Tag: Sunday Praise

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for the Persecuted Church

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise You. We praise you for your goodness and faithfulness, for your love and grace and mercy, and for the joy you give even in the midst of adversity.  

Father, we lift up to you today the persecuted church. We pray for whole churches who must meet in secret. Help them to not give in to fear, but gain strength from You and each other as they encourage one another. We pray these congregations will only grow as your Spirit draws more believers.

We pray for those all over the world who are being persecuted – imprisoned, tortured, rejected by family members, because they have put their faith in you, the one true God.  We pray for your mercy toward them, that you would do amazing works through the your light that now lives inside them.

We pray your Holy Spirit would comfort them and fill them your peace that surpasses all understanding. May they know your love for them and may they live in confidence of it always, with all hope and joy. May they know that with you they will be strong and courageous.

Help them to know they are not alone, and they are not forgotten. We pray your will would be done, that they will be unharmed, released from prison, accepted by their families. And when they aren’t, we pray you would empower them to endure.

We pray for the salvation of those around them – whole families, guards, other prisoners, those who live near them, that they will see your love and peace in them and also come to know you as their Lord and Savior.

Help them to remain in prayer, and never let go of their trust in You. May you use these situations, and what the enemy means for evil, for your good and your glory.

Help them keep their eyes on You, and hold onto the words you gave to John “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.”

These are the heroes of our faith, Lord. Please remind us to keep praying for them.  In Jesus’ holy and precious name we pray, amen.

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for Miracles

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you.  We praise you for your immeasurable love and grace and mercy, and for your joy that surpasses all understanding.  Thank you for the joy of our salvation that resides deep in our souls and remains no matter what’s happening at the surface of our lives.

Father, we come to you and petition for those who have been affected by storms and hurricanes.  For those who have lost loved ones we pray that you would comfort them in a way that only you can.  We pray you would provide for them in miraculous ways. We pray you would provide food and medicine and clothing and shelter. 

We pray for restoration and salvation. We pray for wisdom and hope and healing to hearts and to the land. We pray for those first responders and those who are there in your Son’s name to bring provisions and to wrap their arms around them in love. 

Father, the devastation seems overwhelming, but we are asking you, the One who is omnipotent – all powerful, and omniscient – all knowing, the One who is El Shaddai – The All Sufficient God, to do miracle after miracle in the wake of these storms.

May your powerful name be called upon over and over, and may you hear and answer those calls over and above anything we could ever ask or think. May your holy name be glorified, Lord Jesus.  We trust you and we thank you in advance for all you’re going to do.  In Jesus’ Holy and Precious Name, the Name above all names, amen.

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.