The Pastor’s Corner

Prayer: Grant almighty God that we, as your redeemed people, would take seriously and uphold the ordinary means of grace that you have graciously given to your church. We confess that we live in a day and age when your people have departed from those means, inventing newfangled ways of worshiping you. Yet, your Word plainly tells us that we are to approach you on your terms. The church of old was given strict and exacting instructions as to how they should approach you. Under penalty of death, they risked their very existence by offering strange fire before you. Therefore, because you are holy, you demand that we approach you with fear and reverence, as to a Father who loves and cares for us. Yet, somehow, we think you need our help by inventing strange and weird things, calling it worship when it is, in fact, an abomination before you. As we look around our world and see the state of the church, we are forced to concede that we are not better off for engaging in such behavior. We are lured and enticed to invent worship out of our feeble and fallen minds. Our hearts seem to desire that which you have not ordered. Forgive your church, Lord. Please grant us a great zeal for your worship and give us that same frame and desire that you have for it as well. These things we pray and confess through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Our Father in heaven, you alone are sovereign over all creation. You made the world and all things in it. You are the Creator, and we are your creatures. You govern and uphold all things by the word of your power. We thank you that you have ordered our days and told us to number ours carefully and wisely. Though we have plunged your world into chaos through our own sin, we thank you that you have provided a Redeemer who is reversing the effects of the fall. Though this life is often filled with misery and strife, we thank you that we can flee to you and plead with you for the things that we need. Therefore, we pray for our brothers and sisters living in challenging circumstances today. Many of them are under great threat from wicked people. Many of them are worried and anxious. Many of them are scared. We ask you, the Father of all comfort, to help them. We plead with you to frustrate the intentions of wicked people for the sake of your people who you love. Please be gracious to your chosen people, and help them lean on you through times of great turmoil with pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Grant, Almighty God, that as we have not only been redeemed from Babylonian exile, but have also emerged from hell itself; for when we were the children of wrath thou didst freely adopt us, and when we were aliens, thou didst in thine infinite goodness open to us the gate of thy kingdom, that we might be made thy heirs through thy Son, - O grant that we may walk circumspectly before thee, and submit ourselves wholly to thee and to thy Christ, and not feign to be his members, but really prove ourselves to be his body, and to be so governed by his Spirit, that thou mayest at last gather us together into thy celestial kingdom, to which thou daily invites us by the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Grant almighty God that we, as your redeemed people, will listen to what you say to us today. You have made the Sabbath for us to enjoy. It is that one day in seven in which we have the privilege to come apart from our worldly employments and recreations to sit at your feet, to worship you, to enjoy the fellowship of your people, and to serve and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Forgive us for trampling underfoot this day. We know that you take this commandment very seriously -- as you do all of them. We know that we tend to wander from it because we are still worldly. We are often tempted to do what is forbidden on this day. We go astray and seek our own pleasure. Please help us, by your Spirit, to take great delight in the Christian Sabbath we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Grant almighty god that you would remind us of the great heritage we inherited from those who have gone before us. Throughout history, you orchestrated the events that brought us to faith in Christ. By your divine will and providence, you brought us into families who taught us the precious doctrines of our historic faith. Due to the faithfulness of our fathers in the faith, we were introduced to your Son and your Word. We are reminded of the importance of teaching our children and raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We know the calamity that befalls a generation when we do not teach the next generation the gospel and the doctrines that your Word proclaims. Please grant us the diligence and zeal to avoid hiding these things from our children. Help us to open our mouths and speak to them about the Savior. Grant us the grace needed to live before them with words and deeds that point them to that which will truly satisfy them. Forgive us for introducing our children to many things and not pointing them to the one thing necessary for their soul. Forgive us for being distracted by the cares of this life and leading our children to regard your church as common and ordinary. Forgive us for not teaching our children to pray to you and read your Word. Grant a new generation that will be faithful to you and help us be faithful to that end. All of these things we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Our God in heaven: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we praise your name and thank you for your infinite mercy offered to pitiful creatures of dust. We know our frame that we are dust. Yet, due to your great kindness, you have determined to save a people from their misery. Though we live as pilgrims in this world, exiled from our true home, we thank you that you have not left us alone. You bless us with your presence as you did for the church of old. In those days, you went before them in the pillar of fire and cloud, guiding and directing and protecting them. Today we have the constant presence of your Spirit that encourages and teaches us always present with us leading us to green pastures. We thank you for the promise that you will never leave us or forsake us. Though we often stray, you leave the ninety-nine to pursue your wayward sheep. Safe in your hands, we can never be lost. Please help us, Father, to love you and serve you. You are worthy of our whole lives for all you do for us. We pray all of these things through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Grant almighty God that through your kindness and compassion for us, you would keep us from temptation and guard us against the evil one who seeks nothing but the ruination of our souls. We know that he is in your hands and that he can do nothing apart from your divine will. Grant, also, that we would be mindful of his devices and that we would also watch and pray lest we enter into temptation. We know our frame and know that we are prone to wander from your commandments. Often we are the cause of our own fall into sin, knowing that we are easily enticed by our sinful desires, which give birth to sinning against you. We know that we are often our worst enemy, but we are thankful that you provide a way of escape that we may be able to endure in the temptation. We confess to you our weakness and ask that you would grant us more of your Spirit. Without our Mediator, we would miserably fall, so we thank you for his continual supply of grace as he prays for us each day. Protect us and help us through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: My God—my Father and Preserver—who of your goodness has watched over me during the past night, and brought me to this day, grant also that I may spend it wholly in the worship and service of your most holy deity. Let me not think, or say, or do a single thing which tends not to your service and submission to your will, that thus all my actions may aim at your glory and the salvation of my brethren, while they are taught by my example to serve you. And as you are giving light to this world for the purposes of external life by the rays of the sun, so enlighten my mind by the effulgence of your Spirit, that he may guide me in the way of your righteousness.

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Prayer: Grant almighty God that we as your people would learn from the sins and transgressions of those who have gone before us. Please help us to learn from their successes as well. We know that your Word tells us that the things of old happened for our instruction, and yet we sometimes fall into the same traps and ways of life of those who have gone before us. We are slow to learn and often fail to heed the instructions of wiser, more seasoned, and faithful people. Forgive us for being so dull and arrogant in thinking that we are more enlightened today than the church was over the last twenty centuries. Grant to us a willing mind and heart that we would follow the pattern of sound instruction that has been passed down to us. Please spare your church from the novelty and inventions of men. Protect the pulpits of your churches from those who fail to heed the old paths and set out to forge a new road that leads to destruction. Please protect your church from those who have good intentions, but the end is death. We know that your Son told us that this would happen and that many will seek preaching that will not conform to sound doctrine. Please grant to us the wisdom to see the putrid fruit of their ways. Please grant more of your Spirit that we may discern these things 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 12:9-13

During my seminary days, there was a man that labored in the pastorate for over forty years that I came to know and appreciate. In many ways, our discussions, chats, and times of thinking out loud together were a seminary education in itself. His wisdom and counsel to me forged more into my heart and mind than some of my classes. The importance of that friendship granted me the opportunity to learn from one who had walked the road of ministerial life and walked it well. One of the things he would repeatedly tell me is, "Bill, more prayer!" I have vivid memories of the times that we talked in which he would remind me of that simple truth: more prayer!

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Prayer: Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast once adopted us, and continues to confirm this thy favour by calling us unceasingly to thyself, and dost not only severely chastise us, but also gently and paternally invite us to thyself, and exhort us at the same time to repentance, – 0 grant that we may not be so hardened as to resist thy goodness, nor abuse this thine incredible forbearance, but submit ourselves in obedience to thee; that whenever thou mayest severely chastise us, we may bear thy corrections with genuine submission of faith, and not continue untameable and obstinate to the last, but return to thee the only fountain of life and salvation, that as thou has once begun in us a good work, so thou mayest perfect it to the day of our Lord. Amen.

(From Calvin's commentary on Hosea)

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Prayer: Our most merciful and holy God, we plead that you would grant us the wisdom that comes only from you. Cause us to see and seek knowledge by praying and pleading for it and searching for it in your Word. We know that your Word is the bread of life that man must have to be filled. It is there that we find truth and wisdom to help us on our pilgrimage to our heavenly rest. We confess that we often seek what is most needful in other things. Too often, we put our hope in the counsel and advice of this fallen world. WE know that leads to instability. Forgive us, Lord. Please help us strive after holiness and godliness and righteousness by seeking it in prayer and your infallible Word through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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