Prayer

Prayer of Anti-Laziness

/ The Pastor

Holy and awesome God,

What a privilege it is to gather together and worship You.
What a joy it is to lift up our thanks and praise to You.
What a peace-filled thing it is to rest in Your promises.
What a comfort it is to know Jesus.

For You sent Your one and only Son to do battle for us.
For You sent You one and only Son to suffer and die for us.
For You sent Your one and only Son to rise victorious for us.

Holy and awesome God,
Thank you!

Receive our worship,
hear our praise,
accept our cries,
and cradle us in Your holy arms.

But as we rest peace-filled and thankful, may we not be complacent.
May we not cheapen Your grace through selfish desires.
May we not turn our backs on those who are lost.
May we not take You for granted.

Holy and awesome God,
send Your Holy Spirit that we may know You better;
that our lives may be ones of worship and praise;
glorifying Your most holy name.

Bless us now, that we may be a blessing to others.

Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray,

Amen.

The Pastor -|—

Your Kingdom Come ~ A Prayer

/ The Pastor

Creator God,
to pray, “thy kingdom come” is to pray for our death;
the death of our old self
but New Life through Jesus.

May this kingdom come onto us as we hear Your most holy Word proclaimed.

But we also ask that we may feel a sense of urgency
to be agents of your kingdom message
and to be Your holy ambassadors in this world.
May we not take up residence here
but rather may we have a restlessness in our souls
that yearns to be home with You,
but not until we have accomplished that task You have for us.

And therefore…

…may we have holy eyes to see the outcast and forgotten.
May we have holy ears to hear Your children crying out.
May we have holy hands to serve one another.
May we have holy feet to go where you direct.

Oh God, mighty Father,
hear our prayer and send us Your kingdom.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray, Amen.

The Pastor -|—

The Son of God ~ A Prayer

/ The Pastor

Holy Father,
You sent Your one and only Son,
Jesus
to bear the sins of the world for our sake.
You sent Jesus to suffer the cross and enter death
so we could have the hope of everlasting life.
Jesus, Your dear Son,
received the full cup of Your wrath
that we would be spared from it.

Oh God,
may all who hear these words be drawn to You
and make the confession that Jesus,
Your Son,
is their Lord and Savior.
May these words spoken here
convict people to run to you;
confessing their sins and thus hear forgiveness.

But we also remember those who are not here;
who are not hearing these words.
May we be sent out to preach this Gospel.
May those who don’t know Jesus
be overwhelmed by Your Spirit and thus be saved.
Oh God,
holy Father,
bless us now and forever more, as we long to bring glory to Your most holy name.
It’s in the name of Jesus I pray,

Amen.

A Prayer of Praise and Adoration

/ The Pastor

Holy, holy, holy, is Your awesome name, oh God.
Holy, holy, holy are You above all others.
You created with a word,
You save us by Your Son.
You sustain us with Your Spirit.
Oh God,
there is no god that can do that.
There is no god like You.
But yet we insist on trying to find another.
We insist on seeking a savior that can not save.
Oh God,
convict our hearts to see, that You and You alone are the One.
Convict our hearts to hear Your Word of life, Jesus Christ.
Convict our hearts to turn and run away from our sin.
Speak to us Life.
Show us Your glory.
Forgive us our sins.
Send us by Your Spirit.
Heal us that we may live.
All praise, glory, honor and worship be unto You,
holy Father,
through Christ Jesus our Lord,
Amen.

The Pastor -|—

Amazing Grace ~ A Prayer

/ The Pastor

Holy God,
how amazing is Your grace
and how sweet the sound is to our ears;
for You have saved wretches such as us.
We were once lost but now we’re found;
once blind but now we see.

Oh God,
may Your grace continue to teach our hearts to fear
that our worldly fears may be relieved.
Oh how precious You grace indeed is,
from that very moment we first believed.

And despite the many dangers, toils and snares
that will certainly come our way,
Your amazing grace will continue to lead us home;
as You have promised good to us
and thus, through Your most trustworthy word,
our hope is secure, all our life long.

And when we have been worshiping You,
in Your holy courts for 10,000 years,
we will have no less days to praise you than when we first begun.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.

All praise, honor and worship be to You,
holy God,
through Christ Jesus our Lord,
Amen.

The Pastor -|—

Speak that we may Speak ~ A Prayer

/ The Pastor

Creator God,
in the beginning You spoke life into existence.
To remain silent, then,
would have meant our non-existence
and
it would have meant no one to glorify Your holy name.
And so we exist;
to worship You, to praise You, to glorify You.
And to do this we must speak and abhor silence.

Holy God,
stir in Your people a burning desire
to speak the Truth of Your love and grace through Jesus Christ.
May the fear the world proclaims
be silenced through our faith in the one who overcame the world,
Jesus.
May the flaming arrows of the evil one
lose all its potency through Your holy Word.
May the shield of faith
embolden us to speak the name of Jesus no matter the situation.

Send now Your Holy Spirit
to bring power to the words of Truth
that we will hear this morning,
for through them You create faith and thus life.
Send us forth, then, in Your power
to the glory of Your awesome name,
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
Amen.

The Pastor -|—

Speaking ~ good; silence ~ bad

/ The Pastor

I am finishing the sermon for tomorrow and wanted to share this little tid bit with you before I posting the prayer I wrote for the closing of the sermon:

In the Gospel of Mark, chapter 14, Jesus is on trial before the high priest. During the trial, (false) witnesses came forward with testimony against Jesus, but with one glaring problem: Their testimony did not agree. More witnesses came forward but still could not agree. And when asked by the high priest to answer these charges, Jesus remained silent. At this point, there was nothing to convict Jesus and thus remaining silent could have meant his freedom because after all, the truth was on his side but also THE Truth was on his side, and thus silence is not an option.

So the high priest eventually chimes in to ask if Jesus was the Son of God, and Jesus breaks his silence to speak the Truth; signing his own death certificate. All Jesus had to do, to save his life, was remain silent, but he spoke the Truth to set you free.

And what about you, do you remain silent about the Truth of God; about the Gospel. Sure, it may be easier to remain silent in this world that is hell bent on discrediting Christians, but what does that silence achieve? To remain silent may secure your comfort but it may mean eternal death for someone else if they don’t hear about Jesus. Silence may be easy for you but it may come with a high cost for someone else.

But really, if you truly know the Truth of God through Jesus Christ, how does one keep silent. Speak, for the truth has already set you free. Let’s pray…

All honor, glory and worship be unto You,
oh God,
for the awesome gift of life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
All thanksgiving be to You
for giving us Your Holy Spirit to sustain us.
All praise be to You,
Holy God,
for receiving redeemed sinners into Your presence through Jesus.
May we be so bold to speak and abhor silence when it comes to the Good News of Jesus.
May proclaiming Your grace and love be as natural to us as breathing,
as we look forward to that day when we begin worshiping You
forever and ever
in Your glorious kingdom.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, I pray,
Amen.

The Pastor -|—

Grace and Mercy ~ A Prayer

/ The Pastor

Father God,

Your grace and mercy is something that doesn’t make sense.
I mean, sinners, us, receiving mercy and forgiveness.
Sinners receiving chance after chance to change our ways and be obedient.
Sinners who constantly turn on You.
Sinners who would much rather be their own god
or acquiesce to weak worldly gods.

To reflect on such depravity sends chills up and down my spine.
But it is because of such depravity
that Jesus comes.
It is because of such darkness within
that Jesus is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
It is because of such self-glorification
that Jesus dies and rises,
FOR US.

Oh God,
may Your Spirit continue to shine the light of Truth in our hearts
that we may always run to You.
And once in Your arms
may all worship and thanksgiving be given to You
for Your incredible grace and mercy.
Oh God, there is no god like You
and therefore You are worthy of all praise.
All glory be unto You, oh God, through Christ Jesus our Lord,

Amen.

The Pastor -|—

Be BOLD

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

Here’s a morning rant for you so please excuse my language…

There is a lot of crap going on in the world. I surf social media and read news stories and I am blown away by the depravity that is out there. I can hardly believe it when I hear and read about people reveling in calling good evil and evil good.

What is going on?!?

I know, I know, we live in a sinful world, but where are all the voices? Where are all the people who follow Jesus Christ? Why isn’t there more of an outcry?

Yesterday, the people responsible for bringing to light the evil practices of Planned Parenthood were indicted instead of Planned Parenthood. How is this possible. Granted, I am not a legal expert and maybe there are facts that I am not aware of, but come on, this makes no sense. Never mind that fact that people are being killed before they even get to see the light of day. And then there are the politicians that are lauding this decision; calling evil good. That I get because they don’t care about those babies since they are not voters.

In any case, we need boldness…

And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, (Acts 4:29)

Following Pentecost, Peter and John heal a crippled man in the temple and then go on to proclaim the risen Jesus Christ. The Pharisees are not the least bit happy and demand that they no longer speak of Jesus. Upon returning to their church, Peter and John report what happened and what was said. Instead of cowering in fear of the authorities, the church worships God and prays for more boldness to speak of the Gospel.

My friends, we need to pray for more boldness and speak of Jesus. We need more boldness and speak the truth. We need not fear the this world. As this Acts Church prayed from Psalm 2,  “‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’— The nations can rage all they want against God’s anointed, but guess what?

They can not win.

Through faith in Jesus Christ we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit and therefore you are on the side of power and victory. Pray for boldness. Stand up for the truth. Do not be silent. The nations may rage against you, but you have Jesus.

Be BOLD! Be STRONG! For the Lord your God is with you.

The Pastor -|—

Abba Father ~ A Prayer

/ The Pastor

Abba Father,

we come in awe of your incredible love
as we think about what Jesus did for sinners.

He marched toward the cross
where he would take the sins of the world upon his shoulders.
Jesus faced a wrath
that was and is rightly ours.
Jesus took the punishment
that we deserve.

Abba Father,

we are humbled by such love
and blown away by such grace.
May the words we hear proclaimed this morning
be holy words that come from you;
that we may be Spirit-fed.
May the Good News of Jesus Christ
embolden us to be faithful unto death
as we proclaim the life and death of Jesus.

Come Holy Spirit, come;
opening our eyes and ears to see God’s glory.
It’s in Jesus name I pray,

Amen.

The Pastor -|—