Sunday morning prayer

I Give You Thanks, O God

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

Awesome and holy God,

the sound of the rain,
the singing of the birds,
the peacefulness of the morning;

I give You thanks, O God.

Time with Your Word,
moments of prayer,
worship with the saints;

I give You thanks, O God.

The cooing of my child,
the babbling of my child,
the love of my family;

I give You thanks, O God.

My parents,
my sister,
all my family;

I give You thanks, O God.

The loyalty of friends,
the strength of community,
the joy of Your church;

I give You thanks, O God.

My shelter,
my clothes,
my food;

I give You thanks, O God.

Your grace,
Your love,
Your faithfulness;

I give You thanks, O God.

Your grace,
Your love,
Your faithfulness;

I give You thanks (again), O God.

The beauty of Your creation,
the presence of Your Spirit,
the love of Your Son;

I give You thanks, O God.

A good cup of coffee,
another good cup of coffee,
and another good cup of coffee;

I give You thanks, O God 🙂

My Father,
my Lord,
my Savior;

I give You thanks, O God.

Your glory,
Your power,
Your kingdom;

I give You thanks, O God.

Your victory over death,
Your victory over Satan,
Your victory given to me;

I gave You thanks, O God.

For the fact that I could go on and on and on and on and …

I give You thanks, O God, in Jesus name I pray, Amen.

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May God bless you and keep you as you give thanks and praise to our most holy and awesome God.

The Pastor -|—

Worship prayers for 05-10-15 (Mother’s Day)

/ The Pastor

Good morning and blessings to you on this Lord’s Day and Mother’s Day. Below are some of the prayers I have written for worship this morning. I usually get this out earlier in the weekend but the chaos of life prevented me from doing so. Hopefully I can get back on track next week 🙂

So with that I commend these to you; praying that God is glorified in your worship.

Opening prayer
Holy God, on this Mother’s Day, we come first and foremost to worship You. For it is You, though the love of mothers of all types, who show what it truly means to love a child. For it is through the death and resurrection of Your one and only son, Jesus, that we have eternal life. And that right there is deserving of our worship and thanks.

But also, Lord God almighty, we honor those woman You have used as instruments of Your love in our lives. In whatever form they come, we thank You, oh God. In whatever role they have played in our lives, we thank you, oh God.

May women not see the passage of DNA as a barrier to living out their calling to mother someone. And may You continue to raise up Your children through the self-sacrificing love of a mother. To You, oh God, be all worship and praise this day and always. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Prayer before preaching
Holy Father, Creator of heaven and earth. I am about to embark, once again, on the awesome task of proclaiming Your holy Word. This is something not to be taken lightly so I humbly ask for Your Spirit to guide and give life to these words. My words are dead words and with no power, but Your words, oh God, have power to create and destroy; resurrect and heal; kill and bring to life. Your Words are grace and truth; law and Gospel; command and freedom. Your Word is awesome and so I approach Your holy Word with fear and trembling; committing everything to You. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to You, oh God, our Rock and Redeemer, Amen.

Post-Communion prayer
Holy Father, You have blessed us and fed us with this holy food, the body and blood of Jesus. I ask that You may make us so bold to live lives of hope as we cling to Your promises given through the death and resurrection of Jesus, Your son. And in light of the forgiveness proclaimed to us today, may we live lives of repentance as we strive to be more like Your dear son, Jesus Christ our Lord and in whose name we pray, Amen.

May God bless your day as you love on your mothers 🙂

The Pastor -|—

God Is The Audience

/ The Pastor

Let us prepare to worship God on this Sabbath Day…

Almighty and holy God,

worship is what we are about. The only question is who or what do we worship. Too often it is anything or anyone but You. There are activities that take place on Sunday. There is recovering from a late Saturday night. There is laziness. There is complacency. There is ______. My point? We make all kinds of excuses to make worship what we want it to be and when, instead of putting You center stage.

As worshipers we are not the audience; waiting to be entertained. You, oh God, are the audience; waiting to be worshiped.
Oh how we have failed at bringing the glory due Your name.
Oh how we have failed to honor Your holy name.
Oh how we have failed to bring all that we are for all that we are comes from You.

Oh God, how we have fallen short.

Forgive us.

May our hearts be turned towards You, for it is from You that we have Life; for Jesus was sent to die and rise that our sins would be forgiven and that we may live forever with You.

So therefore YOU are worthy of worship. YOU are worthy of praise.

Send You Spirit, oh God, to convict our spirits this morning and everyday. May we turn aside from those things and people we so easily worship instead of You and may we cling to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

You are an awesome God. May You be praised always and forever. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Blessings to you as you worship and serve our awesome God.

The Pastor -|—

Palm Sunday Worship Prayers for 03/29/15

/ The Pastor

Below are a couple worship prayers that I wrote for today; Palm Sunday. Feel free to use them as you so choose.

Prayer before the reading of scripture/preaching:
Father God, with humility we waved palm branches to acknowledge Jesus as our King, and now with humility, we ask that you may send Your Spirit to bless the hearing of these words. For it is only through faith that we can receive the Word of Life into our hearts. It is only through faith that we accept Jesus, and him alone, as our King, Lord and Savior. It is through faith alone that we run to You, holy God, and submit to Your sovereign rule. So may the words of scripture and the words that proceed from my mouth be holy words that create faith and bring You glory, oh God. Through Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.

Prayer following the receiving of the offering:
Creator God, giver of all things. You provide daily bread that we may live day to day. You provide blessings that we may bless others. You provide abilities that we may proclaim Your holy name through word and deed. And so it is through these offerings that we worship you and thank you for your provision. May You multiply them according to Your will; that Your kingdom may advance and that Your name may be glorified. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

May God bless your day and may your worship bring praise and glory to God.

The Pastor -|—

Hosanna!

/ The Pastor

image

Mighty God, as Jesus rode victorious into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday; ride victorious into our hearts today through the hearing of Your Word.

Create in us humble hearts to receive Jesus as King.
Create in us humble hearts to confess our sins and receive forgiveness.
Create in us humble hearts to submit to the Lordship of Jesus.

And through shouts of ,”Hosanna!”, may we see our salvation through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. What a glorious day, oh God. So receive our worship and send Your Spirit. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

May this Palm Sunday be a blessing to you as you shout “Hosanna!” to King of kings and the Lord of lords. And then as you enter Holy Week, may the events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday lead you to a deeper understanding of the love and compassion and mercy of our King.

All praise to God the Father through Jesus Christ our King.

The Pastor -|—

The Word of God ~ A Prayer

/ The Pastor

This is a prayer I wrote to be prayed before the sermon today. I am intentional with these prayers because to preach God’s word is such an awesome task and opportunity. To listen to God’s word is also an awesome thing. Its something you don’t want to take for granted. So I invite you to receive this prayer and really think about this gift that we have in the Bible:

THE…WORD…OF…GOD.

Wow! Amazing, isn’t it?

So let’s pray…

Oh Father God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; to listen to Your word is such an awesome thing as Your words are life and salvation. Your words provide comfort and peace in a dark world. Your words are hope and strength as Satan seeks to bring us down. And so it is with all humility that we seek Your Holy Spirit to break through the walls of our hardened hearts, that we may receive Your word. For it is only through your grace that we can hear this Good News and be transformed to Your will. So bless our hearing this morning that Your words may take up residence in our hearts. Bless our lives that we may serve others and therefore glorify You for You are an awesome God. All praise and worship and honor and glory be to You, oh God, our Rock and Redeemer; in Jesus name I pray, Amen.

May God bless your hearing of His holy Word today and always.

The Pastor -|—

Opening prayer ~ O Majestic and Awesome Lord

/ The Pastor

The opening prayer this morning for worship is basically Psalm 8. This a wonderful Psalm that reflects the fact that God is awesome and we are not, but yet God  cares for and love us. It’s amazing, really,to think about that; that the Creator God would have any regard for us puny humans, but He does.

And therefore ~ Praise be to God!

And so I echo, this morning, the words of the psalmist:

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

You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which YOU, Creator God, have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
[Psalm 8]

And therefore, O Lord, you are worthy of our praise here this morning. So receive our worship and send us Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Prepare your hearts for worship this morning by meditating on the awesomeness of God and the amazing love He shows you through Jesus Christ. God IS worthy so let’s praise and worship His holy name.

May your day be filled with love and grace.

The Pastor -|—

Opening prayer ~ Listen to Jesus

/ The Pastor

The following is the opening prayer I wrote for worship where I am preaching on Mark 9:1-13; the transfiguration of Jesus. The words of that text that captured my attention are the words from God to Peter, James and John when God says, “This is my beloved son, listen to him” 

May you listen to Jesus this morning and always.

Let’s pray…

Oh God, through the transfiguration of Jesus, Your son, you gave those disciples, and us, a glimpse of Your glory. You showed us who Jesus is and for that we bring our worship this morning. You also commanded us to listen to him, but we don’t listen. We don’t obey. Instead, we go our own way. May Your Word draw us in and may we listen intently as You, and You alone, have the words of eternal life. May Your words send us forth to be Kingdom people in this pagan world. And may we not be so content to set up camp here, but may we bravely and boldly leave this mountain top and enter the valley; the shadow of death. But in the shadows may we be guided by the Shepherd’s staff. So holy God, receive our praise here this morning and speak those words of Life and instill in us the faith to listen to your son, Jesus Christ, in whom we pray, Amen.

The Pastor -|—

Entering God’s Holy Word ~ A Prayer

/ The Pastor

This is the prayer I wrote to be prayed before I preach on Sunday. This is not a text specific prayer but rather a plea that one be faithful in the awesome task of entering God’s holy Word.

When I think about what I do week in and week out, it is mind-boggling and a little scary. I have been charged with the task of opening God’s Word and proclaiming the very words of God. And therefore I don’t want to be lax in my preparation or timid in my proclamation. I don’t want to steal glory from God or water anything down. And so I prayed and will pray as such each and every time I enter the pulpit or stand before others to teach the Word of God. Let us all do the same, for God’s holy Word needs to be taken seriously.

Let’s pray…

Holy God, it is an awesome privilege to have in our hands the very words that you have spoken. It is mind blowing that you would grace us with Your words that we may come to know Your heart and your plan for salvation. For the Bible is not just an instruction book on how to live, but it’s Your holy Word on what You are up to for us through Jesus Christ and how we can bring You glory.

And therefore to enter Your word like this is an overwhelming thing because we don’t want to get it wrong.

And so I humbly ask that you may grant me insight to proclaim this Word.
And then I ask that you may grant to those listening, the ears to hear and the faith to receive.
And then if it is not too much to ask again of You, Holy God, may you grant us boldness as we leave this place to live for you no matter what.

Thank you for the privilege to listen to your Word. Now may the words of my mouth be heard as Your Words and not return to you empty, but accomplish that which you sent them to do. All glory and honor to you, oh God, through Jesus Christ our Lord,

Amen.

The Pastor -|—

Opening prayer ~ The Narrow Gate (Matthew 7:13-14)

/ The Pastor

As we prepare for worship this morning, let us first prepare our hearts to praise God and receive His Holy Word. Let us pray…

Father God,

scripture teaches us to “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:13-14) May those who are here gathered enter by the narrow gate and deny themselves the easy way through the wide gate. May we enter through

Your Word
Your Promises
Your Grace and,
Your son, Jesus Christ

But we are not so foolish to think that the path through the narrow gate will be easy. It will be hard, so I humbly ask that you may send your Holy Spirit to make us lean; trimming away

the cares of this world
idols
false gods
false doctrine
hypocrisy
gossip
prosperity gospel faith and
anything else that weighs us down.

May we have the faith to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Jesus through the narrow gate.

So make your Word manifest among us as we lift up our prayers, praise and thanksgivings. You are worthy, oh God, You are worthy. So here we come, to worship Your holy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

May you bless God as you worship this morning and may you be blessed by the proclamation of God’s holy Word.

The Pastor -|—