"Be Gracious to Me, O God" - 22 May 2016 AM and PM

Sunday morning:

From Psalm 56

Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me; my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly. When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? / Lord, our oppressors are the world, the flesh and the devil. May our trust in you raise us up above fear and dread. Sometimes it feels like our own bodies and life circumstances are our worst enemies, walloping us with maladies, heart disease, mental darkness and disorientation, heart aches and heart breaks. We pray for those going through the thick and thin of it… Bring them through it all with joy, hope, faith, and the smile of your face. Hear our prayer, O Lord, and let our cry come to you!

All day long they injure my cause; all their thoughts are against me for evil. They stir up strife, they lurk; they watch my steps, as they have waited for my life. For their crime will they escape? In wrath cast down the peoples, O God! / For those people-groups, organizations and institutions inside our nation, and those parties outside our country who seek to overthrow prudence, justice, fortitude, self-control, faith, hope and love with gluttony, lust, greed, anger, envy, sloth and vainglory; bring their endeavors to nothing, breaking their power to harm and maim, siphoning off that which fuels their fury. And bring them to know you are the Lord, and that you have made Jesus head over all, so that they may now, not on the day of Judgment, confess the Jesus is Lord and bow the knee to him. Hear our prayer, O Lord, and let our cry come to you!

You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? / Here, Lord, we pray for your church in all four corners of this big, wide world; to include not only Heritage, but also Grace Church; May Avenue Wesleyan Church; Heritage Baptist; Metropolitan Baptist; Clarke UMC; Selecman UMC; Hope UMC; and St. Stephen’s Presbyterian. May your word be our praise, and you be our delight. You who are good, whose steadfast love endures forever, take us in hand to guide our aims, to keep us walking in the ancient paths, and in the good way (Jeremiah 6.16). Help us to sow for ourselves righteousness, reap steadfast love, to break up our fallow ground that you may come and rain righteousness on us: for you are our judge, you are our lawgiver, you are our king. You will save us (Hosea 10.12; Isaiah 33.22)! Hear our prayer, O Lord, and let our cry come to you!

I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you. For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life. / Father, be with these young adults heading onward, outward and upward. Help them to always remember whose they are, who they are and why they are. Oh, Lord God, that they would daily recall that you are exalted, for you dwell on high; that you will fill Zion with justice and righteousness; you will be the stability of their times; abundance of salvation; wisdom, and knowledge; and that the fear of the LORD will always be their treasure (Isaiah 33.5-6). Hear our prayer, O Lord, and let our cry come to you!

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Sunday evening:

O LORD, you formed us from the womb; you make all things, stretched out the heavens all alone and spread abroad the earth by yourself. You frustrate the signs of the babblers, driving diviners mad. You turn wise men backward and make their knowledge foolishness. But you confirm the word of your prophets, and perform the counsel of your messengers (Isaiah 44.24-25). It is to you that we come and offer up our prayers and petitions. O Lord, hear our prayer.

First, we ask you to be with your Church throughout the world, especially in East Timor (now called Timor-Leste); Ecuador; Egypt; El Salvador; Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Estonia; and Ethiopia. Shake us free from the lust for respectability and restlessness, and by your Spirit, fill us with your power, love and sound mindedness. O Lord, hear our prayer.

Our hearts are heavy burdened for those who have never trusted in Jesus Christ and his saving work, as well as those who once declared their faith in Jesus but have since wondered away….Generate in them a repentant faith and a faithful repentance, drawing them to our Savior. O Lord, hear our prayer.

Look on the nations of this world, and grant them mercy and peace that they might hear and obey your Son. We ask you to keep these United States of America from falling over the sound economic and solid-morality cliff off into the cavernous abyss of mindlessness, covetousness, and decadence. O Lord, hear our prayer.

As we start gearing up for Carnegie, we ask for the resources and people we will need to accomplish what you have given us to do. And as we start to pull together our own Mega Sports VBS, we ask for active participation of volunteers, willingness, resilience and insight. For both we pray that you would go before us, preparing the kids and adults who will hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that they will be made ready by your work on them, to receive your Son and turn from their sins. O Lord, hear our prayer.

Finally, we entreat you to provide help, peace, health, sound minds and sound bodies to these who are harassed by various ailments… O Lord, hear our prayer.