Pastoral Prayer Over Pastor Merle

God, you are mighty, majestic and good. You created the world and you sustained it every moment. We thank you for sustaining pastoral Merle. We thank you for the incredible medical care he received. And we thank you for the good news and good progress we’ve heard about his health. We pray that he would continue to heal. Please be with Karen as she care for him.

Father, we come before you deeply thankful for Pastor Merle and Karen. They are a gift to us and words can’t express our gratitude for them. They have sacrificed more for us than any of us know, and yet they do it with joy. God, you tell us in 1 Timothy 5 that the elders who rule among us are worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. We come before you to honor Pastor Merle and Your work through him. The prophet Jeremiah tells us that you desire to give your people shepherds after Your own heart to feed Your people with knowledge and understanding. You’ve done that in Pastor Merle. We know the work of a pastor is not easy. It’s a heavy burden to be the overseer and shepherd of souls and yet Pastor Merle does it with incredible grace and compassion. We are unspeakably thankful for his leadership. We’re thankful that you have appointed him to be our shepherd. Help us to honor and care for him to the best of our ability.

God, we thank you for Karen. Thank you for her immense support for Pastor Merle. She has made sacrifices for the flock of Pleasant Valley beyond what we could imagine. Thank you for her wisdom and tenderness. Thank you for her desire to counsel and come alongside so many individuals. Continue to uphold her and Pastor Merle in the coming days.

But God, we know that this service is not about Pastor Merle or Karen, but rather about the One who they consistently point us to week after week. This gather is about Jesus, and it’s in His name whom we have hope. It’s His glory we seek.

He’s the one that upholds each of us at every moment. He’s the one who laid death in his grave.

He’s the one who defeated the greatest enemy in all of the universe as he demolished sin and death.

He’s the one who did the impossible and fulfilled the law like we never could.

He’s the one who took the worst sin of man and used it to atone for all the sin of man.

He is the one at whose name chains break and demons flee.

He’s the one upon whom the sinless angels could not gaze and who the prophets covered their eyes and fell down in awe of.

He’s the one who holds all authority in the universe, and commands all of reality.

And we will have His name on our lips forever in glory.

We pray that his name would be made great today and in the coming weeks as we prepare for Easter. We pray even now that you would prepare the hearts of those who would join us to celebrate Easter. We pray all those who would come would leave with the indelible mark of the Gospel stamped on their souls.

Finally, we pray for Pastor Cory this morning. He’s had to make a quick pivot in the last day. Give him compassion, conviction, clarity, and power as He preaches Your Word. May He feel Your joy as he preaches Your Word today.

God, we praise your for Your faithfulness is sustaining Pastor Merle. We thank You for Your faithfulness displayed in Your Word that Cory will preach to us this morning. And we thank you for your faithfulness to us in Jesus. It’s in His mighty name we pray…Amen.