A Prayer

Father,

We live in a world that can, at times, be harsh. Sometimes, it's other people who complicate our lives. But then, at other times, it's just how the events of each day unfold. And while much of the time, it's just a matter of a bit of inconvenience, there are those times when we wished it was only a matter of inconvenience.

And yet, we know, Father, that You are near to us as we make our way through this world. And You are near to do us good. In fact, even in the harsh events of this life, You are near to use those events to bring about much good, good for Your kingdom as well as good for us.

So, Father, we would simply ask that You would build up our faith so that when we hit those hard spots, whether merely some inconvenience or something much worse, we would trust You to act. Grant us the ability to turn to You, to make clear our needs to You, so that, by Your grace, instead of being overwhelmed by what is going on, we would be at peace.

Father, we are asking for this not merely for our own sakes. We know that we live in a place and a time where people are increasingly uninterested in listening to a presentation of the Gospel. However, as their lives fall apart - and that is increasingly the case for more and more people - if they could see our lives, lives that aren't falling apart, they would come to us and ask how we do that. That's when they will be willing to listen. So, for the sake of the spread of the Gospel, for the sake of the honor of Your name, we ask that You would grant our request. Grant us the grace to believe this part of the Gospel, especially when we are tempted not to believe it. Grant us the ability to trust You in every situation of life and thus to live well. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

A Prayer

I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. Psalm 40:1,2

Father,

How good it is for us to say that this is true not just of David but of us as well. Once, because of our sin, we were in the pit of destruction. We were trapped in the miry bog of our depravity. But you did not leave us there. By Your great grace, You rescued us. You sent Your Son, our Lord Jesus. And because of what He has done, You set our feet upon a rock, making our steps secure. You have been so good to us.

And that by itself would have been more than enough for You to gain our thanks. But You haven't acted just once in our lives. There have been other times when we were ensnared by some aspect of our sin. And in those other times, we cried out to You. And You heard our cries and  acted. We were in need, real need, and You acted. You rescued us from the things that were confronting us.

And what happened to David as a result of Your rescue has also happened to us.

He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Psalm 40:3

We do praise You, Father, for how You have rescued us, time and again. And we are sure that there will be many more times when we will cry out to you and find that You will once again act to rescue us.

We echo David's expectation as we consider all of this.

Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord. Psalm 40:3

We thank You, Father, for being the kind of Father that You are to us. It is our desire to see many put their trust in You, something that will make You look as good as You are. Through Christ, our Lord, Amen.

A Prayer

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Father,

Your Name is majestic. It is regal, lofty, magnificent. You are the amazing God. And even just a little reflection makes this obvious. You are the one who has created all of this. You created it out of and into nothing. You are the one who maintains the existence every single atom by Your powerful Word. And You are the one whose plan defines every detail of every event of every life. You are the majestic God.

And that makes us wonder, Father.

What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

You are mindful of us. You are aware of all the happens to us. And that is not just some distant awareness. You are intimately aware. And that is because You care. You care for us. And You care for us because You care about us. But it makes no sense for You to care, Father. Why do you bother? Compared to You, what are we? What do we have to offer to You? How could You possible benefit from us? We are completely unnecessary.

And then to make it worse, we aren't even good people. No, there is so much about us that is just wrong. We give ourselves to evil things far more than we realize. And all too often we do those evil things rather flagrantly, not really caring that You are aware of what we are doing. But still, You are mindful of us. You care. How mysterious.

We want You to know, Father, that we are grateful. We are grateful that You care, that You really do care.

Father, we ask that You would get us to see the reality of who You are much more clearly than we do, much more clearly. We ask for this so that we might be able to respond more appropriately to You, our magnificent God. We are grateful that, because of Jesus, there is the hope that we will make progress in living wisely before You, in living in a way that will please You. That hope makes us happy. We look forward to the day when we will be so completely changed that we will understand so much better that You really are the majestic God. That is when we will honor You in a way that is more like what You deserve. And that will be so very good. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

A Prayer

Father,

You have told us that there is nothing for us to fear. After all, You are our God and You have promised to care for us in every way. You will get us home. And when the evil one tempts us to fall into the sin of being anxious about what's going on in our lives all we need do is pray. In our weakness, we can call out to You to deal with whatever it is that is confronting us, and You promise to give us Your peace. What a great comfort this is!

This is something that so many around us do not have. The gods that they worship may promise to give some kind of peace, but they are not able to come through. At some point, especially when it matters most, they will all fail. But not You. What You promise to do You always do. And that's because You are the real God, the only real God.

It is our great privilege to know You as the amazing God that You are. You have been so very kind to us to include us among those You have called out of the mess of this world's thinking and living. You have been so very kind to us to include us among those who enjoy Your very gracious promises. And we are so very grateful to You.

Father, we know that there is more to You than what we now know. There is more of You for us to enjoy. And so, we humbly ask that You would do what is necessary so that we do get to know You better and enjoy You more. We realize that that will mean that You will need to deal with our sin. And we realize that that may be rather uncomfortable. We all have sins that we cherish and giving them up will be hard. But getting more of You as a result is certainly worth it.

So, we look forward to what You will do to remove the sinful obstacles in our lives so that we can get more of You. This is why Jesus has come and there is nothing that will get in the way of Him succeeding at this goal of His. And this is another expression of kindness that we are so grateful for. Amen.

A Prayer

Father,

In the prayer that Jesus told us to pray, the very first petition is, ‘Hallowed be Thy Name’. We fully acknowledge, Father, how appropriate it is to begin with this petition. Life is not about us. It’s about You. It’s about Your honor, Your honor on earth as well as in heaven. It’s only right that for us to pray that Your Name, the person whom You have revealed Yourself to be, would be honored by all. It is only right that that petition have the first priority in our prayers.

But You are not honored by all. In fact, there are pitifully few who actually do honor You. You are ignored, trivialized and even despised by so many. But that makes no sense. You are the great God. You are the one who stands above creation, overseeing every little detail. You are the standard of right and wrong, of good and evil. Apart from You, how can anyone even know what a good life is, let alone be able to pursue it? And You are the one who is full of justice for all and mercy for some. How is it possible for You to be ignored, trivialized or despised?

But we need to admit, Father, that there are those times when we fall into the same attitudes of these many. There are those times when we do not honor You. There are those times when we also ignore and even trivialize You. And, sad to say, there may even have been those times when we despised You for what You were doing in our lives. This is just wrong. And we have no excuse. We know what we deserve. But we also know that You have also named Yourself as the God who graciously forgives. And so, because of Jesus, we would be bold to ask that You would forgive us of these shameful sins against You.

Father, we see what You call for. It’s not complicated. You want us to honor You, to hallow Your name. And we want to do that. But we are so weak. And the world, the flesh and the devil are so strong. We need Your grace. And so, we ask for that grace so that we would be able to act in the way that we pray all would act, that we would hallow Your Name. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

A Prayer

Father,

We are grateful to You for the many blessings that you grant us. This is especially true as we think about how often we fail You. But time and again, because of Your great mercy, You forgive us and once again bless us. And one way that You bless is by making us happy. You create situations that please us so. Life is not meant to be dour and somber over and over. You have created us to be happy. And You have made it possible for us to enjoy that happiness in many different ways.

But, Father, the happiness that we have experienced is so fleeting. It is so often a brief and fading thing. And the mundane, or even the dour and somber, takes over once again. We understand why this is. We live in a world cursed by sin. Everything within us and around us has been twisted by sin. And frankly, Father, sometimes it just gets hard.

But You have promised us that a day is coming when all of the curse of sin will be gone. Completely gone. Nothing will be twisted by sin. Everything will be made new and beautiful. And every day will be filled with overflowing happiness. Father, to be honest, we're not even sure what that means. We've never experienced anything like that. But it's what You have promised. So, we believe You. That day is coming.

But in the meantime, we are here. And sometimes it gets to feeling like it's just a bit much. So, Father, we look to You. What else can we do? We look to You to grant us the grace we need to continue to believe Your promise about that day, about that happy day, that is coming. Grant us the grace needed so that we can continue to hope. Your doing that will give us the ability to face each day; to enjoy the happy times that we experience because of Your grace and to push through the hard times by means of Your grace. And when we finally arrive at that happy day, we will give You blessing and honor and glory and might along with the rest of creation that You will have rescued. And so we pray, Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

A Prayer

We are grateful, Father, that You are the God who is always near to Your people. Others have their own gods, and these gods promise much, but they are never near to act for the good of those who worship them. But that's not You. You are always near to us. You are Immanuel.

You are near to watch over us wherever we are and whatever we are doing. You are near to guide us through the maze of this life with its confusion and evil. You are near to defend us. We have our enemies. And the worst enemies are invisible to us. Satan and his devils hate us and want to do whatever they can to undo us. But You are near. As we seek refuge under Your wings, we are completely safe. And You are near to correct us. You do that gently, as the caring Father that You are. And don't we need to be corrected. We barely understand this life and our place in it. We have been misled in so many different ways, some of them innocent mistakes and some of them malicious. And there is so much of this that we just don't see. So, we need Your correction and are so very grateful for it.

Thank You, Father, for being the kind of God that You are for us, a God who is so very near.

But there are too many times that we don't believe this part of the Gospel. There are too many times that we believe that we are on our own. And so, we try to navigate life based on what we think that we know instead of depending on Your wisdom. This is so foolish. And it is insulting to You, Father. We are ashamed of ourselves because of that. But on top of that, it's just plain stupid. Here You are, offering Yourself to us, offering Your wisdom, and we ignore You and strike out on our own. Pretty dumb. So, we ask, Father, that You would forgive us this terrible sin. Grant us the grace that we need to see it for what it is so that we would grow to hate it like You do. And then, by Your Spirit, teach our hearts to believe this part of the Gospel, to believe it vigorously. You are the God who is near, who is always near. Life would be so very different if we were to believe that more than we do. Grant us the grace that we need so that we could make progress in this.

We ask this, Father, not primarily for our benefit, though there is much benefit here for us. We ask this so that our lives would be a means that You could use to reveal Yourself to the people around us. There are so many who have such a low opinion of You. And no wonder. Far too many Christians give them good reason to have a low opinion of You. So, change us, teach us, correct us some more so that we would live the truth before the watching eyes of those around us to the end that they would come and bow before You, the only true God. Through Christ our Lord, Amen. 

A Prayer

Father,

You have blessed us with many, many good gifts. One cherished gift among them is Your Word. How precious is this revelation of who You are and what You do. Because we understand something of the glories of Your Word, we join in the psalmist's prayer.

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.

Father, we know that there are wondrous things in Your Word, things that amaze and cause us to marvel at You.

It is from Your Word that we have learned how, by merely speaking, You created all that we see and more. There was nothing and then there was everything.

It is from Your word that we have learned how, by a great flood, You undid, to such a great extent, that same creation, grieving as You did that, because You could no longer stomach the evil of those who inhabited Your world.

It is from Your Word that we have learned how You sent a Savior to the same world that You had condemned, a world that was still populated by so many who give themselves to evil.

And it is from Your Word that we have learned that Your Spirit has taken the work of that Savior and applied it to us so that we could be rescued from the evil that we once gave ourselves to.

Father, there are more wondrous things in Your Word that we have not yet learned. And so, with the psalmist, we ask that You would open our eyes. Our sin blinds us to truths about who You are and what You do, things that would amaze us. Open our eyes so that we will see more of the wonder of who You are in the pages of Your Word and then, as a result, in the world around us. We ask for this not simply to experience some ecstatic feeling of surprise. No, we ask for this so that, getting to see more clearly the kind of God that You are, we would worship You more fully. Based on what little we now know, we do worship You as the great God that You are. But how much greater will our worship be as You reveal from Your Word more of the wonder of who You are.

Father, we look forward to the age to come when, in ways that we now cannot imagine, every day will be filled with more amazement because every day we will see You so much more clearly.

But there is time between then and now. And so, we ask, even while we inhabit this age, that You would continue to open our eyes to more so that as we grow in our understanding of the Word, we will grow in our worship of You. Through Christ our Lord, Amen..

A Prayer

Father,

We are grateful for the many good gifts that You give to us. We are your sons and daughters, and You are our loving Father. We offer our prayers to You, and You always listen and respond with wisdom. We can hope in the midst of pain because You have showered us with Your promises. You really are so very good to us.

Father, You are also a refuge for our souls. Day by day, we face the various difficulties of life. Most of them are trivial, mere annoyances, though they still get in the way of things. Then, there are those more serious incidents. And life pauses a bit to deal with them. But then, there are those times of absolute terror. We’ve hit some terrible crisis. These may not be many but when they happen, life is derailed.

But how good to know that when these frightening crises strike, we can find refuge, safety, comfort, under the shadow of Your wings. What peace that gives to us as we are confronted with the pain of these terrible moments. We are not alone. You, our God, are with us to protect us and to comfort us and to guide us. How good.

There are, sadly, those who do not understand You, who do not understand how You guide us through this life. They see some crisis come into our lives, and they scoff, asking why You didn’t just keep it from ever happening. They see this and question Your love and Your power. They talk about how, if You exist, You are not worth knowing. But we know better. We have no doubts about Your love or Your power. We know that the crises that we face are from You. We know that You have the power to stop them at any moment. But You don’t. No, instead, You send them our way. You send them for our good, as an expression of Your love. There is much that we can learn while in such situations. We can learn, in a dramatic way, how weak and needy we really are. We come to see in vivid ways that we are not the masters of our fate, nor the captains of our souls. No, You are the one who rules while we are small, quite limited creatures. That is reality. And it is a lesson that everyone needs to learn.

You send us these crises, but You do not intend for us to deal with them alone. As You send them our way, You also offer Your comfort and care and guidance to us. You do this so that we will endure what You’ve sent and gain the wisdom that You intend. We are grateful that You are this kind of God to us.

Father, so much of reality is hidden by mystery. There are so many things that we have no clue about. But this we know. You are our God. And it is Your promise to bless us with much good so that we will come to understand what we need to understand and thus flourish. We thank You for the blessings of all that You send our way. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

A Prayer

Father,

Even a brief glance at the world around us reveals the wonder of Your creative ability. We have assigned fancy names for what we see: cumulus clouds, deciduous trees, marsupials, fissure vents, fold mountains, block mountains, black holes, corneas, tracheas and all the rest - but behind all of that is You. Behind all of our labels is the wonder of what You have done in creating all of this. You are the God who has taken nothing and molded it into something, and that something is glorious. You have created something filled with beauty. What other god is able to do that?

But so much of what You have made has been made hideous. Instead of glorious beauty we see far too much ugliness. And that is because of sin. Sin shows its presence. It has done its hideous work. And so, now we also have tornadoes and hurricanes, diphtheria and malaria, Alzheimer's and cancer, broken families and war. Now, we have death.

Father, there are those who try to ignore the ugliness that sin has brought about. They paint it over with bright colors. They don't see it because they don't want to see it. And they don't want to see it because they have no answer for it all. They cannot explain what is so evil.

But then, there are those who are consumed by the ugliness that sin brings. They see it everywhere. And it is all that they see. They cannot see anything else. These so easily fall into despair.

But neither of these is how we are to respond to what we see. After all, Jesus has come. He has come to begin the work of restoring the beauty and removing the ugliness. And He has begun that work in us. We are not the terrible sinners that we once were. By His Spirit, He has been changing us and making us beautiful.

But we do need to grieve at so much of what we see around us. Sin really is ugly. It really is destructive. This is not the way it's supposed to be. But this does not overwhelm us. We are to grieve, but we do that in hope. We have a promise from You. Jesus will return. You have promised that when He does, He will completely restore everything to its pristine beauty and wonder and glory. We wait for that with great longing.

To grieve yet in hope will require of us what we do not have. So, Father, please grant to us the grace that we need. Grant us the grace to grieve and yet to do that in hope. To do this is to live according to reality, the reality of what now is and what will certainly be. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

A Prayer

O Lord our God,

You are a fascinating God. Mystery surrounds so much of who You are. You tell us that You are one God, the true and living God. And yet, You also tell us that You are, at the same time, three - Father, Son and Spirit. You are above time, watching all of it at once. That means that there is no before or after for You. It's all now. You also tell us that You don't change. You don't change what You think or what You do or anything. You tell us that it's impossible for You to change. And on top of all of that, You have no beginning and no end. We understand no end. You have made us immortal. We will never end. Every person will live, somewhere, forever. But we have no idea of what it means to have no beginning. Everything we know, or everything else that we know, has a beginning. But not You. How do You do that?

Lord God, there is so much about You that we do not understand. And that actually makes sense. There are certain aspects of who You are that we will never understand. And yet, there are aspects of who You are that we actually could understand so much better, but don't. And that's why we have such small notions of who You are and what You can do - which is why we have such small expectations of You.

And so, Lord God, we have some requests of You. We ask, first, that You would forgive us for our lack of understanding of who You are. Not for the things that we could never understand, but for the things that we could understand but don't work at understanding. You have made us so that we would know You, and know You well. But we are distracted by other pursuits. We have no excuse. Nature itself is filled with the wonder of who You are. And then, there is all that Scripture explains. With all this wealth before us, we don't work to understand You very well and that is not at all good. Please forgive us.

We also ask You to change all of that so that we would understand You. We're not asking for some immediate magical change that fills us with information that we don't currently have. No, instead we ask that You would give us a hunger to understand You more deeply. There are, to be sure, aspects of who You are that we will never comprehend. But that still leaves much about You that actually is quite available to us. Grant to us the yearning to know better, to know more profoundly, these things about You. We ask for this, Lord God, because this is why You created us, to understand and to enjoy You, our Creator; to understand and to enjoy You, our Redeemer. Grant to us this hunger which will result in our doing more to consider the mysteries of who You are. As we do that, our lives, our priorities, our desires, what we love and what we hate - all of that will change. We will come to understand You better. And because of that we will glorify You in the ways that You created us to glorify You. That would be heavenly. So, please grant this request as we offer it up to You through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer

Father,

We know that a life lived well is lived in submission to Your revealed will. And we know that that is more than obedience. It is an attitude. It is a desire to yield to You. It is rooted in the acknowledgement that You are the wise God who is for us and that life, in its fullest sense, is gained only in submitting to Your wisdom and trusting Your care.

But Father, there are so many who refuse to yield to You. They refuse to obey Your revealed will. They live according to their own wisdom. They think that they are wise enough and that they know enough. How foolish. No wonder their lives will not work. We are seeing this more and more as people are shedding even the superficial nod to Your revealed will. These have been lied to and misled so that they come to believe that life on their own is the only way to go. How sad.

There are also those who are eager to mislead. They have consciously and completely embraced a life of rebellion against You. And it is their great desire to get as many as they can to follow their lead. These are so very evil because they are leading many to destruction, both now and forever. They deserve to be cursed by You. And so, we ask You, Father, to do exactly that. You are the God who does not leave the guilty unpunished. So, we pray, punish these liars. Make their lives horrific. Bring justice so that some will see and will reconsider their own rebellion.

We ask You, Father, to bless us. Bless us with a growing submission to Your revealed will. There are still many places where we are not doing well at this, areas of our lives where we want to live our own way. By Your Spirit, point out these areas to us and grant us the repentance and faith that we need so that we will be changed and that to the glory of Your Name.

Our desire, Father, is expressed in these words that we offer to You. 'Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.'

Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

A Prayer

We rejoice in You, O God. We rejoice in who You are and what You do for us and in us.

You are our Father. You are our perfect Father. You love us with a father's love. You are tender toward us when we hurt, compassionate when we struggle, and yes, even stern with us when we need it. And Your love for us never wavers from full-on complete love. Never. We rejoice in how You are such a good Father to us.

Lord Jesus, You are our Savior. You have already saved us by Your life, death and resurrection. Our sins - our awful acts, our terrible attitudes, and our dreadful ways - have all been dealt with. They are completely forgiven. They are completely forgotten. You are also saving us now. You ever live to make intercession for us before the Father. It is Your sacrifice that continues to make us accepted by the Father. And You will yet save us when You return to finish the work that You started, when You return to restore all of creation, us included, to its pristine state. We rejoice in how You are such a good Savior to us.

Spirit of God, You are the Paraclete. You are always with us. You walk through this life with us, every step of the way. You are always near to counsel us, to tell us what we need to know so that we can make good choices. You are always near to comfort us when life gets so hard. You are always near to change us from the foul and sinful people we were into the beautiful, whole people we are destined to become. We rejoice in Your persistent presence with us.

We praise You, our God - Father, Son and Spirit - for the wonders of Your grace in our lives. And we look forward to the day when we will be able to tell You, face-to-face, how much we love You. And amen.

A Prayer

Father,

The world that You created was a place that You blessed. In it You planted a Garden filled with nourishing food, beautiful plants, friendly animals roaming about, and two people who loved You and each other.

It was a place with great beauty, a place with great promise, a place of great peace.

But then things went wrong. Satan offered his lies, and he was believed. As a result, instead of Your blessing there was Your curse. The first of our race fell from their glorious positions as Lord and Lady of all. Along with them, all of creation also fell into ugliness, despair, conflict.

And ever since, humanity lives in a place filled with evil. We see the results every day.

- Confusion

- Frustrations

- Schemes

- Doubts

- Fear

- Lies

- Suspicions

- Quarrels

We see these sorts of things all around us and, all too often, within us, too. What was once wonderful, that is, full of wonder, has become something full of woe.

So, Father, we pray, deliver us from evil. Deliver us from the ugliness, the broken relations, the battles against Satan and his horde. Deliver us from the struggle, the pain, the sadness. Deliver us from the frustration, the weariness, the memories. Deliver us from the sin. Deliver us from evil.

It is so good to know that You've already begun the process of delivering us. Jesus has come to provide redemption, redemption for all of this. The Spirit is here to make that real in our lives. We are grateful that we already have a taste of what is to come, that we already have a taste of the beauty, the promise, the peace. And one day the process of deliverance will come to its conclusion. Jesus will return. And everything will be restored. Everything will be right again. We will live in a renewed Garden of even greater beauty, broader promise, deeper peace.

So, we pray for the grace to keep at it, to persevere in the work of following Jesus, to be the means by which You change all of this, to be the means by which You complete the process of delivering all things from evil.

And while we wait and work, we also pray, Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

A Prayer

Father,

It is simply amazing to consider. Jesus was dead, but He now lives. On the third day, He sat up in that tomb and walked out. And creation hasn't been the same ever since.

Creation still groans, but it groans in hope. The day will come when the last vestiges of Your curse will be removed. And creation will once again be the pristine Garden that it once was.

And while it's true that we also still groan, we also groan in hope. On that same day that creation is restored, we, likewise, will be freed from all of death's power to ruin life, and the last bits of sin that we still wrestle with will be destroyed.

And all of this is because of what Jesus has done. He stared death in the face, didn't flinch and won. And now, we have a tremendous gift, real life now and more of it later.

And so, Father, we ask that You would grant us the grace that we need so that we would live more in keeping with reality, more in keeping with what Jesus has done. Yes, there are still battles to fight, but we ask for the grace to fight those battles with death and remaining sin encouraged by the certainty of victory. Grant to us the ability to hope even when the evil one whispers lies in our ears about how hopeless the situation is. Grant us the grace to believe that we really are more than conquerors through Him who loved us at the Cross and who changed everything at the tomb.

And we ask Father that You would give us tender hearts that see the plight of so many for whom these things are so foreign. They have no Gospel. They have no Savior. And so, they have no hope, for this life or the next. Grant to us the compassion needed to reach out to them with Good News, the Good News of someone who has crushed their enemies and offers them real living now and something even better than that later.

Grant us these things so that our lives would reflect more and more of the glory of who You are as Father, Son and Spirit. Amen.

A Prayer

Father,

We rejoice at the thought, the simple yet profound thought, that Jesus is Lord. He is the one who rules. And He rules over every aspect of creation. And He rules with a focus on His Church.

But, Father, every day we are bombarded with messages that try to convince of the opposite, that try to convince us that this world is out of control or that some nation or super corporation or terrorist group has the power to control so much. But we know that none of that is true. Jesus is Lord. He is the one who rules all that goes on throughout this globe and in every aspect of our lives.

We know this, Father, and we really do believe it. But sometimes we don't. Sometimes we yield to the lies. And that shows in our fears, in our worries, in our trying to plan everything out in such detail, thinking that if we are able to anticipate all the possibilities, we will be safe. What foolishness. And in our saner moments we see that it really is foolishness.

So, we ask, Father, first, that You would forgive us this sin. Forgive us that we believe, at times, that someone else is lord or that we can be lord over our own lives or that there is no lord and who knows what will happen. Forgive us this sin and grant us the grace that we need to believe the truth. Jesus is Lord.

We desire to live believing this truth not just because it is right. We desire to do this because it makes possible a life that works, a life that honors You, a life that reveals the beauty of the Gospel. It is as we believe this basic truth that we able to stand against the lies and, in this way, to encourage our brothers and sisters in the faith as well as to appeal to those who are far from You.

Father, we look forward to the day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. There will be the saints who will do this very willingly, rejoicing as we do. But there will be the rest who still will do this but will hate every moment. But whether willingly or not, all will profess the truth and that to Your glory.

Father, we look forward to the day when we will be able to fully enjoy the Lordship of Jesus. No more lies to deceive us. No more battles to fight. Grant us the grace that we need to be faithful in these days and and to continue faithful until we arrive at that day. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

A Prayer

Father,

You have called us to glorify Your name. And as, over the years, we have gotten to know you better and better, we can see why calling for that makes sense. You are the great and awesome God.  You really are that good. So, glorifying Your name is simply responding to reality.

You are the God who performs wonders. We read about some of those in Your Word. But these wonders of Yours are not limited to a people who lived in some alien place, long ago. We also have experienced Your wonders in our own lives.

You are the God who has made astounding promises to Your people. And that includes us. But what are we? We are mere creatures. Just saying that makes this astounding. The Creator obligates Himself to His creatures. But that's not all there is to it. We are also terrible sinners, even now as Christians. We are terrible sinners. And yet, You have not cancelled any of those promises. They are still Your pledge to us. And we know, from experience, that You are the God who keeps all of His promises.

You are the God who is always with us, watching us. Sadly, there are those who misunderstand that. They see it as You wanting to catch us in our sin. But that's not what You're doing. When You are with us, watching us, You are watching over us. Wherever we find ourselves, whatever is going on, You are there with us, to make sure that we are safe. And we can depend on that.

You are the God who cares. To so many, people are just another means to some selfish end, objects to be used and when no longer usable, to be discarded. But that's not how You see us. We are not pawns to be used and then cast aside. You care for us. You care for us because You care about us.

Father, these qualities are only a little slice of who You are. But seeing even just this little bit, it is easy to glorify Your name because You are an amazing God.

We are so grateful that You called us into Your Church so that we could get to know You. We so look forward to the age to come when we will be able to see You face to face and to have all the time that we need to get to know You well. And we pray this through Jesus who makes it all possible. Amen.

A Prayer

Father,

You are our God, and You have done us so much good. Our blessings abound. And the greatest of these blessings is that You have rescued us from our sinfulness and adopted us into Your family as Your children. Eternity will not be long enough for us to express how grateful we are for this. You are our very good God.

And yet, Father, life here is not perfect. Actually, it is far from perfect. We don't want to complain against You, against Your wisdom or against Your love. But as the psalmists do, we want to complain to You. We want to offer up to You our lament.

Father, as we look around us, we see so much that is just wrong. Throughout this globe, there are wars and diseases and disasters. And so many are simply wasting their lives. They pursue things that cannot give life but rather only death. In all of this, we can see that sin is quite powerful, though most don't understand this.

And it's not just what's going on around us. Each of us here has his own list of issues. We've all tasted disappointment, sometimes severe disappointment. Even now, we face some things that just confuse us as we try to live well. Who has no struggles?

This is not a complaint against You, Father. We don't want to do that because we understand the foolishness of doing such a thing. But we do want to appeal to You as our Father. So, we ask for Your Spirit to do His redemptive work among us. There are life skills that we lack, skills that would make our lives work better. We ask that He would teach them to us. We acknowledge that this will likely require our repentance. But if that will result in doing a better job of living well for Your sake, we are ready for the Spirit point out our sin that we may admit it to You and to ourselves. That way we can begin the work of putting it to death. We want to grow as holy people so that we can do better at being faithful people.

We realize that there will be many things about this life that will not change. Sin has done its work very well. So, we ask for the grace to endure, to patiently endure, the pains of living in a fallen world. But along with that we pray for an end of those pains. We pray for Jesus to return. And we ask for this because we know that that is when all the wars, diseases and disasters will be gone, along with all the struggles and disappointments and confusion. So, with the Apostle John we also say, 'Come, Lord Jesus'.

We thank You, Father, that we can be honest with You. And we thank You that You will respond to our prayer the way You always respond, with wisdom and love as we pray this through Christ our Lord, Amen.

A Prayer

Father,

You are the great and glorious God. You created all of this out of nothing and into nothing. You raise up nations, and You bring them low. You send the cold and snow of winter and follow that up with the budding of spring. You are the one true and living God. You are the amazing God. And You are for us.

You have obligated Yourself to care for us, to watch over us, to provide for us. No one forced You to make this commitment. Who could? But You are right there when we are confronted with some need. You are there to meet it in Your most wise and loving way. You are there every time. You have promised this to us. And to give us great confidence as we deal with life, You tell us, quite clearly, that if You are for us who can be against us.

Time and time and time again, You have made this clear. And yet, Father, there are those situations when we tell ourselves that it just doesn't feel like You are for us. We acknowledge the promises, but we still tell ourselves that it just doesn't feel like You're for us. There are times when we tell ourselves that we are on our own. It's us against the world. And we always lose that contest. But whose fault is that but ours.

So, in our weakness, in our struggling, in our pitiable unbelief, we look to You. We're asking You to do whatever it is that is necessary so that in those times when we feel alone that we would still believe that we’re not alone, that You are still with us, that You are still for us. We don't ask to be able to understand what You are doing in those situations. It's likely beyond our ability. But we are asking for the grace to be able to hold on to the promise that You are for us knowing that, as we do that, we'll feel it again soon enough. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

A Prayer

Father,

You are the God who forgives sin. And that makes You unique. The gods that others worship either don't expect much of their devotees or they don't really forgive. But You are the holy God who has high expectations of Your creatures. You demand perfection. And there are consequences when there isn't perfection. But at the same time, You are the God of mercy and compassion. And that is why You came in Christ. You were determined to be able to forgive. And what You did in Jesus provided a way for that to happen without You lowering Your expectations.

Father, we know these things - but only sort of. We know that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Even the youngest among us know that. But there are depths to that simple statement that we need to grasp.

And so, we ask, Father, that You would grant us the grace that we need to do better at grasping those depths. Teach our hearts more of the mysteries of the Gospel so that we would be stunned by the forgiveness that You have provided.

The reason for our request is simply this. Even based on our current understandings of Your gracious forgiveness, we know that You deserve heartfelt worship. And we do strive to offer that to You. But it is as we grasp the depths of what Your forgiveness is about that we will give ourselves more fully to worshiping You. So, bless us in this way so that our worship would develop some more. Bless us in this way so that we would be even more convinced that You are worthy of all praise, honor and glory.

And we know that as we are changed in these ways, as we see You more clearly, others will notice. Other Christians will have in us examples of what the Scriptures call for in the lives of Your saints. They will be encouraged to grow in these ways. But this will also affect those outside Your Church. Unbelievers will see our devotion to You and how that affects our lives and that will prove so attractive to them that they will want to come to know You also. So, we look to You, Father, to bless us so that we might be a blessing. And we ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen.