A prayer based on Matthew 1:1-17.

Our faithful God,
We praise You that You are absolutely trustworthy;
That the promises You make to people, You really do keep.
You promised King David, that one of His offspring would rule from his throne for ever.
Through Isaiah we learn that this child will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace;
that His reign would be marked by righteousness and justice.
You also promised Abraham that from the great nation which his family would one day become, would be a Son who will bring blessing to all the nations on earth;
who would undo the curse that came upon humankind at the Fall when sin entered the world, by bringing lost people back into relationship with their Creator.
Thank You that these promises were kept with the announcement that the Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the son of David and the son of Abraham;
that Jesus is this righteous King and Rescuer.

We recognise that this relationship with You that Jesus makes possible is not something we deserve.
We have all rebelled against You, the God who is just and holy and who must punish sin.
We are all sinners.
Even the great king David was a sinner too, committing adultery with Uriah’s wife, and orchestrating his death.
How we all need Jesus to save us.
For His death on the cross to take the wrath our sins deserve so that we can receive the blessing of being in relationship with You.

Thank You He will if we have repented and put our trust in Him, because He has promised that He will save all who do this.
Jews and Gentiles.
Men and women.
Not just the good guys – those who have shady pasts as well – prostitutes and murderers and adulterers and those who come from the wrong part of town with messed up parents.

Thank You that no matter who we are and where we are from and what we have done, He can be our Saviour if we believe in Him.

Help us, by Your Spirit to trust in the King You have sent to save us.
Help us, by Your Spirit to follow the King You have sent to save us, by obeying everything He has commanded.
Especially help us, by Your Spirit, to take the news to people of all nations and of all backgrounds, that the King You have sent to save sinners is here, and that He will save all who ask Him to.
Forgive us for so often faltering and failing to do this.
Thank You that because of Your love and faithfulness You will.
Give us a fresh awareness of this today we ask.
In the Name of Jesus.

Amen.

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A prayer based on Romans 9:1-29.

Gracious and loving Father,
We are amazed at Your kindness to us.
That for those whom You have saved, nothing – not death or life, not angels or demons, not the past or the future, not anything in all creation – will be able to separate us from Your love for us in Jesus.
But it grieves us to know that there are many who do not have this certainty.

Our hearts are filled with great sorrow and unceasing anguish when we consider that the majority of Jews have rejected Him and are facing His punishment.
They were God’s people;
adopted by Him.
They had seen His glory.
They were in a covenant relationship with Him.
They had the law which showed they needed a Saviour.
In the temple worship, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the festivals, they had Christ pictured for them.
They had all the Old Testament promises.
And yet they still rejected Him.

We recognise as well, that they are so many more Gentiles who do not believe in Jesus.
Including many in this nation, and even in this community.

How we wish that this were not so.

Yet we praise You, that we can be confident that You will keep Your promise to save Israel – the Israel made up of people You have chosen to be Your people.
An Israel made up of both Jews and Gentiles, which includes us, who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are truly astonished that You would choose to save us.
There is nothing about us that makes us better than those who are not saved.
You made Your choice before we had done anything good or bad,
which means that our salvation has nothing to do with us –
Not our birth, our desires, our actions, our merit, our knowledge, or our connections –
You chose to save us, because You chose to save us.
How grateful we are that You have, because we have sinned and deserve Your condemnation.
If You were giving us what we deserve, we would already be in hell, with every other human;
That You rescue anyone, not leaving them to be held accountable for their guilt, shows just how merciful You are.

We ask that by Your Spirit You would be at work in us.
Cause us to plead with You to show us mercy by enabling us to turn from our sins and believe in Your Son, and in Him alone.
Cause us to be overjoyed that You would save us;
to be awestruck that You would rescue us.
Cause us to trust in Your promise to save all who have faith in Jesus and to know for certain that a glorious future awaits us if we hold fast to Christ ourselves.
And cause us to be compassionate.
To be concerned for those who are still lost and stubbornly rejecting Jesus.
The many Jews and even more from the nations.
To be grieved that many people are at present drowning in their sins.
To believe that there are still a vast multitude whom God has chosen to save.
And to take seriously our responsibility to speak the gospel, knowing that faith comes from hearing this message.

We thank You that salvation is all of You.
And so, to You be the glory for ever.

Amen.

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A prayer based on Romans 5:6-8.

Our God,
It is truly amazing to know that You love us.
It is incredible that we can hear You say to us, through Your Word, “I love you”.
Especially as there is no reason for You to.
By nature, there is nothing loveable about us.
There is no reason why You should feel this way about us.

We were ungodly;
those who had no time for You;
who wanted nothing to do with You.
We were sinners;
rebellious to Your will and way;
constantly failing to hit your target for our lives;
missing the mark;
breaking Your law;
transgressing Your boundaries.
We were powerless;
facing Your judgment;
heading towards the fires of hell for eternity;
and there was nothing we could do about this.

We were helpless, and without hope.
Yet You chose to extend Your love to us;
You so loved the world.
Not just the polite people of the world;
the nice people;
the respectable people.
You so loved all kinds of people, even the vilest offender,
and demonstrated this by giving Your only Son.

We praise You that Christ was willing to die for every kind of person in the world.
For the ungodly.
For sinners.
We thank You that He was willing to die for us.
To save us.
To bring us out of the place of danger.
To rescue us from the wrath to come, so that we do not need to experience for ever God’s anger.
We thank You that now through faith in Him we can have our sins taken away;
we can have a relationship with You the Holy God, and be adopted into Your family with eternal life.

Father, forgive us for those times when we doubt that You really do love us.
For when we think you couldn’t love us,
because we’re too bad;
because we’ve done too many awful things.

And Holy Spirit, help us when we feel this way to look to Jesus.
To fix our eyes on Him, the God-man.
Who having been betrayed, abandoned, arrested, slandered, beaten, punched, kicked, whipped, heard the crowd shout crucify him, felt flesh torn from his skill, suffered exhaustion, experienced nails bashed into His hands and feet, is left hanging on a cross.
Who is exposed, naked, mocked, bleeding, dying, and punished by God until there was no more penalty left to pay for our sins.
And would this strengthen our confidence that You really do love us.
Help us to grasp more and more, to comprehend Your love in Christ, to delight in it, to appreciate it, and to adore You for it.
And most of all to love You as those who have been first loved by You.

Amen.

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A prayer based on Psalm 2.

Our great God,
when You look down upon the world, You see the entire human race;
the nations, the people,
the kings, the rulers,
the great, the small,
conspiring and plotting, uniting to fight against You and Your anointed One, the Lord Jesus.
They do not want to be ruled by You.
They hate the boundaries and limits You have given for their good.
They don’t want to obey Your laws.
And they will not have Your Son reigning over them.

We confess that we still see this tendency in our lives.
How foolish we are.
We should know better, because we know that Jesus has been exalted to the highest place.
You have installed Him as King to rule on Your behalf.
And His reign is not just over Israel, but over the whole world including those who have rebelled against You.
We praise You that one day You will justly punish all who oppose Your rule, when You unleash hell upon them.

How grateful we are that before this day comes, we have heard Your gentle, loving, tender voice speak to us, calling us to come to our senses, and trust in You,
Thank You our God that You are willing to take rebels back.
Thank You that salvation from the wrath to come is available, because the One You installed as King came first to save sinners by His obedient life and sacrificial death.
Thank You that because we stand with Christ, and have kissed the Son:
with a kiss of agreement, by acknowledging that He is King,
with a kiss of allegiance, by submitting to His rule,
and with a kiss of adoration, by loving Him above all others,
we have been sheltered from His anger and have been blessed with eternal life.

Our God, it is our great desire that our friends and family,
neighbours and colleagues,
those who live in this community,
and those who live further afield, right to the ends of the earth,
would know this too.
That they would stop siding with the world and start siding with Christ,
so that when they meet Him,
they will do so not as His enemy but as His friend.
Please by Your Spirit bring them to their senses so they fear Him, and then flee to Him, and be blessed.

Amen.

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A prayer based on Matthew 5:21-48.

Lord Jesus,

There is no other name apart from Yours by which we can be saved from our sins;
by which we can be rescued from the punishment of hell we deserve for our rebellion.
We praise You, that in Your life, death, and resurrection, You have saved all who turn from their sins and trust in You;
that You have forgiven us and given to us Your perfect righteousness, so that we are now acceptable before God.
If You had not done this for us, we would be helpless and without hope, as we have not and could never obey God’s law enough ourselves for Him to accept us.
Our righteousness does not surpass that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, and so there is no chance we can enter the kingdom of God.

How grateful we are Lord Jesus, that You have done for us what we cannot do for ourselves;
that we are now part of Your kingdom, and with the help of Your Holy Spirit, we can live in a way that shows we are.
Both in our actions but also our deeper heart attitudes.
That You help us to put to death anger and bitterness.
That You help us to resist the temptation to give into lust.
That You help us to be faithful in our relationships.
That You help us to speak words that are trustworthy and true.
That You help us to show restraint when we are wronged and not get revenge.
And that You help us to love our neighbours, including those who we might see as our enemies – after all this is the love which You have already shown to us.

Yet we confess that though we are able to, with Your help, live out this new life we now have, we frequently fail to.
Instead of being marked by peace, we get angry.
Instead of being pure, our eyes are drawn to what is out of bounds.
Instead of being faithful, we have let others down.
Instead of being truthful, we are dishonest.
Instead of exercising self-control, we give into our passions.
Instead of being loving, we find hatred towards others rising up from within.
And because of all this, we fail to reflect what You are like.
Forgive us again we pray, and continue to bring about the change we desperately need within us that is evidence that you have saved us, and so that we might bring glory to Your perfect Father in heaven.

Amen.

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A prayer based on Ezekiel 47-48.

Our God and our Saviour,

We praise You for the hope we have.
For the life of blessing, abundance, fruitfulness, order, enjoyment, plenty, beauty, community, and access that is ours when we live with You as our God and we as Your people for all eternity.

We praise You that one day when Jesus returns, all of Your people and all of Your creation will be as they were created to be.
Beautiful, majestic and glorious as the curse is reversed.

We praise You that this incredible hope we have is already coming to pass, as the Holy Spirit, the streams of living water that Jesus spoke about, flows within us bringing new life, and transforming us so that we are not what we once were.

We praise You that the Day is coming when all Your people will be at home with You in the place Jesus is preparing for us.
And that Your people will be made up of both men and women and both Jews and Gentiles.
That there will be room there for everyone who turns to and trust in Christ for salvation.
That no-one who does that will miss out.
That everyone who believes will be welcomed in.

How grateful we are for these blessings and benefits that are ours.
Not because we deserve them.
We deserve to be punished for we haven’t lived the way You created us to.
But because You have been so gracious to us by sending Your Son to save us.

We thank You Lord Jesus, that You have secured salvation for us – by living in our place a holy and righteous life and by dying in our place to satisfy God’s anger against us – and which You now give to us as a gift.

Lord God, we long to show how much we love Christ and how grateful we are for what He has done for us by obeying everything He has commanded.
To be holy and blameless in your sight as you chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be.
To live as those whose hope is in God and whose home will be with God forever.
Yet we confess that we find it hard to live lives of godliness in the face of the pressure that comes from the world, our sinful flesh, and the devil.
We are prone to wander from your way.
To our shame, we do stumble and fall.
We lose heart and doubt whether Jesus really will return.
We wonder whether we are doing the right thing by turning from our sins and trusting You, as the alternative seems much easier to do.
Forgive us for our unbelief and cleanse us from all our unrighteousness we pray.

And we ask Holy Spirit that you would strengthen our faith and convince us that all God’s promises will be kept.
That one day we will take our place among all of God’s people in God’s promised land enjoying God’s presence and being eternally blessed by Him.
So that we do keep loving God with all hearts, soul, mind, and strength;
that we keep trusting Him;
that we keep obeying Him and living holy lives;
that we keep spreading the offer of new life in Christ to those who are yet to receive it;
And so that we keep looking forward to the city whose designer and builder is God and keep pressing on until we reach there.

Amen.

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A prayer based on 1 Peter 3:18.

Great God, Our Saviour
We praise You.
We bless You and adore You.
For You have so loved this world by giving us Your Son, the Lord Jesus.
The Saviour of the World.
The One who rescues everyone who believes in Him.

We thank You that He has died for sins.
We confess that we are all sinners.
We have broken Your law, gone our way, and worshipped false gods.
We have rejected You our Maker and deliberately decided to live the way we want to.
We are sinners, and our sin is worthy of Your wrath.
And there is nothing we can do to remove this stain that is upon us.
So, we thank You that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty our sins deserve.
That He took the punishment until there was no punishment left to give.
That He experienced Your wrath as He hung on the cross until there was no wrath remaining to pour out on Him.

We thank You that He has died for sins and that His death was sufficient.
That it was once for all.
His death worked.
It did what it needed to do.
It does not need to be repeated.
It is for all time.
And that there won’t need to be a sacrifice for sin ever again.

More than that, we thank You that His death was substitutionary.
That the righteous One.
Jesus who never did anything wrong.
Who committed no sin.
Who was innocent of every charge made against Him.
Who was right with God.
Who didn’t deserve to die.
Died.
That He suffers not for His own sins.
But on behalf of us who are unrighteous.
That in our place condemned, He stood.
We thank You our Father, that You looked at Your Son on the cross and saw our sin and unleashed judgment on Him for it.

And we thank You that His death was successful.
That it opens up the way to a relationship with You.
That through faith in Him we are ransomed, healed, restored and forgiven; we are adopted as Your children, and are welcome to come into Your presence.

It truly is astonishing our Father, that through Your Son, You should do all this for us.
Forgive us for not being more amazed by Your kindness and more thankful for what Your saving work.
Forgive us for not showing our gratitude by being more obedient to Your Word and more zealous in our service.
Forgive us for not encouraging one another to pay more careful attention to this good news and for not sharing it more with the lost who desperately need to hear it.

Holy Spirit make us more aware of the wonder of all Jesus is, and all that He has done for us and our salvation.
And help us to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.
In His Name we pray.

Amen.

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A prayer based on Ruth 1:1-5.

Our Lord and our God.
The One whose throne is established in the heavens;
who sits enthroned between the cherubim;
who rules and reigns;
and who is exalted over all the nations.
We praise You for Your great and awesome Name.
You are holy.
You are mighty and love justice.
We worship You.
We magnify You now.

Thank You for the love You show to this world.
For sending rain from heaven and crops in their seasons.
For providing food and filling our hearts with joy.
Yet we recognise that none of this is deserved.
It is not a right we have, but a sign of Your kindness to us.
And we acknowledge that there are times when You withhold this kindness.
Sometimes in discipline to rebuke and restrain the ways of us, Your people.
To cause us to acknowledge our wanderings from You.
Other time You do this to test us.
To see if we really do love You;
that we really do trust in You Son, who both Saviour and Lord;
And to see if we are willing to take up our cross and follow Him.

Loving Father, we confess that when difficulty comes, we are often tempted to look elsewhere for relief.
We look to the world around us, and seeing the wicked prosper, we are tempted to join in with they do.
We are like Elimelech in the book of Ruth, who when there was a famine in the land, when there was no bread in house of bread, in Bethlehem, showed a lack of belief in You and Your ability to provide, by taking his wife Naomi and two sons to Moab.
Like him, we think we can come up with solutions for dealing with our hardships and difficulties apart from You, rather than leaning upon You by being patient and learning obedience.
Forgive us we pray.
Open our eyes to see the foolishness of behaving this way and of taking a path that may lead to reward in this life, but not in the life to come.

Thank You that everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, and that the examples of Your people we find, are given to teach and rebuke us, to correct and train us, so that we might live more faithful lives.
Thank You that the Scriptures tell us that Jesus, the One man who never once showed a lack of belief in You.
That every moment of His life He trusted You and obeyed Your Word.
That when You tested Him, He did not sin, He did not look for temporary relief in the pleasures of this world.
Thank You that even when the test involved drinking the cup of Your wrath at our sins and transgressions, He did not shrink back, and because He didn’t, we can be saved through faith in Him.

Holy Spirit, help us, we pray.
Help us to be quick to repent when we are being disciplined.
Help us to endure when we are being tested.
Help us to believe when we doubt Your care.
Help us to resist the temptation to look for quick relief from our troubles instead of learning the lessons You might be seeking to teach us, so that we become more and more like Christ.
We really do desperately need Your help if we are to live in a manner worthy of the salvation we have received, to take up our cross daily, and to follow the Lord Jesus.
In His Name we pray.

Amen.

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A prayer based on Acts 2:22-36.

Our Father in heaven,
We praise You that Your Son, Jesus Christ, is both Lord and Christ.

We praise You that He is the Lord.
The King of kings who rules over all creation.
The King with the power and authority to judge all Your enemies.
The One who is worthy of our worship and obedience.

We praise You too, that He is the Christ.
The Messiah.
The King who will save people from Your judgment and bring them to the blessing of living under Your rule.

We praise You that You have given us proof that He is this glorious King.
In the miracles He did during His earthly life.
In His death where according to Your plan, He was led like lamb to the slaughter, pierced for our transgressions, punished to bring us peace with You.
And in His resurrection from the dead as You did not abandon Him to the grave and let His body see decay.

We praise You that Jesus is alive and reigning as Lord.
Sitting at Your right hand.
In the place of absolute authority.
And from there He will one day return to judge the world with righteousness and justice.

Knowing that this judgment is coming, how grateful we are that You have promised that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
We thank You that if we have repented of our sins and put our trust in Jesus we are forgiven.
That we can say that our sin has been nailed to the cross and we bear it no more.
That the sins we have committed, past, present or future; knowingly committed or unknowingly, have been paid for by His precious blood shed in our place.
That we can be certain that You love us and are for us.

Yet Father, we confess that though we have called on the name of the LORD, so often we don’t live under His rule.
That there are parts of our lives where we do not submit to His commands.
Where we take a laid back attitude towards sin and holiness.
So forgive us we pray, in Jesus’ name, and help us by Your Spirit to change so that we live as He wants us to and as those who want to please the One we owe so much too.

Amen.

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