"Praise the LORD" - 4 August 2024

 


Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD! We lift our hearts to you, O mighty God, merciful God, majestic God, because you have cared for us in spiritual and bodily and psychological needs; and so, with our hearts and hands and voices we resound with your praises!

Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised! Lord God, our Father, we pray for your one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, to include Henderson Hills Baptist, Higher Plain Baptist, Hillcrest United Presbyterian, and Holy Cross Lutheran Church. We pray for all your Church’s elders, pastors, and servers, that they would all be faithful to the Word of God and guide your Church to prove herself to be the light of Christ to the nations. And for this congregation we pray; for all of our parents and the children in our homes, our students and young adults seeking to launch out on their own paths, for each of us in our vocations and conditions; that in all we do we would show ourselves Christ’s disciples in word and deed.

The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens! Who is like the LORD our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? Governor and Ruler of all creation, nations and peoples, we pray for the peace and security of the world’s nations, for an end to unjust war and violent oppression, so that the peoples of the earth may come to receive the Prince of Peace. Further, we pray for our own country, for those who govern and all the people in this land. May we have justice, security and well-being. In these tumultuous days with political rodeos, hot headedness, terror threats, and sexual bewilderment, show yourself a mighty God on our behalf, so that our own nation would finally say with deep conviction and deliberate comportment, “In God we trust!”

He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people. He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the LORD! Father, giver of all good gifts, we pray for the poor and hungry, the homeless and mentally ill, the unemployed and the too heavily employed, the sad and scared, the sick and lonely (…). May help unlooked for arrive at just the right time, so that you would draw them up from the pit, out of the miry bog, and set their feet upon a rock, making their steps secure. That you would put a new song in their mouth, a song of praise to our God, so that many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.[1] And saving God, we pray for those who do not rest on your Son Jesus, as well as those who are in deep spiritual need (…). By your Spirit becoming active in their lives, may they find conviction, courage, and comfort in Jesus Christ.[2] And now we join together to pray as our Lord Jesus taught us, saying, Our Father…

[1] Psalm 40:2-3

[2] Psalm 113


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