Pastoral Prayer
Sovereign and self-sufficient God of boundless mercy and grace, we approach you now in prayer not by our merit, but only by the perfect work of Christ; by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit who unites us to Christ that you might not just stand far off from us but be close to us, so close that you invite us to call you, “Our Father.”
We approach you in joyful awe of who you are. You are all powerful, able to accomplish all that you purpose. You are all together good, accomplishing those things bring you the greatest glory and your people the greatest joy. You are all together wise able to devise perfect goals and achieve those goals by the most perfect means. Yes, Lord God Almighty, you always work with flawless precision. Not only could your acts not be better done; a better way to do them could not be imagined. You, an infinitely wise God, work in ways that are far beyond our comprehension. O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your riches and glory.
Yet we confess, that we often doubt your goodness; we grumble and complain thinking we could come up with a better plan than you. We are impatient when you don’t give us what we want right when we want it. Father, we confess that just like Adam and Eve in the garden, we ignore your righteous rules for our good and try to define good on our own. Not only that, we begin to advise you on how you should do things in the world as if we are god and you serve us. Not only that, we take the gift of prayer, and use it not to praise you, but only to request and require things of you. Father, we confess that our prayers too often are not filled with adoration of you, but advice for you. Oh, how wicked and sinful are our hearts.
Our transgressions and sins present us with a list of accusations that mark our guilt before you, a holy, righteous, just God. We do not try to defend ourselves, but trust in the defending blood of Christ. We know that you are faithful and just to forgive those who turn from their sin and trust in the perfect life, death, and resurrection of the your eternal Son, Jesus. We give you praise that our sins will not stand against us, for they have been laid on Christ.
Plough the gospel deep within each one of us, that our hearts may be a fertile field, the roots of your grace spreading far and wide in our lives. Give us a deeper trust in Christ Jesus; give us a deeper knowledge of yourself as Savior, Master, Lord, King. Give us deeper communion with you in prayer, more sweetness in your Word, a more steadfast grip of its truth. By your Spirit, knit us together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
By your sovereign grace continue to work amongst the members of our church. We pray in particular for Liz F. – give her a sweet delight in knowing that she has been ransomed from the slavery of sin. And we pray for Graham and Lorraine F. – we praise you for the many gifts you have given them and the way they use them to serve our church body; fill their marriage with your grace that it might permeate the truth of the gospel.
We pray not just for ourselves, but also for those laboring for the gospel in our city and around the world. For the sake of your name, continue to use the ministry of the Central Union Mission to serve the marginalized with the hope of the gospel. Grant our brothers and sisters at Redeemer Arlington and Sojourn Fairfax and 19th Street Baptist the grace to persevere in the faith and be a bold gospel witness.
Help us not overlook the freedom we have here in this country to openly and publically worship Jesus. We thank you for that, and pray for our government as they face endless difficulties. Give our president wisdom and a deepening sense of justice as he guides this nation. We pray for all the government officials from the small city mayors to state governors to Congress. May they understand the responsibility you have placed on them to rule with humility, wisdom and a sense of justice, for you are a just God.
As we continue our worship tonight, fill us with a reverent awe of just how glorious you are. Use your word to revive our soul; to give us knowledge; to make us wise; to enlighten our eyes to behold the glory of your son Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.
