges 13:2-9

“Then Samson prayed to the Lord, ’Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.’ Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, Samson said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines!’ Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.” Judges 28-3

PRAYER IN RUTH

“Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, ‘Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!”

Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, ‘We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.”

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi: ‘Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.’

Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. The women living there said, ‘Naomi has a son!’ And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.” Ruth 4:9-16

PRAYER IN 1 & 2 SAMUEL

“In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, ‘Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head’…

Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, ‘Because I asked the Lord for him.” 1 Samuel 1:8-20

“David sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:

‘The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation.
He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior—
from violent people you save me.

I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and have been saved from my enemies.” 2 Samuel 22:1-4

ELISABETH ELLIOT was an American author and speaker whose first husband was killed in 1956 as he led a pioneering tribal missionary effort in Ecuador. After remaining to continue the missionary work, she wrote more than 20 books inspiring people to live lives centered on Scriptural principles and serve in international missions.

“The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way.” Psalm 37:25

I would rather have a guide than the best advice or the clearest set of directions. When I lived in Ecuador, I usually travelled on foot…and always had with me a guide who knew the way…Trails often led through streams and rivers that we had to wade, but sometimes there was a log laid high above the water we had to cross.

I dreaded those logs and was always tempted to take the steep, hard way down into the ravine and up the other side. But the Indians would say, “Just walk across, senorita,” and over they would go confident and light-footed…On the log, I couldn’t keep myself from looking down at the river below. I knew I would slip…So my guide would stretch out a hand, and the touch of it was all that I needed…The lesson the Indians taught me was that of trust. The only thing I really needed, the touch of a steady hand, they could provide.

I have found in the Bible…the assurance that God is willing to guide me…His hand reaches toward me. I have only to take it. From God’s Guidance

AMY GRANT, “Better than a Hallelujah” Written after the death of a friend

“God loves a lullaby in a mother’s tears in the dead of night
Better than a Hallelujah sometimes

God loves the drunkard’s cry
The soldier’s plea not to let him die
Better than a Hallelujah sometimes

We pour out our miseries, God just hears a melody
Beautiful, the mess we are, the honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah

The woman holding on for life, the dying man giving up the fight
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes

The tears of shame for what’s been done
The silence when the words won’t come
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes

We pour out our miseries God just hears a melody
Beautiful, the mess we are, the honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah

Better than a church bell ringing
Better than a choir singing out, singing out

We pour out our miseries, God just hears a melody
Beautiful, the mess we are, the honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah”

JEANNE GUYON was a French author and dedicated Christian worker. She was widowed at a young age. While studying in Geneva, she began to share her revolutionary ideas about prayer. She wrote, “Prayer is the key of perfection and of sovereign happiness; it is the efficacious means of getting rid of all vices and of acquiring all virtues; for the way to become perfect is to live in the presence of God.” Although she was arrested and imprisoned several times for what was perceived as Catholic heresy, she continued to speak and write until her death in 1718.

“If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”
1 John 1:7

Self-examination should always precede confession. The business of those that are advanced to the degree of which we now treat is to lay their whole souls open before God who will not fail to enlighten them and enable them to see the peculiar nature of their faults. This examination, however, should be peaceful and tranquil and we should depend on God for the discovery and knowledge of our sins rather than on the diligence of our own scrutiny.

When we examine with constraint, and in the strength of our own endeavors, we are easily deceived and betrayed by self-love into error; “we believe the evil good, and the good evil” (Isaiah 5:20); but when we lie in full exposure before the Sun of Righteousness, His Divine beams render the smallest atoms visible. From A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

PRAYER IN 1 & 2 KINGS

“Elijah went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, ‘Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?”’ As she was going to get it, he called, ‘And bring me, please, a piece of bread.’

‘As surely as the Lord your God lives,’ she replied, ‘I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.’

Elijah said to her, ‘Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry…’ She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.

Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, ‘What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?’

‘Give me your son,’ Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed…Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, ‘Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!’

The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, ‘Look, your son is alive!’

Then the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”

1 Kings 17:10-24

PRAYER IN 1 & 2 CHRONICLES

“The Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh had 44,760 men ready for military service—able-bodied men who could handle shield and sword, who could use a bow, and who were trained for battle. They waged war against the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish and Nodab. They were helped in fighting them, and God delivered the Hagrites and all their allies into their hands, because they cried out to him during the battle. He answered their prayers, because they trusted in him.”

1 Chronicles 5:18-22

“Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, ‘A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Dead Sea’…Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.

Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel son of Zechariah…as he stood in the assembly. He said: ‘Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.”
2 Samuel 20:2-15

PRAYER OF EZRA

“… I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions…’The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.’ So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.”

Ezra 8:21-23