Prayer for Families

A Prayer composed for the National Day of Prayer, May 1, 2008. Given at the West Virginia State Capitol Rotunda

Holy and Gracious Father, in your infinite love, you created the Family and ordained it to be the institution by which our children are nurtured in safety and first come to know You. We humbly pray you to forgive us for our failure to live up to our high calling to lead godly lives before You, and to reproduce a godly heritage.

We have not been faithful to protect marital bonds. We have pursued our own selfish ambitions to the detriment of our children. We have put the pursuit of material things above the spiritual wellbeing of our loved ones and we have reaped a whirlwind of brokenness and conflict, reproducing failure upon failure.

God be merciful and forgive us and cause your face to shed its light upon us. Give us grace to humble ourselves before You and cry out for strength to live sober and disciplined lives, that our works may find favor in your sight, and that our families may be blessed with fruitfulness.
God turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. God be gracious to all mothers, and especially to those who struggle valiantly to raise their children alone. God remember all long-suffering grandparents who courageously care for their grandchildren. God give us all a spirit of adoption, by which we reach out to care for the orphan and the abandoned, to those who are in danger because of abuse, or who suffer neglect and want because of the careless disregard of the adults around them.

Have mercy on us O Lord, Have mercy, for in you is found forgiveness and You shall redeem us from all our sins, even as we put our hope in You. All this we ask through your Son Jesus Christ. By Him and with Him, and in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and forever. AMEN.