A prayer for the New Year (adapted from the prayers Year’s End and New Year in The Valley of Vision).

Our Father in heaven.
You are great and You are good.
You are merciful and You are gracious.
We thank You for bringing us safely through another year.
A year where we saw so much of Your goodness.
You were good when you gave, and You were good when you took away.
You were good when the sun shined upon us, and You were good when the night fell around us.
There was never a moment when You were not good to us.

You have promised in Your Word that You have loved us since before the foundation of the world,
And last year that love was always with us,
even in those times when we wandered and went astray,
when our hearts were hard, ungrateful, and unbelieving.
Thank You that there was nowhere we could go that was beyond Your love, beyond Your reach, and beyond Your care and compassion.
You are so good, and we are so grateful.

Lord, we trust that You will continue to be faithful to us this coming year.
Please grant us a grace that guides, sustains, and sanctifies us every day and every hour,
that we would not live a moment apart from You.
Help us to rely on Your Spirit to supply every thought,
to speak every word,
to direct our every step,
to prosper all that we do,
to build up our faith,
and to give us a deep desire to display Your glory,
to advance Your kingdom,
and to declare Your great love shown to us in Your Son, Jesus Christ.

Gracious God, we are sure that Your goodness will be with us in the year ahead.
If you have appointed trials and tribulation, we know that You will be with us to guide and comfort us through them all.
If we have to pass through persecution or times of deep temptation, we can trust that You will never leave us nor forsake us
If this is to be the year you call us home, we rejoice to know that we will be in your presence at last.
And if this is the year that Christ returns – how we long that this would be the year – we look forward to joining with all creation in praising Your name.
But if You are to give to us length of days and bring us safely through this new year,
whatever may come, we pray that we will glorify You in all that we do.

Father, in times of joy or sadness,
in times of security or trial,
in times of peace or temptation,
would You be pleased to make Yourself known and make Yourself great through us.

We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen.

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A prayer based on the Church Covenant.

We praise You our great and glorious God for choosing to set Your love upon us.
Though once dead in our sins, deserving of Your wrath,
You have poured out Your grace and mercy upon us,
bringing us to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
forgiving our sins,
adopting us into Your family,
and adding us to this local church.

We pray that You would enable us by Your Holy Spirit,
to live together in a manner worthy of salvation we have receive.
Help us to love one another earnestly from a pure heart;
to rejoice with those who rejoice;
to weep with those who weep;
to bear with one another, forgiving as Christ has forgiven us;
and to seek to encourage and build each other up in the faith.

Give us an eagerness to maintain the unity we enjoy as a local church,
taking care that we are not divisive by what we say or do.
We thank you for the elders Your Son Jesus has given to us;
to teach and to guide us,
to watch over and care for us;
and we pray that You would give us submissive hearts to follow their lead, so that their work will be a joy.

Would You increase our love for Your Word and our desire to hear Christ preached Sunday by Sunday.
May it be said of us, that we are devoted to the apostle’s teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Give us an ongoing desire to meet together and to welcome all who join with us.
Give us too, a spirit of generosity so that we contribute cheerfully and regularly to the ministry of the church.

We pray for the children in this church, that they would grow up to know Jesus as their Saviour.
And as we seek to support their parents in the role You have given them of teaching the Word and setting an example,
we pray that we would be a help and not a hindrance to them.

Lord, it is our great desire that You would save people in Banstead and in the surrounding area.
Bless all our efforts to make Christ known to those we come into contact with as a local church through our various ministry and individually in our daily lives.
Give us the courage to speak of what Jesus has done for us and what He can do for them if they turn to Him.
And give us the strength we need to live carefully in this world,
denying ungodliness,
enduring suffering for the sake of the Gospel,
as we wait for the appearing of our great Saviour.

In His Name we pray.

Amen.

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A prayer declaring the power of God’s Name.

Sovereign God,
Lord of all,
We worship You;
We declare Your majesty;
We give You the glory Your Name deserves,
for You are worthy.

You are the great God, the great King above all the gods.
The highest heavens are yours, and all the countless multitudes of stars.
The earth is Yours and everything in it, the world and everyone who lives in it.
In Your hands are the depths of the seas.
The heights of the mountains are Yours.
Every beast of the forest and jungle belongs to You and You own the cattle on a thousand hills.
The life of every living creature and the breath of all mankind is in Your hands.
Be exalted our God.
Your dominion is an everlasting dominion.
Your kingdom endures from generation to generation.
All power in heaven and earth is Yours.
You can do all things.
No purpose of Yours can be thwarted.
What You have promised You are able to perform.
With You nothing is impossible.
And You are working out all things according to Your will.
Such is the awesome God that You are, we are capable of describing only a tiny portion of Your wonder.

You are our Rock.
All Your works are perfect.
All Your ways are true and just.
You are our faithful God.
No corruption is found in You.
You are holy.
Your eyes are too pure to look on evil.
Wickedness cannot dwell with You.
Which is why we are so thankful that You have made Your Name known to us.
That You are merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.
And this, Your Name, is our strong tower;
our refuge and strength in times of trouble;
and a shield against the coming wrath we deserve.

Lord, please would You cause Your goodness to pass before us,
so that we might taste and see that You are good.
Show Your lovingkindness to us, seen most clearly in Your Son as He is mistreated, misunderstood, betrayed, abandoned in our place as He walks the valley of condemnation, rejection and hell, so that we can be saved.
May this steadfast love of Yours be always before our eyes.
Move our hearts with love and praise to You.

Amen.

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A prayer confessing our sinful nature.

Our God,
We are ashamed.
We want to hide from You.
For we have sinned against You.
Our iniquities have risen higher than our heads.
Our guilt has reached up to the heavens.
In the light of Your goodness and greatness and glory, we have every reason to cry out, “Woe is us, for we are ruined.”
And “Unclean, unclean” like the leper under the law,
How can we stand before You, our Lord, our King?
You are a consuming fire.
We humble ourselves before You, painfully aware that we have sinned Father, against heaven and against You.
That we are not worthy to be called Your children.

Yet You invite us to seek You and to call on You.
To forsake our wicked ways and evil thoughts.
And to turn to You with the promise that You will have mercy and freely pardon,
because with You, Lord, there is forgiveness;
there is steadfast love;
there is plentiful redemption.
You will be faithful and just and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So, Father, we confess that we are sinners by nature and by choice.
Because of Adam’s disobedience we are sinful since the time we were conceived.
We are rightly called rebels from the womb;
children of wrath, and along with everyone else, we are sons of disobedience.
We have all turned aside from Your original purposes for us.
We have fallen short of Your glory – the glory You intended for us to display as those made in Your image.
Filthy, vile, and helpless are we.
And before You the righteous judge to whom we are accountable, we deserve nothing but condemnation.

God be merciful to us, we pray.
Our hope is in You.
Salvation is from You alone.
Deliver us from all our transgressions.
Cleanse us from all our unrighteousness.
Wash away our sins.
Remove our guilt.
Declare us innocent in Your sight.
Graciously forgive the great debt we owe to You as we trust in Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ;
the One who came to save His people from their sins;
who was has redeemed us from the curse of law by becoming a curse for us;
in order that Your blessing might come to us.

We thank You, Lord Jesus, for Your sinless life.
That You never fell short of Your Father’s glory.
That You kept the law and did so on our behalf.
We thank You, that You died in our place, for our sins, experiencing the wrath of God, so that we never will.
We are truly amazed that You would do this for us.
What grace and love which is undeserving!

We magnify You and praise You, our mighty Saviour’s name.

Amen.

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A prayer acknowledging God’s eternality and omnipresence.

Our Lord and our God,
You are awesome and majestic;
great and mighty;
love and light.
We adore you our King.
You are greatly to be praised.
Who is a God like you, O Lord;
majestic in holiness;
awesome in glorious deeds?
Who in the skies can be compared to You?
Who among the heavenly beings is like You?
All nations before you are like a drop from a bucket,
or dust on the scales.
O LORD God of hosts, there is none like you.
For You alone are God.

We praise You that You are the eternal God.
The King of ages, immortal, invisible.
Before the mountains were brought forth, or you had formed the earth, You were there.
When this present world passes away, You will remain.
From everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
The same yesterday and today and forever.

We acknowledge that You are present in all places and at all times.
That You are not far from each one of us;
that we cannot hide from You;
that we cannot escape Your presence or outrun You.
And this means You see all things:
You know when we sit down and when we rise up.
You are intimately aware of all our ways.
Before a word is on our tongues you know it completely.
And even the thoughts and intents of our hearts are fully known by You.
This knowledge amazes us.
It is beyond our comprehension.
And yet it exposes us, because You see the darkness in us.
Our sin.
Our rebellion.
Our breaking of Your law.
You see what we do in secret when no-one is looking.

We cry out to You for mercy.
For forgiveness.
For You to show kindness to us.
We do so in the Name of Jesus Christ, our Saviour.
Trusting in His finished work.
Trusting in His blood without which there can be no forgiveness.
Trusting in His righteousness without which we cannot be accepted by You.

Gracious God, Merciful Father,
We praise You that in Your Son there is wonderful hope.
That we can draw near to You by faith, and be welcomed into Your presence,
because He is the way, the truth and the life.
We praise You that Your presence and knowledge no longer need terrify us,
but is a great comfort to us.
Help us by Your Spirit to give to You the praise and honour and glory You deserve.

Amen.

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A prayer adoring our glorious God.

We lift up our hearts to You, O God.
You who are in heaven.
We seek Your face.
We want to give You the glory due to Your Name.
To worship You who are spirit in spirit and in truth;
because we know Father that these are the kinds of people You are seeking,
and we want to be like them.
Help us to give You our full attention now.
To be undistracted in our devotion to You.
Keep our hearts from being far from You, as we honour You with our lips.

We thank You that we can come to You with confidence;
that we can boldly draw near to You and enter into Your holy place.
Because by His blood shed on the cross;
His death in the place of sinners;
Jesus has made it possible for rebels like us to approach You.

And so, we praise You.
For:
You are the Holy One – Holy, holy, holy, are You, Lord God Almighty.
You are the eternal One – the One who was, and is, and is to come.
You are the Creator – the One who made the heavens and the earth.
You are the Great I AM – the everlasting King; the Most High over all the world.
You are light and in You there is no darkness at all – You are the Father of lights and in You there is no inconsistency.
You are the true God and the living God – the one only living and true God.
You are the unchanging Lord – You do not change like shifting shadows.
You alone are immortal – Your Name shall endure forever and Your fame across the generations.
And incredibly we can say You are our God and You love us.
We confess Your great name: “The Lord our God, the LORD is one.”

How we long to know You more.
Our souls thirst for You and long for You as in a dry and weary land where there is no water, for only You can satisfy.
Yet we acknowledge before You there are times when we are foolishly drawn away from You to the idols of this world.
The idols that are worshipped by millions of people, but which are no gods at all, and which will one day perish from the earth.
Forgive us we pray.
Graciously forgive our sin and unbelief as we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
May You be praised and adored by our lives and by our lips.

Amen.

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A prayer for the church worldwide.

Our God,
We thank You for the promise of the Lord Jesus, that He will build His church.
We thank You that this is happening now, as disciples are made throughout the world.
We thank You that one day around Your throne will gather, a great multitude that no-one can count, who will cry out, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb,”
to Jesus who was slain, who was put to death of the cross, and who by His blood has purchased a people for God, from every nation, tribe, people and language.

We pray for Your people, blood bought men and women, scattered in local churches, wherever they may be found.
That having saved them, You would bless them, give strength to them, and cover them with Your favour, that they might be pure and holy.
We pray that they would be obedient to Your Word and where they have gone astray, they would be brought back to faithfulness.

For our brothers and sisters suffering around the world and in parts of our nation, would you give them relief we pray.
Especially for the 200 million persecuted Christians in places such as North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan, and not forgetting Syria.
May their cries come before You.
Would You reach down from on high and rescue them from their enemies.
Turn back in shame all those who hate Your church.
Let no weapon forged against Your people prevail.
Strike those who oppose You with terror, so that they would know that You are greater than them.

Gracious Shepherd, bring Your people through the valley of the shadow of death.
Strengthen the patient endurance and faithfulness of Your suffering saints as they wait for Your salvation.
Comfort them with the knowledge that in the light of eternity, the afflictions they are going through are momentary.
And help us to remember those being mistreated in our prayers, as if we ourselves were suffering.
We thank You for mission agencies seeking to support and minister to them in partnerships with churches all over the world and ask that You would bless their efforts.

We ask Lord, that You would show Your favour to Your servants who are seeking to begin a new work for you in places unreached with the gospel and in communities with no local church.
And would You encourage and revitalise local churches that are struggling or on the brink of closing, so that the light of the gospel won’t go out where they are located.

Sovereign Lord, keep each and every local church, loyal to the gospel, in Your care until, all together, we meet You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in the new heavens and the new earth, where tears will be no more and all Your people will be safe and secure forever.

Amen.

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A prayer thanking God for His goodness to the world.

We give thanks to You, our God
As we remember and recount Your wondrous deeds.
We bless You, our Lord,
As we recall the many benefits and blessings Your shower us with.
We praise You, our King
As it is good and right to do.
To declare Your steadfast love in the morning and Your faithfulness at night.

We thank You that You are a God who is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in love.
That You take pleasure in those who fear You and whose hope is in You.
But it is not just Your people whom You good to.
You are loving towards all You have made.
You give the sun for light by day.
You have fixed the order of the moon and the stars for light by night.
While the earth remains,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night, shall never cease.
You visit the earth and water it.
You greatly enrich it.
You make springs gush forth in the valleys.
You provide the grain.
You cause grass to grow on the hills.
All creatures look to You and You provide for them food in due season.
When You give it to them, they gather it up.
When You open Your hand, they are filled with good things.
You give to all life and breath and everything.
On both the evil and the good, the just and unjust,
You make the sun rise.
You send the rain.
You give fruitful seasons.
You satisfy hearts with food and gladness.
And it is through Your goodness, our Lord, that as one generation goes, another comes.
You preserve the human race even though we are guilty and not deserving of this kindness.

Lord, to You we give our thanks.
We gladly give You the praise You deserve for the many ways in which You have lavished Your goodness upon this world and all You have made.

Amen.

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A prayer asking God to save sinners.

God our Saviour,
You teach us to pray for the world.
A world full of people who are lost in their sins.
And so, we pray for all people now,
believing that this is good and pleasing in Your sight,
because You desire all people to be saved
and to come to the knowledge of the truth;
and of Jesus Christ,
who gave Himself as a ransom for all kinds of people.

O Lord, would You look with compassion upon this world,
which lies in the power of the evil one.
Cast out the ruler of this world, who has blinded their minds,
stopping them from seeing Your glory in the face of Christ.
We pray that Your way may be known through all the earth.
May Your saving power be known among the nations,
Let the people praise You and sing for joy and come to serve You.

Lord of the harvest,
It is our desire that the gospel,
the good news of the life, death, and resurrection of Your Son,
be proclaimed to the ends of the earth.
Because how else will sinners believe in Him and be saved if they never hear of Him.
So, we plead with You, send out labourers to preach.
And in response add to Your church daily those who are being saved.

We pray for the conversion of the Jews.
Let the branches that were broken off not continue in their unbelief but be grafted in again.
Let them be made to look upon on Him whom they have pierced,
and remove the veil which lies over their hearts,
that they turn to the LORD and all Israel be saved.

Convict too, those who are hostile to Christ and His message.
Those who say in their hearts “There is no God”.
Those who encourage immorality and unbelief.
Those who mock and scoff at those who love You and Your ways.
Teach transgressors your ways, and let sinners return to You.
Give them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth –
the truth that is in Jesus;
the truth that accords with godliness;
that they may come to their senses and escape the snares of Satan.
Open their eyes to their foolishness in rejecting You and to the misery the path they are on will ultimately bring.
If they will not be won over by Your Word, may they won by the conduct of Christians as they live lives that make the gospel attractive.

Gracious God,
Bring into the fold, the other sheep You have chosen.
Gather up Your sons and daughters from the north and the south, the east and the west.
From the rising of the sun to its setting, let Your name be great in all the world.
So that the earth be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

Amen.

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