God,
There is none like you!
Who can fathom the depths of who you are and what you have
done?
You created a universe that stretches farther than we have the
capability of even peering, billions of light years across. With your powerful words
you spoke firey spinning globes into existence, things like our sun and the
stars that we see. You also created a
place for life to exist; our planet full of trees, plants, bugs and birds, and all
other kinds of animals.
Amazing things also happen under the surface. Cellular activity we read about in our science
books and look at through microscopes are spectacular. Millions and millions of these everywhere
make up the things we see. But those are
not even the smallest particles. We
could go on about molecules, with various combinations and sizes of atoms carrying
protons, neutrons, and electrons. Or the
subatomic like quarks and bosons. Not
even the most studied scientist could exhaustively elaborate on the mysteries
and massive amount of data there is on these.
And yet, you dreamed up, created, understand, and preserve every one of
these things from the smallest particle to the farthest galaxy. Scripture tells us that it is by your hand
that the universe came into existence and continues to remain in existence. You keep gravitational pull from reversing,
and keep the proton from changing polarity. Without you, the universe would
collapse on it self.
You, God, our creator, are the one against whom we
rebelled. As humans we turned away from
you. From the moment Adam sinned in the
garden, we became your enemies. We did
not acknowledge you or honor you, rather we turned and worshiped the things you
created. Consequently our lives became
full and more full of debased things, things lacking the good which you intended
the world to be full of.
You would be just to destroy us. To flip that switch and say goodbye.
In fact, it created a cosmic dilemma when you did not
destroy us. How could the omnipotent
purveyor of reality and morality not destroy such rebellious, wicked
beings. Beings who ignore the supreme
and worship the debased.
Because of your immense and overflowing love, you did not
destroy us, your creation. Instead, you,
the God who made everything, from the smallest subatomic particle to the farthest
galaxy, you who maintains constantly the existence of our universe, became a
fetus; a baby with eye sockets, arm pits, and nostrils.
You God, in Jesus, became a human and lived the exact life,
which a created being was to live, one full of truth, and love, perfect and
active obedience to the Father. Then
you, in Jesus, took our deserved death on the cross. As God you demonstrated your ultimate and
profound justice, finally vindicating your name, as you poured out all deserved
wrath upon this representative human, Jesus.
Jesus lived the perfect life, a life that we should have lived. Then died the death that we deserved to die. By doing this he both paid for our lack of
perfection, and achieved perfection for us.
Father, we stand before you today, clearly stating that we
are sinners in and of our selves. Even our best attempts and good works are so
soiled as to be worth nothing in your sight.
We do not get the benefits of being righteous people because we deserve
it or because we’re a little better than our neighbor. We do not have good works of our own to hide
behind. Rather, we glory and dance under
the wings of Jesus.
We hide in you King Jesus! You are our shield and protector! You are our fortress. There is nothing that can ultimately defeat
us, because you have conquered death, sin, and the devil. We worship and adore you. We love you our brother and king!
Father, because Jesus has paid the penalty of our sin, and
the Holy Spirit has awakened our hearts, we come before you with joy and peace.
We long to be part of your working in the world. Our hearts overflow with love for you and joy
when we remember your past work, long for your future work, and participate in
your present work. This is why we now
turn to requests.
Father, we ask that
you would be working in the people at Grand, creating bonds of love and
commitment. Though our hearts have been
changed in regeneration, there are still remnants of the old man in us. We lack appropriate concern for the
poor. We don’t respect the people you
call us to submit to like government, elders, bosses, and husbands. We tend towards self-centeredness and
self-preoccupation instead of love for others.
We excuse our lies as mild exaggeration.
We justify our gossip as venting or even a prayer request. We excuse our hatred of others by thinking
they deserve it. God, guard us from
pride, anger, bitterness, and unforgiveness.
Guard us from gossip, vengeance, insubmissiveness, and
self-preocupation. As those things exist
here, God we ask that you would remove them and limit their affect on the
advancement of your kingdom through this people.
Also, God, there are many in this congregation who are
dealing with ailing and dying parents.
Some are approaching death too slowly, others too quickly. I pray for mercy. Have mercy upon them, by letting pain be
minimal and death timely. Have mercy
upon us to. We love our parents, and
don’t want to see them go. Give us
comfort and courage to let go, knowing you will do right. Forgive us for forgetting as Psalm 116:15
says, “a saints death is precious in your sight.” And that for some dying is the
path to released constraints and unhindered worship. Give us joy as we celebrate believing parents
and faith as we pray for our unbelieving parents.
We pray also 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, 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. For the students, we ask for diligence, and
Christ-centered relationship growth.
Also, God we pray for other like-minded churches in the area. Move them to trust you and be oriented around
your glory
Finally, we pray for new active involvement in the Ames
community by this congregation. Let us
be good neighbors, showing the kind of concern and care you have for us, and
let us truly be ministers of reconciliation as we love non-believers and invite
them into peace with you. We desire to
see your kingdom to advance in Ames. Do
it we pray through us. Give us vision,
creativity, desire, gifting, boldness, opportunity, and energy.
