The Prayer Wheel: A Daily Guide to Renewing Your Faith with a Rediscovered Spiritual Practice

Week 1Holy Is Your NameDay 1Stepping into the PathTo you, O Lord, I lift up my soul;O my God, in you I trust.Psalm 25:1The wheel’s first path blends together foundational ideas of the faith: who God is, how he relates to us, how we relate to him, and what Christ’s followers are called to do and be in the world.The Lord’s Prayer opens with “Our Father in heaven, hallowed [or holy] be your name.” When Jesus taught his disciples to begin prayer this way, he named two truths about God’s identity: God is as near and dear as a loving father, and he is also as holy and powerful as an almighty king. He’s both the creator-ruler of all things and a gentle dad—indeed, the term Jesus uses for “Father” here is more like “Daddy.”The order of the diagram written here teaches the return home.My father in heaven,From you I come and to you one day I will return.As I pray this week’s path, help me to find my home in you.Our father in heaven, holy is your name.As I reflect on the incarnation of Jesus, I ask for your gift of wisdom.Blessed are the peacemakers.For they will be called children of God.You, O God, are my true home. Amen.Day 2Holy Is Your NameIt is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.Romans 8:16Early Christians saw Holy is your name as a kind of petition—a request for God to take action. When we pray this line from Jesus’ prayer, we’re worshipping God in his utter perfection, while at the same time asking God to make the world into the kind of place where divine goodness is manifest to one and all.Our father in heaven, holy is your name.You are “father.” And you are “holy.”Help us to live more deeply into this dual reality—that you are as near and trustworthy as a loving daddy;and that your very nature is flawless beyond imagining.You are, O Lord, the essence of perfection:No one is higher or better.Nothing is more sacred.You are the source and essence of all life.You hold the universe together by your word.Even your name is pure and flawless,and you hold us, who are not those things, in your sway.Yet you are a loving parent.You give us life and teach us your ways.You are tender, protective, generous, and kind.When we stray, your whole desire is only for our good.Show us, your children, how to embrace both your fatherliness and your holiness today.Amen.Day 3WisdomIf any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.James 1:5In the Bible, wisdom is the spiritual gift that underlies all other spiritual gifts, the starting point and requirement for living the truly good life. “The wisdom that comes from heaven,” wrote the apostle James, “is first pure; then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy” (3:17).Holy Spirit,You have promised to give us wisdom if we ask, and without holding our need against us. You don’t fault us for asking, then asking again. I need this gift today.Grant me deeper understanding in the common things, the things I do out of habit and without a second thought. May every part of my life be infused with your life—like light, like streams of waters.Help me to rightly examine all things, to discern right from wrong, to see clearly what I should do. I need wisdom in~my work~my relationships~how I speak to others~how I spend and save money~how I eat~what I give my attention to throughout this dayAnd it’s not just for me. In the push and shove of competing opinions, our whole community needs wisdom. Grant us insight in our thoughts and desires, so that our minds can be open, uncluttered, and vibrant. Give us your wisdom, that we may be more like you.Thank you for this gift.Amen.Day 4IncarnationAnd the Word became flesh and lived among us . . . John 1:14The incarnation is one of Christianity’s wildest and deepest claims: that the creator of the universe became human in the person of Jesus Christ. God used to live around here, and we knew him, John is saying. At the beginning of a letter that bears his name, John writes that he and his friends had “seen . . . looked at . . . and touched with our hands” the presence of God on the earth (1 John 1:1).Lord Jesus,You were both God and man, together in one being.You know what it’s like to walk down a road. You know what it’s like to be hungry. To want things you can’t have. To injure yourself, feel pain, and have to wait for healing. To miss someone. To suffer great loss, with nothing but time and prayer to heal the ache.You know what it’s like to see the world as a child, as a teenager, as an adult.Help me to remember this. There’s nothing I’m going through that you don’t understand. I don’t have any fears or hopes or pains that you can’t imagine. You’ve been there, because you’ve been here, with us, on this earth, in all its beauty and all its brokenness.Thank you, Lord Christ, for dwelling among us then, and living with us still.Amen.Day 5Blessed Are the PeacemakersAnd a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.James 3:18This Beatitude appears near last in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, yet it appears in the Prayer Wheel’s first path. Perhaps it was placed here because it brings “children of God” into the same prayer path as “Father.”Tomorrow’s prayer connects “children of God” to peacemaking. For today, we speak a blessing over people whose actions bring restoration, healing, and reconciliation in our world.Lord,You said, Blessed are the peacemakers.Help us to become peacemakers. Show us how.Where can we show up?Where can we be present where there is no peace?What conflict do we need to go toward, not run from?Where do we need to speak up for reconciliation?To whom do we need to listen?Where is our opportunity to make peace?Thank you for those who defend the poor and powerless all over the world today. Thank you for those who devote their lives to the cause of nonviolence, restoration, and healing. May they know the blessing of your comfort and refreshment.Help us all to notice in our own lives where we can invite and create peace—and nudge us to act.Amen.Day 6For They Will Be CalledChildren of GodHe said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”Matthew 18:3When suffering continues unabated for individuals and communities, we can become jaded. Today, we pray to become like children—at least in certain important ways. We remember that, in the incarnation, God chose to enter the world as a child—innocent, trusting, humble, and dependent. Jesus’ call to childlikeness is an invitation for us to do the same.Heavenly Father,Teach me a child’s way of living in my heart and mind today:playfulopencuriousunguardedinnocentquick to giggledelighted in the momenteasily contentedready to hope—and hope big—all over againforgetful of yesterdayreaching for Mommyreaching for Daddyreaching often, God—secure in your presencebelieving in your goodnesstrusting in your strengthI want to change and become little in my spirit. Teach me what that looks like.Help me to let go of the grown-up stuff I’m so prideful about, like what I think I know, especially about you.Remake me like a child in all the right ways, that I may walk in your kingdom today.Amen.Day 7Praying the Whole PathO Lord, you are our Father;we are the clay, and you are our potter;we are all the work of your hand.Isaiah 64:8Each week, as you prepare to pray the whole path at once on Day 7, we’ll invite you to reflect on the preceding days. This week, consider how your experience relates to the wheel’s invocation about returning home to God.How has your prayer journey this week brought you home?How were you reminded of who you are, who God is, and where you belong?God,You are holy. May your sacred presence in all people and all living things be known and revered throughout the world.You are our Father. You care for us as the most loving mothers and fathers care for their children. May we rest today in your care.You grant wisdom to all who ask. May your wisdom guide us and shape us in all we do. We are all the work of your hand—help us to flourish in insight, common sense, and discretion.You, Lord Jesus, are the Prince of Peace. Wherever there is strife in the world today—in relationships, in communities, between races and religions, between nations—may peace, not violence, prevail. And may your children be the first to love peace and pursue it, so that we can bring some heaven to earth.Thank you that none of these requests—nothing we could ever ask or imagine or need—is alien to you, because you know what it is like to be human. Thank you, God, for dwelling among us, and for showing us the way home.Amen.Connecting This Path with the NextAs you pray the paths in sequence, you’ll often find one path preparing you for the next. At the end of each week, we’ll point to some of those connections.This week, we prayed for wisdom, and next week we’ll ask for understanding. Are those two versions of the same thing? Not really.According to Christian tradition, wisdom helps us to desire rightly, while understanding helps us to decide rightly. Wisdom forms our hearts to want the things of God. Understanding forms our minds to grasp the things of God. (See Part 4 for more on the subtle yet important distinctions between the biblical gifts of knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and counsel.)Week 2Your Kingdom ComeDay 1Stepping into the PathMake me to know your ways, O Lord;teach me your paths.Psalm 25:4The second path invites new beginnings. This week, we encounter Jesus’ baptism, a scene of renewal. We pray for clean hearts, that we may better see God. And we are grounded in the prayer your kingdom come, a kingdom that already exists all around us if only we have eyes to see.The order of the diagram written here teaches the return home.My father in heaven,From you I come and to you one day I will return.As I pray this week’s path, help me to find my home in you.Your kingdom come.As I meditate on the baptism of Jesus, I ask for the gift of understanding.Blessed are the clean of heart.For they will see God.You, O God, are my true home. Amen.Day 2Your Kingdom ComeOnce Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.”Luke 17:20–21Jesus’ entire ministry—what he taught and how he lived—was a revelation of God’s kingdom. Many of his parables were framed as descriptions of it—“The kingdom of God is like,” he would begin, then tell a story of the search for a treasured item or a farmer planting seed. In some of his stories, the points seemed clear; at other times, he left his listeners to puzzle through their meanings.Consistently, though, Jesus taught that the kingdom reality he spoke of exists not only as God’s perfected order in the future but also in the here and now, whenever people awaken to God’s presence and intentions for the world.Lord God,Your kingdom seems far away today. We see death and disaster in the news, and everywhere, people are arguing, always arguing. And yet Jesus said that your domain—the only true and enduring reality—is also among us.May your kingdom come in the middle of our despair.Even in my own heart, I hold grudges, nurse anxieties, withhold compassion, and put myself first. Too often, my heart is not a hospitable place for your Spirit. I resist your rightful rule there, too.May your kingdom come first in my heart.Empower your people to see where your way of life is already showing up. Help us to become passionate agents in this continuing unfolding of your will for all things.Amen.Day 3UnderstandingIf you indeed cry out for insight,and raise your voice for understanding;if you seek it like silver,and search for it as for hidden treasures—then you will understand the fear of the Lordand find the knowledge of God.Proverbs 2:3–5To pray for understanding is to ask for a calm and welcoming receptivity so that we may penetrate the surface of things and get to the depths. The first step of understanding is recognizing how much we don’t know, and how limited our perspective can be.That’s a good posture anytime we come before God: receptive to his thoughts above our own, wanting his perspective to seep into and overtake ours. The gift of understanding allows us to glimpse God’s point of view.Holy Spirit,You’ve promised the gift of understanding. Yet I am so often blind to your presence, your will, and your ways.Teach me to see you and live. I cry out today for help to see beyond my limitations.Teach me to seek for understanding as if it were a buried treasure that’s waiting and available to me if I keep digging, keep asking.Show me your presence, your will, and your ways—in the scriptures, in my ordinary day, in the starfish fingers of a newborn, in the beauty of faith.Hear my cry for insight.Amen.Day 4BaptismIn those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”Mark 1:9–11No one who sensed Jesus’ divinity would’ve expected him to show up for the repentance ritual of baptism. John the Baptizer exclaimed in amazement, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But John relented, and as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens cracked open and God spoke.