Prayers 8

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father we thank you for the opportunity of worshiping you and for the freedom to be amongst your family of believers in fellowship. Meeting together over the air waves and in the warmth of your embrace we can know your love and hear your voice even though we are apart from each other. Thank you that in worship we can put aside the uncertainties of this world and rest upon the certainties of the Kingdom of God for your promises are not changeable and you are the same yesterday today and for ever!

Thank you that we can bring to your feet all the hurts and fears that trouble us and leave them there knowing that your strength and assurance are all that we require.

Thank you that as we draw near in worship we are transported from a world of concerns and fears to a place where we can be at peace in your presence and find the healing, wholeness and refreshment we need. Thank you that you have forgiven our foolish ways and enabled us to walk in obedience every day to your word and will. As we read and study your word in this hour may it become to us a spiritual food, a nourishment for our souls so that we may be built up in our most holy faith. Strengthen and sustain us by it, and give us a daily hunger after righteousness.

Bless your Church today and may Jesus Christ become the centre of attraction and affection for all your children. Lead us heavenly father into a deeper and more loving relationship with him, so that his beauty and gentle nature may be reflected in our lives and living. Draw near to all who need your presence and power in their lives and circumstances today, and may they find your strength in their weakness, your mercy in their failings, and your grace for their trials. Give us all a heart for your commandments, so that we may love our neighbour as ourselves, and flee from every form of evil. Empower and equip us for the service we should render to you, and may that service be the self-less expression of our joy and gratitude in Jesus Christ for our great Salvation, and the Hope of Glory that he has purchased for us on the Cross. May we ever walk worthy of the high calling that is ours in Him, we ask these things for your dear names sake AMEN.

Prayers of Intercession

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father help us to focus in prayer on your ability to give us the things we need, as we ask Lord for

this world we live in, this town we live in, this street we live in,
this house we live in, may each be the focus of our prayers
Those we live with, those we rub shoulders with, those we work with,
those we don’t get on with, may each be the focus of our prayers
Those who laugh, those who cry, those who hurt, those who hide
may each be the focus of our prayers.
May our Prayers be centred less on self and more on others
less on our circumstances and more on the needs of others.
May our lives be likewise centred less on self and more on You
and through You to the world in which we live and move. We acknowledge Lord that you have asked us for surrendered hands, surrendered tongues, surrendered feet, surrendered minds, surrendered love and loyalty so that dying to self we may live more to your glory and the good of our neighbour. Give us compassion for the hurting in our world, and a make our Christian example effective to bring about the changes that are needed in our society and neighbourhoods. Deliver us from the hopelessness of despair, and the inevitability of loss, and help us to be as salt, preserving good and halting decay, and as light, giving direction and making our world a brighter place for all. May our focus be on the victory that is already ours in Jesus Christ, and may we approach our problems from that position of success, not asking for success but believing it to be already in our grasp. Help us to defeat the evils in our own lives so that we can better understand how we can defeat the evils in our world. Help us to stand up and speak up for those who cannot stand or speak for themselves. Give us a fresh awareness of the true value of all human life, and may we cherish the gifts you give us and protect them all from the things that could destroy them. Help our legislators to write into law the things that maintain the good, and remove the evil, and give your Church a strong voice for the weak, and a fresh hope for the future. We ask these our prayers in the precious name of Jesus who taught us when we pray to say ….”Our Father….”