Corporate Prayer July 2023

7.2.23

Father in heaven we are grateful for the gracious gift it is to be together worshiping. To be near to one another singing and celebrating the gospel is an encouragement we often times forget is an essential part of our lived and shared faith. And how necessary a time it is when each day brings a renewed struggle against sin fighting for a foothold in our lives. And one of our greatest self-inflicted wounds is the fact that far too often we’re casual about our sin. And rather than go about the good work of mortifying our sin, we get cozy with it. Lord forgive us. Forgive us for excusing our sin. For not diligently fighting it. For being comfortable with it. It’s an offense to your holiness and we should despise our sin just as much as you do. Whatever sin we’re not battling right now, hear our pleas:

<silent prayer>

Spirit, help us every day to be fighting sin in our lives. Teach us to give sin the fitting death it deserves through the power of Jesus’s great work. And Father, remind us that even though we still struggle with sin, we are loved more deeply than we can possibly comprehend. As we continue to push back against sin, help us to remember your grace extends beyond all measure, and you love us and you are for us. Give us the strength we require to strive towards holiness for the glory of our Lord Jesus, and for our good. It’s in the wondrous name of Jesus Christ we have gathered and in his name we pray all these things, Amen.

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7.9.23

Almighty Father, Maker of heaven and earth, we praise your holy name. It is most assuredly your breath that is in our lungs. As the psalmist says, “it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made.” Lord, how deep your love must be for us that we are called your children. You know us, better than we know ourselves. You know the depths of our sin, yet you chose to reveal yourself to us and save us from the punishment of death and destruction that we so deserved.

Father, forgive us for thinking that we are unloved. Forgive us for forgetting the sacrifice that Jesus made to bring us into your fold. Forgive us for not showing your love to others. Forgive us for failing to treat others as we want to be treated. Lord, we are such a self-centered and forgetful people . . . help us in our battle against sin and evil and help us in proclaiming the truth of the gospel. We cannot win this fight on our own. It is only through your power that we can be called conquerors. Through the Holy Spirit, give us the strength and power and wisdom to do mighty things in your name.

Lord, for those here today that don’t yet have a relationship with you, we pray that you would open their hearts to your truth . . . that you would draw them to you, Father. Help us to show them the same love and grace and mercy that you have so graciously shown us. We desire that all would come to you, that they would be rescued by a good and loving Father. Holy Spirit, thank you for moving in hearts and minds today. In your powerful name we pray, Amen.

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7.16.23

Father God, 

You are the one true God, the creator of the universe, and our joy. You are mighty, compassionate, merciful, and you know us better than we know ourselves. You are great.  

We come before you today in humility; knowing that we are sinners in great need of a savior. We constantly choose our ways over yours; the shiny temptations of this world over following you. And we ask for forgiveness.  

Thank you for the ability to come before you today in worship. Thank you for the freedom to do so in safety. Thank you for your guidance and constant provision. Thank you most of all for sending your Son Jesus to earth to die the death that we deserved. Thank you for raising him from the dead, and defeating sin once and for all so that we may be with you forever. 

Please be with us today. Help us to become more like you. 

We love you and we thank you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Father, thank you for calling us into your family and gathering us here today to celebrate your glory and goodness together. What a blessing it is to encourage one another in the truths of the gospel. Father, every day of the week we find ourselves blown and bueted by the whims and the deceits of the world. Half-truths and flat out distortions that seek to confuse and manipulate us into believing there is some other superior truth besides the truths found only in Jesus Christ. Some special revelation that is extra and makes us feel as though we’re on an exclusive or enlightened path. Sometimes these deceptions even seek to co-opt the truths of Jesus and your word and distort them in order to buy legitimacy. These deceptions do one thing and one thing only: draw us away from the truths we only find Jesus and given to us through your word. They create disastrous “Jesus + this other thing” scenarios and they do nothing but draw us away from Jesus being the only thing. Father, forgive us. Forgive us for believing in anything other than Jesus + nothing and that being our everything. Forgive us for, at times, inviting half-truths and deceptions in our lives. Spirit, help us to draw near to the truths of Jesus and the truths of scripture. Give us a passion for your word. Help us to align our knowledge, our wisdom, with the truths of scripture alone. Help us to find our our assurance in Christ and in him find rest for our wearied souls. Help us to quiet all the clanging and maddening voices and noises so that we hear only your voice. It’s in the wondrous name of Jesus Christ we have gathered and in his name we pray all these things, Amen.

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7.23.23

Father we ask that you would hear us now we come to you with open hearts. Lord, who is like you? Who but you reigns from heaven over all things? We praise you for you are the only one and you do it perfectly. You are never lacking in truth so you can not deceive. You are only capable of perfect justice. You know all things and we can trust your divine wisdom. Your love is complete, steadfast, unwavering, and unconditional. It lacks nothing. We can’t even comprehend this type of love for we are incapable of producing it. But we see this love in Christ. We see the love that we are called to give but we confess that we routinely fail to love you, our brothers and sisters, our co-workers, neighbors, family and friends. Forgive us. By your mercy, help us. Help us to be an expression of your love. Help us to sacrifice our wants and desires so that we would put others before ourselves as just as you sacrificed your life for ours. And then we ask that it would bring you glory and make your name known here and to the ends of the earth. Lord from the depths of our souls we cry out to you and thank you for the perfect life you lived on our behalf. Stir our hearts now to be attentive to you and to your word as we continue in our time of worship.

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7.30.23

Almighty God, you are the King of Kings and there is no ruler, leader, or judge like you. Forever you reign, seated on your heavenly throne. Your wisdom is unmatched—your thoughts are far higher than our thoughts and your ways far surpass our ways. You are merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. You are holy and reign with true and perfect justice. There is none other like you, and your holiness demands our loyalty to you. Yet in our sinful nature, our view of you is clouded. We forget your greatness and so often take our eyes off of you, Lord. We worship false idols and so easily find ourselves trapped in the snares of sin. Your word tells us that the wages of sin is death and eternal separation from you, and death is what we deserve, for we could never repay you for all the ways we have sinned against you. Yet in your great love, you sent your son to take on every single one of our sins and die the death we deserve. Through the blood of your Son, Jesus, we can be washed clean and made in right standing with you. Jesus, thank you for making a way when there was no way. Thank you for living a perfect life on our behalf and setting a perfect example for us to follow. Thank you for shepherding our souls and caring for us perfectly in the way our souls deeply ache to be cared for. Help us to keep our eyes on you. Spirit, reveal the sin in our lives to us and lead us to repentance. Teach us how to follow you. We love you and we praise you for all you have done for us, Lord. In your name we pray, Amen. 

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Father, we are grateful for being drawn into this place to worship together as your people. Let us not only sing and celebrate the gospel of Jesus, but also consider the gracious gift it is to be together. To remind ourselves and one another that the holy God who created the universe and holds stars in his hand, looks upon us with kindness and mercy. Father we take the good things you have made and we corrupt them in order satiate our own sinful desires. And when the Spirit helps us to realize the depth of our sin, we try to put things right, but instead of turning toward the righteousness of Christ that you have imputed to us, we convince ourselves we have our own righteousness to cover us. We see the good and true righteousness of Christ before us and we somehow shrug and smugly say, “Nah, I got it.” And, Father, that isn’t it. It’s not the solution we think it is. It only wears us down further and we’re not righteous on our own, our merit simply will not stand. So we pray you forgive us this silliness. Forgive us our confusion about where our righteousness comes from, because it comes from Christ alone. And Spirit, help us to not only be mindful of this, but be active about it, daily putting on the righteousness of Christ. Father, we will only exhaust ourselves, but Christ is inexhaustible. We won’t find the edges of his graciousness, goodness, kindness, mercy, justice, or his righteousness. Let us trust in that and live in light of it. It’s in the wondrous name of Jesus Christ we have gathered and in his name we pray all these things, Amen.