A prayer based on Mark 4:1-20.

Almighty God,
Powerful Saviour,
We praise You.
We give You our thanks that salvation from sin and death and hell is possible.
It is possible because Jesus, the Good and Great Shepherd, has laid down His life on the cross.
He was the perfect sacrifice that we needed to bring us to You and into Your family.
What a joy it is to know Your forgiveness.
How incredible it is that we have been adopted as Your children through faith in Him.
And it is wonderful to know that others can enjoy this glorious rescue too as the gospel goes out,
calling sinners to repent and believe the good news of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.

We thank You that all kinds of people,
Religious and irreligious;
young and old;
rich and poor;
male and female;
sick and healthy;
Jew and Gentile;
family and friends or strangers and enemies;
when they respond to the Word can be welcomed into Your kingdom.

But Lord, it does grieve us, that so many don’t respond.
As Your Word is sown, large numbers are found to have hard hearts –
Unbelieving hearts that refuse to trust in Jesus;
Rebellious hearts that refuse to submit to His rule;
and who won’t act on what they hear.

More so, it saddens us that many appear to be converted –
to be genuine followers of Christ,
but over time show that their understanding of what it means to believe in Jesus was shallow,
that they are not willing to take up their cross and suffer for the sake of Christ,
or they are too attached to the world,
and they eventually fall away and give up the faith it looked like they had.

How we wish that so much of the precious seed that Your Word is didn’t fall on the path, or rocky ground, or among the thorns.
We are so concerned for those we know who don’t believe in Jesus or those who have not continued with Jesus.
We are worried for their future if they remain in their sins.

Father, we know that hearing and understanding is gift from You.
It is outside of their abilities.
So, we pray that You would show them Your mercy.
Show them Your grace.
Give them ears to hear.
To listen carefully and thoughtfully to the Word of God.
Change their hearts by Your Spirit into good soil that receives the gospel and finds the forgiveness that Jesus offers.

And we pray that our hearts will continue to be good soil,
that every time we listen to Your Word, we would truly hear.
May the devil not snatch it from us.
May we fight to listen – making every effort to concentrate and hear what You are saying to us.
Protect us from distractions.
How we need to hear the voice of our Saviour.
And as we do, may our lives be more fruitful and be found to worthy of the calling we have received and bring You glory.

Amen.

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A prayer based on Matthew 28:1-15.

Faithful God,
You are good and Your love endures forever.
You altogether trustworthy and dependable.
The rock on which we can build our lives.
You are the God who does not lie.
You speak truth, more than that, You are truth.
And we adore You.
We worship You.

We praise You that You are the unchanging God.
That Your Son, the Lord Jesus, is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
And because He is the great truth teller, we thank You that we can trust everything that He says.
We thank You that we can have certainty of this because He rose from the grave, just as He said He would.
That when the women went to the tomb and found the stone had been rolled away,
that the body was gone,
and heard the angel say to them “He is not here, He has risen”;
they shouldn’t have been surprised, because He had already told them that on the third day He would be raised to life.

Lord, we thank You for the confidence this give us about truthfulness of everything else He has said.
About His own identity.
That He is the Christ, the King over all, who has all authority in heaven and on earth,
who has the right to tell us how we should live in this world that belongs to Him.
who has the authority to save and to judge, to welcome into heaven and to punish in hell.
About His mission.
That He came to earth to die as a ransom for many,
to save people from the wrath of God they deserve for their sins,
which means there is a way to be forgiven and have eternal life.

Holy Spirit, help us to believe that everything Jesus says is true.
Give us the certainty that because Jesus has risen just as He said, every single word He has spoken is the truth.
So that we repent of our sins, of our unbelief, of our doubts, and fully depend on Him.
On His life to make us righteous in God’s sight.
On His blood shed on the cross to cleanse us from all our sins.
On His resurrection which gives us new and eternal life.
On His Word to guide us in how we should be and live and what we should do.
On His presence to lead us through the trials and difficulties we face and to give us boldness to make disciples as we go and tell this message of good news for all people.

We give You the glory because of Your faithful love and because of Your truth.

Amen.

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A prayer based on Matthew 21:12-17.

Our Father,
We adore You for Your plan of salvation.
Lord Jesus,
We thank You for accomplishing salvation for us.
Holy Spirit,
We praise You for applying this salvation to our hearts.
Triune God,
We give You the glory that we are ransomed, healed, restored, and forgiven.
For the great hope of eternal life that has come to us through the gospel.

Lord Jesus, we are so grateful that You are the great Redeemer.
That by Your life, death, and resurrection,
You have rescued us from sin’s penalty and set us free from sin’s power.
And having set us free from slavery to sin, You are showing Yourself to be the great Reformer,
as by Your Word and Spirit, You change and transform us, making us more like Yourself.
We pray that You would do this great work of reformation in our lives;
that You would correct ungodliness,
that You would help us to give up every darling lust,
and that You would restore Your image in us.

Help us to follow Your will and Your way.
To listen to Your voice.
To walk in obedience to Your commands.
To depend upon Your strength and power.
To ask for wisdom to respond to every situation and circumstance in a manner worthy of the calling we have received.
To stick to the paths of righteousness.
To hate all the grieves the Holy Spirit.
To shun a careless way of life.
Imperfect though we still are, enable us to press on with eyes fixed on Christ, enduring whatever trial may come.

And Lord as You continue to conform us individually to Yourself, we pray that You would reform and restore Your church, this local church, to how it is meant to be.
To be a community who love You and who love one another.
Whose belief in You is genuine and who are marked by doing the will of Your Father in heaven.
Who encourage and spur one another on to holiness.
Who take sin seriously and are concerned for the purity of Your people.
Who fear doing anything that would dishonour the name of the LORD and cause others to malign the Word of God.
May we be marked by faithfulness and humble dependence, and be good examples to other, especially those who are children or who are young in the faith.
Would we not say anything or do anything that would cause them to curse You, our God.
Instead would they praise You as their Saviour and Lord and by their praise give You the honour that You deserve.

Amen.

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A prayer based on Matthew 14:13-21.

Almighty God,
We worship You.
We praise You.
We give You all our glory.
For You are the compassionate and gracious Lord.
You are slow to anger.
You are abounding in love and faithfulness.
You are the saving Lord who forgives wickedness, rebellion and sin.
And we know this to be true, because You have made this known in Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord Jesus,
You are full of compassion.
You deeply care for people who are broken and hurting.
You love us and want to help us.
You long for us to come to You and find rest for our souls.
We thank You that came not to be served but to serve by saving people, and meeting their deepest needs.
We thank You that when we come to You, You give us life, and to the full.
You deal with our sins.
Healing us of every single one of them.
You clothe us with Your righteousness ensuring our acceptance by Your Father.
And You promise us a glorious future, where we will be completely satisfied.
We thank You that this feast, compassionate Lord, You are preparing for us, won’t leave us unfulfilled or unsatisfied or hungry and wanting more.
That every need will be met for eternity.
With death being swallowed up and every tear wiped away.

You are our Lord and You are our Saviour.
We love You.
We trust You.
And we rejoice in and are filled with gladness by Your salvation.

But we confess that there are times when we are tempted to trust in a different king other than Jesus.
A lesser king that offers temporary pleasures.
We confess that too often we look to this world, and to the here and now, for satisfaction rather than hope in what is to come.
We are far too easily pleased.
Forgive us we pray.
Continue the work of transformation that You have begun in us, so that our appetite for sin decreases, and our desire for righteousness and God’s kingdom increases.
Holy Spirit help us, every time we feel the temptation, the pressure, to turn from Christ; to remember that He is the better King, our loving and compassionate King, who cares for us like no other, and who delights in us and to use us.

Lord, we do thank You that You gives us good things to do for You.
You use us to advance Your kingdom as we call people to repent and believe in You.
As we encourage those You have saved, to keep going in the faith by throwing off the sins that so easily entangle and by fixing their eyes on You.
Fill us with Your compassion and with a willingness to share what we know of You with others.

For Your glory alone.

Amen.

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A prayer based on Matthew 7:21-23.

We praise You our God,
for You are righteous and just.
You love what is true and hate all evil,
and You will not leave the guilty unpunished.
We thank You that a day is coming when all wrongs will be righted, as Your Son returns to judge the world;
that final day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord.

As we consider that moment, when everyone will face Jesus and have Him issue His final verdict on their lives,
we praise You our God,
that You are also gracious and merciful.
that You have already sent Jesus to be the Saviour of the world.
that He died once for all time on the cross, to rescue us,
as without this we would be among the guilty being punished,
because by nature, we are those who have entered through the wrong gate and are walking along the wide road that leads to destruction and the great wrath and great loss that is hell.
We thank You that as Christ hung on the cross, all we deserve because of our sins was laid on Him, so that we can be forgiven, we can be brought in, and hear the words ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, come share in your Master’s happiness.”

Yet we know that our hearts are deceitful, and we can we think that we are right with You when we are not.
Jesus, You warns us that it is possible to say the right things,
to believe the right things,
and to do the right things,
and be someone You call an evildoer, to whom You will say “I never knew you, away from me”.

O may that not be true of us.
Help us to be those who have true repented of our sins.
to be those who are truly relying on Your blood and righteousness to save us.
to be those who have truly rejected the way of the world and who are following You on the path of obedience.
to be those who do the will of God.

Would we, on that great day of separation be found among the sheep not the goats, the wheat not the weeds, the good fish not the bad fish.
because we have listened to the Good Shepherd, and entered through the narrow gate, and are walking along the difficult road that leads to eternal life.

Holy Spirit, give us the grace and strength we need to seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness, to make our calling and election sure, to press on towards heaven and be determined not to fall short of it.
And help us to encourage one another to do the same,
so that together, we are all presented perfect and mature in Christ.

Amen.

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A prayer based on 2 Chronicles 34.

God of truth.
We thank You for Your Word.
For the holy Scriptures.
We rejoice in the commands and promises it contains.
The good news of Christ found in it.
It is more precious than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.
It is the treasure of treasures.

How we thank You that we have it.
We are not unaware that there are places where Your Word is not known, due to availability or accessibility of the language, and we pray for You to provide into this need.
Yet we can thank You that there are plenty of the Bibles available to us and in translations we can understand.
For the widespread access of Your truth online and via apps.
But we lament that too often Your Word is lost.
It is foreign to us.
That it goes missing in our lives.
Though we are told that ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’ so often we try to live only on bread.
O may that not be so.

Would our desire be to pick up this book and read.
Would our appetite to hear it read and preached increase.
Would it make a deeper impression on us.
May You give to us a greater conviction of our own sin, and a greater sight of the loveliness of Christ.
Help us to profit by what we read as You living word tells us what to do to be saved and to live a godly life that is pleasing to You.
And have the grace to follow it.
To be sheep who hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and go where He leads.
Keeping His commands with all our hearts and all our souls.

We ask now for a fresh word from You as we read the Bible and inquire of You, our God and Saviour.
Look upon us and see those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at Your Word.
We want to be good soil.
To be those who hear the Word and understand it, and who produce a crop, a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
Show us Christ, we pray.
May the preaching we receive be full of His glory and grace.
And what we hear, may we share with others.
To comfort and encourage, to warn and correct, to call people to faith in Jesus and spur others on in living for Him.
Above all may we stand firm and hold to the teaching of God’s Word and it be honoured in our lives.
Speak O Lord, for your servants are listening, and would You be glorified in our hearing.

Amen.

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A prayer based on 2 Chronicles 21.

Heavenly Father,
Ruler over all
We come to You as those who are glad for the perfect King, You have sent to reign over us.
Christ Jesus,
You are the Good Shepherd,
for You have loved us and given Your life for us.
You lead us to green pasture and beside quiet waters and along paths of righteousness by Your Word.
You comfort us in the midst of the dark valleys and fierce storms that we experience in our lives.
How good it is to know Your leading and guiding and ruling and protecting hand.

Our God,
we thank You for the leaders You give to us.

For the leaders of nations which You raise up.
We pray for those who have responsibility to govern our nation.
The Prime Minister and the Cabinet, and all the MPs who affect real lives by the votes they cast.
Lord, give them all, great wisdom for the decisions they have to make.
Lord, protect them from selfish ambition and give them a desire to serve the people of this country for the good of everyone.
Especially we pray that they would not make it difficult for God’s people to worship You, to live godly lives, and to preach the gospel to those who are lost and perishing.
Also, restrain the desire of some to push agendas and make laws that would promote and increase the spread of wickedness in this nation.

We pray for those MPs who love the Lord Jesus and who are trusting Him for salvation,
that by Your Spirit, You would enable them to remain faithful,
and to not compromise their beliefs when under pressure from colleagues or constituents,
and in all things may their Christlike character shine through.

Almighty God, it is clear that Your wrath is being revealed against people in this land who have suppressed the truth, and who have worshipped and served that which has been created instead of You, the Creator.
We see evidence all around us, of how You have given them over to their sinful desires.
And we lament the many lives ruined and the suffering people have brought on themselves and others because of this.
It grieves us how hardened against righteousness people are.
That the warning of Your final judgment in hell that is to come for all who do not repent is being ignored by the majority of those who hear it.
That people would rather pursue what is sinful and evil than turn to Jesus and receive the life and hope that He offers.

Lord, have mercy, show compassion, we pray.

And our God, it pains us, that not only is wickedness rampant in our nation, it has also spread to those who would claim to be Your people.
We pray for all the churches who are no longer faithful to Your Word.
The many who have leaders who are unqualified or who have embraced false teaching.
And as a result have led people astray and away from Christ.
Bring about, by Your Word and Spirit, a deep conviction in them, of their own sin and the seriousness of what they are doing, which will lead to repentance and transformed lives.

We plead with You for the elders of this church that they would remain steadfast in their commitment to You.
That each of them individually and together would be following the lead of the Lord Jesus.
That they would show themselves to be gifts He has given to this church:
By their godly character.
By their Biblical convictions.
By their faithfulness to Your Word.
By their servantheartedness.
By their example of repentance and faith.
By their reputation among those outside the church.
And by their ability to teach and manage this local fellowship of believers.
Would we joyfully follow their lead because they are following Yours, and in doing so find this to be for our good and Your glory.

Amen.

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A prayer based on 2 Chronicles 9.

Our Lord and our God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit –
great and awesome You are;
majestic and holy;
powerful and wise.
We worship You, we lift up our voices in praise to You, for you are worthy.
We love You our God with all that we are.
We bless your glorious Name.

You, our Lord, are good to all You have made;
but You have been especially good to us who are Your people;
who You have saved by Your grace,
who have received Your mercy,
and who can rejoice because they have been forgiven.
And this forgiveness is truly astonishing.

Because of Christ’s death, when we come to Him in repentance and faith,
no matter what we’ve done, however, vile it may be,
You cast all our sins behind Your back and remember them no more.
We thank You that this true.
That even though Satan may make use despair or doubt,
we have the assurance of the promises You have made in Your Word,
as well as the examples of those who have experienced this for themselves.

We thank You for the forgiveness Solomon received after years of backsliding, and the hope this offers.
We thank You for the encouragement this gives to us, to continue praying for those we know who have responded to the gospel in the past, but who have fallen away, and who are currently resisting and rebelling against Your law.
Lord, by Your Spirit, bring them back to Yourself, as You did for that wise king acted so foolishly.
May they remember and consider what they have drifted and turned from – the great salvation that Jesus has secured – and come to their senses.
Open their hearts so that they respond to Your work.
Grant them a deep and lasting repentance.
Bring back into the fold those lost sheep.

Gracious God,
May we remain faithful in our devotion to You.
To not neglect our worship of You.
To offer the spiritual sacrifices that our required of us.
The sacrifice of lives lived for You.
Of voices that profess Your name.
Of acts of love and kindness towards others.
To use whatever God has given us as the opportunity arises to build up and serve one another.
And to not think that anything is too much to do, suffer, or give up for our Saviour –
because the love that He has shown us is so amazing, so divine, that it demands our souls, our lives, our alls.

Amen.

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A prayer based on 1 Chronicles 11.

Jesus,
We humbly bow before You and confess that You are both Lord and Christ.
You are the Ruler over the nations.
You are King over us.
And we worship You.
We give You all the honour and thanks and glory and strength Your deserve.
We recognise how foolish we are, when we do not trust You to be our Shepherd.
You have laid down Your life for us.
You have called us by name.
You have led and guided us.
And You will never abandon us or allow us to perish.
Help us to be faithful to You.
To hear Your voice and obey Your will for our lives.

We praise You that You are building Your kingdom.
For growing and maturing Your church.
We thank You for the wonderful blessings of Your Word, of prayer, and of gathering together to worship You (even when it has to be done online).
We thank You that You have given to this local church all the gifts we need to serve You at this time – all the different abilities each of us have, that can be put to use in labouring for the Lord.
All this has come to us from Your kind hand.
And it is not only right, but it is for our good, that we do all we can to advance Your cause and to fight the good fight of faith.
Even being willing to risk all for Your sake.

Jesus, we confess, that we find this hard to do.
We are weak and sinful.
We repent of all that we have said and done that was wrong.
When we have failed to exercise self-control and allowed ourselves to be driven by our lusts and appetites.
When we have sought to get a good end by impure means.
When we have not given You all the thanks You deserve.

Lord, by Your Spirit,
give us the desire to choose the path of costly obedience;
strengthen us with the power we need to resist every temptation to disobey;
move our hearts with love for You;
equip us in our service of You and each other;
and fill us with gratitude for all the people You have put in our lives, who pray for us, encourage us, teach us, comfort us, speak the truth in love to us, and help us in practical ways to follow You.
Give us a real appreciation for all the ways You use them to enable us remain faithful to You, our King.

Amen.

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A prayer based on Acts 8:26-40.

Our great God,
We give You our praise that Your Son,
the Lord Jesus,
is risen and ascended and seated at Your right hand on high.
You have given Him all authority in heaven and on earth.
Authority to save.
Authority to judge.
We give Him, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, the glory which is due to His Name.

We praise You that no-one and nothing can stop Him from growing His church.
From seeking and saving the lost that He has died for.
From adding to the church daily those who are being saved.
From opening hearts so that people can respond to the good news about Him.
That He is the suffering servant:
who willingly was led like a lamb to the slaughter – dying like the animals that were sacrificed at the temple in Jerusalem.
who was cut from the land of the living because of the transgression of His people – to pay the penalty their sins deserve.
We praise You that because of Christ’s saving work in our lives, we can enjoy all the benefits and blessings His death brings.

We rejoice to know that:
Our sins have been forgiven.
That we are accepted by You.
That our future in heaven is secure.
That we have a leader who will lovingly guide us.
That we are treasured by You.
How we long for friends and family, those in our community and beyond, to have this joy.
We thank You that it is not too late for them to put their trust in Jesus and be forgiven.

Lord, we know that only You can save people.
And we are glad of this.
Because we, ourselves, would be lousy saviours.
We confess we are lousy speakers of the Saviour.
That we miss opportunities to talk about Jesus.
That we beat ourselves up because we didn’t speak when we should have.
That we worry about saying the wrong words in the wrong way.
That it so often doesn’t occur to us that You have opened a door to proclaim the message of His life, death, and resurrection.
That we are disobedient and refuse to say anything.
Forgive us we pray.

We thank You that all who are appointed for eternal life will believe.
And we thank You that You continue to use us in this process of saving lives.
That our poor and weak efforts can be part of the process of bringing people to repentance and faith in Jesus.

So Holy Spirit, we pray that You would help us to be aware of the opportunities before us to tell others about Him.
To find ways of engaging with those who have yet to respond by trusting Him with their lives and deaths,
And to be ready and able to explain why they need rescue and what Christ has done to save them.

For their good and His glory, we ask these things.

Amen.

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A prayer based on Acts 8:1-25.

Our Lord and our God,
We acknowledge that salvation is from You.
It is You who has chosen us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in Your sight.
It is You who has adopted us as sons through Jesus Christ.
It is You who has redeemed us through His blood and forgiven our sins.
It is You who will one day glorify us.
We worship You our God and Saviour.
We thank You for Your grace and mercy.
We bless Your glorious Name.
And we praise You that our testimony is the testimony of so many people around the world.
That Jesus is saving men and women, young and old from every tribe and nation, people and language.
That all over the world the gospel is spreading and growing.
That those who are lost are being found and added to the number that makes up the church of Christ.

Lord, we thank You that this growth is happening as the message of good news is told,
not by professional preachers,
but ordinary believers as the opportunity arises.
We are eager to see this gospel growth here in this community and our number added to.
We want to join in the rejoicing in heaven when one sinner repents and puts their faith in Jesus.

So help us to be witnesses for Christ.
To not be ashamed to speak of Him or to acknowledge that we are one of His people.
Help us to stop making excuses as to why we can’t share the good news.
Lord, please give us opportunities each day to speak of You, and help us to take that opportunity, even if it is at an inconvenient time.
And give us a real willingness to speak to people who are different to us.
To not see anyone as being out of bounds because we believe the gospel is powerful to save –
that even the vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.
We confess our fear of talking to people about Christ.
We confess our unbelief and doubt that anyone will respond in repentance and faith.
We confess our disappointment that in the past our message has been rejected, or those who did receive the Word have fallen away.

We pray for one another, that God’s Spirit will open a door for us to proclaim the wonder of Christ,
to do it wisely and clearly,
that words may be given to us,
that we would patiently answer any questions people may have,
and that we would do all this fearlessly.
And we pray for those we come into contact with and who we speak to, that they would confess with their mouths, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in their hearts that God raised Him from the dead.
Yes, that they would call on the Lord and be saved.

Amen.

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