"O God, Creator, Preserver and Governor of All Humanity" - 4 March 2018



O God, Creator, Preserver and Governor of all humanity, we humbly pray for all sorts and conditions of people; that you would be pleased to make your ways known unto us, your salvation to all nations. In this regard, then, we implore you to give good success to the work of Dan and Carol Iverson while they train up and teach others to be pastors and church-planters in Japan. More especially we pray for your one, holy universal and apostolic Church, including this congregation, Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church, Progressive Baptist, Rising Star Baptist, and St. Jude Baptist Church; that she may be so guided and governed by your good Spirit and holy Word, that all of us who profess and call ourselves Christians may be led into the way of your truth, hold on to the true faith in the unity created and produced by the Holy Spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life.

Almighty God please guide and govern the nations, including Jamaica, Japan and Jordan, to throw off all unjust wars and to put a stop to all human and sex trafficking. Where there is only mob rule and bedlam, we beg you to restore sanity and sound government. And may all be protected from tribal violence and harm and freed from religious persecution.

O Lord our Governor, set our President and all other magistrates and governmental leaders on the road of impartial justice; keep ever before their minds that you have put this authority into their hands for the purpose of being honorable, fair and equitable in the execution of their offices.

O Father, from whom all fatherhood is derived, help the parents in our congregation to lead their children in good and godly ways, with all patience and joy. Strengthen our marriages that they may be full of harmony, holiness, happiness and healthiness. Give to our single adults that holy chastity by which they may follow our Lord Jesus, who remained loyal in his singleness. Bless these children here that they would grow up loving you with all their heart, soul, mind and strength, and their neighbors as themselves.

With all candor and honesty before your all-knowing eyes, we recognize that all of us have experienced broken sex: mishandling our sexuality in repugnant or respectable ways following in the steps of Adam and Eve. Help us, Lord, to become more of what you made us to be, and more of what we will one day be when Christ returns: integrated and intact. And Lord, you know better than any of us that there are some who, like the woman weeping and wiping Jesus’ feet, have deeply suffered broken sex: used or exploited by others, or feeling an acute discordance between mind and body. We thank you that not only has our Lord come and broken sin, but that you receive and welcome and heal. May they find you loving and restoring them in fresh ways.

Finally, Lord, we commend to your fatherly goodness all those who are in any ways afflicted or distressed, in mind, body, or estate; [especially these…]; that it may please you to deliver them from faithless fears and worldly anxieties; and to comfort and relieve them according to their several necessities, giving them patience under their sufferings, and a happy and speedy conclusion to all their afflictions. All we ask in union with Jesus Christ your Son, and our Lord and Savior. Amen.

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