World in Prayer

Sharing in God’s loving compassion for all

Prayers for Iraq

Iraq is named here within long cycles of war and occupation, bombings and displacement, and the strikes and retaliations that draw in its neighbors. Religious minorities, survivors of sexual violence, refugees and the Kurdish question recur. Drought and salt-damaged land are held too, with thanks for old building methods recovered.

Not One Sparrow Forgotten: Prayers for Famine in Yemen, Cyclone Debbie, and Wildlife (March 30, 2017)

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight.  But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.  Luke 12:6-7   In the glory of the changing seasons; in the beauty of the […]

Father, Forgive Them: A Prayer After the First Week of a New US Administration (January 26, 2017)

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” – Jesus, spoken as he was being crucified (Luke 23:34) For almost 17 years, World In Prayer has been posting prayers based on international news, trying to say and show that every human being, in every country, is beloved by God. Trying to find the […]

Lord, In Your Mercy: Prayers for Mosul, Aleppo, Hurricane Matthew, and Thailand (December 28, 2016)

Once again, Lord, the voice of the prophets remains strikingly relevant through the centuries.  Joel 2:24-25a reminds us that: The threshing floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten.  As we pray for people who are […]

Pray Without Ceasing: Prayers for Aleppo, the Dalit Marches in India, and Calais (December 28, 2016)

Pray without ceasing…Becoming more infused with the nature and Spirit of God as we pray… Taking on the attributes of God as we become one with him beyond our earthly limits of time and space… Lord as Jacob (Israel) struggled and demanded a blessing from his opponent at Peniel, may we persist and demand your gifts […]

The Lord Looks at the Heart: A Prayer for Yazidi Women, Hungry North Koreans, and Our Blindness (August 4, 2016)

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7, NIV Loving God, we pray today for the same instruction that you gave to Samuel: […]

Teach Us to Listen: A Prayer After the Attack in Nice and a Week of Violence (July 14, 2016)

There is a terrifying passage in ‘I and Thou’ by the Jewish mystic Martin Buber in which God says ‘I have sunk my hearing in the deafness of mortals’.  If this should be even partly true what a tremendous responsibility it places upon us to listen, to listen to each other with our whole attention, […]

Lord, Have Mercy: A Prayer After Dallas, Baton Rouge, Istanbul, and Baghdad (July 7, 2016)

This has been one of those weeks, God…one of those weeks in which too many things have been happening- in my own life and in the lives of the rest of your children throughout the world. Here in the United States, we are reeling with not one, but two shootings of black men by police […]

Never Think We Do Not Care: A Prayer After the Orlando Nightclub Shooting and the Death of Jo Cox (June 17, 2016)

Prayers in response to Orlando, Florida, US – where a gunman shot and killed 49, with 53 more injured, at a gay nightclub, before he himself was killed Mosul, Iraq – after 19 Yazidi girls were burnt alive by their Islamic State captors, in front of a crowd of hundreds, for refusing to have sex […]

Lord, Hear Our Prayer: For EgyptAir Flight MS804, Sri Lanka’s Landslides, and Venezuela’s Hunger (May 19, 2016)

Heavenly Father, we come to you with open but hurt hearts with this week’s news. May the Holy Spirit fill us with strength and compassion towards our neighbors, near and far. We pray for the millions of students who celebrate their graduations. May their learning enrich our world. Lord, hear our prayer. We pray for […]

Do Not Let Them Be Afraid: Prayers After a Philippines Beheading and the Death of Prince (April 28, 2016)

Jesus said, ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid.’ God of comfort, God of peace, we are often fear-filled people. We regard our world through eyes clouded by tears of fear and frustration, making it difficult to […]