"O Lord, Who Knows" - 9 October Morning and Evening
Sunday morning:
O Lord, who knows our path
and our lying down and are acquainted with all our ways (Psalm 139.3), we pray
for the besieged and beleaguered peoples in our world, suffering from
hurricanes (Cuba, Haiti, the islands…), floods, droughts, tsunamis, unemployment,
military threats, fears and pestilence. Please establish peace, justice,
recovery and efficient economies in all lands, for the good of all, so that the
Gospel of Jesus may spread unchecked, and that your Church may dwell securely
in peace and quietness.
Guide our own
leaders to throw off selfish programs, cut-throat tactics, and dastardly
devices and to put on what is truly legitimate and will promote evenhanded
integrity. Have mercy on our country, and restrain the evil, self-seeking and
immorality that often arises from the governed. For those regions in the U.S.
that are stressed and straining from economic trouble, bring around beneficial change
and recovery.
Give ear to our
concerns as we pray for those who are still in their unbelief and for those who
have disserted the Christian Faith….may they turn around and believe in your
Son Jesus Christ, and have everlasting life.
We pray for our
enemies that you would lead them and us from prejudice to truth; and deliver
them and us from hatred, cruelty and revenge to faith, hope and love; and in your
good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you through Jesus Christ your
Son.
O Father, there are
some who are hurting with suffocating darkness and strangling distress, who
need your aid and rescue desperately right now. Hear them as they cry out to
you, and hear us as we cry out with them and for them…..lift up their hearts,
lift up their heads, lift up their hope out of the dust and mire, and set their
feet on the rock!
For your Church in
all places, this congregation, and these churches in the greater OKC area; Christ Community Church of Edmond and
OKC; Christian Faith Fellowship; Cherokee Hills Church of Christ; Edmond
Church of God; Southern Hills Church of God; and Church of the Bride. Our
desire is to see all who claim to be your people stand holy, whole and healthy in
Jesus Christ. Therefore those who have stumbled into errors that dishonor you
and create schism, restore them to your way of truth; those who have allowed
their desires and ambitions to squeeze out brotherly love and create fights and
wars, reinstate them in the cross-shaped ways of Christ; those who are towing
the line and promoting the Gospel of Jesus and
wholesome doctrine and genuine godliness in modesty, encourage them by
giving grace to the humble while you withstand the proud; and those who are
standing firm against the pressures and persecutions of the world, strengthen
them so that in life and in death they may remain faithful witnesses.
We present to you
all of these prayers through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
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Sunday evening:
“We ask you, brothers,
to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish
you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace
among yourselves” (1 Thessalonians 5.12-13).
We are so grateful for our deacons who keep up the building
and grounds, who take care of our finances, who step up and help out in works
of mercy for those having needs. We entreat you to provide them with resources,
strength, emotional elasticity, and fellow helpers. O Lord, hear our prayer.
Thank you, Father, for the elders in this congregation, who
care so deeply for this people; who pray for us often, look out for us, rejoice
with us, and weep as well. Shepherd these shepherds with your constant merciful
kindnesses; preserve their families; prosper their work; fill them with more
and more wisdom that this vocation would always be a joy to them. O Lord, hear our prayer.
Our Father, we pray for our denomination, this congregation,
and also Colleyville Presbyterian Church; Bethel Church; Cristo Rey Presbyterian
Church; Lakewood Presbyterian Church; Mercy Presbyterian Church; New Covenant
Presbyterian Church; New St. Peters Presbyterian Church; Park Cities
Presbyterian Church and Providence Presbyterian Church. For all of us
we implore you, by the mystery of our Lord’s fasting and temptation that you
would arm us with the same mind that was in him toward all evil and sin. In all
of our churches may your word be truly taught and proclaimed and truly heard;
your sacraments faithfully administered and faithfully received; and your
discipline lovingly given and lovingly accepted. O Lord, hear our prayer.
Finally Father, there are other concerns and requests that
are in our hearts that we silently mention to you….You know our requests and you
know what are the best outcomes; for these we beseech you. “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me
and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me
in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139.23-24). O Lord, hear our prayer.
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