Dear God,
Thank you for today.
Thank you for church. Thanks for brothers and sisters in Christ. Thanks for a community that longs to follow Jesus. Thank you for Jesus, the best friend we can ever have.
Oh Lord, this week you reminded me that our time on earth is short. No one knows when his/her time is up. It is a fact of life—and yet often times we do things as if we had forever, or as if this was our permanent home, placing all of our hopes and dreams on what we can have now or later. When we live like this, our labor is so fruitless because as far as I can tell, nothing is guaranteed. Anything can happen tomorrow. The world is a fragile place. It is ephemeral—the things we love never last.
Lord, we ask for your wisdom in our lives. For without it, we may live meaninglessly, fruitlessly—in vain. One day—maybe even today—we’ll sense emptiness inside of us. May that emptiness precisely lead someone to Christ—that is what we pray! But for us seasoned Christians, what time we’ve wasted! Today we pray for ourselves—we pray that you remind us again what it means to follow Christ.
Lord, we need to know you—because even today we could be moved by emotions, feelings, and convictions of mere religion and put on a full campaign in the name of God, exerting our every bit of energy, feeling good about being a devoted and religious person, and find that the road leads to self-righteousness, isolation, and complete misunderstanding.
Lord, may we hear from you today.
Dear Lord, some of us deeply sense these bits and pieces of truth and wisdom (that is why we’ve come to church today) but it hasn’t all come together and crystallized. We pray in particular for them—for their hearts are in the right place—may the message be especially relevant to them for they are seeking you.
Also, there are those among us who need healing. The things that have happened in the past have seared into our spirit. At times we think we are what has happened to us. And though we gravitate towards God’s truth there is a spiritual battle going on. Perversely, we’d rather identify with what had happened to us than God’s plan for us now, making it hard for us to receive anything from the Lord, less truly hear from Him. Lord, we pray for our dear brothers and sisters that your Holy Spirit would be present and do its work of healing and setting people free. Holy Spirit, may people be released from the past and find freedom and peace in Christ. Today they will grow in Christ and live out their lives as a new creation.
Lastly, we pray for the world. Every day people are born and people die. Every day something good happens and something evil happens. How do we pray for the world?
Jesus is life and he is good. He overcame death and he defeated evil. That is how we pray for the world. Believe in Jesus and you too may be equipped to defeat death and evil. He will make all his people useful in delivering a sense of what our permanent home, heaven, will entail. A follower of Christ, a Christian, will be useful because their life brings love, hope, peace, unity, courage, grace and mercy, and healing to the people around them.
Likewise, dear Lord, make us USEFUL Christians!
In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
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