Pastoral Prayer - 22 June 2014 PM


“Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.” Even though at times we feel that you have forsaken and forgotten us, nevertheless you promisingly declare: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me” (Isaiah 49.13-16). Thank you Father; Lord; Mighty God! O Father, we believe; help our unbelief and help us to hold on to your loving promise – even better, Lord – hold us tight to your promise. O Lord, hear our prayer.

 Lord God, hear our prayer for your Church world-over; North Church; Oaktree AOG; OKC Faith Church; The Rock; South Pointe Church; and Southside AOG; as well as our Chaplains – CDR Dwight Horn; LCDR David Cullen; LT Jason Gregory; MAJ Tim Park; CPT Jonathan Entrekin; LTC Yo Sup Lee; and Civ. CH Lynell Friesen. Answer them quickly, O LORD, when their spirits fail! Hide not your face from them, lest they be like those who go down to the pit. Let them hear in the morning of your steadfast love, as they throw their trust onto you. Make them know the way they should go, as they lift up their soul to you. Deliver them from their enemies, O LORD! For they flee to you for refuge (Psalm 143.7-9). O Lord, hear our prayer.

 Again, our Father, we storm your throne, praying on behalf of our Vacation Bible School this week. Lord God, we do this for your sake; we do this for the kids’ sake; we do this for the Gospel’s sake. Prosper your work in our hands. Save now, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success (Psalm 118.25)! O Lord, hear our prayer.

 We implore you to shower your mercy on our country, dear God! May the Governors of our land, and the governed sow righteousness, reap in steadfast love, and break up their fallow ground. For it is the time to seek you, LORD, that you may come and rain righteousness upon us. But we have plowed iniquity; we have reaped injustice; we have eaten the fruit of lies; we have trusted in our own way and in the multitude of our warriors and powerful people (Hosea 10.12-13)! Lord God, have mercy on us!  O Lord, hear our prayer.
Finally, compassionate God, for those who are sick, sad, and sore, we pray:…comfort them in their affliction that they may be able to comfort others who are in any affliction, with the very comfort with which you comfort them (2 Corinthians 1.4). O Lord, hear our prayer.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?" (Rev. Ed.) by John Fea. A Review

Image
  John Fea is a professor of history at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, PA. A university founded in 1909 by the Brethren in Christ Church. He originally published "Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? A Historical Introduction" in 2011, and it was revised in 2016. This 328-page paperback is packed full with Colonial and American history, drawing from original sources to answer that question. It is a book written "for the historically minded and thoughtful reader who is looking for help in sorting" out this question, avoiding polemics (xix). Since we live in a sound-bite culture, Fea recognizes that it is difficult to have a sustained dialogue on this topic, but he makes a valiant effort toward having that sustained dialogue. The book reads fairly straightforward, and doesn't seem to get bogged down in the contentious mudpuddles or bogs. In the end, Fea seems to get his point across. To answer the reigning question if America was founded as a Christian...
Read more

Union with Christ - An Application

Image
  (This was my weekly letter to my congregation on Wednesday, 21 February 2024) This morning in my devotional reading, I was working through 1 Corinthians 8. Though I’ve read these words a huge number of times over the years, today one verse caused me to stop and take stock.  Paul wrote, “ Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ ” (1 Corinthians 8:12). What struck me is a couple of things. First, in God’s saving work, we are – by grace alone – united (hitched, bonded, ingrafted) to Christ so much so, that what happens to us happens to him, and what is his becomes ours (think of Galatians 2:20, for example). As Sinclair Ferguson put it, “through union with Christ all that is his by incarnation becomes ours through faith” (“The Christian Life,” 110). Let that percolate in your heart for a while. Your fear, anxiety, tears, and so forth, he feels. And his “ Peace, be still ” is yours. Second, the way we treat one an...
Read more

"Ah, Lord! We are Animated by Anger and Anxiety, Fear and Fury..."

Image
I hesitate to put this out there because of the combative environment we are in at present. But I think some souls will take courage from this, and some will also join with me as we get to the end of this little composition. I am struck by the words of God in Zechariah 8. As he rehearses the waywardness and faithlessness of his people in the past, he clearly declares that he " set every man against his neighbor " (8:10). That got me thinking long ago. I started putting the pieces together and realized that one of God's acts of judgment is division, setting a man against his neighbor. That's what happened when he divided his people into the northern tribes and southern tribes (see 1 Kings 11:26-40). Because of Solomon's turning aside, allowing his wives to turn his heart away from the God of his father, David, the Lord brings about a rift in God's people. And this pattern of divisive judgment runs throughout Scripture. On the other hand, truthful unity is the g...
Read more