The Pastor’s Corner

Prayer: Almighty God, you who are the only true and living God, we bow before your majesty today and thank you for your kindness in providing for us another Lord's Day in which we can gather as your people and praise your name. We confess that we often approach you without reverence and awe. We often come before you with a casual frame and mind, forgetting that you are mighty and glorious and we are creatures of dust. Your Word reminds us of the need to treat your name as holy and honor and adore you. We fall short of that duty, and we ask that you would forgive us. Please help us today as we gather with your people to labor with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength to worship you as you have commanded. Please grant to us willing hearts and minds to listen attentively to your Word as it is proclaimed. Please give us a great measure of your Spirit that we might commune with you with joy and delight. We pray all of these things in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

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Meditation for the day taken from Everyday Prayer with John Calvin written by Donald McKim:

Scripture: Matthew 6:7-8

Every now and then, I have had to answer the question of "why pray?" when it is pretty clear that Jesus teaches that our Father in heaven knows what we need before we ask. Without question, our omniscient God is well aware of every need and concern we have! Yet, he also urges us to pray and cast our needs before him (1 Pet. 5:7). How can we answer this question? Calvin wrestled with it as well. He wrote, "If God knows what we need before we seek it, there might appear to be no benefit in prayer." I suspect that many Christians have wrestled with this issue.

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Prayer: Our Father, you have invited us into your presence to pray and plead with you and to unburden ourselves before you. Your Word tells us plainly to cast all of our cares upon you because you care for us. Throughout your Word, we see many examples of godly men who would endeavor to pray day and night before your throne. Yet, we are distracted people. We move from one care to the next with little thought to our passing days. Teach us to number our days, Lord. Teach us to place the privilege of prayer as a top priority in our lives. We confess that we are easily swayed and moved from this means of grace. Our prayers are often prayerless. Our prayers often lack the emotion and heartfelt pleading with you for what we need. Our prayers are often mere words with little thought to what we are saying and to whom we are praying. Forgive us, Lord. Please help us, by your Spirit, to pray as we should and must. We ask these things in the name of the Lord Jesus, our great High Priest. Amen.

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Prayer: Almighty God and Father, we praise your name for another day to serve you and glorify you with our thoughts, words, and actions. We are thankful that you are faithful to us, even though there are times when we are faithless. Forgive us, Father, for the minutes and hours that we waste on fruitless pursuits. Forgive us for not managing our time well, thinking that we have plenty of time to do what is most needful. Forgive us for frittering away our days and forgetting that our lives are a vapor and a flower that quickly fades. Please help us to redeem the time because the days are evil. Please help us labor while it is day because the night is coming when we will not be able to work. We ask that you would bless our labors: bless the mom's who labor with their children to raise them in the fear of the Lord. Bless the dads who labor in the workforce to be useful salt and light in a dark world. Bless those ministers who labor in the study preparing a meal for your people. Bless the elderly as they strive to set before the younger generation a godly example. Bless the unmarried as they wait patiently for your providence. Bless your church as she strives to seek first your kingdom and righteousness. Please help us, Father. Provide an abundance of your Spirit today. We pray these things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, and our Savior. Amen.

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Prayer: Our Father in heaven, we bless your name today and praise you for your infinite goodness and kindness to your people. You are a God who cannot lie and one who remembers his promises to us each day. Your faithfulness is new every morning, and we thank you that you never waver from what you declare to be true and right. In you, there is no shadow of turning. Therefore, we can trust you. We believe, Lord. Help our unbelief and forgive us for the many ways in which we doubt you and forget that your providence is working for the good of your church. We pray these things in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

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Prayer: Our God in heaven, we are thankful to you for your wisdom in revealing yourself to your creatures through the creation and, especially, through your Son and Word. Your Word is a lamp unto our feet, and it guides us as to how we are to live. We know that our chief end is to glorify you. Left to ourselves, we would not know what that means or how to do it. Due to our sin, we would devise our own efforts, thinking they would please you. Instead, you condescended to our misery and gave us your infallible Word to instruct us in the way. We confess our lack of zeal to read your Word and understand it. Forgive us for not taking hold of your inerrant Word and using it to honor you. Please help us to love your Word and seek to do all that it says. We pray these things in the name of the living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

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Prayer: Our Father, we thank you for your divine plan of bringing a people to yourself. Through the work of your Son, you have called a people out of darkness and into your marvelous light. Jesus has rescued us from the curse of the Law, and we now gladly serve him with joy and delight, knowing that your Kingdom is growing and advancing. As citizens of your Kingdom, we draw comfort and strength in knowing that the perfect lamb, the Lion of Judah, sits on the throne and rules and reigns. Through the weapons of our warfare, we are thankful for the Word preached as it proclaims the terms of the kingdom to a hurting and dying world. We pray your Word would continue to advance your purposes and ask that many would come to a saving understanding of the gospel through it. We pray these things in the name of the King, the Lord Jesus. Amen.

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Prayer: Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Our God, we pray these words as taught by your Son because we live in your world and, therefore, we are subject to your purposes and providence. AS your redeemed people, we desire to see your will be done and your glory known across the whole earth. We are pilgrims and confess that you alone are sovereign over our lives. We desire to see your churches full of people praising and honoring you. We desire to see men made in your image, bringing glory and honor to your name. We grieve the state of our world and plead with you to work in such a way that men are humbled, and you exalted. We pray all of these things in the name of the Savior. Amen.

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Prayer: It is with great delight that we bow before you, our great God and Father, on this another Lord's Day. We are so thankful to you for wisely carving out a day that we can gather with your people in worship to sing your praise and hear from you. We know that you have determined to bless the Lord's Day and we know that we are often forgetful in striving to keep it as you have commanded. We sin when we allow our time to be spent in idleness. We sin when our conversations are on our world work and recreations. Forgive us, Father. Please help us to have conversations about your Word and your works. Please grant to us a greater zeal for this day and see it as a pleasure and joy. We pray these things in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen

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Meditation for the day taken from Everyday Prayer with John Calvin written by Donald McKim:

Scripture: Micah 3:1-4

The warning in this passage is directed toward the rulers of the house of Jacob and Israel. Carrying that theme over to the New Testament church, we can easily apply this warning to the leaders of the church: ministers, elders, and deacons. The indictment offered is that these rulers have acted wickedly and done evil (3:2). They are those that call good, evil and evil, good. They are crushing the people (Cp. Is. 3:15). They are not shepherding the people as they should (See Ezek. 34). These men are bad actors in the vineyard of the Lord. As a result, the LORD will not hear their cry, their prayers. Though they cry out to him, he turns a deaf ear because of their sin. If a man regards iniquity in his heart, the Lord will not hear him (Ps. 66:18). It is a dreadful thought! To think that the LORD will not hear the prayers of his officers in the church should cause them to do serious soul searching and repent of known sin.

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