Corporate Worship Prayers

10/3/21

Father in Heaven, 

It is such a joy to be in your house, as your people, giving King Jesus the praise, glory, and honor that he alone deserves. And as we look back to his first advent, we turn our eyes towards his second advent, when he returns to complete the work he began in us. Lord, may we wait for that day with great expectation, but not the expectation of our flesh. Far too often, Father, we try to make Jesus what we want to be, or we try to negotiate the terms of our relationship with him. We create our own expectations of who he should be in our own mind, rather than letting your word speak for itself on the matter and resting in that alone. Father, forgive us. Forgive us for trying to make Jesus something he's not and not worshipping who he is, because who he is is so much better than we can even imagine. And what he's promised is so much greater than we can imagine. Spirit, help us to worship Christ deeply in light of who he is and what he's done for us, and for what he's promised he will still do. And help us to trust Christ and all his promises. It is such a gift to be your church and to gather in your name and worship your son, Jesus Christ. May we be a people who worships in spirit and in truth. It's in the wonderful name of Christ that we have gathered, and in his name we pray, Amen.

10/10/21

Lord, we so often fall short of your glorious, perfect law that it is hard to see the change you are doing in our hearts. We still choose self over neighbor. We still choose our will over your will. We still choose lies over truth, and for these things, we seek your forgiveness. Search our hearts now and reveal what we need to confess to you and to one another today. Forgive us for hiding from you. Teach us to run to you instead of away from you when we face moments of temptation, for you are merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. We thank you, Lord, that you are making us more like your son Jesus day by day and we look to him for our salvation. For he chose to love his neighbor over himself, he chose and followed your will perfectly and he is truth. Praise be to God. Amen.

10/17/21

Father, we gather here again this week bringing before you all the joys, challenges, wins, losses, hopes and heartbreaks that we experienced throughout our week. But we are a forgetful people, prone to wander, and more than likely we left this place last week and went about life, as if you weren't with us. Lord forgive us and give us hearts that understand not only are you with us but you have ordained each moment. Nothing escapes you, Lord, and if we believed this truth, we would not cling so tightly to this world. You have called us to a radical belief, Lord. You have told us to count the cost of following you and the cost is everything. We are terrified of this and if we are honest, we grieve at the thought of giving up our practical gods because we do not believe that you are better. Change us because we can not. It is impossible for us to trust you without your severe mercy working in our hearts, moment by moment. Day by day. Let us leave here today loving you more and following you more closely. You are certainly worthy of it. Amen

10/24/2021

Father, we come before you as a sinful people this morning who are desperate for truth. There are so many lies being whispered into our ears right now. It is no wonder that we often don’t know what to believe and our hearts get lead astray. It is too easy for us to buy into the ever-changing cultural thinking that surrounds us and for us to set up our own idols of worship. Lord, please, we beg you to speak your never-changing truth into our lives and tear down the idols that we’ve setup and hold dear. Help us get rid of the things in our lives that are not of you and help us to give our hearts fully to you. Tear down our will to rule our own lives and help us to put you on the throne of our hearts. May we find all of our satisfaction in you alone.

Father, give us discerning ears that are tuned in to your truth and that reject the lies of the evil one. Give us clear minds and pure hearts, when everything around us seems to be nothing but confusion and chaos. You are the God of order and truth and light. Help us to follow that light. Please break through in our lives in a powerful way today. In Your name we pray, amen.

10/24/21

Father God, you alone are good.

You created the heavens and the earth and all that is on the earth. You created us. And it was good. But God, we sinned against you and since that fall have been separated from you with no way to reconcile ourselves to your perfect and Holy standard. But you had a plan all along to send your one and only son Jesus to come to earth, to live a blameless life that we simply could not, and to die, not because of anything he did, but to die because of everything we did. And so Jesus took our sin upon himself. He died for us. But death would not win. On the third day, Jesus rose again. Defeating Satan, sin, and death, and making us right with you once again. May this gospel truth run deep in our souls. In our lives. In our churches. And may we be changed because of it. We love you. And we thank you.

In Jesus’ saving name we pray, amen.