4.7.24
Heavenly Father, you are the God of all gods and Lord of all lords, reigning with true wisdom, justice, mercy, and grace, and it’s you alone that is worthy of our worship. You have called us to live holy lives, living faithfully devoted to you. But, oh how our sinful hearts are prone to wander. We like sheep have gone astray and have been compromised in our faithfulness to you. We find ourselves so easily enticed by the shiny false gods the world lures us to worship. Instead of standing firm in our faithfulness to you, we bow down to the demands of over-filled schedules and our careers. We align ourselves with political parties and place our faith in our salaries, physical health, material possessions, and the approval of others, believing that these things will be a refuge, providing safety and satisfaction for us. We humbly come before you and ask for your forgiveness. Jesus, thank you for your faithfulness on our behalf. You never strayed from the path of devotion and obedience to the Father, even when your obedience meant death on a cross. You were pierced for our wandering and idolatry, and it’s by your wounds we are made whole and brought into your fold. Spirit we pray you would bind our hearts to you. Help us to live holy, faithful lives, walking in your ways and not our own. Remind us of your great love for us and empower us to live boldly and faithfully for you. In your name, we pray, Amen.
Gracious and Holy Father, we thank you for the true gift it is to gather together as your church. To remind ourselves and one another of the grace we’ve been given, and the new life we’ve been called to. You’ve done a wondrous work in creating your church. You paid a great price to establish it through the sacrifice of your Son. And this is why it’s altogether unnerving that we seem to forget and neglect this important little detail. We take Christ’s bride for granted. Father, we pray your forgiveness for how we’ve pushed it to the back of our lives and looked towards the institutions of this world to lead us. To validate us. To give us a sense of community and belonging. To hold influence and authority over us. All the things your Word tells us is the work and gracious gift of your church, Christ’s bride. Your people, gathered together, working to edify and build one another up in the faith. Your people gathered together doing the work of ministry to exalt and exult in the name of Jesus Christ. We are your people and we’ve been given an amazing gift in being grafted into your church. Spirit, help us to seize this gift of community and belonging. Help us to find joy in being a part of the body of faith we’re called into, and knowing we are part of a glorious work Christ is doing among us. To find true joy and true rest for our weary hearts. It’s in the glorious name of Jesus Christ we have gathered and in his name we pray all these things, Amen.
4.14.24
Heavenly Father, you are the God of all gods and Lord of all lords, reigning with true wisdom, justice, mercy, and grace, and it’s you alone that is worthy of our worship. You have called us to live holy lives, living faithfully devoted to you. But, oh how our sinful hearts are prone to wander. We like sheep have gone astray and have been compromised in our faithfulness to you. We find ourselves so easily enticed by the shiny false gods the world lures us to worship. Instead of standing firm in our faithfulness to you, we bow down to the demands of over-filled schedules and our careers. We align ourselves with political parties and place our faith in our salaries, physical health, material possessions, and the approval of others, believing that these things will be a refuge, providing safety and satisfaction for us. We humbly come before you and ask for your forgiveness. Jesus, thank you for your faithfulness on our behalf. You never strayed from the path of devotion and obedience to the Father, even when your obedience meant death on a cross. You were pierced for our wandering and idolatry, and it’s by your wounds we are made whole and brought into your fold. Spirit we pray you would bind our hearts to you. Help us to live holy, faithful lives, walking in your ways and not our own. Remind us of your great love for us and empower us to live boldly and faithfully for you. In your name, we pray, Amen.
Heavenly Father, we gather this morning to worship you, our Lord and God. You are the Maker and Creator of all things, and all things exist to bring you glory. Lord, we are in awe of the beauty of Creation that you have given to us. From the bright spring flowers dancing in your sunlight, to the birds’ songs filling the skies with your praises, Father we thank you and we praise you! You have freely given us so many gifts that we do not deserve, Lord. When we stop to recount how richly you bless us, our hearts overflow with love and gratitude. For we are sinful people. There is not one of us here who is blameless or worthy to sit in your presence. Our lives are filled with reminders that we are not home, but rather, sojourners in this world. Jesus, so many here this morning come broken and hurting. The consequences of sin have tainted this world and left us in its wreckage. Stress, anxiety, depression, broken relationships, and sickness affect us all in some way- and satan wants nothing more than to let these circumstances take our eyes off of you. Jesus forgive us for our knee-jerk reactions where we respond in our flesh rather than first running to you in prayer. And Jesus, forgive us for our own personal sin which has contributed to our pain and struggles. We are quick to anger and slow to forgive. We are quick to worship the things of this world rather than you, the One who literally breathed life into existence. We take this time now Lord, and ask that your Spirit would soften our hearts and call to mind any sin in our lives, so that we can seek true repentance and the freedom that you promise us in you… Holy Spirit, thank you for your presence here with us this morning. You are our only hope in this sinful world. Help us to fix our eyes on you, and help us not to lose sight of the abundant gift of life that we have in you, our Savior. We ask all of these things in the Name of your beautiful son Jesus. And all God’s children said together- Amen.
4.21.24
Psalm 125:1–2 (NLT): Those who trust in the Lord are as secure as Mount Zion; they will not be defeated but will endure forever. 2 Just as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, both now and forever.
Father we look to you now as our source of strength, our healer, our redeemer and our only hope. Lift the eyes of those who are hurting today and those struggling to remember from where their strength comes. For we often forget or are indifferent to your presence when we should be rejoicing in the incredible truth that you are our God and there is none like you. We forget that you are working in and through all things, despite the narrative of this world. Help us to cling to you and abide in you alone. for A stable economy cannot save us. Our government, therapists, healthy lifestyles cannot produce righteousness in us. Only you can. Only by the spirit working in and through us can we live according to your ways and walk this narrow path that leads to eternal life. We are desperate for you. Some of us here don’t even know that’s what we are longing for. Please reveal yourself. Remind us of your presence that never leaves, never forsakes, never rejects. Help us to live in light of your glory and bring you the praise and worship that is due your holy name. Thank you Jesus for perfectly abiding in the father in our behalf. We love you. Amen.
Father God, words cannot describe how great you are. You created the universe and all that is in it. You created us and you know us by name. We come before you today asking forgiveness for all the times that we choose the ways of this world over your ways. Thank you for sending your son Jesus to earth to live the perfect life that we could not and to die the death that we deserve, making us right with you forever. Be with us this morning. Help us to be changed by you and your word. We love you and we thank you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
4.28.24
Lord in Heaven, you are our vision and light, you are our wisdom and Father, you are our inheritance and treasure, you are our King and ruler of all. Father, you are our everything. Every good and perfect gift we are blessed with has come from you, maker and creator of all things. You freely bless your children and we are forever grateful for the way you take care of us. Help us to be your humble servants and to use the gifts you have entrusted to us to magnify and glorify your name and to point others to your glorious light. Help us to never forget the source of the blessings in our lives. Lord, may we forever be thankful not just for the big blessings in our lives, but may we also have gratitude for the small things and even the things that may not seem like blessings right now. For we know that you work everything for the good of those who love you, but to be honest Lord, certain things don’t feel like blessings in our lives. We are all dealing with the effects of sin, whether it be our sin or another’s sin, or illness, or loss or just simply frustration that things aren’t going our way. Father, we don’t always understand why these things are in our lives, but you do and you know how to use for good what the enemy meant for evil. You know how to use what seems bad at the time to mold us into the people you desire us to be. Father help us to turn everything in our lives over to you. Lord, we lay our problems, our thoughts, our worries and our sin at the foot of the cross. Through your Son Jesus, you have defeated Satan, sin, death and hell and because of that, our fear is gone, and we can face tomorrow because we know you hold the future. Thank you for saving us. In your Son’s precious name we pray, Amen.
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