Pastoral Prayer - Three True Things

Father,
We come before you this morning with our hearts in all kinds of places. Some of us are buoyant with joy. Others of us are heavy with grief. Some of us feel encouraged by the successes of the last week; others defeated by failures. Some of us are excited. Some of us are weary. Some of us are dying. All of us are under the curse of sin.

Father, in the face of this we come to You in prayer, and we confess three things that are true. 

One: that You hear us. You have made us Your people and You give heed to our prayers. We have the privilege of approaching Your throne in Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit interceding with us.

Two: You are mighty. You rule over every square inch of creation by Your sovereign hand. Nothing happens, even the bad things, except that it is woven as a dark thread into the tapestry of Your good plans.

Three: You are good. Your steadfast love and righteousness guard our steps. While the darkness may swell in the moment, Your righteous purposes will endure. You will bring us through every tribulation into Christlike humility and transformed humanity and life everlasting.

Help us to trust in Your nearness, in Your greatness, and in Your goodness. Give us the courage that comes from recognizing Your spirit is within us, the confidence that You level the path before us, and the comfort that You have called us sons and daughters, and that You are a good Father who will not give us a rock when what we need is bread.

In this confidence we pray for our many requests. Provide for us what is needful for today and guard our minds from running ahead to tomorrow’s anxieties. Forgive us for yesterday’s sins and train our hearts to be upright and pure. Heal our broken bodies, and heal our broken minds, and mend our broken hearts.

More than that, we pray that Your good purposes would be accomplished. We are not the goal of this thing: that is Your kingdom of peace and the glory of Your Name. Advance Your rule in our hearts and in our communities. Make us ambassadors of Jesus Christ, healing with our hands what He would heal and bearing witness with our mouths and lives to what He has done. May we decrease and He increase so that the world might be blessed through us by Him. Make this mission the goal of our lives.
AMEN

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