Father, we praise you for your love and for your faithfulness!

Your love is amazing and true. You had a dream life within the Trinity before creation and could have done without it. But you chose to create what is seen and unseen and share your love with your creation. You chose to love sinful men and women, not once, not twice, but generation after generation, men and women to whom you didn’t owe anything. In your love, you sent them prophets to declare your love for them and you provided for them day after day. Even when they rejected you, you continued your pursuit of love by sending your own Son, who shared the dream life with you, to give His life for sinners, so that they may see your face and so that they may know that you loved them just as you loved your Son. Praise be to your name because you loved those who did not love you. Praise be to your name because your love was not empty words but had real blood and bones. Praise be to your name because your love is that of a Father who wants to see his children have an eternal dream life.

Father, your faithfulness is real and complete. We praise you because you keep your promises. You made generous promises of life, and you kept them. You did not shrink back from suffering in accomplishing them. You did not try to make them smaller, so as they become easier or less costly to fulfil. We praise you because you kept your promises even when your people didn’t keep theirs.

Forgive us, Father, for doubting your love and your faithfulness. This past week, we were afraid, angry, sad or depressed because life wasn’t the way we wanted it, and we tried to make ourselves feel better, and improve our lives by relying on idols, rather than on your promises. We lashed out at our neighbors, we looked down on the people next to us, we worked harder, some of us ate more, or some of us ate less and some of us indulged in base instincts. Some of us forgot, and some of us didn’t want to know that sometimes are our desires are evil, wrong or just plain stupid. Some of us forgot, and some didn’t want to know that our images of life fall short of the life you want to give us.

Forgive us, Father!

Father, we thank you for the forgiveness you give us in Jesus. We thank you for your mercy, for turning your back on our sin and not holding it against us. We thank you for your patience with us and for your perseverance in loving us in spite of our daily sins. Father, we thank you for your great and amazing love and for your complete faithfulness to us. We thank you that you work for your glory and for our well-being, many times in spite of ourselves.

We thank you Lord, that we can come into your presence with our pleas. We thank you that you work to do your people justice. We thank you that you do not tire in accomplishing your promises. And we thank you, however difficult it is to say, that sometimes you do not answer to our prayers. We thank you that you do not give us what we ask for but the dream life that you had with the Son and the Holy Spirit before the world was. We thank you that you work not only to give us our daily needs, but also to bring us safely into your presence.

 

Father, we pray for faith to believe your love letters and your promises. We pray our faith would not waver in big or small challenges we face. We pray that we would not rely on our feelings or on our circumstances to determine whether you love us or not. Enable us to rely on your written word and on your promises for our daily life.

 

Father, there are a lot of lies in this world, lies the world tells us and lies we tell ourselves. And there are lots of lies we have believed for so long that we don’t even know they are lies. We pray that you would free us from these lies to know the truth. Help us reject the lie that we are our careers, that we are our families or that we are our skin color. Help us reject the lie that the dream life can be had by hard work. Help us reject the lie that we are better than our neighbors who hold different opinions. Transform us through your word, prayer and love to be the people you want us to be. Help us patiently wait for your salvation in small and big things.

 

Father, we pray for the Gospel to shine in this dark and lost city. We pray for mercy. Do not give this city to its desires, Lord, but give it life. We pray we would be faithful in our proclamation of the gospel and faithful in living it out. We pray also for IBSG to be a light in Columbia Heights. We pray the preaching would be faithful, prayers fervent, lives changed, and your name glorified.

 

In Christ’s name,

Amen