"Since you Are God, the Father Almighty..." - 20 December 2020

 [Martin Luther was once asked by his barber for a prayer guide. Luther wrote him a short manual that encouraged him to use the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, but also the Apostles' Creed as outlines for prayer, and then he gave him examples. Today's congregational prayer uses the Apostles' Creed to shape our prayers]

Since you are God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, we pray for your creation and creatures whom you made, and whom you sustain. Please continue to supply the showers and rainfalls we need and thank you for what has been provided already. Replenish our resources and reserves. Preserve our continent from fires, floods, plagues and pestilence. Please continue your kindnesses to our country and shine the light of your mercy on all nations of this world. Relieve us from this pandemic and grant us to recover from its consequences. Bring all peoples to recognize that in you we live and move and have our being. Bring kindness and care to be exhibited unilaterally, and calm the troubling voices and saber-rattling. We also implore your compassion for those who need our prayers, because their estate in life at present is precarious or poor (…). Lift up their heads from the dreariness or darkness, their dearth or disease that they may come to count it all joy when they meet trials of various kinds and come to know that the testing of their faith is to produce steadfastness (James 1:2-3).

 

Jesus Christ, the only Son of God by nature, and our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, who was crucified, dead, and buried: descended into hell; who on the third day rose again from the dead; ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from whence you shall come to judge the living and the dead. We pray for your Gospel that it may prevail in all hamlets and habitations. Empower and enervate your messengers, ministers, and missionaries to clearly, charitably and courageously proclaim your whole counsel, showing the magnificence of your saving work. May our nations become truly evangelized; and may your world rescue operation expand until the earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14); may heretics and God-haters renounce their errors and be granted repentance;  and may the wayward and unbelieving finally submit to you, rely on you and be reconciled to the Father by you – especially these we pray for now (…).

 

And, O Holy Spirit, since what Christ accomplished for us you applied to us, and bring forth beautifully and with greater fullness the outcomes of Christ’s coming: the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. We pray for all those who make profession of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, together with their children” (BCO 2-1 and WCF 25.2) in every land; in this congregation, as well as Pentecostal Church of God Southwest; Zion Christian Fellowship; Hilcrest Pentecostal Church of God; and Liberty Worship Center. May the Church of Jesus Christ thrive, be reinvigorated, and be increasingly reformed and recovered. And make us ever “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). All for Christ’s honor we ask. Amen.