Deus Misereatur

  Our Father, who turns our darkness into the brilliance of day, and gives us garments of joy in place of the apparel of sorrow; we find ourselves in times of worry and deep concern for ourselves, our children, our grandchildren, our nation and our world. In times of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble suffer not our trust in you to fail. We remember those who are grappling with specific hardships (…). May it please you to console and relieve them, according to their specific needs. Give them enduring patience under their sufferings and a happy conclusion to all their afflictions.   With your watchful eye preserve those in our Military, especially (…), and encourage their families. We pray for those making career decisions: please guide them to places and circumstances that will be best for them and their families, personally, professionally, and with regard to piety. And we pray for those who wished they could have career decisions to m...

  O God, Creator, Preserver and Governor of all humanity, we humbly pray for all sorts and conditions of men; that you would be pleased to make your ways known unto us, your salvation to all nations. More especially we pray for your one, holy universal and apostolic Church, including this congregation, Garden Oaks Church of Christ, Wilshire, and Church of the Living God on Hazel, and on Kelham Ave. May 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, holding 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 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. May all be protected from tribal violence and harm and freed from re...

  Our Father, who has cheerfully adopted us through Jesus Christ, we come and hand over our burdened hearts to you for this world, for your church, and for our families and friends. We find that we are often restless and uneasy about the things going on in our own lives, amongst our friends and family, and in our world. Why, there’s sickness, sorrow, troubles at home, problems at work, uncertainty about the future, wars and rumors of war, and plenty of other plights. We remember these who are wrestling and wrangling with specific misfortunes (…). Grant them and us courage, faith, graciousness, comfort and relief.  We call upon you to take care of our country and all who are in authority. Promote our national well-being. Defend us from malicious elements that would bring us into harm’s way, from the left and the right. And bring us to utilize our liberties for the purpose of furthering justice and peace for the freeborn, the foreign born and the unborn. Some parts of our nation...

  (The quotation in the picture is from "The Works of Hannah More: Essays," from the chapter "Errors in Prayer" on page 324) Many, many years ago, I came across this observation from St. Augustine in one of his sermons on the Psalms. He was developing some thoughts regarding Psalm 77:1, where the sacred songwriter states, “ I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me .” Augustine then says that “many men cry unto the Lord for the sake of getting riches and avoiding losses, for the safety of their friends, for the security of their house, for temporal felicity, for secular dignity, lastly, even for mere soundness of body, which is the inheritance of the poor man. For such and such like things many men do cry unto the Lord; scarce one for the sake of the Lord Himself. For an easy thing it is for a man to desire anything of the Lord, and not to desire the Lord Himself ; as if forsooth that which He gives could be sweeter than Himself that gives.” It is an eas...

  Unlike Marduk, Ba’al, Asherah and the gods of the nations, when you made humankind, you said: “ Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so ” (Genesis 1:29-30). Truly, LORD God, you made us not because you needed us. You made us not because you were lonely and lacked love. You made us not because you needed us to scratch some itch or stroke your ego. You made us because you are love and goodness, and so desired to give and lavish that love and goodness on us! Therefore, we adore and worship you: “ Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created ” (Revelation 4:11). Fo...

  Our Father, you are the LORD, and there is no other. You form the light and create darkness; you make peace and create calamity; you, O LORD, do all these things, that all may know from the rising of the Sun to its setting that there is none besides you (Isaiah 45:6-7). It is to you that we come and pray, in the strength of the Spirit and the righteousness of Christ Jesus. Please build up peace, order and justice in the nations of the world to include Haiti, Cuba, Honduras, El Salvador, Hungary, Cameroon, Botswana, and Yemen; so that the peoples may live safely, thrive, and hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Bring relief to those in our country who have been hit with financial woes; give our elected and appointed leaders the shrewdness and perseverance for reigning in our debt that we may not misuse our future. Govern the decisions of our judges to eschew immorality and inequality. Cause the hearts of the inhabitants of this nation to move toward prudent level-headedness, honesty a...