Prayer 12/3/23

Our Father, rich in mercy, splendid in grace:

wisdom and justice go before you;

peace and righteousness are at your right hand.

Lord of heaven above, you are God and you alone.

It is with glad and joyful hearts that we gather as the church today to express our love, adoration, devotion and gratitude for every blessing that You have bestowed.

Because of Your grace, all who call upon You are abounding in riches for you have given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

By Your grace You pursued us, called us, redeemed us, forgiven our sin, and thru Christ You have brought life and immortality to light so that we have hope—b/c what You have promised, You will accomplish.

You are most worthy of worship, praise, honor and glory and we are here for that purpose—to exalt You the One true God.

We turn to You b/c even as You have saved us by Your grace, it is by Your grace alone that we are able to live worthy of our calling. The profound weight of our responsibility to live like Christ is something we cannot accomplish in our strength. But we are grateful to You for the HS who is in us, cleansing our hearts and empowering us to live worthy of LJC.

We thank you for the church—the body of Christ and for the deep relationships that are forged b/c of our union with the Lord and with each other. It is our prayer that by Your Spirit we would respond to each other with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and love—for in these there is the perfect bond of unity.

We give thanks for Your Word of Truth and ask Your blessing on this congregation of your people with Your HS, the Spirit of Truth, that we would hear and understand and become the blameless church, pure and spotless before You to the praise and glory of our LJC—Amen.