Prayer of the People, 8 May 2020
Heavenly Father,
Your communion is filled with joy — there’s joy produced in relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thank you for sharing your life with us and delivering us into your Kingdom. Even now we know we have had a taste of your joy.
We open our hearts to you. Fill us with your Spirit. May joy in our fellowship be a sign of your abundant love and the sure promise of our faith secured by Jesus Christ. Oh that your joy would spring up in every obedient and faithful act of worship provoked by faith in your name.
May your joy in us create a rebellion against hopelessness, despair, and apathy. These weigh us down Lord, creating spiritual inertia that resists love. Forgive us Lord. We don’t know how to appreciate your presence in creation, in each other, in the poor, in the merciful, and in the meek. Renew our spirits and create in us a clean heart.
Father, you have provided us with food and shelter. You have lifted our heads with words of encouragement and compassion. You have helped us persevere through our struggles.
Thank you for this grace.
We lift up to you those in our congregation who
long for friendship
cry for comfort
pray for purpose and
ask for provision.
Meet them Lord. Fulfill your Word in their lives for the glory of your name.
We lift up to you those in our city who
need a safe space,
are pressed down by anxiety, or
are trapped by addiction.
Oh Lord, deliver them by the power of your Spirit and bring them into the joy of your fellowship.
Lord we lift up to you these cities and the people who reside in them. Grant them the joy of your salvation and please raise up men and women overflowing with stories of your redemption in Oman, Alexandria, Oslo, Bangkok, Tehran, Brasilia, and Ottawa. Establish your church and the good work of their hands.
Jesus you are above all. In joyful adoration we bend the knee and call you Lord. We pray today as you taught us.
(Please join me in 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.
