Category: Sunday Praise

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for Love

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you.  We praise you for your love, your grace, and your mercy.  We praise you for your faithfulness, and for the hope only you can give.  Father, we lift up our country today.  We are hurting in the face of still more tragedy which has become far, far too common. I pray that no matter how often we see it, may we never get used to it.  May it break our hearts, not harden them. May it cause us to trust you more, not less. May it continue to bring us to our knees in prayer, rather than throw up our hands in defeat. We pray for all who have been affected, that you would be near them and comfort them as only you can, our Mighty Father. 

Father, help us remember that we who are your children are the light of the world. You have made us to be a city set on a hill, not to be hidden.  May we hold high our light – your Spirit of love within us – for all the world to see.  May we put away our sins and our distractions and walk worthy of the calling with which we were called.  Take away our mentality that growing in you can wait until tomorrow; praying can wait until tomorrow; reading your Word can wait until tomorrow, obeying you can wait until tomorrow…

Wake us up, Lord!

May we who are the body of Christ start within the church, and love each other. May we, by your power, put away our pettiness, our judgments, our biases, our cliques, our jealousies, our pride, and just love each other. May we repent where we need to repent, and love each other, forgive each other, extend grace and mercy to each other. People are hurting, in the church and out. May we open ourselves up to be vessels of love to those who are hurting and make it our mission to never be the cause of someone else’s pain.

May we take seriously the commandments we’ve been given – to love you and to love each other. Remind us daily, our gracious Father, that it is we in the church who have your love and we are to extend it to one another, and to those you place in our path.  May we shine so brightly with your love that the world sees it, is drawn to you because of it, and we see a revival, in the church first, and throughout our country and beyond.  May we see people coming to you in droves, by faith, receiving you as their Lord and Savior. May you bring healing to our land. 

May we glorify and magnify you, Lord, walking in love and boldness, showing the world that the way to hope and peace and love is a path that walks straight to the foot of the cross, and that anyone and everyone, no matter what they’ve done, is invited to come, acknowledge their sin, be forgiven by the sacrifice given for us by Christ, and receive the love they’ve always needed. Father, renew our passion for you, for one another, and for the lost.  May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for the Persecuted

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you, and we thank you for all you’ve blessed us with.  Forgive us for the times we take those blessings for granted, and we ask that you would remind us often to be grateful to you for pouring out onto us more blessing, more freedom, more love and grace than we can imagine.  I pray our gratitude will lead us to be a fountain of that love, grace, and mercy that you’ve so generously given to us.

Lord, we lift up our brothers and sisters around the world who are being persecuted for their faith, those who are in prison, who are being tortured, who are separated from their families.  Father, in Jesus’ name I pray you would fill them with your Holy Spirit and your might so that all you desire to accomplish in and through them will be done. May you do miraculous things, things that only you can do.

Lord, please fill them with your peace that passes all understanding; fill them with your strength to go on from one hour to the next; fill them with your love and forgiveness so that their hearts don’t become hardened or bitter; fill them with your joy so they are a light to those around them; fill them with boldness to continue proclaiming the gospel and the name of Christ; fill them with hope as they remember their great reward is with you. 

May they feel your presence with them, and may you, in the mighty name of Jesus, bind the hand of the enemy. May our brothers and sisters continue to trust you, put their faith in you, and may they see, even if only a little bit, the fruit of their labor.  And may we always remember them in our prayers, and honor them with our lives, boldly and freely proclaiming the gospel and the name of Jesus Christ.  It’s in His precious and matchless name I pray, amen.

Sunday Praise and a Prayer to Not Grow Weary

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father,

We praise you, Lord, for who you are, for all you’ve done, for all you’re doing, and for all you will do. You’ve done so much good in and through us, Lord. Help us to not grow weary in doing good to others. The world will often not notice, or care, or appreciate the good we do, but help us remember we don’t do it for the applause of people, but to glorify you. 

Help us remember to keep loving even when people don’t love us back, to show mercy even when mercy is not shown back to us, to offer grace, even when it’s not offered back to us. Lord, help us to keep abiding in you so that we can be filled with your strength and courage to love, to show mercy, to give grace, in whatever ways you would have us live those out, remembering that we’re doing it all for you, not for others, and not for ourselves. 

Help us to move away from our natural desires to fit in with and act like the world around us, and instead walk and act in the Spirit, being willing to stand out from the world, living boldly for you and magnifying your holy Name. Renew our hearts now, Lord, as we go into this week, ready to do the good you call us to do, knowing that if we don’t give up there is a precious harvest waiting prepared by you. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Sunday Praise and a Prayer For Our Sanctification

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father,

We praise your holy and precious name. Lord, we thank you for our sanctification.  Thank you for loving us enough to work with us and see us through the process of becoming more and more like your Son.  Yes, it takes trials and tribulations of all kinds, and I know you hurt when we hurt, but you also see what you’re making us to be, how you’re molding our hearts into something beautiful, how you’re permanently changing our souls to conform to you.  Though we can’t see it, we trust you and thank you for your perfect plan.  Thank you for preparing us for our eternal home with you.  Please give us courage and strength as we go through that spiritual metamorphosis, through the pain and sorrow and grief, and in it may you also give us times of refreshing, and a deep down hope and joy that act as an anchor to our souls to keep us grounded in you. Fill us with your Spirit, Lord, and as we daily nail our sins to the cross, may He flow through us as a holy river, overflowing with love and joy on all we meet. In Jesus’ precious name I pray, amen.

Sunday Praise and a Prayer to Seek Him

Posted on by Dorci

“Thus says the Lord:

‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Let not the mighty man glory in his might,
Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
But let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me,
That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment,
and righteousness in the earth.
For in these I delight,’ says the Lord.”
Jeremiah 9:23-24

 

Heavenly Father, we praise you.  We praise you for all you are – for your great loving kindness, your justice, and your righteousness.  You have been so gracious to forgive us through your Son, to bring us this far through our temptations, our failings, our weaknesses, and to wisely use them all to train us up and sanctify us, purifying our faith, and preparing us for the day we meet you face to face.  Please forgive us for the times we’ve run ahead of you, for when we’ve focused more on what we’re doing, trying to serve you in our own strength, instead of just loving you, and understanding and knowing you, our God and our Savior.

Lord, give us a new perspective, that even more of our heart’s desire from this day forward would be to seek you, to know you, to understand you and your Word and your ways.  Help us to let the things of our flesh go, that nothing would come between us and You so that we might continually walk in your Spirit, bringing you glory through every blessing and trial we face in the coming year.  Lord, we ask you to break every stronghold in our lives that have kept us from fully committing our lives to you and serving you wholeheartedly.  As we seek hard after you, we know your love and your will will fill our hearts to lead us and make us fruitful for your kingdom.

Help us to not give way to fear, but fill us with your strength and courage, especially as the world turns against you and your people more and more.  As the evil one seeks to make us cower, help us remain steadfast upon You, the Rock of our salvation, the One who has overcome the world, the One who has already prepared us for eternity and a place with you forever.  We give you glory, Lord.  You are our glory.   In Jesus’ holy name we pray, amen.