The Pastor’s Corner

Prayer: Grant Almighty God that we would remember how zealous you are for your glory and worship. You have commanded that we have no other gods in your sight. We are painfully aware of how prone we are to make idols out of everything good. We create and fashion them in our hobbies, recreation, entertainment. We develop them out of our loved ones, family members, spouses, and children. We replace you with them and those other good things you have blessed us with in our lives. Indeed the "The mind of man, I say, is like a work place of idolatries, and every one of us is, even from his mother's womb, a master craftsman of idols." Please show us plainly those ways in which we have sinned against you and grant us the desire to strip those idols down from that exalted place that should be reserved for you alone. We know that if we hold too tightly to them, you will not bless us and may even remove them. Therefore, holy Father, do not let us wallow in the madness of idolatry that so ensnared your people of old. Please grant us your Holy Spirit to help us to do what you command. We humbly pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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

Scripture: Romans 1:8-15

The passage under consideration today is found within the opening words of Paul's letter to the church at Rome (1:7). As is his custom, he indicates to the church that he is praying for them, and he does so with words of thanksgiving before petition (1:8 cp. with 1:10). That is a good model for us as we pray. So often, we move right to petition and forget to be thankful for the many ways in which the Lord has heard our prayer and answered us and how he has tended to our needs every day—praying prayers of thanksgiving tends to cultivate a genuinely thankful heart.

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Prayer: Grant Almighty God that you would offer your comfort and compassion to your people who you love and pity. Please remind them of your love and favor and how you order all things according to the counsel of your own will working all things for your glory and their good. Too often, we question your divine providence and fail to see your hand of goodness through difficulties and trials. Please help us to remember your love as you seek to shepherd your people through their pilgrimage in this life. We confess that we live in a fallen world, and we confess that we are fallen. Therefore, we grow weary and anxious and sinfully worry about our lives. Please help us to place our whole trust and confidence in you regardless of the circumstances. Help us to count it all joy when we meet trials of every kind through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Grant Almighty God that you would cause your people to strive to do all your holy will today. Please remember your promises to grant your Spirit to your children as they cry out to you for help and strength with a desire to serve you and love you with their whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. Forgive us, merciful Father, for the many ways in which we displease you. Thank you for the provision of your only begotten Son that we who have believed and trusted in him may not perish but have everlasting life. Thank you for your present promise to forgive all those who humbly bow before you and for casting our sins into the deepest ocean. Please help us honor and adore you today because you are good and do good to your people through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Almighty God, we thank you for giving us your moral law that tells us of your holy and righteous demands upon us. We know that you are the creator and, as such, you can demand from us whatever worship or obedience you desire. We know that the law demonstrates your character and calls to a redeemed people to strive to be obedient to it diligently using the outward means of grace. Though we love your law, we are forgetful and stiff-necked at times and break it. We know that we sin daily in thought, word, and deed, and we seek your forgiveness through your Son. We thank you for our Savior and Redeemer because he has freed us from the dominion of sin by keeping your holy demands perfectly in every way. Finally, we thank you for your Spirit given to us that we are then made able and willing to do all that you have commanded us through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Father, life can be very discouraging at times, especially as we seek to pilgrim faithfully through this world and life that you have ordained. We know that you guide each step and breath by your divine providence and that all things you order for us are tailor-made to strengthen our endurance and move us to persevere, leading to our arrival at our heavenly rest. Yet, we confess, there are times when the command to "count it all joy when you meet various trials" can be very hard. We face opposition on many sides. Friends suddenly disappear, and a sense of betrayal sets in. Our health crumbles, and our minds are plagued with worry and anxiety. We know you govern these things, and we long to respond as we are told: to trust you and place our hope in you because you are working to conform us to the Savior. Please help us and grant to us what you command, for we long to respond to these dark providences in a way that glorifies you. Through Christ our Lord, we pray. Amen.

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Prayer: Grant almighty God that we as your people would learn to trust you in all things. We observe our lives and see that they are filled with manifold trials and difficulties. Those dark providences that you order are often difficult to withstand. Yet, we know that those things produce in your people perseverance and greater trust in you. We know that your Word highlights these things in the lives of your redeemed people and servants. Often you brought these great men and women of the faith through the floodwaters and fire to produce in them more and more of your image. We confess that there are times when we grumble and complain in the face of the refining fire of life. We know that this is an abomination before you, and we confess it openly with a great desire to submit to your will in all things. Thank you, our God, that you do not bring us through hardships because you don't care for us. We know that you do, and we know that even that troubles of this life are ordered by a loving Father who guides, directs, and upholds his people. Therefore, please help us submit to your will and allow those trials to perfect your goal of making us more like your Son in whose name we pray. Amen.

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

Scripture: Acts 1:12-14

The narrative before us today follows on the heels of the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 1:6-11). in that final discourse, endeavoring to answer the question of his disciples (1:6), he promises that they "will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." Of course, Jesus could have fulfilled that promise in an instant, but he chose to make them wait -- and wait, they did. Finally, after witnessing the ascension and hearing the comforting words of the two men (1:10-11), the disciples, along with a contingent of others, returned to Jerusalem and committed themselves to prayer. As they for the promise of Christ to be accomplished, they prayed.

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Prayer: Grant Almighty God that you would bring all glory to yourself today and that men, made in your image, would honor and adore you and glorify you in all that they do. We pray that your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. Grant that your redeemed people, called by you and plucked from the world of sin and misery as a holy nation, would strive through all the means you have given to glorify you in every aspect of their lives. We confess to you that we rarely and consciously test our thoughts, words, and actions through the filter of your glory and what you command us to do. We are ashamed at how little we ponder your majesty and beauty. Though we are thankful for what you do for us, rarely do we sit still and meditate on who you are -- our God, full of glory and power, and might. Therefore, be pleased to help us through the eternal Spirit in that whatever we do, whether eating or drinking or whatever it may be, to honor and glorify you this day and every day. These things we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Grant Almighty God that we, as your redeemed people who you call the apple of your eye, might never lose our first love, that love we had for you and your Son at first. May we always be mindful of our sins that they are always before us to humble us and cause us to walk in dependence upon you. Grant to us, Father, a ready mind to meditate on the heart of Christ for his people and be pleased to then turn our hearts in warm affection for him and all that he has done, is doing and will do for us. We confess our weakness in this life as pilgrims in a strange land. Please grant to us perseverance that we might live as you have directed us. Be pleased to give us a willing mind and heart that we would dutifully and joyfully obey you in all things through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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The events under consideration today are not unfamiliar to most. Here in John 11, we find the Savior raising Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus was a friend and one Jesus loved deeply. Mary and Martha are the sisters of Lazarus, and they are in mourning over their brother's illness. Upon the news, they immediately sent word to Jesus (11:3). Jesus determined to delay for a brief period before making his way to Bethany near Jerusalem (11:18). In the meantime, the illness of Lazarus had taken its course, and, as a result, he died (11:14). Upon the Savior's arrival in Bethany, he first met Martha, who emphatically declared, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Later in the narrative, Mary utters the same words. How strong their faith in Christ! As the narrative moves to its climactic end, we take note of the heart of Christ for his children. On two occasions, we read that he was deeply moved (11:33, 38), and we also read that he wept over the circumstances he was facing. The love of Christ for us has not wavered since his ascension. He still loves his people in this way. Determining to resolve the matter, he raises Lazarus from the dead because he was the only one who could. Mary and Martha were utterly insufficient to resolve the problem that grieved them.

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Prayer: Our Father in heaven, you have told us that our lives are brief, that they are a vapor. We are here today, and we are gone tomorrow. As your redeemed people, purchased with the blood of the spotless Lamb, your only begotten Son, we have been told by him to store for ourselves treasures in heaven where rust and rust will not destroy. In his great sermon, he has warned us that where our treasures are, there will our hearts be also. Forgive us, Father, for the numerous ways in which we value this fleeting life and store up treasures on this earth. Consciously or unconsciously, we create idols out of many things. We hold too tightly the material blessings of this world. So often, we seek to build our own kingdom and not the kingdom that you desire for us and command us to see. We labor for ourselves and not for that which is eternal. We groan and bewail our fleeting lives, knowing that you have ordered the very day of our death. Please help us to live with eternity always in view. Please grant us a zeal to do your holy will while it is still day because the night is coming when no man can work. Thank you for your abiding grace and continued presence, and cause us to persevere to your glory today and every day you grant to us. We pray these things through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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