"O Lord God the Almighty!" - Evening Prayers (23 February 2020)

“Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed” (Revelation 15:3-4).

LORD Jesus, we pray for your church which you obtained with your own blood, especially our congregation, the churches in the Hills and Plains Presbytery, and our denomination. Having been warned repeatedly by your servant Paul that fierce wolves will come in, not sparing the flock; and even from among the church leadership will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them; therefore, we pray. We pray for the ministers, pastors, bishops, and elders of our churches that they will pay careful attention to themselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made them overseers, to care for the church of God, where they have been placed (Acts 2:28-30); and that they would fulfill the ministry they have received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24). O Lord, hear our prayer.

Mighty God watch over your people being crushed by pressures and persecution (…). On their behalf we pray with the Psalmist; “Remember this, O LORD, how the enemy scoffs, and a foolish people reviles your name. Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts; do not forget the life of your poor forever. Have regard for the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence. Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame; let the poor and needy praise your name. Arise, O God, defend your cause; remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day! Do not forget the clamor of your foes, the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually” (Psalm 74:18-23)! O Lord, hear our prayer.

Help us, merciful and kind Father, to mercifully and kindly look on others who are in genuine need, who feel rocky and rickety under the weight of poverty, poor health, and privation (…). Restore them and raise them up. And help us to be merciful, even as you, our Father, are merciful. To judge not, and we will not be judged; to condemn not, and we will not be condemned; to forgive, and we will be forgiven; to give, and it will be given to us. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into our laps. For Jesus said that with the measure we use it will be measured back to us (Luke 6:36-38). O Lord, hear our prayer.