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Summary
- Short prayers ask for strength when worn out, ill, caring for someone, afraid, tempted, unable to forgive, grieving or weak in faith, and for someone else who needs it.
- Three old prayers for strength are quoted: the 1928 Book of Common Prayer collect “O God, the strength of all those who put their trust in thee,” the Catholic Anima Christi (“Passion of Christ, strengthen me”) and the Orthodox Lenten Prayer of St. Ephrem.
- No prayer is stronger because of its wording (Matthew 6:7–8); the Lord’s Prayer, which Jesus gave his disciples, asks God to “deliver us from evil.”
- Scripture shows God strengthening Elijah under the juniper tree (1 Kings 19), Paul in his weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9–10), David at Ziklag (1 Samuel 30:6) and Jesus in Gethsemane (Luke 22:43).
- Isaiah 40:29–31 promises that “they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength.”
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Deuteronomy 33:25; 1 Samuel 30:6; 1 Kings 19:2–8; Nehemiah 8:10; Psalm 73:26; Isaiah 40:29–31; 41:10; Matthew 6:8, 13; Mark 9:24; Luke 22:43; 1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Corinthians 12:9–10; Philippians 4:13). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Standard Book of 1928. The First Sunday after Trinity, the Collect, pp. 188–189. PDF facsimile: https://www.artisticdailyprayers.org/uploads/3/0/1/6/30164961/bcp1928std.pdf
- A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity, prepared and published by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1888. “Anima Christi,” p. 103. https://archive.org/details/AManualOfPrayers1888
- Hapgood, Isabel Florence, trans. Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic (Greco-Russian) Church. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1906. The First Hour, “Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian,” p. 41. https://www.ponomar.net/data/hapgood.pdf
- “St. Ephraem.” The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05498a.htm
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. https://988lifeline.org/
- Samaritans. “Contact a Samaritan.” https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/
- Fond podderzhki detey, Russian helpline for children, teenagers and parents, 8 800 2000 122. https://fond-detyam.ru/
