Prayer of Commissioning

Leader: Dear Father, On behalf of these who will be graduating, I thank You for the blessings that You have showered upon them during their years at Indiana Wesleyan University. I thank You Lord for the support and prayers of parents and friends, for the patience and devotion of professors who have often gone beyond the call of duty to serve their students, and for the lifelong friendships that have been formed with fellow classmates and roommates. These, Your beloved, have sat in numerous classes with numerous professors… but help each one of our soon- to-be graduates recognize that their greatest teacher truly has been You…You who have sought to teach them that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Help these whom You love so dearly and deeply to live in purity.

Make all their words so pure, that You may hear them.

Make all their deeds so pure, that You may see them.

Make all their thoughts and desires so pure, that they may bear Your scrutiny.

Help them to live in Your truth so that they may never speak or act a lie.

That they may not be misled by false or mistaken beliefs.

Take away wrong desires and ambitions: May their lives shine like lights in a dark world.

As these, soon-to-be graduates, leave the familiarity of this campus, remind them that they are called to use their talents and what they have gained through education for the betterment of all humankind. Help them to realize that worship does not take place only within the confines of a worship service, but that worship also takes place when they reach out, in Your name and power, to minister to the needs of others.

Graduating Seniors: Help us who are graduating to recognize that You have called believers to help others to find their way into Your kingdom. Use the hurts and struggles we have gone through to better understand the hurts and pains others may be going through. Use us to bring Your comfort and love to others. Help us to love all people unconditionally. Help us to love purely, to love humbly and to love generously.

Show us how to receive more of Your love so that we will have more love to give out to others. Help us to touch the lives of others for good, whether through the words we speak or through the prayers we lift up or through the life we live in You.

Help us grow in our desire to minister to all people in Your name.

Leader: Today, and every day, help these soon-to-be-graduates to decrease so that You may increase in them. Help clear every obstacle that may hold them back from serving You fully; with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. May each of them have a deep desire to serve others so that others can experience Your love and salvation.

Remind them that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to them. And they are to go and make disciples of all nations… teaching others that they are to obey everything You have commanded. And remind them that they are not alone… but that You are with them always. Help them to remember that with You, all things are possible.

O, Lord, use these, who are graduating tomorrow, for Your glory, as they go forth in Your name.

Amen.