The Pastor’s Corner

Prayer: Grant almighty God that your redeemed people would draw comfort from your eternal love. Your love has no ending as it had no beginning. Before the mountains were formed, you loved your own. In this have you demonstrated your love that while we were still sinners, your beloved Son died for us. It is a great hope to us that you are love and in you, there is no shadow or variation due to change. We praise you that your love never fails and is not dependent on our labors or effort, but only that you are love and, in your Son, you love us. Forgive us, Father, for not showing this love to the world around us. So often we are consumed with petty conflicts and issues that distract us from our calling to love one another. Please help us to show love with our actions and our words. Please grant us more of your love so we can love others as you have commanded. We are ashamed of how far short we fall in this area, but we are comforted by your love that looks upon your people with pity, forgiving them for all their sins. Therefore, grant us a great desire and zeal to do what you tell us out of adoration and love for your love and all you do for us. These things we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayer: Our most glorious and wise Father in heaven, we humbly and gladly bow the knee before you today because you are our God, and we are your people. We are thankful that you have not left us to our desires and inclinations. As creatures of dust, we are painfully aware of our transgressions and sins before you. Though you have redeemed us through the glorious work of your Son and have made us a new creation, we still wrestle and fight against the old man and those things that easily turn us aside from your commands. We plead your grace and mercy, crying out to you to be merciful to us. We are thankful that you do not treat us as our sins deserve. We stand in awe of your patience with us. We long to serve you faithfully. Please grant us a greater measure of your Spirit that we might not sin against you. Please help us to watch and pray that we would not enter into temptation. When tempted, please sustain us and uphold us and deliver us from the efforts of the evil one. Please help us as recipients of your forgiveness to forgive others. Please bless us and keep us we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

Meditation for the day taken from Everyday Prayer with John Calvin written by Donald McKim:

Scripture: Philippians 4:4-7

Today's mediation touches a particular area in my own life. Though a pastor, I am first a Christian. As a result, I am subjected to the temptations of this life and the anxieties that often come with them. I am not unusual, I suspect. Many of God's people throughout history have wrestled with the paralyzing sin of anxiety. The list would be long, but men such as John Calvin, Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon wrestled with the issues of anxiety, doubt, and worry. The bible also highlights people who wrestled with it as well. People such as Jeremiah, Jonah, Job, Martha, and even Moses! Indeed, anxiety and worry are terrible things, affecting even the greatest of saints (of which I am not).

Prayer: Grant almighty God that your redeemed people would praise you and do your holy will today as you guide them by your divine providence through all our affairs as ordered by you. We thank you that we can trust you to lead us and guide us -- that nothing that happens to us is by mere chance or coincidence, but all designed for your glory and our good. We desire to see you glorified in our lives, and we long to see you exalted in heaven and earth. Therefore, we pray that your will would be done in the lives of your creatures and that you would do exceedingly, abundantly beyond anything we can ask or think. We confess that we often grumble and complain about the circumstances of our world because we do not trust you as we should. Yet, you have promised great things for us, and therefore, we ask that you would bless us and help us be a believing people -- trusting in your never-changing promises that are yes and amen in the Lord Jesus Christ in whose name we pray. Amen.

Prayer: My God, Father, and Savior, since you have been pleased to give me the grace to come through the night to the present day, now grant that I may employ it entirely in your service, so that all my works may be to the glory of your name and the edification of my neighbors. As you have been pleased to make your sun shine upon the earth to give us bodily light, grant the light of your Spirit to illumine my understanding and my heart. And because it means nothing to begin well if one does not persevere, I ask that you would continue to increase your grace in me until you have led me into full communion with your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the true Sun of our souls, shining day and night, eternally and without end. Hear me, merciful Father, by our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

The apostle Paul was a man of prayer, and this is reflected in almost every letter he wrote to the churches and individuals. The Philippians church was especially dear to him as it was a church he founded when he visited that city in Acts 16. His first encounter with that city was not pleasant -- jailed, along with Silas, for advancing the kingdom of the Lord. Yet, a church started and grew. Some ten years later, Paul addresses these dear saints in a letter bearing their name.

The letter opens with comfort from the apostle. In his words, he labors to pastorally offer them something of hope, telling them that he was praying for them. Indeed, what better thang can a Christian do than to say to another brother or sister that they are praying for them. There is a real danger to receive those words without much thought or comfort. We sometimes hear people tell us that, and we respond well by saying "thank you." After all, we do have manners! Yet, we should understand deeply the extreme peace and comfort those words convey. Prayer moves the hand of God, and the prayers of the saints for the saints are how God helps and guides his people. Of course, when we tell others we are praying for them, we ought to be telling the truth. The words "I am praying for you" are not a mere solace but are to be heartfelt and meaningful.

Prayer: Our great and glorious God, the sole sovereign of heaven and earth, we bow before you to praise you and to set our needs before you. WE know that you invite us to pray and plead with you for all that we need. We are thankful that you care for us and hear us as we pray. As a Father, you stand able and ready to listen to us and to do exceedingly, abundantly beyond anything we might ask or think. You have graciously given us your Word, and you have graciously given us this one day in seven in which we gather together as your people to hear your Word as it is read and preached. We ask you to bless your Word in the ears, minds, and hearts of your people today. Please grant an abundance of your Spirit upon those men, called apart by you, as they deliver your Word to the sheep of your pasture. We pray that it will not be a demonstration of the minds of men by one of the life-giving Spirit. Please forgive us for the many times we hear your Word and fail to do what it says. Please keep us from temptation -- from wandering thoughts and disobedient behavior. We ask that you would be pleased in what we hear and how we respond for the sake of Christ our Lord, we pray. Amen.