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.