Pastoral Prayer by Paul Meeks #23
Our gracious and loving Heavenly Father, we come to you
today in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. You're the God of heaven
and earth and you inhabit eternity, but you chose to come and dwell among
us. You're not just the God that's out there, but you're God With Us. You're God within us. Your word tells
us that you stand at the door and knock and when we open the door, you come in
and live. We can't even begin to understand that, but we thank you for
making that possible. Thank you for your abiding presence.
It's good to be together in fellowship with you and with
each other in the body of believers. We're brothers and sisters and we
look forward to being here week after week. We pray for the Moms and Dads
and the Grandparents today. People are watching our lives day after day,
little people whose lives are being shaped and molded, and our words and
attitudes and actions and even our reactions are all of vital importance.
There are hassles and problems and frustrations that sometimes cause us to act
in ways that are less than godly, but that's life and life is real and life is
earnest. We need your presence and we need the gentle promptings of the
Holy Spirit to help us to be what we ought to be.
We pray for our teens and young people. They face
daily pressures from their peers and from society and face temptations on every
hand. Help them to make right choices and to take the high road.
And help us to uphold them in prayer and by words of encouragement.
We pray for our little children, many of them meeting in
their own services today. We're thankful for the Christian training they
receive week after week as your word is being planted in their hearts and
minds. Many of them have already accepted you and we pray that they will
grow up to be godly men and women.
There are many among us today with special needs in their
own lives and need your special touch and reassurance right now. There
are numerous physical problems and we don't understand why these things come in
our lives and we're tempted to question you and our faith is tested, sometimes
to the limit. We pray that their faith will not fail during these
days. Some have family and relationship problems, they need special grace
to see them through. Bring healing and reconciliation to them.
We pray for our nation and our leaders. What awesome
responsibilities they face. Give wisdom and guidance and may they learn
to depend upon you in those situations that are so critical and vital to all of
us. We pray for our military, many of them in harm's way even hour by
hour. We pray for peace in the very troubled spots around the
globe. We pray for terrorists and those wicked men and women planning attacks.
Bring their counsel and plans to nothing.
We thank you for your presence in our service today.
We thank you for hearing our prayers. Our faith and our confidence are in
you and you never fail.
We pray all this in the name of Jesus who taught us to pray, Our Father who art in heaven. . . . . . .
Pastor Paul Meeks