The Pastor’s Corner

Prayer: Our God in heaven, we praise your name today and thank you for the privilege we have to join with our brothers and sisters to worship you. We thank you for giving us the Lord's Day -- a day that pictures for us the promise of the New Heavens and the New Earth. We confess to you that we often rush into this day with little or no thought about what we are doing. We enter your worship without considering you and without preparing to meet with you. Please forgive us for treating this activity with little care. Please forgive us for treating as common that which you say is holy. By your Spirit, please help us to honor and adore you today as you speak to us through your Word read and proclaimed. We ask and pray these things in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

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Prayer: Our most holy God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we praise your name today because you alone are worthy of it. You are the Creator of all things, and you have made us in your image. Sadly, and with great shame, we are not much different from the church of old. We often go our own way, seeking after things that cannot and will not satisfy. You have made us to adore and worship you, but we often stray after the dead idols of this life -- things that cannot hear or speak and do not love us with an infinite love as you do. Indeed, we confess that we are nothing but idol factories allowing things to sway our love and adoration for you to meaningless pursuits. With the preacher, we confess that all is vanity. Forgive us for our sinful and selfish pursuits after our own failing kingdom. Please help us, by your Spirit, to seek first your kingdom and righteousness. Purge out of us the leaven of idolatry and cause us to place pour whole hope and dependence on you. We pray these things in the name of Christ, our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Our Father in heaven, we thank you that you are our God and that you stand able and ready to help your people with their burdens, struggles, sorrows, and pain. We live in a fallen world, and we confess that we often feel its effects on our own lives. We grow weary of battling sin -- the world, the flesh, and the devil. We sometimes yield to temptation though we pray that you would not lead us there. We often fail to seize the means by which we can escape them. Forgive us, Father. Please help us to seize the means you provide to escape temptation. We pray that you would grant to your people your kindness and grace today. We ask that you would go before us and work all things according to the counsel of your will, bringing all glory to yourself and helping your church in this world. We plead with you to cause your people to seek first your kingdom and righteousness. Please help us, by your Spirit, to pursue holiness all of our days. We pray these things in the name of Christ. Amen.

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Prayer: Almighty God, we adore you today because you are our God and we are your people. From the beginning of the world, you have demonstrated your kindness and grace to sinful people. Beginning with our first parents, instead of destroying them for their rebellion against you, you offered to them the first words of comfort and hope that through the seed of the woman a redeemer would come to reverse the effects of the fall. Indeed, he has come and he has done all that was required in order to bring us peace with you. We thank you for the great work of the Savior who purchased a people for himself and brought us hope in a dark, sin-filled world. How can we say thanks? Words fail us. Yet, we know that we express our love and gratitude towards you in being obedient to you. In this, we often fall short. Our spirit is willing, but our flesh is weak. Please forgive us, Father. Help us, by the eternal Spirit to serve you with a greater zeal all of our days. Thank you for forgiving us and giving us your Spirit. We pray these things in the name of the Lord Jesus, your Son and our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Our most holy God in heaven: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we thank you that we can enter your presence, pleading our case and offering our concerns before you. Thanks to the great High Priest's work, we have access to the throne of heaven from which you rule and reign over your creation. We are troubled by the events of our world. We witness the exercise of man's depravity regularly. We see the wanton execution of the unborn in the womb. We read and hear of the promotion of abominations, and we wonder, "how long, O Lord?" Forgive us for sometimes doubting that you are ordering all of these things according to your perfect wisdom. You are the alpha and omega, knowing the end from the beginning. Please help us to trust you when all around us evil is apparent. We do pray that you would bring repentance to evildoers. We ask that you would change the hearts of men with the Good News of the gospel of Christ. We pray that you would glorify your name and not allow wicked men to trample it. We pray that you would help your church and conform her more and more into the image of Christ. We pray these things in the name of the Savior. Amen.

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Prayer: Almighty God and Father of all, we bow before your majesty today to worship and adore you. You alone are God, and there is no other. You made all things visible and invisible in the space of six days and all very good. You rested on the seventh day and called that day holy. You separated it from your works of creation and called men to worship you on it. That example you set that before us that we might enjoy you on the Lord's Day. We pray that you would speak to your people today through your Word as you spoke creation into existence by the word of your power. We pray that your people would delight in this day and honor it by devoting themselves to you like a picture of the glory that awaits us all. Help us, our God, to love you today and grant to us what you command us. We pray these things in the name of Christ, our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Almighty God and Father, we bless your name today. You are good and gracious, a God of loving-kindness and compassion. We thank you that you do not treat us as our sins deserve. Because of the work of your Son, you have buried our sins in the deepest ocean. We confess that we sin daily in thought, word, and deed. We are ashamed of our behavior and actions and long to be more like your Son. Please remember your promise to conform us more and more into His image. We pray for our nation and for our leaders. We ask that you would turn their heart of stone to flesh. We plead with you to give your church godly men and women to serve. We pray that you would remove wicked leaders who refuse to submit to you. We pray these things in the name of Christ. Amen.

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Scripture: Psalm 10:12-18

We live in difficult times lately. It is quite natural to feel the pressure of current events and, sometimes, be distressed by it all. God's people are not immune to the struggles and cares of this world. Yet, they have a sure hope and a divine offer to help and hear as we pray and plead our case before the Lord. Too often, we "over-spiritualize" prayer to the point where we are not honest about our feelings, thoughts, and emotions. The Psalmist in Ps. 10 didn't do that. He was honest with the Lord, and God's people should be as well.

McKim writes, "Sometimes God seems aloof -- standing 'far off' (Ps. 10:1). Today's psalmist feels that God is hidden in times of trouble. The wicked seem to prosper, preying on the 'helpless' (see vv. 8-9) and 'think[ing[ in their heart, 'God has forgotten...he will never see it.' In prayer, we can be completely honest with God - can lament, question, and even challenge God. "

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Prayer: Almighty God and Father in heaven, we bless your name today because you have rescued us from slavery to sin and misery and placed us on the solid rock that is your Son. We thank you that you have not treated us as our sins deserve but have buried them in the deepest ocean and have separated them as far as the east is from the west. We are grateful to you for giving us another Lord's Day that pictures for us the eternal rest that we await. We are thankful for the sacrament of the Lord's Supper that shows forth the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus and the promise of his return. We confess that we do not make diligent use of these outward means, and we know that we do so to our own harm. Please forgive us and work in us a greater zeal for these things. We pray that you would speak to us today through the ministry of your Word. We ask that you would grant your ministers unction from on high and that through their labors, we would behold a powerful demonstration of your Spirit. Please help us, Father. Remember your people for good. Bless us and be merciful to us we pray in the name of the Savior, The Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

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Scripture: 1 Sam. 1:9-18

The context of this text is one that finds Hannah, a godly woman who would receive a "double portion" from the LORD. The main character of the text is a woman whom the LORD loved. The narrative crisis describes this woman as barren, "The LORD had closed her womb." As a result of this weighty matter, Hannah turns to the Lord and prays. We read that she had been "pouring out her soul before the LORD." As she prayed, she is noticed by Eli, the priest. He notices that only her lips were moving, but he did not hear anything coming from her mouth.

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Prayer: Almighty God, the maker of all things and the one who orders all things, we thank you that you are a God that never changes. What you have said yesterday is still true today. We thank you that you have given your people promises, and through those promises, you bring comfort and hope to us as pilgrims in this world. We take note that your Word never promises the redeemed of the Lord an easy life free from opposition, persecution, and hatred from others. WE know that your Son suffered at the hands of wicked men, and we note that he told us to expect the same. We are concerned that your church faces difficult and trying days soon, and we confess that we are often not prepared for these things. Forgive us for forgetting that the Christian life is often hard and help us to prepare to stand for Christ come what may. We pray this in His Name. Amen.

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Scripture: Num. 14:13-19

The context of this passage is the immediate aftermath of the rebellion of God's people. They have rejected the good report of Caleb and Joshua. Instead, they desired to return to the land of bondage, Egypt. Here, Moses, the man of God, intercedes again for the sake of the people. This prayer is a "directory for prayer" for God's people today.

McKim writes, "Calvin saw in this 'a sure directory for prayer'" Citing Calvin, he continues, "For nothing can be more sure than [God's] own word, on which if our prayers are based, there is no reason to fear that they will be ineffectual, or that their results should disappoint us, since He who has spoken will prove Himself to be true. And, in fact, this is the reason why He speaks....to afford us the grounds for addressing Him, for else we must be dumb." (20)

Moses prayed the Word of the L

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