"Glorious Things of You Are Spoken" - 14 July 2024

 

On the holy mount stands the city he founded; the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of God. Selah. Sometimes, Lord, we forget that you love the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Sometimes we think you should cherish our country more than you do your Church. Sometimes our constitutional concerns become more important to us than the cares of your kingdom. So, remembering that you love the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob, we still pray for our country as you have bidden us to do. Tensions abound on the right hand and on the left. There are places and spaces of injustice in our courts, on our streets, on top of buildings, behind closed doors, and out in the open. Therefore, we implore your kindness and goodness to come and smother the seething cinders and to promote civil righteousness, fairmindedness, helpfulness and benevolence. Thank you for the many who are working to foster civility and sanity and uprightness; those in office, those who patrol neighborhoods and streets, and those who influence their communities. We pray for those wounded in the shooting in Butler, PA, that they will recover and turn their hearts to you in gratitude. We pray for the mourning and grieving, draw them near and console their anguish. And, dear God, merciful God, righteous God, put an end to such evil. Further, we pray for countries that have been bloodied by bandits or are governed by gangsters. Please give relief, justice and restoration.

Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon; behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush— “This one was born there,” they say. And of Zion it shall be said, “This one and that one were born in her”; for the Most High himself will establish her. The LORD records as he registers the peoples, “This one was born there.” Selah. We pray for your Church that meets here, your Church all over the world; for the PCA; and for First Christian in Moore, First Presbyterian, and First Reformed Presbyterian in Minco. Where she is facing hard ways in hard places, grant her help and relief. Where she is impoverished and penurious fill her up with all she needs. In the places where she has compromised under the prevailing pressures, bring her to hearty repentance. May her numbers increase, her faith flourish, and her hope be rock solid. May wayward children be restored to the fellowship of Christ’s people and may many, many more who have never believed come to faith in Christ and be numbered among the citizens of Zion from every tribe, tongue, skin color and nation (…). And may our Mega Sports VBS be a valuable part of this happening!

Singers and dancers alike say, “All my springs are in you.” O Father, as you well know, some find themselves experiencing serious troubles – health, finances, future, family, recovery from surgeries, physical weakness, mental or emotional challenges, and other areas (…). We ask you on their behalf to raise them up, give them hope, show them better times and better days, and may they feel all the way down into their bones that you will never leave them nor forsake them so that with the singers and dancers they may say, “All my springs are in you!”[1] And now, we join hearts and voices to pray together as Jesus our Lord taught us, saying, Our Father…


[1] Psalm 87