This week at Redeemer is our Week of Prayer! We believe that prayer is a crucial part of the Christian life, not just personally, but on a corporate level. When we join together to pray we believe that we have access to the power of God to transform our own lives, and the lives of our friends and family, as well as situations across this city, this nation, and the nations. This week there are plenty of opportunities to get involved in our prayer meetings, and you can find all of the details HERE. We would love to have you join with us!

We’re also taking this opportunity to join in prayer with some mighty men and women of faith from history! Each day we’ll be publishing a blog featuring a prayer written by someone in history, which we hope will encourage you to engage in personal prayer yourself, and remind you that prayer is not a one time event, but can be something that lasts and remains in peoples hearts and minds for years.

Today we pray with Phillis Wheatley, the first African-American author of a book of poetry - Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral - published on September 1st 1773.

Oh my Gracious Preserver!
hitehero thou hast brot [me,]
be pleased when thou bringest
to the birth to give [me] strength
to bring forth living & perfect a
being who shall be greatly in-
strumental in promoting thy [glory]
Tho conceived in Sin & brot forth
in iniquity yet thy infinite wisdom
can bring a clean thing out of an
unclean, a vess[el] of Honor filled
for thy glory—grant me
to live a life of gratitude to thee
for the innumerable benefits—
O Lord my God! instruct my ignorance
& enlighten my Darkness
Thou art my King, take [thou]
the entire possession of [all] my
powers & faculties & let me be
no longer under the dominion
of sin—Give me a sincere &
hearty repentance for all my
[grievous?] offences & strengthen
by thy grace my resolutions
on amendment & circumspection
for the time to come—Grant me
[also] the spirit of Prayer & Suppli[cation]
according to thy own
most gracious Promises.