Congregational Prayer - 15 March 2015 AM and PM


Sunday Morning
Our Father, you who are a father to the fatherless, helper to the helpless, defender of those who are defenseless; you see that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves. Please keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, so that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to our bodies and from ALL evil thoughts that may assault and hurt our souls!

We remember these who are tackling and being tackled by specific misfortunes…may it please you to console and relieve them according to their particular needs; giving them enduring patience under their sufferings and a happy ending to all their afflictions. 

Please safeguard our country from all enemies foreign and domestic; preserve our industry; strengthen our educational attainments; rebuild civility, lawfulness, and courtesy; turn the hearts of the parents to the children and the hearts of the children to their parents (Malachi 4.6); come and be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages and oppress the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and those who do not fear you (Malachi 3.5). We also pray for this region that you would continue to give to us the needful portions of rain so as to remove the strain on our water supply, and to nourish the earth.

 Mighty God, whose eyes run throughout the whole earth and behold the evil and the good; reconstruct, restructure, order, and organize all the nations in our world, directing the hearts and minds of all the leaders in your ways of justice and truth for all under their administration, both the born and unborn. Replenish those peoples who are in dire straits; and restrain those who map out ways of doing evil and barbarity.

O Lord, we pray for your Church in all places, for this congregation, and all Christian churches up and down the Kilpatrick Turnpike. Give us help in time of need, and inspire our witness-bearing of Jesus your Son, that many may know the freshness of your forgiveness and the power of his resurrection.

We pray that by your mercies you would forgive our enemies, persecutors and slanderers and turn their hearts to you; and hold our hearts in your hands that we would not be overcome by evil, but would overcome evil with good.

We plead for the salvation, transformation and rescue of those who have never believed in your Son and turned from their sins…..and we pray for the restoration of those who have strayed away from you...
-----
Sunday Evening
Lord God, our redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; you are the LORD our God who teaches us to profit, who leads us in the way we should go (Isaiah 48.17): Give ear to our prayers the we bring before you in the name of Jesus and in the Spirit.

Mighty Father, please sustain, strengthen, straighten, send and  save your holy, universal Church, and specifically this congregation; as well as United Baptist Church; Unity Baptist; Valley View Baptist; Victory Baptist Temple; Village Baptist Church; and Waterloo Road Baptist Church. We especially ask you to restrain and regenerate her enemies, as well as shield her from wolves in sheep’s clothing. O Lord, hear our prayer.

Holy God, you have committed to us the care and nurture of your children; enlighten with your wisdom our Sunday School teachers and bolster with grace the children in our classes. Help us all to fathom our role in reinforcing the Gospel and godliness with all of the kids, and may we have the joy of seeing all the teenagers and children of this congregation grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord. O Lord, hear our prayer.

Father, we long to have our neighbors, friends and family grabbed by your gracious mercy. Draw them to bow the knee before Jesus and confess him as Lord now, rather than at the end, and help us to be ready and willing to announce to them the Gospel of your kingdom and of your king, Jesus Christ our Lord. O Lord, hear our prayer.

Lord God, we implore you to prosper our plans and endeavors for our mission work in Carnegie OK in June, our own VBS in July, and the Good News Festival in August. We pray for money – especially for the mission trip; we entreat you to raise up volunteers to be involved and engaged with the preparation, administration and the execution of each of these; we ask you to preserve and prosper those who will be part of these; and we pray for open doors, open hearts and open lives for the Gospel. O Lord, hear our prayer.

Finally, Lord, we implore your care and restoration for those who are grieving, ailing, tottering…Also for those whose families are troubled – especially in their relationships; as well as those who are in worrisome work situations…you know them, you know their real needs, and you know the best outcome for them: we commend them to your hands. O Lord, hear our prayer.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?" (Rev. Ed.) by John Fea. A Review

Image
  John Fea is a professor of history at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, PA. A university founded in 1909 by the Brethren in Christ Church. He originally published "Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? A Historical Introduction" in 2011, and it was revised in 2016. This 328-page paperback is packed full with Colonial and American history, drawing from original sources to answer that question. It is a book written "for the historically minded and thoughtful reader who is looking for help in sorting" out this question, avoiding polemics (xix). Since we live in a sound-bite culture, Fea recognizes that it is difficult to have a sustained dialogue on this topic, but he makes a valiant effort toward having that sustained dialogue. The book reads fairly straightforward, and doesn't seem to get bogged down in the contentious mudpuddles or bogs. In the end, Fea seems to get his point across. To answer the reigning question if America was founded as a Christian...
Read more

Union with Christ - An Application

Image
  (This was my weekly letter to my congregation on Wednesday, 21 February 2024) This morning in my devotional reading, I was working through 1 Corinthians 8. Though I’ve read these words a huge number of times over the years, today one verse caused me to stop and take stock.  Paul wrote, “ Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ ” (1 Corinthians 8:12). What struck me is a couple of things. First, in God’s saving work, we are – by grace alone – united (hitched, bonded, ingrafted) to Christ so much so, that what happens to us happens to him, and what is his becomes ours (think of Galatians 2:20, for example). As Sinclair Ferguson put it, “through union with Christ all that is his by incarnation becomes ours through faith” (“The Christian Life,” 110). Let that percolate in your heart for a while. Your fear, anxiety, tears, and so forth, he feels. And his “ Peace, be still ” is yours. Second, the way we treat one an...
Read more

"Is This the End?" by David Jeremiah. A Review

Image
  I know lots of people like this book, and like this stream of published material. I'm not a Dispensationalist (by conviction) and I am resistant to alarmism - that doom-and-gloomism that says "This is the worst time in all of world history!" or some such. And that is this book from cover-to-cover. I picked the book up to read because a family member had given it to me for a Christmas present and thought I should read it. And I was disappointed. But, in all of my disappointment, I was pleasantly surprised. I was pleasantly surprised because Dr. Jeremiah actually pushes back against a certain mindset that normally walks along with Dispensational alarmism. Jeremiah asks "Will America revive again? Will we reverse our descent and regain respect, strength, and stability? ... those are not the questions we should really be asking. If the survival of America and the stability of the world are the sources of your hope, then your hope is sadly misplaced. The question you mu...
Read more