"O Lord God, We Pray..." - 16 February 2020
O Lord God, we
implore you to make us a holy, joy-filled people in our homes, occupations, and
in our various networks of friends. May those who are married be free of
strife, pettiness, and fear; may those who are single be chaste and holy,
enjoying you in their God-ward singleness; may the children grow stronger in
grace and wisdom, loving you all their days while obeying and honoring their
parents; may the parents raise their children in faithfulness and godliness –
growing believers and discipling worshipers; and may the elderly flourish in
God-given strength, patience, and sound-mindedness. Also, help us to be the
kind of congregation that is instrumental in drawing the straying back to
Christ and his church and bringing unbelievers to trusting in your Son Jesus
Christ. Hear us as we silently remember their names before you now (…).
O Lord God, we pray for your Church in all nations, and these
churches in the OKC area: Messiah Lutheran Church; St. Mark’s Lutheran; Zion Lutheran;
and Gethsemane Lutheran Church. Grant your Church to live out the righteousness,
peace and joy which are in the Holy Spirit; to pursue what makes for peace and
mutual upbuilding (Romans 14.17, 19); and to turn neither to the right hand or
the left. And where she has jumped the tracks and derailed, reorient her
course, and send her in the right direction once more.
O Lord God, please strengthen, support,
and sustain those in need (…). And give them a renewed buoyancy that they may
rejoice in you, the storm-conquering Savior!
O Lord God, please be with our
nation’s citizenry, our national leaders and State leaders, including our State
Representatives. Graciously help us to recognize when we do evil and injustice,
to amend our ways and correct our directions. May neither peace nor prosperity
blind our eyes or deafen our ears to you, or to the cries of those being
unfairly treated. Grant us to sustain and support justice and liberty for all,
unborn, foreign born, or home born.
O Lord God, please be with all
world leaders. We pray for an end to all wars, to all natural or man-made
famines, desolations, pestilences, droughts, and plagues. We pray for an end to
abortion in our land and world over, and an end to the crimes of slave
trafficking and prostituting women and children. In this regard, we make
bold to pray for MS-13, ISIS, Boko-Haram, the Lord’s Resistance Army,
Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Aryan Nations, and other destructive alliances. Bring them to
repentance and faith in Christ – individually and personally, but also as a
whole. And if they will not, then Lord, we pray in the words of the Psalmist
and on behalf of those crushed under their jackbooted thuggery, “O
God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O
LORD! Let them vanish like water that runs away; when he aims his arrows, let
them be blunted. Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the
stillborn child who never sees the sun” (Psalm 58.6-8).
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