"We Make Bold to Call on You" - 18 October 2026

 

Lord, your servant John concluded his first letter with these words: “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:20-21). For these reasons we make bold to call on you, to call on you in truth (Psalm 145:18).

For your church on every continent, including this congregation, Trinity UMC, Village UMC, Wesley UMC, Del City 1st Church of the Nazarene, we pray. Help us to keep ourselves from idols, whether the handmade or heart-made kind! Bring us to grow in understanding you, your purposes, your Word, and your ways for us. Deepen our perception and knowledge of Jesus who is true and is the true God and eternal life. Draw us together in him and reform us all.

Thank you for the Thrive! conference yesterday. Thank you for the insights to equip us in ministering to those with learning and cognitive challenges. Bless and enrich the upcoming Oklahoma Conference on Reformed Theology. Give Barry York your gracious guidance and presence. Cause all who attend to be genuinely fortified in the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

Look upon the many seminaries in our land, especially Gordon-Conwell, Mid-America, and Erskine. May each campus be an environment of faithfulness, thoughtfulness, decorum and flourishing sanctity.

We pray for our world, all the national governments and citizens, and our own country. May sanity, sobriety, civility and stability be the order of the day for all realms and all communities. Lord God, give peace in our time. In this regard, Lord, we are saddened by the children and teacher killed in Bend, Oregon. Bring comfort to the grieving families. Grant recovery – physically and mentally – to the wounded. Thank you for the courage of Kaylub Giamanco, risking all as he stopped what would have been so much worse.

Superintend and direct the upcoming mid-term elections. We have often been hoodwinked by the campaigners and campaigns, talking heads and tattlers, and we go to the voting booths knowing that we are not omniscient or omni-competent. Therefore, guide us to vote well with what we can perceive, to be gracious to those who vote otherwise, and to trust you are sovereign even over elections! 

Take care of those in tough times, who feel like their lives are raging storms, and help us to minister your mercy and comfort. Rescue those who are perishing, reclaim the wayward, restore the repentant. Give us the courage to be your means of Gospel grace to them. Liberate and release those who being badgered, bullied, bludgeoned, mistreated, molested or mauled emotionally, verbally, or physically. And, please Lord, grant us the wisdom to know how to be part of your liberation and release, and give us the nerve to take the right steps. Now, we pray as Jesus taught us saying, Our Father…

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