Worship through Prayer

Adoration

Father, you are the giver of life. You make and sustain every living being. You give us life and meaning.

You do not need us or any created thing, yet you created us for your joy.   You rejoice over us. You allow us to glorify you, bask in your beauty, and find joy in you.

You are the True God. Your faithfulness never ends. You always act for what is right and just.

You are Good. Thank you. We love you.

Confession

Father, while we confess Christ, our thoughts and actions indicate that we choose death. We confess:

Pride has a foothold in our hearts that we cannot shake. We have chosen to seek fleeting satisfaction outside of you, when we know deep satisfaction is rightly found in you alone.

We have chosen to rely on our own strength and wisdom, rather than trust Christ.

We have actively worked to undermine our bosses, colleagues, teachers or parents, in order to justify our own actions.

We have chosen to let the fear of others fester, when we know we are yours, you are in complete control through every circumstance and situation, and you are Good.

We have chosen to selfishly hold back good gifts and praise for others, which is entirely inconsistent with your character.

Lord, we confess there are areas where we don’t even recognize our own sin and fallen nature. We use virtuous language to describe our own vices. We do not necessarily do this to deceive others, often we ourselves are deceived. Our deception runs deep.

Heal us Lord. Transform our hearts. Surround us with brothers and sisters in Christ who can speak your Truth into our lives. Make our life in your church meaningful.

Father, we continue to hold to our confession of Jesus as Lord. As your Word tell us, “[You] being rich in mercy because of the great love with which [You] loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.” “For this is your will, GOD our Father, that everyone who looks to Jesus and believes in Him will have eternal Life.”

You hold us fast. You will not cast us out, nor allow us to be snatched out of your almighty hand.

Jesus, abide in us that we may abide in you.  

Thanksgiving and Supplication

Thank you for the many Gospel-centered conversations that we have had this week. We thank you that we have confessed sin to others, sought forgiveness, and worked to restore broken relationships. We thank you for opportunities where folks have met to encourage one another in their walk with you. May you be glorified in our conversations this week.

We pray for our family of churches, the Southern Baptist Convention, as they meet this week. We pray that conversations, both public and private, and any decisions that are made would be marked by Charity, Fidelity, and Justice. We pray that the Gospel would be heralded by the SBC this week.

Lord, we pray for our city. We thank you for the Caps win. While we’re not all hockey fans, it is fun to see the city come together. We pray that there would only be more celebrations that would bring our communities together, celebrations that are not divisive but promote unity.

Lord, we do pray for all taking part in PRIDE festivals this weekend. May each person recognize their beauty as image bearers of you, and that they would know your love.

We also pray for Muslims around the world as a month of fasting ends and turns to celebrations. We pray that your Spirit would work among them during this time to soften their hearts to Jesus. We pray that they would recognize the beauty of the Triune God and that Your Truth would resonate with them.

We pray that Freedom of Religion would be recognized in all countries and communities, that individuals would be able to freely identify with their beliefs.

We pray for your Church around the world where followers of Christ are in the minority. We pray that they would be marked with humility, strength, and integrity. That they would be found favorable among their non-believing friends and family members.

We pray for your persecuted Church. Grant them perseverance and hope. Raise up pastors for communities that have none.

Lord, may we, here, not grow comfortable or complacent. Help us to see where we can take more risks individually and corporately for the glory of your name. May we use our talents to build up your kingdom.

In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

by Kathryn Feliciano

Worship through Prayer

Father, we pause here for a moment to come to you in prayer. You, and you alone are worthy of our highest praise. You are holy. You are high and lifted up. You never change. You are Sovereign over all affairs of the world. You take down and you put up. You are from forever to forever. You are maker and creator of the universe. You formed the seas and told them where to go. You pulled up the mountains and laid out the green grass. Nothing is beyond you, Oh God.

And not only this but you, Lord, are love. You are life. You are where our true liberty is found. We are at a loss for words to express the infinite worth of your glory. Receive the praise of our worship this morning. In every song, every prayer, in the sermon that will come, and in the supper that will follow, receive our worship.

And as we meditate on such things, we are quickly struck by the distance that exists between who you are and what we are apart from your Son. We agree, Father, that this past week, we did not live as we should have lived. We did not treasure you for your infinite worth, but instead we sought our own.

Father, forgive us for placing other gods before you. The idols of jobs, relationships, vacations, materialistic goods, yes, even our own sleep, we have put these things before you. Forgive us.

Father, forgive us for bowing down to those images, those idols. How we have sacrificed for them, but we so rarely sacrifice for you. Forgive us.

Father, forgive us for the ways we have taken your name in vain. Whether that be uttering your name with contempt or in crude joking or in taking the name Christian, and abusing that name by abusing the grace you have given to even be named by you in the first place. Father, forgive us.

Father, forgive us for not observing the Sabbath. By our treating it like it were any other day. Thinking it no different than a Saturday. Forgive us for our lack of rest and our lack of attention to the duty of worship with your people on this Sabbath day. Forgive us, Lord.

Father, forgive us for the ways we have not honored our father and mothers. Lord, you told us that in honoring them it goes well with us. And yet, we too often neglect them or are annoyed by them. Forgive us.

Father, forgive us for the ways our anger is like murder. How we are angry with people and sin.

Father, forgive us for the ways we have committed adultery this week, through our entertaining lustful thoughts or pursuing those thoughts in the wicked degradation of pornography.

Father, forgive us for stealing from others. Taking something that is not ours.

Father, forgive us for lying. In an effort to hide the Truth, we have been dishonest, unlike you who is perfectly truthful.

Father, forgive us for our covetousness. We so often conform to this world and desire things that other people have instead of being content with what you have given us.

We are desperate people. We plead your grace-laced love that will forgive us of our sins! It is with this that we REJOICE that in Christ, we have redemption! We sinners, we bumbling, distracted, messy people who hope in Christ alone for salvation, WE HAVE Redemption. We don’t work towards it, but we HAVE it IN CHRIST who accomplished it for us and TO YOU and your glory. In Christ we have redemption through HIS blood, the forgiveness of all our sins according to the riches of YOUR grace. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Thank you Jesus.

Thank you for forgiveness. Thank you for life and breath. Thank you for friends, for family, for children, for the sun, the skies, for laughter, and good food. Thank you for the church. Thank you for THIS church, Restoration Church, and all the ways it serves as a refuge for our weary souls. Thank you Jesus for securing us EVERYTHING that we need.

So, it is with this that we can boldly, and confidently petition you on your throne.

Lord, I pray for J, P, W as they have now joined this church. As well as M and J as they join with us through baptism. Lord we rejoice that you have brought them to us. Would you cause your face to shine upon them as they submit to you and to the church? May their time with us be marked as days of tremendous growth in the knowledge of your will and the depth of your love. Lead them to serve others sacrificially here in the church as we seek to serve them.

Father, I pray for P, for K, for H, and H. May these sisters have the BEST of times in prayer in the coming week. May they enjoy you as they seek you.

For my brothers. I pray for J, L, S, S, V. God, may these brothers boldly proclaim the Gospel to someone that needs it this week. And may we come back here next week and learn of what came of their boldness.

Father, we not only pray for ourselves, but we also pray for other gospel-believing churches around the world. For the church Harshit Singh leads in Lucknow, India, for K as he leads his church in Kenya…for J as he leads Covenant Life church in Tampa. Oh God, be good to them by showing them more and more of yourself. May those churches spread the gospel and uphold their calling to be set apart from the world. Protect them. Give them more leaders and more converts born to you.

Lastly, Father, I pray for this church. That we would grow in diversity. Diversity of age, ethnicity, and economics. Insofar as Ward 3 allows, may we reflect our community. And may we, the church that is Restoration Church band together in order to shine a beacon of light to a people in need. May we MAGNIFY The Sufficiency of our Savior. In our lives and in our doctrine, may we say to all–Christ is GLORIOUS. And He is not only worthy to be lived for, but He is also worthy to die for. Grant that we would be passionate about your glory!

Bless our brother J as he comes in a moment to preach the majesty of Jesus Christ. May we give ourselves to his words as we trust that they are your words for us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

by Kathryn Feliciano