Sunday, October 19, 2014

GABC Prayer - Psalm 19

Prayed at Grand Avenue Baptist Church in Ames, IA
October 19, 2014 

God, 

Psalm 19 says
The heavens declare your glory
and the sky above proclaims your handiwork.
   Day to day it pours out speech,
and night to night it reveals knowledge.
   There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.

We worship you this Sunday for who you are and the things you have done.

You are the creator of everything.  All that exists serves to display and magnify your endless and diverse excellencies.  You are gentle like a lamb, strong like a lion, imminent and transcendent, you are both humble and kingly.  You are the creator of the universe and yet you became man. 

All of creation serves to show that you are Soverign, the unstoppable force in the universe, and the fountain of all that is good and true.

The sun, which you spoke into existence, exhibits the magnificent radiance of your glory, while the moon speaks to the magnificence of your reflected glory in us.

The rocks give us words to describe how solid you are, that you can be depended upon, that nothing can thwart you, and thus we have nothing to fear when we hide in you.  The water in the ocean speaks of the unmanageable chaos which exists in the world.  We have tried to control it, but only find ways to barely survive it.  And yet, you divided the sea. And when Jesus arrived on the earth he walked upon the waves, and they obeyed the command of his voice.

And not only that, but you have displayed your moral perfection.  You are the standard by which all things are compared.  You demonstrated this in Scripture and history.  You are perfectly just, perfectly good,.  You see all things, even the hidden things, and know what justice must be done.

Father we are grateful that you have invited us to share in the love and joy with which you, the Son and Holy Spirit are full and overflowing.  And yet, we also know that as the source of perfect justice and pure holiness, we cannot stand in your presence on the basis of our own worthiness or holiness.  No, we are imperfect, unholy, unclean, unjust, and unloving.  The entire human race is corrupted.  There are among us murders, liars, thieves, adulterers, self-worshippers.  The earth is full of people ignoring that which is most worthy of not being ignored, YOU!!   And we in particular, are not much better.  We do not love our neighbor like you commanded.  If we don’t outright steal from them, we often wish we could.  And if we don’t murder someone, we resent (and sometimes hate) people when they don’t serve our purposes.  Apart from your changing work, we stand before you broken, self-serving, unclean, and deserving of death. 

Which is why, God, we praise you most powerfully because of what you did for us and in us through Jesus.  You, God, came to us.  In the person of Jesus, you lived the perfect life, a life that we should have lived.  You lived a life of sincere and complete humility,  appropriately loving and honoring the Father, and you loved your neighbor with determination, truth, and care.  Then, Jesus, you died the death that we deserved to die. You died the death of a criminal, a gruesome death, which carried the weight of eternal wrath.  God, you took our penalty.

We are grateful that, through the apostles, you explained to us what this meant.  That while we were sinners Christ died for us, and that Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin, that we might become the righteousness of God.  You told us, in your word, that we were included in Christ’s death, we were crucified with him, if we have faith in him.  You told us that we were united to him.  Just like a man and woman are united in marriage, we have been united to Christ, and therefore receive all the benefits of being his bride.  We are justified in your courtroom, we are cleansed and purified in your sight, we are adopted into your family.  Not because we deserved it in any sense, but because we are Christ’s, we have been united to him, and He has fulfilled the law perfectly and paid the penalty for our wrong doing.

We love you Jesus, and we know that you intercede for us in heaven even now.

So, Father, by the authority of Jesus, we are before you now.  We stand as the cleansed and spotless bride of Christ to honor you as king and plead with you to make your glory further known on the earth. 

Father, we ask that your kingdom would expand through us in Ames and the surrounding areas.  We pray that you would empower and embolden the staff at Grand, give clear direction to the elders, strength to our deacons, insight to our small group leaders, mercy to those involved in the food pantry, clarity and wisdom to the search committee, and blessing to the various ministries here.  We pray that we would parent well, and that our children would know and love Christ with their whole heart.  Do this not for our sake alone, but for the sake of you name in the Ames area. 

Also, God we pray for other like-minded churches in the area, like Friendship Baptist Church.  Move them to trust you and be oriented around your glory, and make them faithful to the Scripture in their preaching.

Also, we pray for our friend, Noah Brayman and Redeemer Baptist Fellowship in Des Moines.  We pray they would be faithful to the Word of God, for growth in discipleship relationships, for maturity, and that you would use their gospel witness to bring true conversions among many who live near them.


Finally, Father, Give us the fullness of your spirit, so that we can, with overflowing love and joy, worship you.  And in the preaching of your Word this morning, we ask that our hearts would be very soft. Don’t let us walk away thinking about our own greatness, or excusing our sin, or confused about who you are and what you have done for us.  Display yourself to us, and change us for your glory.

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