The Pastor’s Corner

Prayer: Almighty God and Father in heaven, we praise you that you are holy -- the thrice-holy God. Though your ways are far above our ways, and your glory far exceeds all that you have made, you are pleased to condescend to help and aid your fallen creatures. In Christ, we have been given a sure and steadfast hope knowing that our High Priest has gone through the heavens laboring, serving, and praying for his people. We thank you for the comfort that brings to us pitiful servants of dust. We know that we are unprofitable servants on our best day, yet you are pleased to use us and help us. We confess to you, Father, that we often forget to live each moment to your glory. We easily forget that we were made to honor and adore you in everything that we do. Please forgive us and help us. We thank you for the gracious provision of your Spirit, who guides, instructs, and watches each step we take. We thank you that you direct our paths. Please do so today. Please remember your promises to your people and bless us we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Our God in heaven: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we thank you and praise you for a new day ordained by you and pray that we would use it for your glory. We are thankful that your faithfulness to us is not dependent on our faithfulness to you. You have told us that your mercies are new to us each morning and your faithfulness to us will never end. We are ashamed of how often we wander from your commands. We are accurately described as sheep because we stray from the Good Shepherd of our souls and seek rest in pastures that prove unhelpful to us. We know that your sheep hear your voice and follow you. We know that your voice is heard in your Word. Therefore, Father, please help us to listen carefully to the voice of the Shepherd. Please help us to drink deeply from the well that will never run dry. Grant to us a greater hunger for your Word and a deeper desire to do all that we hear, read, and study. We know that there is nothing we will ever understand if your Holy Spirit does not help us, guide us, and teach us. Please help us and be merciful to us we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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All look unto you, O Lord; and you give them their meat in due season; that you give them they gather: you open your hand, and they are filled with all things in abundance (Ps. 104:27.)
O Lord, in whom is the source and inexhaustible fountain of all good things, pour out your blessing upon us, and sanctify to our use the meat and drink which are the gifts of your kindness toward us, that we, using them soberly and frugally as you enjoin, may eat with a pure conscience.
Grant, also, that we may always both with true heartfelt gratitude acknowledge, and with our lips proclaim, you our Father and the giver of all good, and, while enjoying bodily nourishment, aspire with special longing of heart after the bread of your doctrine, by which our souls may be nourished in the hope of eternal life, through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Grant almighty God that we, as your redeemed people you have loved from before there was anything made, would be pleased to do all your holy will today. We thank you that your love for us has no end, even as it had no beginning. Each day, that love is demonstrated to us as you guide, protect, lead, and deliver us. As a Good Shepherd, you lead us to those green pastures and those dark valleys. Yet, we have no reason to fear because you are with us. As our Father, you rescued us when we were strangers and aliens -- when we were orphans. It was when we were most miserable in the affliction of our sins that you visited us, setting before us an example that we, too, should be a people who care for the hurting and dying of this world. Forgive us, Father, for being so self-absorbed and consumed with our own lives that we miss those opportunities to show your love to the weak, hurting, and forgotten of our world. Forgive us for neglecting hospitality -- kindness to strangers. Forgive us for not emulating your kindness to others. Please grant us a better understanding of your eternal love moving us to show that love to the outcasts in this world. These things we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Grant almighty God that we, as your people, called out of the world and set apart to live holy lives before you would not deceive our hearts about our standing with you, but, instead, deal honestly with our eternal standing. We look intently into your Word and note that a mark of one who is genuinely godly and religious is that they control their tongue. Your Spirit teaches us that how we use our words reflects our hearts. We confess to you that our hearts are often far from you and, therefore, our words often fail to meet the standard established by your holy Word. Forgive us, Father, for how often we use our tongue for destructive and wicked ends. We sow discord. We gossip and slander others made in your image. We complain about our circumstances and grumble at your sovereign right to rule over us. With our tongues, we curse others and do not bless. We discourage, demean, and ruin reputations and otherwise use our words to hurt instead of heal. Forgive us, Father, for the many ways in which we fall short of your commands in this area. WE are ashamed at how careless we often are with our words. We misuse the gift of communication and, instead, use it for evil. Please grant us self-control and grant that we would erect a muzzle over our mouths. Please grant us pure hearts that we might not sin against you. These things we pray for in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Our Father in heaven, we thank you that you are a God that hears your people when they pray. Unlike the dead idols of Israel that your people often ran to and bowed before and pleaded with, you hear your people, and you can do exceedingly, abundantly beyond anything we ask or images. Sadly, however, like the church of old, we often set our affections and hopes on things that will never satisfy. We trust in riches, princes, people, things, and promises of others instead of placing our hope and life in your hands, serving you with zeal and love. Our minds are often on the things of this world and not on the things above. Forgive us, Father. Forgive us for going astray so quickly and for wandering from your ways. Forgive us for not seeking first your kingdom and righteousness. Please help us love you with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Grant almighty God that your redeemed people would draw comfort from your eternal love. Your love has no ending as it had no beginning. Before the mountains were formed, you loved your own. In this have you demonstrated your love that while we were still sinners, your beloved Son died for us. It is a great hope to us that you are love and in you, there is no shadow or variation due to change. We praise you that your love never fails and is not dependent on our labors or effort, but only that you are love and, in your Son, you love us. Forgive us, Father, for not showing this love to the world around us. So often we are consumed with petty conflicts and issues that distract us from our calling to love one another. Please help us to show love with our actions and our words. Please grant us more of your love so we can love others as you have commanded. We are ashamed of how far short we fall in this area, but we are comforted by your love that looks upon your people with pity, forgiving them for all their sins. Therefore, grant us a great desire and zeal to do what you tell us out of adoration and love for your love and all you do for us. These things we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Our most glorious and wise Father in heaven, we humbly and gladly bow the knee before you today because you are our God, and we are your people. We are thankful that you have not left us to our desires and inclinations. As creatures of dust, we are painfully aware of our transgressions and sins before you. Though you have redeemed us through the glorious work of your Son and have made us a new creation, we still wrestle and fight against the old man and those things that easily turn us aside from your commands. We plead your grace and mercy, crying out to you to be merciful to us. We are thankful that you do not treat us as our sins deserve. We stand in awe of your patience with us. We long to serve you faithfully. Please grant us a greater measure of your Spirit that we might not sin against you. Please help us to watch and pray that we would not enter into temptation. When tempted, please sustain us and uphold us and deliver us from the efforts of the evil one. Please help us as recipients of your forgiveness to forgive others. Please bless us and keep us we ask 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: Philippians 4:4-7

Today's mediation touches a particular area in my own life. Though a pastor, I am first a Christian. As a result, I am subjected to the temptations of this life and the anxieties that often come with them. I am not unusual, I suspect. Many of God's people throughout history have wrestled with the paralyzing sin of anxiety. The list would be long, but men such as John Calvin, Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon wrestled with the issues of anxiety, doubt, and worry. The bible also highlights people who wrestled with it as well. People such as Jeremiah, Jonah, Job, Martha, and even Moses! Indeed, anxiety and worry are terrible things, affecting even the greatest of saints (of which I am not).

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Prayer: Grant almighty God that your redeemed people would praise you and do your holy will today as you guide them by your divine providence through all our affairs as ordered by you. We thank you that we can trust you to lead us and guide us -- that nothing that happens to us is by mere chance or coincidence, but all designed for your glory and our good. We desire to see you glorified in our lives, and we long to see you exalted in heaven and earth. Therefore, we pray that your will would be done in the lives of your creatures and that you would do exceedingly, abundantly beyond anything we can ask or think. We confess that we often grumble and complain about the circumstances of our world because we do not trust you as we should. Yet, you have promised great things for us, and therefore, we ask that you would bless us and help us be a believing people -- trusting in your never-changing promises that are yes and amen in the Lord Jesus Christ in whose name we pray. Amen.

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Prayer: My God, Father, and Savior, since you have been pleased to give me the grace to come through the night to the present day, now grant that I may employ it entirely in your service, so that all my works may be to the glory of your name and the edification of my neighbors. As you have been pleased to make your sun shine upon the earth to give us bodily light, grant the light of your Spirit to illumine my understanding and my heart. And because it means nothing to begin well if one does not persevere, I ask that you would continue to increase your grace in me until you have led me into full communion with your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the true Sun of our souls, shining day and night, eternally and without end. Hear me, merciful Father, by our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

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The apostle Paul was a man of prayer, and this is reflected in almost every letter he wrote to the churches and individuals. The Philippians church was especially dear to him as it was a church he founded when he visited that city in Acts 16. His first encounter with that city was not pleasant -- jailed, along with Silas, for advancing the kingdom of the Lord. Yet, a church started and grew. Some ten years later, Paul addresses these dear saints in a letter bearing their name.

The letter opens with comfort from the apostle. In his words, he labors to pastorally offer them something of hope, telling them that he was praying for them. Indeed, what better thang can a Christian do than to say to another brother or sister that they are praying for them. There is a real danger to receive those words without much thought or comfort. We sometimes hear people tell us that, and we respond well by saying "thank you." After all, we do have manners! Yet, we should understand deeply the extreme peace and comfort those words convey. Prayer moves the hand of God, and the prayers of the saints for the saints are how God helps and guides his people. Of course, when we tell others we are praying for them, we ought to be telling the truth. The words "I am praying for you" are not a mere solace but are to be heartfelt and meaningful.

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