Heavenly Father,
We acknowledge your faithfulness in love, provision, wisdom, and presence. You are gracious, glorious and good. Thank you for bringing us into your communion — the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We are often distracted, and sometimes unfaithful. Please forgive us. We are living among many and loving many who have no faith in You or in Your ways. Forgive us for forgetting you. We scatter our attention and our favour to many causes and relationships, yet our hearts become divided in their loyalty to You. Realign the affections of our heart to You.
We pause before You in consideration of this absurdity — our regular distraction from You. (Pause)
We are asking you to raise up leaders after Your own heart, who will lead us with knowledge and understanding. We pray for the Peruvian elections, the leaders of Iraq who must discern between many voices, the leaders deciding what to do about the unrest in Lebanon, the leaders addressing violence in Mali that is spilling into Niger and Burkina Faso, the leaders deciding policy for India’s immigration, and the leaders in Canada impacting our daily lives. May all of these leaders seek Your face and Your ways.
We yield to You our sense of how things should be and no longer want to follow the stubbornness of our wayward hearts. Make us a people who are faithful to You and to Your ways of living — Just as Jesus was.
You long to treat us as your children and to shower us with blessings; we long to receive your guidance and blessings. Make us a faithful people who trust You. We return to You with all of our hearts and ask You to cure us of backsliding.
Lord, there are causes for grief all around us – earthquakes in Turkey, locusts eating crops in Kenya, floods in Brazil, the coronavirus outbreak and so many people in China quarantined. All of these pain inducing situations we entrust to Your wise response. We cast all of our worries on You because You care for us.
Oh Lord, forgive us.
Oh Lord, help us.
Oh Lord, strengthen us; make us faithful to You and to others.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
Please join me in praying the Lord’s prayer.
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one;
for yours is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever.
Amen.
Prepared by Ellen and Craig O’Brien