"O God, the Father Almighty..." - 28 June 2015 PM


O God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, you are infinite, eternal and unchangeable in your being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth (from Westminster Shorter Catechism 4), a Father who is able and ready to help us. Therefore, through your Son, Jesus Christ, we make free to approach you with our prayers.

We pray for your Church throughout the nations, Southern Hills Christian Church; Village Christian;  Western Oaks Christian; Forest Hill Christian; and Northside Christian Church. Guide your children in their deliberations and actions in ways that are in line with your statutes and ordinances; providing all that we need to go further in your work. May we fully embrace the fullness of the Gospel of your Son, Jesus Christ and his kingdom, growing in all godliness and joy. Cause us to be people of our word, to be truth-bearers and vow keepers, that our integrity may reflect your own fidelity. O Lord, hear our prayer.

We remember before you those whom we know who need to repent of their sins and believe in Christ, as well as those who have strayed away and need to be restored…Show them the direness of their state, the hope and delight that can only be found in union with your Son, and rouse their hearts to call on the name of the Lord to be saved. O Lord, hear our prayer.

O Lord God, be with our nation, our governmental leaders, or citizens and all inhabitants of this land that godliness, righteousness, and mercy will run through our country like mighty rivers. As we contemplate this coming anniversary of our independence, help us not to take it for granted, not to be shallow or slipshod in our liberties and responsibilities. Bring us again to hold these truths as self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator (not by the State, not by legislation, not by supreme judicial decisions, but by their Creator) with certain unalienable Rights, and that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. O Lord, hear our prayer.

Hear us, O Lord, as we petition your most holy, wise and powerful governing and preserving of the nations of this world. Please bring under control the warring factions and chaotic turmoil plaguing many countries, restore peace and wholesome order, right all wrongs and stop evil dead in its tracks so that all may rejoice in your goodness and your Church be unharmed, and your Gospel unhindered. O Lord, hear our prayer.


We intercede on behalf of those who are troubled and careworn by physical, financial, emotional and spiritual distresses…Lord, we’re not always sure how to pray for those in these circumstances. We do ask that you would provide them what is most needful, help them to not waste their difficulties, but to grow in them and that they would let steadfastness have its full effect in them, that they may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 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