The Pastor’s Corner

Prayer: Our most glorious and wise God, we thank you and praise you for revealing yourself to your creatures. You have declared your glory through all that you have made. You preach your majesty each day as we take note of the sunrise and star shine. Each day we see the changing of the weather, and each season we take note of your habits. We thank you for your Word, which reveals who you are in exacting and precise nature. We bless you for the wisdom of your Word and how it is a light for our feet to guide us on the path of this life. Forgive us, Father, for how often we move through our day failing to thank you and praise you for what you allow us to see. Forgive us for not spending time in your Word, sitting at your feet, and learning from the eternal Spirit that penned it. Please grant us a great willingness and zeal to read, meditate, hear, and do all that your Word tells us to do.

Prayer: Grant almighty God that your people who you have loved from all eternity would serve you and glorify you with their whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. We are your people, and we have been bought with a tremendous price in which you demonstrated that love by being pleased to crush your own Son for the sake of sinful people. We are those people that you have brought safely out of Egypt and are moving steadily toward our heavenly rest. Forgive us, Lord, for our cold hearts that are so often wayward. We are ashamed by how much we know and how little we do to honor you. Our obedience is often weak, and it is often mixed with thoughts that are far from you. We long for that day when we will no longer struggle with indwelling sin. Please forgive, our God, and help us.

Prayer: Our Father in heaven, you alone are holy and deserving of our praise, love, adoration, and worship. As your redeemed people, we have given up all rights to our lives and have been called by you to serve you as living sacrifices. We thank you that you rescued us from a life of misery brought on by sin. Though we still live in a fallen world, we do not live like those without hope as we cling to the promise of the New Heavens and the New Earth. We look forward with great expectation to the day when our faith will be sight, and we will be our Savior. Until then, Father, please continue to work in us a greater love and zeal for you and your Word. Your Word is life to our weary souls, and through it, you tell us all that we need to live to your glory in this world. Please help us and sustain us and cause us to remain free from the stain of this world being conformed daily to your image.

Prayer: Almighty God and Father of all your redeemed people, we humble ourselves before your throne today to plead with you and to confess to you our transgressions and sins. Your word tells us to seek first your kingdom and righteousness, and we know that we often fail to obey that plain command. We confess that we seek many things in this life. We are idol factories, indeed. We have made idols out of our money, family, jobs, possessions, and a host of many other things. We have quickly turned aside to the cares of this life and give little thought that we are dust, passing away daily in our mortal bodies. We often fail to consider eternity and those things that eye has not seen what you have in store for those who love you. Forgive us, Lord, for being so easily distracted from what matters most in this life. Please grant us a great love for you and help us to seek the things that are above.

Prayer: Grant, Almighty God, since the doctrine of Thy Gospel sounds daily in our ears when Thou invites us so kindly by Thy amazing clemency and stretch out thy hand by Thine only begotten Son -- Grant, I pray Thee that we may be of a teachable and flexible disposition, and that we may sincerely submit to Thee. And since Thy law contains so many dreadful examples of Thy wrath, may we be moved by them, and may we walk with fear and trembling in obedience to Thy Word, that at length we may enjoy that inheritance Thou hast promises for us in Thy heavenly kingdom, by the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayer: Our glorious God in heaven, we thank you for another Lord's Day that you made for us. We know that the Sabbath was made for man and your word declares that you set this day apart from all the other days of the week as one that is holy. On this day, you gave us an example by resting from all of your work. It is this day that points to our Sabbath rest -- the Lord Jesus Christ. You have commanded us to keep this day holy and cease from our normal worldly recreations and employment. You have further commanded that we delight in it and seek your face in the public gathering of worship and the enjoyment of Christian fellowship. Yet, we so often fail to seize this opportunity. Too often, we get caught up in our affairs and fail to worship you publicly and privately. We sin against you when we absent ourselves from your worship. We value the things of this life too much, and that is why we miss those common, ordinary things that you allow us to enjoy every other day. How sad it is that we a drawn to things that will never satisfy and replace your presence with the things of this world. Forgive us, Father. Please help us see the value of this day and the great opportunity afforded us to be in your presence and with your people. Please grant us a great love of the Lord's Day and be pleased to meet with your people as we gather to adore you. These things we pray for in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Prayer: Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the great privilege to commune with the sovereign God of heaven and earth. You are our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble. Oh, Lord, we live in difficult and trying times. Though we know that nothing is new under the sun, we also know that sin has wrecked all that you have made and called good. We grieve at the state of our world and country. We see men, made in your image, professing and boasting to be wise, yet their rebellion against you only proves their foolishness. We know that this world is a mess because of sin, and we are ashamed that we, as your people, are still prone to sin and sinful behaviors. We are thankful to you that you are a God who delights in the forgiveness of sin. Yet, we long for the day when sin will be no more -- when we will no longer feel its effects and languish in it. Therefore, holy Father, we pray that you would grant us a great desire to follow you, being the church militant, until that day when we are the church at rest. Please grant us a greater zeal to advance your kingdom and righteousness and offer to all who can hear the only hope this world has: The Lord Jesus Christ, your begotten Son. We thank you that you have rescued us from the land of bondage and sin and redeemed us from slavery. We thank you for feeding us and reminding us weekly of your favor and love. We thank you that you do not treat us as our sins deserve. Therefore, Father, help us walk in your ways resting on your eternal and divine providence, knowing that you will bring your people safely to their eternal home. These things we pray for in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.