The Pastor’s Corner

Prayer: Almighty God and heavenly Father, we praise your name today because you are good, and your mercy is given to pitiful creatures of dust. We thank you for the patience and kindness displayed towards us each day. There are not enough words or time to express how grateful we are for your eternal love demonstrated in the giving of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have been granted rest -- rest from our worries and cares; rest from our sadness and sorrow; rest from a guilty conscience; rest from the misery that awaits all those who do not know you. In Christ, we have the hope of eternal rest when the church militant is no longer at war with the world, the flesh, and the enemy of our souls. Therefore, we praise you for giving us the holiest of days - the Lord's Day. Today we are reminded of your love and favor and the hope of the new heavens and earth. Please help us, Holy Father, to seize this day and use it for the purpose you give it. Please grant us willing hearts and minds to love you more and listen as you speak through the preached Word. Please grant your ministers the words to say, protecting them from he who would seek to distract your people from the eternal truths of your Word. We thank you for your forgiveness, and we thank you for the weekly reminder of your love displayed to helpless sinners. WE pray all of these things through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Grant almighty God that we, as your redeemed people who have been called out of darkness into your marvelous light, would gather today with a hunger and thirst to hear your Word as it is preached. Be pleased, holy Father, to grant through your eternal Spirit that we would sing with joy in our hearts and express with our voices your greatness and glory. Please forgive us for those cold affections that keep our hearts from truly worshipping you as you command and deserve. Please forgive us for our casual and common approach to those things that are holy. Forgive us for not approaching your worship as vital to our spiritual well-being. We thank you for giving us the Lord's Day as a picture of our eternal rest. We thank you that it fans into flame a greater desire to see the coming of our Lord. Therefore, we pray, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

We pray on this Lord's Day that you will bless your worship and the gathering of your church. May you bring great glory to your name despite the weakness of your people. We pray for your glory to descend and inhabit the praises of your people. May you, the only God, rend the heavens and come down and meet with us we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Almighty God we pray that you as our Father would hear the cries and pleas of your people today as they cast their cares upon you. We are your children -- sons and daughters of the Most High - and ask you to remember your promises to us as your adopted family purchased by the blood of our elder brother, the Lord Jesus. As we pray, we are mindful of our weaknesses and failures. It is true, Father, that we sin daily in thought, word, and deed and we are ashamed at how easily we wander from your commands. We praise you for your patience with us, but we still mourn our sin and ask that you forgive us. Father, we plead with you to help those who are struggling with debilitating pain and illness. There are many close to us that struggle with pain and sorrow. We see the breakdown of our bodies due to sin, and we see the toll it takes on those we love. We mourn for them and hurt with them weeping with those who weep. Please be pleased to help them through the struggle. Please guide and direct them, sanctifying them completely through the struggle, helping them to rest in your grace that is sufficient for all things. We pray these things in the name of the one who suffered for our sake, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

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Prayer: Our Father in heaven, you are holy, and your Word tells us to be holy as you are holy. We thank you that you are a God who can do no wrong. We praise you that your providence, though mysterious to us, always works for the good of your church and the glory of your name. Yet, there are times when we doubt and question the work of your hands. We confess that there are times when we struggle to understand what you are doing. We know that you have told us that all things work together for good for those who love you. Yet, we still wrestle deeply with the circumstances of our life. We know that we are told to trust you and lean upon you with all of our hearts. We confess that we have limited vision and limited understanding. Therefore, holy Father, please give us more faith and more trust in you as you have revealed yourself in your Word. Please grant us a better understanding of your divine purpose and rest in your eternal love for us. Though there will be times when you will bring us through the storms of this life, please grant us a better grasp of your goodness and mercy that will never let us go. Thank you for being patient with us and for forgiving us through the work of your beloved Son.

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Prayer: We bless and praise your name, most holy Father, as we bow before you today to commune with you through the means you have provided. We thank you for the tremendous privilege of prayer as we can cast our cares upon you. We know that your Word tells us that you care for your people. We are humbled that you, the mighty and thrice-holy God, would consider creatures made by your hands. You sit above the circle of the earth and regard the inhabitants of this planet as grasshoppers. We stand in awe that you love us and have placed your eternal love on us, demonstrated through the giving of your Son. We thank you that through him, we have forgiveness of sin. We are humbled at your kindness and only pray that we would walk worthy of the calling that you have placed on our lives. Please grant to us a hunger and thirst for righteousness. Please give us a greater desire to live lives of self-denial. Please help us to set our minds on things above and not on the things of this earth. Please forgive us, Father, for how we fall short of your glory. We know that we sin daily in thought, word, and deed. Yet, you are pleased to forgive. So, holy God, forgive us and bless us and help us seek you and serve you with our whole being we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Grant, Almighty God,
that as almost the whole world give such loose reins to their licentiousness,
that they hesitate not either to despise or regard as of no value Thy sacred Word. Grant, O Lord, that we may always retain such reverence as is justly due to it and to Thy holy oracles,
and be so moved whenever Thou deignest to address us that, being truly humbled, we may be raised up by faith to heaven and by hope gradually attain that glory that is as yet hid from us.

And may we at the same time so submissively restrain ourselves as to make it our whole wisdom to obey Thee and to do Thy service, until Thou gatherest us into Thy kingdom, where we shall be partakers of Thy glory, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Grant almighty God that you would be pleased to turn the hearts of your people wholly unto you as we worship you today. We are thankful for your lovingkindness and grace in giving to us your beloved Son who, though in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of s servant, being born in the likeness of men. We stand in awe of the eternal love that you demonstrated as you were pleased to crush your Son for our sakes. Though we are like sheep often go astray, you are patient and kind, forgiving our sins and transgressions. We confess that we sin daily in thought, word, and deed. We are ashamed at our lackluster zeal and cold affections for all that the Lord Jesus Christ has done. In him, we have all the inheritances that he secured through his suffering and death. In him, we have a high priest that has gone through the heavens to mediate for us. Yet, far too often, we fall short of your glory. We approach you in worship with hearts and minds focused more on the things of this world and not on those above. Too often, we sing your praises with our lips, but our hearts are from you. Forgive us, Lord. Please grant us a greater zeal and delight to be with your people, praising and adoring you today. Please cause us to delight in the Lord's Day. Remember your people for good, O Father, and meet with us and speak to us today we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Grant almighty God that we, as your chosen and called out ones, would present to you our whole being as living sacrifices before you in our speech, thoughts, and conduct. Please grant to us a greater measure of your Spirit that we would live lives of self-denial, bearing the cross and demonstrating the willingness to obey the commands of your Word with fervent zeal. Forgive us, Lord, for how we are so easily turned aside to worthless things forgetting that you have given us your Word to guide us in a world that is contrary to you. We behold the ruin that sin has caused in your creation and creatures. We see it not only in those who reject you but also in those you have called out of darkness and placed into your marvelous light. We see it in ourselves, and we are ashamed. Yet, we are thankful that we are not treated as our sins deserve; that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We praise you for the wisdom of your eternal purpose and plan to save us from sin and misery. Please help us and guide us in all our labors today.

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Prayer: We praise you, most holy Father, for your constant care and compassion for the sheep of your pasture. We thank you that though we are plagued with the enticement of this world, your Spirit continues to guide and direct us as we move through our lives. We stand in awe of your patience as we repeatedly ask for forgiveness for our sin, knowing that we fall far short of your glory each day. Though we long to obey you perfectly, the present reality of indwelling sin hinders our efforts and labors. Yet, you are gracious to forgive each time we ask and not treat us as our sins deserve. We have peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Spirit through your beloved Son. Thank you, Father, for the perfect work of your Son who was appointed as our High Priest and who has gone through the heavens as one who sympathizes with every need and concern, we have because he suffered and was tempted in all ways we are yet without sin. Please help us be more fervent and bolder in prayer, pleading with you for what we need and desire because you are a good Father who stands able and ready to help us. We ask that you help us guard our hearts and minds against the efforts of the Evil One. We know that he works tirelessly to distract and disturb your people, so we pray that you would remember your promise to your church and help her and protect her. We thank you that your promises are not dependent on our behavior.

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Prayer: Grant, Almighty God, that since Thou art pleased kindly to invite us to Thyself and hast consecrated thy Word for our salvation --
O grant that we may willingly, and from the heart, obey Thee and become so teachable that what Thou hast designed for our salvation may not turn to our perdition.
But may that incorruptible seed by which Thou dost regenerate us into a hope of the celestial life so drive its roots into our hearts and bring forth fruit that Thy name may be glorified.
And may we be so planted in the courts of Thy house that we may grow and flourish, and that fruit may appear through the whole course of our life, until we shall at length enjoy that blessed life that is laid up for us in heaven, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Lifting Up Our Hearts: 150 Selected Prayers of John Calvin. Edited by Dustin W. Benge)

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Prayer: Grant almighty God that we, as your redeemed people who have been called by your name, would honor you in the ways you have commanded. You have given us your moral law and taught us what is good, right, and holy. We grieve our failure in all areas of your law, and we especially lament our lack of zeal for the Christian Sabbath, the Lord's Day. We are ashamed of how worldly we are as we order our day. Too often, we engage in behavior and activities contrary to the demands of your law -- a law you gave for our good as the Sabbath is made for man and not man for the Sabbath. We confess that we are short-sighted of what the Lord's Day exemplifies for us: our eternal rest. Our Father, forgive us and help us to take full advantage of the day set apart as holy as we gather as your people, sing your praises, pray, and hear you speak to us through the preaching of your Word.

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