"Thank You..." - Vespers 15 November 2020

 


Praise the LORD! Thank you that you have made us a crown of beauty and a royal diadem in your hand, O LORD. Thank you that we shall no more be termed Forsaken or Desolate but shall be called My Delight Is in Her and Married. Thank you, LORD, that you delight in us and that as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride you rejoice over us (Isaiah 62:3-5)! O Lord, hear our prayer. 

We pray, Lord, that you would have mercy on all of the nations of this earth. O God, you reign over the nations; you sit on your holy throne. May all of the princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to you, O God; you are highly exalted (Psalm 47:8-9)! O Lord, hear our prayer. 

We pray, Lord, that you would have mercy on these United States of America. We pray what all Christians pray for their lands and nations: God, bless America, but not her sin and immorality, and not where she opposes and resists you. Rather, God, bless America, where she seeks to fairly and rightly establish liberty and justice for all, free born, foreign-born and unborn. God, bless America, where she submits to you. God, bless America, as she receives and protects the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of the teeming shore, the homeless and tempest-tossed. God, bless America as she lifts her lamp beside the golden door (Statue of Liberty Poem)! O Lord, hear our prayer. 

We pray, Lord, that you would have mercy on our congregation and on your church throughout the world; especially where she is fearful that the morning sun may well bring new hostilities; where she is poor and poverty-stricken; where she has been ground under jackbooted thuggery; and where she has felt the frigid and suffocating grip of secularism and statism. Lord, have mercy! O Lord, hear our prayer. 

We pray, Lord, that you would have mercy on those who have turned away from you (…). We pray, Lord, that you would have mercy on those who have been swallowed up by heresy (…). O Lord, hear our prayer. 

We pray, Lord, that you would have mercy on those who have found themselves in the hospital, the rehab, mental health institutions, or prisons; and those who are hurting and ailing (…). O Lord, hear our prayer. 

We pray, Lord, that you would have mercy on us all, in Jesus Name. Amen.

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