"We Give You Thanks, O LORD" - 4 February 2018


We give you thanks, O LORD, with our whole heart; before the gods we sing your praise; we bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. On the day we called, you answered us; our strength of soul you increased (Psalm 138.1-3). Hear us again as we pray for your world and Church.

We pray that the day will soon arrive when all the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O LORD, when they will hear the words of your mouth, and sing of the ways of the LORD, for great is the glory of the LORD (Psalm 138.4-5). To this end we pray for you to raise up men and women, individuals and families, who will take the Gospel of Jesus Christ into all lands, to every tribe and ethnic group. Bless the work of For the Children’s Sake Foundation; International Justice Mission; and Compassion International. Fill their manpower gaps and their monetary essentials. Open doors that no one can shut, and grant them favor with local officials. Also, we implore you on behalf of this country, and all nations, including Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; and Guyana. May governmental leaders be fair and just and may their citizens be well and whole. In those places where women, girls, the elderly, the crippled, and those of the supposedly wrong people groups are routinely violated and treated with scorn; we pray you to raise up wholesome protectors and moral adjudicators who will “do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause” (Isaiah 1.17).

Though you, O LORD, are high, you regard the lowly, but the haughty you know from afar (Psalm 138.6). Enrich the faithful work of your Church in all places, including this congregation; Harrison Baptist Church; Heartland Freewill Baptist; Higher Ground Baptist; Holy Divine Baptist; and Holy United Baptist Church. Empower your people to lovingly and humbly display the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our inner interactions and external enterprises. Teach us to profit, and lead us in the way we should go (Isaiah 48.17).

Though we walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve our life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of our enemies, and your right hand delivers us (Psalm 138.7). With certainty that you deeply care for us, we beseech you to look on the privations of your people, whether sick…. penurious …. persecuted…. prosecuted…. or smashed... Stretch forth your healing, helping, upholding hand and lift their hearts.

O LORD, you will fulfill your purpose for us; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands (Psalm 138.8). You know better than we do, our environmental situation, the level of our water tables, the amount of moisture in the soil. You save both man and beast (Psalm 36.6) and care about our crops and cattle. Oh God who governs jet streams and rain totals, shower us richly and replenish this state. 

All for Christ’s sake we pray. Amen.

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