Pastoral Prayers by Paul Meeks Prayers 1-10
Our gracious and loving Heavenly Father, we come to You
this morning in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. We come, not as
strangers or foreigners, but we're Your children
and You're our Father. We were not part of the family at one time, but
we've been born again and made part of Your family,
and because of that we have the wonderful prospect of living with You through
all eternity in heaven. What a bright future we have.
We thank You today for Your faithfulness and Your
mercy and grace. You're always there when we need You.
You've never turned us away and You've never failed
us. You've never failed to fulfill Your promises
to us and to Your world. In our troubles and trials and when the road
seemed long, You've been right there with us and
You've helped us through, and we give You thanks and praise today. Thank
You, Lord, for all You've done for us, but most of all
we thank You for Who and What You are.
We want to tell You that we earnestly want to do Your
will and fulfill Your plans and purposes for us. We're available because
we've surrendered our lives to You and You can do with
us whatever You choose. We're all busy with the business of living in the
here and now. We have jobs, we have families, we have responsibilities,
we get involved in all kinds of things, some of vital importance and some of
them are only trivial. So help us, Lord, to put first things first.
Help us to keep our priorities straight. Help us to seek first Your Kingdom
and righteousness and let the other things fall into their rightful
places. Help us to make the right choices that will count for eternity.
We pray for the needs of our people today. We've all come with individual
and very personal needs. Maybe nobody on earth knows about the struggles
and burdens they're facing, but You know and You
invite us to bring everything to You in prayer. So, we each reach out to You and we know that You're already reaching out to
us. We ask You to meet our needs this morning
and give us the assurance that You're answering our prayers. We pray for
many different kinds of physical needs, financial needs, there are those with
emotional needs. Some need healing of relationships. Whatever they
are, Lord, we bring them to You, because You can do
something about them.
We pray for our community and those that are all around us. We pray for
our government officials and those in rulership over
us. We pray for divine wisdom and the ability to lead justly and
wisely. We pray for our president and those in our national
government. We pray for a revival of godliness and righteousness and
holiness in our country and for the forces of evil to be defeated.
We pray for Your Word as it preached around the world this very day and for
those of our brothers and sisters particularly in countries that don't enjoy
the freedom that we have. We pray for the team that
have gone to
We pray for our pastor as he preaches in the services this morning. We
ask for your divine anointing on him and the words he speaks and may we all
have open and obedient hearts.
We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer by Paul Meeks (# 10)
Our gracious and loving
Heavenly Father, we come to You today in the name of
Jesus, our Lord and Savior. We want to thank You
for Your amazing grace that saved us, that changed our lives and brought us
into Your eternal Kingdom. And all that’s wonderful, but we can’t live in
the past. The yesterdays were wonderful, but this is today and we need
that amazing grace every day. We need it today because we live in a
fast-paced world and each day has its challenges and we don’t know what a day
will bring forth. But we do know that Your grace
is always sufficient and we rejoice in that. By Your grace we can do
things we never thought possible and we can reach heights we never thought we
could reach. So, today we give You thanks and we
glorify Your matchless name.
Lord, when we contemplate the
events of the past few days in the world, our minds are troubled. The
bombings in
We pray for our president and
vice-president and the cabinet members that face these and other
situations. They need Your wisdom and directions
and they need to be sensitive to the impressions that the Holy Spirit is trying
to impress on them. We pray for all the men and women in
government. How much we need God in the affairs of our nation and that’s
what we pray for today and every day.
We pray for our church and
our special needs right here among us today. You know us, Lord,
individually and you look right down into our hearts and minds and you
understand where we stand before You right now.
Please help us each one as we lift up our hearts and our needs. We ask
for Your special touch and for the assurance that we
need from You. You do hear and answer our prayers. And as we reach
out to You, You’re already reaching out to us.
We pray for the search that’s
going on for those to fill the staff positions that we need. We ask that You would guide us to the ones that You already have in mind
for us, that will meet our needs in ministry. We pray, too, for the plans
for an adequate building that will enable us to do a better job of ministering
to our community. These are important decisions that are being made and
we pray for your guidance and direction.
We pray for Pastor Steve as
he brings the message in just a few minutes. Enable him to express the
thoughts that You’ve given him for us.
We pray in the name of
Jesus. Amen.
Paul Meeks
Pastoral Prayer by Paul Meeks
Our gracious and loving Heavenly Father, we come to You
today in Jesus' name, the name that's above every name in heaven and on
earth. How comforting it is to know that You're
in control of the world and even the whole universe, however vast and big it is!
Things happen all over the world that are troubling
and perplexing, but we know that You're never surprised or perplexed.
You're also in charge of our own world and the affairs of our lives, and You're never surprised or perplexed there, either.
Things happen to us that we don't understand and we have questions and wonder
why things are as they are. But there are some things we won't ever
understand and some things we don't need to understand, at least not for
now. So, help us to trust You even when we can't
see, because with our hand in Yours, we'll make it through. Thanks for
being there.
We're thinking especially today about those that have lost loved ones in recent
days, particularly the Martin family and the Matchettes,
but there are a number of others that still feel their loss keenly and even
when others forget, its never far from their minds and emotions. We pray
for the comfort of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, and may they find in You their source of strength and the courage to go on.
We pray, too, for those with sicknesses and physical problems. You're the
Great Physician and You know just what they need and
how to meet all of their needs, both physical and emotional, and we uphold them
this morning.
We pray for our president and his cabinet. We pray for the men and women
of congress and those of the courts of our land. They need the influence
of the Holy Spirit as they make vital decisions day after day that effect us,
not only today, but for years in the future. We're thankful for all those
that know You and call upon You for Your direction and
guidance, and we know that there are many of them. We pray for Your influence in the affairs of our nation.
Thank You for Your presence with us right now in this service, because we sense
that You are here. We want to be drawn closer to
You. We want to be encouraged and uplifted and
challenged in our personal lives.
We pray for our pastor as he ministers this morning. You have already
spoken to him and now we expect You to speak to us through
him.
We pray in the name of Jesus our Savior who taught us to pray-(Our Father who
art in heaven, hallowed be thy name . . . . Congregation prays the Lord's prayer.)
Pastoral Prayer by Paul Meeks
Our gracious and loving Heavenly Father, we come to You
today in the name of Jesus. We come reverently but we also come
confidently because You told us that You would hear us
and that You would answer our prayers. So we come with full assurance of
faith. What a marvelous privilege we have as Your
children.
Lord, we know that You're right here with us right now
as we've met together in Your name and we gratefully acknowledge Your
presence. But You're with us not only when we
meet together here, You're with us out there in our everyday world, day after day,
and we thank You. And we do need You, we need
Your presence. We need Your mercy and Your
Grace. We've done nothing to deserve Your mercy,
but we thank You for it. If we all got what we deserve we'd never have
eternal life and the hope of heaven. We'd never have Your
presence with us. We'd never have forgiveness of sins and we'd be lost,
without God in the world. So we don't ask for what we deserve, we ask for
Your mercy and grace. We're so thankful that You sought us and found us and drew us to Yourself.
And as we prepare our hearts for communion in a little while we thank You for
When we look around us at our world we are often troubled and concerned.
We know that we're in a struggle between good and evil around the world.
Lord, we pray for Your intervention in
We need You, too, right here at home in our
communities. There is strife and ungodliness around us. Little
children and others are being exploited and abused through no fault of their
own. They need You and they need us, so, help us
to be faithful to them and to You.
Right here in our own church family we have all kinds of needs. There are
many that are facing serious physical problems and they need Your
healing touch and Your touch on them emotionally and spiritually to encourage
and uplift them. Some are facing surgeries this week and they need the
assurance of Your presence with them. Some are
facing financial difficulties and they need Your
direction and guidance right now this very week. Answer prayer for them
in special and definite ways. And, Lord, for each of us, look down inside
and see there the hurts and feelings, the discouragements and frustrations and
all the ways we need You. Meet each of us at the
very point of our need today.
As Pastor Steve comes to speak to us in a few minutes we pray for Your divine anointing on him and on us as we listen.
May this day bring glory and honor to the name of Jesus, in whose name we
pray. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer by Paul Meeks
Our gracious and loving
Heavenly Father, we come to You today in the name of
Jesus, the name that's above every name both in heaven and on earth. Your
word tells us that some day at that name every knee shall bow and every tongue
confess that He is Lord. How thankful we are that we've already made Him
both Lord and master of our lives. There are truly multiplied millions in
our world who don't even know His name, but how blessed and how privileged we
are to be among those who have heard. We glorify and magnify and worship You today with all of our hearts.
Lord, it's so good to be in fellowship with You and
with our brothers and sisters today. We're part of each other. We
belong together. We love each other and we care for each other. I
pray for the moms and dads and the grandparents here this morning. We all
need wisdom and strength, we need guidance from the Holy Spirit to be the kind
of parents we should be. What an awesome responsibility to be entrusted
with little lives to nurture and mold and do our best to help them to become
what You have planned for their lives. We want
them all to become Christians while they're still young and we want to help
guide them to be godly men and women. We know we're not perfect and we
make mistakes. We sometime blow it and we need to ask forgiveness and we
want to do that when we need to, but please help us not to make fatal mistakes
that will follow them into later life. We don't get to start over when
they're old, so please help us, Lord, and give us divine wisdom, give us
patience, give us longsuffering, give us endurance and help us to be loving and
caring, and when we do blow it help them to know that we love them and we're
trying to do right.
We pray for the little children, the babies and toddlers that even now are in
the nurseries and in their classes. As a church we have the privilege and
responsibility to help train them in these formative years and we want to do
our very best. We pray for those that are working with them and
interacting with them week after week here at church.
We pray for our youth who are even now a vital part of our church and the
ministry of our church. Their goals and values and their futures are
being determined largely during these critical years. They watch us, and
what we do as individuals and as a church helps to determine who and what they
are becoming. They face pressures and temptations every day and so we
pray that they will be strong and that they will be faithful to You.
We pray for the needs of our people this morning. We all came to church
expecting to meet with You and receive help for our
particular needs. Lord, please look down inside each one of us and
understand the cares, the burdens, the hurts, the problems and perplexities
that are there. We need You. We need You right now as we're praying. We lift up our hearts
to You for Your individual touch and the assurance that You
are with us, that You know and You care. Thank You, Lord, for being right
here right now.
We pray for our community and our nation. We desperately need You and Your intervention in our affairs. We pray for
all those in authority over us. Put Your
thoughts into their hearts and minds. May we be revived as a nation and seek Your face.
We pray for our pastor as he preaches to us in a few minutes. Give him Your divine anointing and enable him to express those things
that You have put into his heart and mind. Be exalted among us today, O,
God.
We pray in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Pastoral Prayer by Paul Meeks
Our gracious and loving
Heavenly Father, we come to You this morning in the
name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. We're thankful for Who
and What You are and we thank You for what You mean to us. Thank You for
saving us and making us new creatures in Christ Jesus. Thank You for
walking with us on our journey of life. You're always there. We
never walk alone, but You're there. Even when we
don't feel Your nearness we know that You're with us.
We thank You for the fellowship of our fellow
believers. I thank You for my brothers and
sisters in Christ. We do care about each other and we do try to bear each
other's burdens and concerns, and we do want help to uplift and be a blessing
to each other. There are those here with us this morning that have
problems and difficulties and burdens that they're carrying. They came to
church today hoping to hear some word or experience some special moving of Your
Spirit that will give encouragement. Let them know that they aren't
forsaken nor forgotten. Be to them just exactly
what they need right now as they reach out to You for
Your touch.
We pray for the Swanson family that have lost their loved one this week.
We know they have the assurance that she is with You
but they still need Your comforting presence today and in the days to
come. There are others that have lost loved ones recently, too.
Please be to them all that they need of Your love and
grace day after day.
Thank You, Lord, for Your leading to us as a
church. Thank You for directing us in Your will
and Your way and help our pastors and leaders to continue to be sensitive to
Your Holy Spirit and to continue to discern Your voice. We want to be a
continual influence in our community for godliness and holiness and
righteousness. Help us to know how to do that in effective ways that will
make a difference.
We pray for our president and his cabinet and for the men and women of
congress. We know that many of them are praying men and women and we're
thankful for their influence in the affairs of our nation. We pray for an
awakening that will cause people's hearts to turn to You
and help stem the tide of wickedness and ungodliness that abounds all around us.
We pray for the spread of Your word around the
world. We know that there are Christians in every nation and many of them
live under constant danger and threats on their very lives. We pray for the missionary force; those that are laboring in many
different ways to witness to needy people. Give wisdom and
spiritual strength and make them effective in their work for Your Kingdom.
We pray for the one that will bring the message to us in just a few
minutes. We pray for Your anointing upon
him. Give him clearness of thought and the power of Your Holy Spirit.
Thank You for hearing our prayers today. In the name of Jesus we
pray. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer by Paul Meeks
Our gracious and loving
Heavenly Father, we come to You today in the name of
Jesus. We come confidently and we come in faith, but we also recognize
that You're the great God of the universe and that You
rule both heaven and earth so we approach You with awe and wonder. We
can't begin to comprehend You and Your awesome power
and wisdom, but we can trust You and know that You do all things well.
You're too wise to make a mistake and You're too good
to be unkind. Your word tells us that as the heavens are far above the
earth, so are Your ways above our ways and Your ways
are past finding out. You are the sure foundation of our faith and even
of our very lives, so that we can say with confidence, "On Christ, the
solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand." Help us to
trust and rest secure in You.
Lord, we're reaching out to You and we know that
You're already reaching out to us. We need You
and we need to feel the sense of Your presence. We each need You in our own individual lives. You know us, Lord,
and You look down inside us, in our emotions and our minds. You see our
joys and our sorrows. You see our frustrations and our fears. You
see our strengths and our weaknesses. You see our victories and our
failures. You see where we've been defeated and where we've failed You. And in spite of all that, amazing wonder, You still love us and You still want to work out Your will
and Your plans and purposes for us.
We pray for the Matchette Family today in their
sorrow and loss of their loved one. They all need You
in very special and personal ways. We pray for the Strawser
Family, too, as they grieve over the loss of their loved one. There are
others, too, who have lost loved ones recently and they need the comforting
presence of the Holy Spirit. Be to all of them the special help that they
need this very day.
There are many with serious physical needs. You are the Great Physician
and we pray for Your healing touch on their
bodies. They also need the encouragement and uplift of Your
presence.
We pray for our community and the many areas of need. We pray for an
awakening and for revival that will change men's hearts and minds and cause
them to turn to You. We're sure that would
change many things all around us and that's what we need and what we pray for.
We pray for our nation, for President Bush and the leaders in government and
those in the courts of our land. These are momentous days and times of
great need. It seems that the very foundations of our country are being
shaken as things that we have stood for are being called into question.
We know that it's not just a struggle between ideologies and political parties
but its between God and Satan and between wickedness
and godliness. Have mercy on us, oh, God.
We pray for Your word as it preached around the
word. Many of our Christian brothers and sisters are suffering
persecution for their faith. We pray that their faith may not fail but
that they may be strong in their stand for You.
We pray for our pastor as he preaches Your word in the
services this morning. Touch his heart and mind and spirit and enable him
to give the message that You have inspired.
We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer by Paul Meeks
Our gracious and loving
Heavenly Father, we come to you today in the name of Jesus. It's good to
be in your house in fellowship with you and with each other on this Lord's Day,
the first day of a new week. Last week is now behind us and we've had
many kinds of experiences. There have been some victories and some
defeats, some concerns and some joys. We've had some problems along the
way, too, and we sometimes wonder why life can't be all smooth sailing without
any problems to face. But we're reminded that life wasn't designed to be
problem free. You did promise to be with us and that you would never
leave us, and we sure do nee d you. Without the strength that comes from
you we'd never make it. Sometimes we feel broken inside because of what
we've gone through so we ask you to take even the brokenness in our lives and
make us stronger right at those broken places. We need you every day and
we're thankful that you are there.
And now, Lord, we want to
bring the special requests that are represented here today. Some of
the requests are for a loved one or a friend that may be going through a trying
time. Maybe there is someone that has wandered away from you and the
prayer is that they will return to you. Some requests are very personal,
things that nobody else can see and things that we might not be able to tell or
confess to anyone else. You look down inside each one of us and you see
and know all the emotions and feeling that are there. But you know, Lord,
and you can do something about them. And as we each reach out to you we
know that you'r e already reaching out to us.
There are many physical needs, too, and some are filled with uncertainty and
anxiety, wondering what's going to happen. We would like to have all the
answers now, but you in your love, have drawn a veil
over the future and it's not for us to know, at least not now. But, Lord, our faith and confidence are in you and we can trust you
completely even when we can't see.
Lord, I ask that you would
bring things into our lives that will make us draw closer to you and make us
more aware of you. We need to see and acknowledge your divine hand even
in the everyday, ordinary events of our lives, because that's where you
are. We believe in your divine providence and we don't want to just
casually accept the events of life. We need to have an awareness of the
divine. Save us from just being matter of fact. You are with us, in
fact, you're within us and we need to be reminded of that truth.
And, God, we're concerned
about the world we live in. There are multiplied millions of people who
live without the knowledge of you and your eternal word and because of that
they live in darkness and superstition and fear. And they perpetrate all
kinds of evil and vile things. That's why there are wars and uprisings
and suicide bombings and insurgencies. Our world needs you. We pray
against Satan and the powers of evil that seem to abound on every hand.
We pray for your kingdom to come and your will to be done on earth as it is in
heaven. And help us to know how to be used as your
in struments of righteousness and holiness and truth.
We pray for the missionaries
and national Christians that are faithfully laboring for you all around the
world. We read about the wonderful things that are happening as the Jesus
Film is being shown in country after country with people coming to know you and
people being healed miraculously and churches being established. We pray
for the continued victory over sin and evil as thousands more see the film and
hear the message of your word.
We pray for Pastor Steve as
he preaches your word in the services today. Speak to us through
him. Our hearts and minds are open to what you want to say to us.
We pray this with
thanksgiving in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior who taught us to pray,
"Our Father who art in heaven . . . ."
Paul Meeks
Pastoral Prayer by Paul Meeks #8
Our gracious and loving
Heavenly Father, we come to you today in the name of Jesus. It's good to
be in your house in fellowship with you and with each other on this Lord's Day,
the first day of a new week. Last week is now behind us and we've had
many kinds of experiences. There have been some victories and some
defeats, some concerns and some joys. We've had some problems along the
way, too, and we sometimes wonder why life can't be all smooth sailing without
any problems to face. But we're reminded that life wasn't designed to be
problem free. You did promise to be with us and that you would never
leave us, and we sure do nee d you. Without the strength that comes from
you we'd never make it. Sometimes we feel broken inside because of what
we've gone through so we ask you to take even the brokenness in our lives and
make us stronger right at those broken places. We need you every day and
we're thankful that you are there.
And now, Lord, we want to
bring the special requests that are represented here today. Some of
the requests are for a loved one or a friend that may be going through a trying
time. Maybe there is someone that has wandered away from you and the
prayer is that they will return to you. Some requests are very personal,
things that nobody else can see and things that we might not be able to tell or
confess to anyone else. You look down inside each one of us and you see
and know all the emotions and feeling that are there. But you know, Lord,
and you can do something about them. And as we each reach out to you we
know that you'r already reaching out
to us. There are many physical needs, too, and some are filled with
uncertainty and anxiety, wondering what's going to happen. We would like
to have all the answers now, but you in your love,
have drawn a veil over the future and it's not for us to know, at least not
now. But, Lord, our faith and confidence are in you and
we can trust you completely even when we can't see.
Lord, I ask that you would
bring things into our lives that will make us draw closer to you and make us
more aware of you. We need to see and acknowledge your divine hand even
in the everyday, ordinary events of our lives, because that's where you
are. We believe in your divine providence and we don't want to just
casually accept the events of life. We need to have an awareness of the
divine. Save us from just being matter of fact. You are with us, in
fact, you're within us and we need to be reminded of that truth.
And, God, we're concerned
about the world we live in. There are multiplied millions of people who
live without the knowledge of you and your eternal word and because of that
they live in darkness and superstition and fear. And they perpetrate all
kinds of evil and vile things. That's why there are wars and uprisings
and suicide bombings and insurgencies. Our world needs you. We pray
against Satan and the powers of evil that seem to abound on every hand.
We pray for your kingdom to come and your will to be done on earth as it is in
heaven. And help us to know how to be used as your instruments of
righteousness and holiness and truth.
We pray for the missionaries
and national Christians that are faithfully laboring for you all around the
world. We read about the wonderful things that are happening as the Jesus
Film is being shown in country after country with people coming to know you and
people being healed miraculously and churches being established. We pray
for the continued victory over sin and evil as thousands more see the film and
hear the message of your word.
We pray for Pastor Steve as
he preaches your word in the services today. Speak to us through
him. Our hearts and minds are open to what you want to say to us.
We pray this with
thanksgiving in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior who taught us to pray,
"Our Father who art in heaven . . . ."
Paul Meeks
Pastoral Prayer by Paul Meeks #9
Our gracious and loving
Heavenly Father, we come to you today in the name of Jesus. Thank you for
giving your only begotten Son that we could be saved. Thank you for the
power of the Gospel; it is the
power of God unto salvation. We acknowledge that we are blessed beyond
measure and we want to give you thanks. We have lots of food at home and
we have different sets of clothes to wear and we have a roof over our heads and
a place to sleep and that makes us richer than 75% of
this world. We’ve never had to experience the agony of torture or the
loneliness of imprisonment for our faith and we’ve never had to suffer the
pangs of starvation so we’re far ahead of millions of our fellowmen around the
world. We came here this morning without fear of harassment or arrest or
even torture or death, so we’re the envy of literally billions of people.
Help us, Lord, not to be forgetful or even unaware of these and many other
blessings we enjoy. Help us not forget to give you our thanks and
praise. We have so much to thank you for. We are so blessed, and we
don’t know why we are privileged. Accept our thanks today.
We pray for our country today
and thank you for the privilege of living here. It’s still the best place
in the world to live, and we would say, God bless
We pray for our own
communities where we live and work and for the thousands of people that we have
contact with every day. May the Spirit of Christ be seen in us even in
situations when we are not even aware that we’re being watched.
We pray for the many teachers
who are beginning a new year with new students and new responsibilities.
They need wisdom and understanding. Make them witnesses of your grace day
after day as they interact with their students.
We pray for the hundreds of
students that will be coming to IWU and Taylor in just a few days. We’re
thankful that we have the opportunity to minister to hundreds of them and we
want to be faithful to that charge.
We pray for our church and
many decisions and plans that are being made. We need divine wisdom and
direction, so we pray for our staff and the leaders of our church. Help
us to be the kind of church that you want us to be.
We pray for the one that will
bring the message in just a few minutes. We pray for your anointing on
him and on us as we hear your word for us through him.
We pray in the name of
Jesus. Amen.
Paul Meeks