Tag: Prayer

God,

We pray for resolution.

Mixed up in politics, here and afield,

Lies a field beneath the sea.

It is yours.

We claim it as ours. They claim it as theirs.

As lines are drawn in subterranean sand.

Then shift. And move. Ignored. And filed—

Or not.

Negotiating is not easy.

And then there are three presidents, each with a share of a weakening state,

Taking on the behemoth.

But there is a fourth, God. Very well armed.

A factor in the equation.

We pray for resolution.

But not just finality – justice, and fair.

Preserve us our rights. But what are they?

Who says this angle? No, two degrees more. Stretch the line out for a thousand.

Bend it here for this field, then split it at that.

Can we speak of the moral in mathematics?

Power.

If your word is true, we are mighty.

Because we are weak. And in that, our strength.

Unpredictable. Wild. Unyielding.

We are masters in exploiting system.

There are few rules in power.

But there are morals.

They don’t keep them—but do we?

For your word to be true we must meet it.

Our weakness is strength, but is it of you?

Is it just? Is it fair? Is it righteous?

Is it humble?

We pray for resolution.

Not one that seeks a mealy peace—

Trades principle for interest.

We need the gas. So does the world.

In double want find outcome.

God, we desire real strength.

Unity. Consensus.

But to find them we must each bend low—

A power, made perfect, in weakness.

Bless it, God. We need the gas.

We need a resolution.

Amen.

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To receive Lebanon Prayer by WhatsApp, please click this link to join the closed comments group.

---

Sometimes prayer can generate more prayer. While mine is for general principles, you may have very specific hopes for Lebanon. You are welcome to post these here as comments, that others might pray with you as you place your desires before God.

If you wish to share your own prayer, please adhere to the following guidelines:

1) The sincerest prayers are before God alone. Please consult with God before posting anything.

2) If a prayer of hope, strive to express a collective encouragement.

3) If a prayer of lament, strive to express a collective grief.

4) If a prayer of anger, refrain from criticizing specific people, parties, sects, or nations. While it may be appropriate, save these for your prayers alone before God.

5) In every prayer, do your best to include a blessing.

I will do my best to moderate accordingly. Thank you for praying for Lebanon and her people.

God,

Mandate renewed. White votes aplenty.

Give him the white heart proclaiming.

And with him a deputy, narrowly won.

The same total elected odd partners.

Deal or no deal? God, only you know.

The voting is maintained clandestine.

Opposite camps, but yet status quo—

The devil you know bests the stranger.

Opinion of many: Devils them all.

Has anything changed since the polling?

A tighter result but no serious threat,

Unless in the laws—coalitions.

Prime minister soon. President maybe.

Will any foundations be shaken?

Industrious spirit, accountable charge.

Renewal within, from the margins.

We pray, God, for more. Renewal at the top.

A white heart to lead every leader.

Transform the whole, the new blood and old.

The nation to follow—then prosper.

Amen.

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To receive Lebanon Prayer by WhatsApp, please click this link to join the closed comments group.

---

Sometimes prayer can generate more prayer. While mine is for general principles, you may have very specific hopes for Lebanon. You are welcome to post these here as comments, that others might pray with you as you place your desires before God.

If you wish to share your own prayer, please adhere to the following guidelines:

1) The sincerest prayers are before God alone. Please consult with God before posting anything.

2) If a prayer of hope, strive to express a collective encouragement.

3) If a prayer of lament, strive to express a collective grief.

4) If a prayer of anger, refrain from criticizing specific people, parties, sects, or nations. While it may be appropriate, save these for your prayers alone before God.

5) In every prayer, do your best to include a blessing.

I will do my best to moderate accordingly. Thank you for praying for Lebanon and her people.

God,

One hundred twenty-eight.

Some new, some old.

Some enrage. Some inspire.

Some with me and mine. Some with them—still us.

Help us to remember.

And each one has a name and face.

Remember all—I cannot.

And here: I dare not list each one.

Yes, they are yours. And yes, they are ours.

Yes, each one in need of prayer.

But a list will not help me.

I scroll past, skim through. Whisper generic good for all.

Maybe some are more righteous than me.

How do you keep track of eight billion?

But I can pray for trends:

Bless those who come with noble aims, for whom ‘kulun yani’ kul shi.*

Now among 128. Do they join in or holdout with nose up?

God, guide them well, for change must come. New blood renews the languid.

But guide them wise, their number weak, no matter how much rising.

Bless those who come with single mind, that weapons rig the system.

Their number up, the platform theirs. Discussion, tabled, threatening.

But is it time? And can they win? What consequences suffered?

To themselves? Or to the south? Or to nation collapsing?

Bless those who lost the upper hand, who still promote their project.

Calls for reform, resistance true, with forces piled against them.

But humbled, may they humble still. Others strong. All servants?

Bless those of old, the way things were. And likely still are, maybe.

They care for own, protect their flock. Distribute jobs and money.

Should it all be swept aside? Can they sustain the model?

With ever shrinking slice of pie, help them to help all others.

Renew, or rig?

Reform, or rile?

Among each group – dishonest.

We asked before: Remove such men.

But wheat and chaff still present.

Bless them also. Change their ways. And bind manipulation.

But now we have them. So change me too.

For each one, make us thankful.

They came from you. They came from us. They now are the solution.

Help me to pray—by name—for some.

The rest, God, shepherd. Lead them.

Amen.

*The popular chant of the 2019 uprising was: All of them means all of them. Here, the phrase is adjusted to: ‘All of them means’ everything.

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To receive Lebanon Prayer by WhatsApp, please click this link to join the closed comments group.

---

Sometimes prayer can generate more prayer. While mine is for general principles, you may have very specific hopes for Lebanon. You are welcome to post these here as comments, that others might pray with you as you place your desires before God.

If you wish to share your own prayer, please adhere to the following guidelines:

1) The sincerest prayers are before God alone. Please consult with God before posting anything.

2) If a prayer of hope, strive to express a collective encouragement.

3) If a prayer of lament, strive to express a collective grief.

4) If a prayer of anger, refrain from criticizing specific people, parties, sects, or nations. While it may be appropriate, save these for your prayers alone before God.

5) In every prayer, do your best to include a blessing.

I will do my best to moderate accordingly. Thank you for praying for Lebanon and her people.

God,

Keep today safe. Make today just.

But justice is a hard word:

It means so many things to so many people.

Make it what it means to you.

But then, God, is it judgment?

If so, it starts with us.

Remove the planks from our eyes. Try me and know my inmost thoughts.

David preferred your wrath to the nations’. Job repented, mute.

Your discipline comes with purpose.

Your mercy mixed with tears.

May we shed them also.

And spare us the blood.

It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

So we humble ourselves, instead.

We fall on our knees.

We trust your hands to shake us.

We trust your hands to heal.

No matter the meaning, we all want a change.

And so we pray the principles:

Put your candidates in office. Hold accountable the frauds.

Expose manipulation. The common interest, first.

Take these prayers, from all of us. Will my plea cancel his?

No, each prayer folded over, pressed together, overflows.

The measure we pray – measure it true.

To us and to Lebanon.

For elections, for life.

Your will to be done. Your kingdom to come.

My vote makes a difference.

Your justice, how odd.

Amen.

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To receive Lebanon Prayer by WhatsApp, please click this link to join the closed comments group.

---

Sometimes prayer can generate more prayer. While mine is for general principles, you may have very specific hopes for Lebanon. You are welcome to post these here as comments, that others might pray with you as you place your desires before God.

If you wish to share your own prayer, please adhere to the following guidelines:

1) The sincerest prayers are before God alone. Please consult with God before posting anything.

2) If a prayer of hope, strive to express a collective encouragement.

3) If a prayer of lament, strive to express a collective grief.

4) If a prayer of anger, refrain from criticizing specific people, parties, sects, or nations. While it may be appropriate, save these for your prayers alone before God.

5) In every prayer, do your best to include a blessing.

I will do my best to moderate accordingly. Thank you for praying for Lebanon and her people.

God,

When all is bad, we still fear worse. But hope holds on that change will come.

Every billboard says so.

But what is the substance? What is the plan? This face or that one? My list, not his?

Beyond the names, what parties?

The red we know. The yellow-green. Who else is campaigning? The logos retreat.

One week remaining.

What of the rumors? Elections postponed? It seemed all in favor though no one would say.

Is a crisis coming?

God, spare us from violence. But spare us from doubt. A vote is a privilege that many don’t have.

The Arab world is arid.

Help us be faithful even if depressed. The barriers many: Cross-country, to drive.

Elite entrenchment.

But also infighting of everyone else. Media partisan. Confusing law. Regional meddling.

My ballot, to speak.

I cast it in hope that the message is heard. With enough of my comrades perhaps we can win.

Or voided, vote blank.

It too will say something, rejecting the whole. Fulfillment of duty, wash hands of results.

God, you know.

And God, you care. But towards what end? That this corrupt fall or to set back that sect?

You choose the king.

But so do I. Align my will. Dedicate me to the cause. Through me help bring the best of us.

And then, to rest.

Your favor does not come with prince, but faithfulness to prince of peace. Change itself

Can never change.

So while we work in vigilance, we ask you also change the heart. Bring repentance to our soul.

Love of neighbor. Also—them.

One week away, we ask your grace. Bring this nation toward the good; politicians, honest, pure.

But first, change me.

Amen.

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To receive Lebanon Prayer by WhatsApp, please click this link to join the closed comments group.

---

Sometimes prayer can generate more prayer. While mine is for general principles, you may have very specific hopes for Lebanon. You are welcome to post these here as comments, that others might pray with you as you place your desires before God.

If you wish to share your own prayer, please adhere to the following guidelines:

1) The sincerest prayers are before God alone. Please consult with God before posting anything.

2) If a prayer of hope, strive to express a collective encouragement.

3) If a prayer of lament, strive to express a collective grief.

4) If a prayer of anger, refrain from criticizing specific people, parties, sects, or nations. While it may be appropriate, save these for your prayers alone before God.

5) In every prayer, do your best to include a blessing.

I will do my best to moderate accordingly. Thank you for praying for Lebanon and her people.

God,

The vote is free. The people, too, or is there occupation?

Politics manipulates. Licit or illegal?

From north to south, and in Beirut, campaigning is disrupted.

But so are lives. The poster size offends the sinking lira.

Politicians show their plans—or at least their faces.

But some denied in neighborhoods where rivals show displeasure.

Provocation? Threatened quit. Rumors of postponement.

Who will win when many hate each color, list, and slogan?

Yet even those who herald change have failed to stay united.

They scratch and claw for every vote. One seat—or two—a triumph.

Division, God, is not of you. But nor is it unrighteous.

People differ, weigh their choice. And power is a blessing.

Used instead to silence voice, or raise a fear of ‘other,’

It weaponizes stewardship. It bludgeons trust and service.

Helpless, God, we but can pray? And vote in resignation?

Or will through prayer a miracle give mandate to my favored?

A miracle is needed, God.

But is it in elections?

Change the system. Change the heart.

Change the expectations.

But until then, let vote be free. The people, too, in conscience.

Their ballot cast by principle. On time, while safe and honest.

The king, you say, is in your hand—wicked, just, or tepid.

Guide voters, then, with virtue sure—conviction, courage, honor.

Many lack these marks of strength, the leading class deficient.

But all fall short of your demand to imitate our master.

Humble us, God.

Rebuild us right.

Let Lebanon freely prosper.

Amen.

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To receive Lebanon Prayer by WhatsApp, please click this link to join the closed comments group.

---

Sometimes prayer can generate more prayer. While mine is for general principles, you may have very specific hopes for Lebanon. You are welcome to post these here as comments, that others might pray with you as you place your desires before God.

If you wish to share your own prayer, please adhere to the following guidelines:

1) The sincerest prayers are before God alone. Please consult with God before posting anything.

2) If a prayer of hope, strive to express a collective encouragement.

3) If a prayer of lament, strive to express a collective grief.

4) If a prayer of anger, refrain from criticizing specific people, parties, sects, or nations. While it may be appropriate, save these for your prayers alone before God.

5) In every prayer, do your best to include a blessing.

I will do my best to moderate accordingly. Thank you for praying for Lebanon and her people.

God,

I cannot say I know the cause, and many more are like me too.

But it does not look good.

Bankers reject the government plan.

Protestors rally where lawmakers meet.

But is business aligned with the people?

How to pray, except for good, when most of the small print escapes us?

And what of the pharmacist, killed in her store?

Or expat electors pulled in tug-of-war?

Better known yet is the poverty push

That dares some to risk life and limb to escape.

Some have drowned.

Some drown in blame.

Some—more than me—know the issues quite well.

Some are complicit in many a crime,

While some seek out facts keen to educate.

Give them ears, God. Too many are not listening.

We know why, and it is fair:

The hand has been nailed immobile.

So like your own, it sags inert,

Waiting for one to unpin it.

You rose from the dead by the power of God,

But came down from the cross with assistance.

Where now is Joseph, from Arimathea?

His humble act, far from the crowd—

But brave in approaching authority—

It set the stage for miracle,

Though he himself did little.

God, find these men, and amplify.

Bolster their spirits, in number.

And then, when few are watching, where only women linger:

Show yourself.

Birth new life.

Let Lebanon once again prosper.

Amen.

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To receive Lebanon Prayer by WhatsApp, please click this link to join the closed comments group.

---

Sometimes prayer can generate more prayer. While mine is for general principles, you may have very specific hopes for Lebanon. You are welcome to post these here as comments, that others might pray with you as you place your desires before God.

If you wish to share your own prayer, please adhere to the following guidelines:

1) The sincerest prayers are before God alone. Please consult with God before posting anything.

2) If a prayer of hope, strive to express a collective encouragement.

3) If a prayer of lament, strive to express a collective grief.

4) If a prayer of anger, refrain from criticizing specific people, parties, sects, or nations. While it may be appropriate, save these for your prayers alone before God.

5) In every prayer, do your best to include a blessing.

I will do my best to moderate accordingly. Thank you for praying for Lebanon and her people.

God,

We thank you for agreement, though many say its false.

And naught but shame can come upon the architects of loss.

It is not wise to borrow. Worse: Surrender on a debt.

Rely on outside help to fix a problem of one’s own.

The terms of reference, strident. Reforms, we surely need.

But will these straighten Lebanon for finance or the poor?

At least there is consensus, for now, on what to do.

Conditional on follow-up; will implementing fail?

And what then of elections? Will mandate carry through?

And how long will it take until a government is formed?

Could help—now—come from elsewhere? A bailout before loan?

Will friends—again—from Saudi prove their friendship at the bank?

At least they have returned, God. An empty embassy

Is more than just a symbol of relations gone awry.

But this week things are better, and all across the board.

A glimpse of hope, ephemeral? Or first look at the roots?

Distrust appears endemic. Manipulation, fierce.

The sins of men run deep within the soil of ancient land.

God grant them all discernment, and courage to address

Corruption and entitlement distributed by sect.

Some must fall entire. Others to redeem.

Promote the honest faithful; may their influence expand.

No more ad hoc solutions, as each blame someone else.

Let justice paint with broadest brush. But mercy, beautify.

The landscape is angelic. Your praise, each day, it sings.

Draw people to the chorus from cacophony of angst.

From president to doorman, from cleric to the cook,

All are equal in your sight and each with vital role.

Perhaps a loan is coming. Renewed support from Gulf.

Be warned: No trust in princes. Wealth: Moth and rust destroy.

You, oh God, are holy. Yet you love us. You forgive.

Reveal it now in Lebanon. Humbled, prayerful—heal.

Amen.

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To receive Lebanon Prayer by WhatsApp, please click this link to join the closed comments group.

---

Sometimes prayer can generate more prayer. While mine is for general principles, you may have very specific hopes for Lebanon. You are welcome to post these here as comments, that others might pray with you as you place your desires before God.

If you wish to share your own prayer, please adhere to the following guidelines:

1) The sincerest prayers are before God alone. Please consult with God before posting anything.

2) If a prayer of hope, strive to express a collective encouragement.

3) If a prayer of lament, strive to express a collective grief.

4) If a prayer of anger, refrain from criticizing specific people, parties, sects, or nations. While it may be appropriate, save these for your prayers alone before God.

5) In every prayer, do your best to include a blessing.

I will do my best to moderate accordingly. Thank you for praying for Lebanon and her people.

God,

More than three years later, there is an almost-law.

Cabinet to parliament, likely to approve?

The IMF is visiting, they need to see it real.

But is there full agreement on the bailout to come?

Election cries uniting: Depositors protect.

Confront corrupt officials, root out in every sect.                                     

But which ones? Few will specify.

Vote here: Our resolved list.

A law is surely needed, with money trapped in banks,

Exchange rate fluctuations, and the lira in collapse.

The answer: A committee, with power to decide.

Composed of adept figures chosen later. But by whom?

God, is this a solution? The first step in a plan?

Or simple obfuscation and delay until no end?

Or worse—is that the plan?

And of some, or of all?

Are they united, though separate in list?

Some say.

Three years ago, the people, in thousands, with their feet,

Descended on the central squares with a resounding ‘yes’.

Those days have passed: Corona. Depression. Winter rain.

All of these conspired and deflated common cause.

There are lists independent. A vote to throw away?

Or embers of intensity that could—and must—revive?

God, you know.

Sift wheat from chaff.

Give light to eyes.

Discernment, come.

Give people back their money. But so much more beside.

Free them from enslavement to consumeristic trends.

The lust of eyes, seductive. The pride of life, a snare.

Blessed are the poor trumps all, when poor is all we have.

Blessed are the poor, in spirit: Help this to remain.

Let sect embody service. Politics—ideas.

God, bless all of Lebanon.

Free it for your cause.

Make of her a beacon.

A message. Beauty. Love.

Amen.

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To receive Lebanon Prayer by WhatsApp, please click this link to join the closed comments group.

---

Sometimes prayer can generate more prayer. While mine is for general principles, you may have very specific hopes for Lebanon. You are welcome to post these here as comments, that others might pray with you as you place your desires before God.

If you wish to share your own prayer, please adhere to the following guidelines:

1) The sincerest prayers are before God alone. Please consult with God before posting anything.

2) If a prayer of hope, strive to express a collective encouragement.

3) If a prayer of lament, strive to express a collective grief.

4) If a prayer of anger, refrain from criticizing specific people, parties, sects, or nations. While it may be appropriate, save these for your prayers alone before God.

5) In every prayer, do your best to include a blessing.

I will do my best to moderate accordingly. Thank you for praying for Lebanon and her people.

God,

The law is a warning. It keeps men in line.

The law is a weapon. Used against foes.

The law is a lever. Raising the stakes.

The law is a construct. Made into game.

Whatever it is, it should be for all.

But lawyers interpret, and judges decide.

Sometimes.

Almost two years and the blast in Beirut

Still awaits verdict. Instead: ‘Please recuse.’

But similar effort to fend off a charge

Allegedly failed when judge dodged the case.

So the party that painted red slogans round town

Now has its top figure to answer in court.

People died in Tayyouneh, God.

But both sides had guns.

And for white collar conduct, the net closes in.

The central bank brother—corrupt—like his kin.

So say accusers. Six others as well.

The pressure is building, will all take the fall?

Life savings are gone, God.

But guilt only here?

Your law is perfect. Refreshing the soul.

Sin? Utterly sinful. Our tutor? The law.

The patriarch is livid at how it’s applied.

Others shout: Hypocrite—like all, taking sides.

God, you know.

God, soon judge.

Your law is righteous. Us? Anything but.

Yet your grace is present for those who appeal.

Depravity—confess it.

Humility—present.

Our industry, irrelevant.

Our good works, filthy rags.

God have mercy on me.

On we.

In Lebanon, in public, reveal each darkened deal.

In Lebanese, in private, convict each precious soul.

Amen.  

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To receive Lebanon Prayer by WhatsApp, please click this link to join the closed comments group.

---

Sometimes prayer can generate more prayer. While mine is for general principles, you may have very specific hopes for Lebanon. You are welcome to post these here as comments, that others might pray with you as you place your desires before God.

If you wish to share your own prayer, please adhere to the following guidelines:

1) The sincerest prayers are before God alone. Please consult with God before posting anything.

2) If a prayer of hope, strive to express a collective encouragement.

3) If a prayer of lament, strive to express a collective grief.

4) If a prayer of anger, refrain from criticizing specific people, parties, sects, or nations. While it may be appropriate, save these for your prayers alone before God.

5) In every prayer, do your best to include a blessing.

I will do my best to moderate accordingly. Thank you for praying for Lebanon and her people.

God,

Does money make the world go round?

Or root all kinds of evil?

Mammon steals the heart from you,

Yet worldly wealth wins friends.

To use. To give. To store away?

What think you of our barns?

What think you of our bankers?

What think you of our judges?

What would you to have us think about emerging crisis?

God it all was bad before

Is now a worse still coming?

Corrupt? Perhaps. Some, all, or few?

But they control our access.

And politicians linked between,

They promise us our money.

At least a portion, more or less,

But what done since it started?

Some shield this one, call for calm.

Indeed, the catastrophic

Could come if all comes tumbling down.

A house of cards, unshuffled?

A deck to stack against the poor,

Who now grow ever larger?

Your justice, God, will build, create—

But judgment first, reversal.

So let us do so on our own:

We first, the last becoming.

We who can lead, let us serve.

Lest ‘woe to rich now’ happens.

For bankers, God, is it too late?

They had their chance and failed?

But who among us knows their heart,

Their charity, their efforts

To make the world a better place,

To help the country prosper?

If only so, God.

If politics,

If agenda seeks to ruin them,

Protect each righteous,

Kill not wealth,

A trial, yes—and blessing.

But if it is God as you say:

This harder than the camel,

Then by your grace, God, squeeze us through

The ever-shrinking needle.

Us and them. Unrighteous all.

And also judge crusading.

Honor each who does the right,

By law, with pure intentions.

Blind, impartial. Can we hope

Such status for our nation?

However good, it is not best.

You are our judge—and father.

How terrible to face your wrath,

Without your love and welcome.

The first is coming, maybe here, if not three years preceding.

The latter? Ever present for the humble supplicating.

Bankers.

Judges.

Me and you.

Show Lebanon your mercy.

Amen.

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To receive Lebanon Prayer by WhatsApp, please click this link to join the closed comments group.

---

Sometimes prayer can generate more prayer. While mine is for general principles, you may have very specific hopes for Lebanon. You are welcome to post these here as comments, that others might pray with you as you place your desires before God.

If you wish to share your own prayer, please adhere to the following guidelines:

1) The sincerest prayers are before God alone. Please consult with God before posting anything.

2) If a prayer of hope, strive to express a collective encouragement.

3) If a prayer of lament, strive to express a collective grief.

4) If a prayer of anger, refrain from criticizing specific people, parties, sects, or nations. While it may be appropriate, save these for your prayers alone before God.

5) In every prayer, do your best to include a blessing.

I will do my best to moderate accordingly. Thank you for praying for Lebanon and her people.

God,

Hats in the ring; elections or not.

With everyone waiting, maneuver and move.

Yes megacenters, now no. Maybe still?

This one will run, not that one. But yet

Does it matter? Two months ‘til we know.

Or more if postponement—decision made here?

Or waiting the pending in Iran and Rus?

Acquitted, now guilty. So said the judge.

The son of the victim can only lash out

At militia that shields the accused from the court.

While some ready ammo to root out corrupt,

Each legal case levied, this banker or that.

God, what to do with all the above?

Compared to Ukraniya, all petty and trite.

But people are suffering here in our land,

Let alone the same dying and missiles that fail

To elicit the outrage, outpouring of heart

That the region has needed for decades on end.

God, each life is precious. Of course, we care more

For the life that is near us and impacts direct,

For the one who is like me, aligns with my world.

Forgive our dismissal, our hearts are not pure.

But also our impasse—resigned and inert.

True: Lebanon bound by the powers that be.

False: Lebanon stuck; no agency left.

God, help us to work toward your will where we can.

Is that what is happening with all the above?

Or within the mire each seeks for his own?

Reveal to us, God, all the honest and good.

Lift up their cause and cause others to fail.

Silence the weapons of iron and word.

Make plowshares and poems—

And Lebanon thrive.

Amen.

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To receive Lebanon Prayer by WhatsApp, please click this link to join the closed comments group.

---

Sometimes prayer can generate more prayer. While mine is for general principles, you may have very specific hopes for Lebanon. You are welcome to post these here as comments, that others might pray with you as you place your desires before God.

If you wish to share your own prayer, please adhere to the following guidelines:

1) The sincerest prayers are before God alone. Please consult with God before posting anything.

2) If a prayer of hope, strive to express a collective encouragement.

3) If a prayer of lament, strive to express a collective grief.

4) If a prayer of anger, refrain from criticizing specific people, parties, sects, or nations. While it may be appropriate, save these for your prayers alone before God.

5) In every prayer, do your best to include a blessing.

I will do my best to moderate accordingly. Thank you for praying for Lebanon and her people.

God,

Proposal, proposal. Impossible, moot.

Each on the surface is Lebanese gain.

Under the table? God, only you know.

But Lebanon’s history justifies doubt.

No gas and no money, why must votes be cast

In the village of origin far from the home?

‘Megacenters’ the answer. No time, the reply.

Too costly, illegal. Though idea—long before.

Cabinet still will study it through,

But clock keeps on ticking; reserves dwindle down.

One type holds steady—the gas in the sea.

It sits and it waits for agreement to form,

Disputed by foe who already has much.

Another arrangement is carried by hand,

Also, to be studied—this time not by all.

The Shiite component not comfortable with

The idea recognizing the Zionist state

Will leave Sunnis and Christians to handle the file.

Will it smooth the discussions, or sink at the end?

But gas would be helpful with state supply small.

God, it is good to ease the vote.

It is wise to engage foes.

It is right to caution take.

It is fair to bargain hard.

But God, if deception and fraud are at work

Then protect the people from perfidy. Pour

Out your judgement, expose every sin.

Turn over the tables and right every wrong.

At home or abroad, God.

In them,

And in me.

This is harder to pray—but enables the prayer.

The prayer of the righteous accomplishes much.

May it be of proposals that all sides are just.

Bring them to consensus, a plan to respect.

If not, God, then mercy.

Rebuke, but give grace.

I too am guilty.

And the country we love.

Amen.

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To receive Lebanon Prayer by WhatsApp, please click this link to join the closed comments group.

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Sometimes prayer can generate more prayer. While mine is for general principles, you may have very specific hopes for Lebanon. You are welcome to post these here as comments, that others might pray with you as you place your desires before God.

If you wish to share your own prayer, please adhere to the following guidelines:

1) The sincerest prayers are before God alone. Please consult with God before posting anything.

2) If a prayer of hope, strive to express a collective encouragement.

3) If a prayer of lament, strive to express a collective grief.

4) If a prayer of anger, refrain from criticizing specific people, parties, sects, or nations. While it may be appropriate, save these for your prayers alone before God.

5) In every prayer, do your best to include a blessing.

I will do my best to moderate accordingly. Thank you for praying for Lebanon and her people.

God,

Lebanon is working—the budget it attempts.

But Lebanon is waiting—much as it always has.

The world is rumbling, rolling—the tanks into Ukraine.

The world continues waiting—Taiwan, Iran, and then?

The tea kettle whistling, the boil on high.

Is this the beginning, explosion to come?

Or the last gasp of pressure, then all settles calm?

Is ISIS related, the bombs that were foiled?

What would have happened if Dahiyeh burned?

But the ripples are real: Will wheat be supplied?

Troubles sufficient, must others’ pinch too?

Still, not fully waiting, condemning assault,

Beirut called it “invasion,” and then—tightrope walk.

Russia is angry, the militia in turn.

Were all sects consulted? Was it needed? Why so?

But students are stuck there, Ukrainians here.

The latter protesting, the first seek return.

It is a good reminder, God.

Lebanon suffers. But it is still home.

Protect it in these troubled days.

Help it work to help itself.

Expose its every evil.

Let shine its every good.

You preside over the nations.

You caretake every soul.

Bring peace, to both.

Amen.

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To receive Lebanon Prayer by WhatsApp, please click this link to join the closed comments group.

---

Sometimes prayer can generate more prayer. While mine is for general principles, you may have very specific hopes for Lebanon. You are welcome to post these here as comments, that others might pray with you as you place your desires before God.

If you wish to share your own prayer, please adhere to the following guidelines:

1) The sincerest prayers are before God alone. Please consult with God before posting anything.

2) If a prayer of hope, strive to express a collective encouragement.

3) If a prayer of lament, strive to express a collective grief.

4) If a prayer of anger, refrain from criticizing specific people, parties, sects, or nations. While it may be appropriate, save these for your prayers alone before God.

5) In every prayer, do your best to include a blessing.

I will do my best to moderate accordingly. Thank you for praying for Lebanon and her people.

God,

So much money has disappeared. It must be the fault of someone.

Maybe many.

One side has set its aim. The other—veiled defending?

Some want to see evidence. Some say: Not alone.

He says he is innocent, and ready to prove.

But yet he stays in hiding—while working in the bank.

As agents of the government quite nearly come to blows.

Consequences many.

Several sound alarm:

IMF negotiations. The threat of civil war.

Others fear the secrets, if betrayed, that he might spill.

Justice, God, they say, is blind.

But we, we cannot see.

Unless the signs are all displayed and will is what we need.

Shine your light of guidance. Uncover every fraud.

The darkness hides before the true, if righteous in their way.

Are there many?

No, not one?

Embolden the faithful. Convict of their sin.

Purify the somewhat-pure that they might take a stand.

It may not be him, God. Perhaps others entire.

A regional compact to thieve and to thwart

Every step toward transparency, sovereignty, peace.

God let there be justice. No blood, conflict, hate.

For wagons encircle midst rumors of war, as dark clouds have gathered round rattling swords.

They are many.

New drones. Loud jets.

But hints of surprise: Compromise in the sea?

Will we soon see the fruit of a settlement sure?

Europe and Russia. Iran and the States.

Natural gas, electricity. Hope.

God, you know.

God, we wait.

Prompt the right ones to act.

Prompt the humble to pray.

Investigate, God. Lebanon all.

Some: Chaff that is burned up.

Some: Refined by the fire.

Many?

In need of repentance.

Of mercy. Of love.

You bore our strife. Please heal our wounds.

Amen.

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To receive Lebanon Prayer by WhatsApp, please click this link to join the closed comments group.

---

Sometimes prayer can generate more prayer. While mine is for general principles, you may have very specific hopes for Lebanon. You are welcome to post these here as comments, that others might pray with you as you place your desires before God.

If you wish to share your own prayer, please adhere to the following guidelines:

1) The sincerest prayers are before God alone. Please consult with God before posting anything.

2) If a prayer of hope, strive to express a collective encouragement.

3) If a prayer of lament, strive to express a collective grief.

4) If a prayer of anger, refrain from criticizing specific people, parties, sects, or nations. While it may be appropriate, save these for your prayers alone before God.

5) In every prayer, do your best to include a blessing.

I will do my best to moderate accordingly. Thank you for praying for Lebanon and her people.

God,

With very little in the headlines, either good or bad,

Comes the freedom, complicating: What to mention in our prayers?

But not for the people, God, their lives are full.

Death and sickness, tired and poor.

Or bored and tempted, rich and proud.

Many somewhere in between.

Help Fulaana plan her week.

Help Fulaan to raise his kids.

Uncle John sees fraud at work.

Cousin Jane slights cousin Jill.

God, you know the names of each,

Their problems, troubles, foibles, sins.

The deeds of leaders rarely touch them.

The nations rage—they’d never know.

Forgive our prayers for things above us,

If we forget the souls around.

And then, oh God, when our eyes open

Give us open hands in turn.

Open hearts to hear complaining—

Valid in so many ways.

Comfort, comfort, for the people.

Let your healing come through us.

And with the freedom from confliction,

Let your blessing mark our words.

For Tripoli, God, we ask your provision.

For Sidon and Tyre and all of the south.

For Zahle and Baalbek, Bekaa and the mountains,

Grant your prosperity, knit tight their bonds.

But what of Beirut, God? Your anger or favor?

The seat of the government—corrupt or inept?

Or simply incapable, their agency lacking?

Acting out orders received from abroad?

Every week, we put them before you.

Every week, no visible change.

Strengthen our faith that we keep up petitions,

But widen our vision to see you at work.

How God? We know not. Our own sins encumber.

They block my rebuke of the sins that surround.

But God, your spirit soars within us

When we loose our tongue to bless.

Fulaan and Fulaana, Joe, Jane, and Jill.

But also the leader whose tongue I would cut.

Bless Beirut, God. Bless the nation.

Bless my neighbor. Bless my home.

Amen.

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To receive Lebanon Prayer by WhatsApp, please click this link to join the closed comments group.

---

Sometimes prayer can generate more prayer. While mine is for general principles, you may have very specific hopes for Lebanon. You are welcome to post these here as comments, that others might pray with you as you place your desires before God.

If you wish to share your own prayer, please adhere to the following guidelines:

1) The sincerest prayers are before God alone. Please consult with God before posting anything.

2) If a prayer of hope, strive to express a collective encouragement.

3) If a prayer of lament, strive to express a collective grief.

4) If a prayer of anger, refrain from criticizing specific people, parties, sects, or nations. While it may be appropriate, save these for your prayers alone before God.

5) In every prayer, do your best to include a blessing.

I will do my best to moderate accordingly. Thank you for praying for Lebanon and her people.