A prayer based on 1 Corinthians 2:6-16.

To You, the only wise God,
We come before You now, as those who marvel at Your wisdom.
Creation proclaims it.
Providence shows it.
Salvation magnifies it.
Yet without Your Spirit revealing it to us in Your Word, and giving us understanding, we would be left in the dark.
Your wise plans and purpose and Your wise ways and works would be hidden from us.
So, we give to You our thanks, that Your Spirit, who inspired the biblical authors to write down the words of Scripture has given us the understanding we need.
Especially concerning how we might be saved from our sin and the judgment which is to come, through faith in Jesus, and how in response we might worship and serve You and live holy lives.

It therefore is to our shame, to confess to You, and acknowledge that we so easily turn from Your wisdom and think we know better than You do.
We turn to the wisdom of the world.
We listen to the voices found there.
We follow the direction they give which seems right in our eyes and which takes us further away from You, our God.
Forgive us we pray.
Forgive us for the sake of Your Son who listened to Your voice and He did not once rebel against it, even when it took Him to the cross where He died in the place of sinners.
We thank You that it is through that death we found forgiveness, but also received Your Holy Spirit who is at work in us to enable us to see the wisdom of living for You and the folly of ignoring You.

Help us we pray, not only to hear the Spirit’s voice as He speaks wisdom to us, but to hear these words above the noise of the world that clamours for our attention.
Lord, we pray that this would happen when we gather together each Sunday to hear Your Word read and preached, and the truths sung and prayed.
Lord, we pray that this would happen when we are on our own and we read and meditate on the Scriptures.
Give us understanding and shape and fashion us by it to the likeness of Your Son and keep us from sin.
What we pray for ourselves, we also want to pray for others who are ignorant of You.
Gracious God, in Your mercy, would you give to family members, friends, and others in our community, the knowledge of Your wisdom and power made known in Christ.
Use us to faithfully speak of Jesus, and as we do, Holy Spirit, open their blind eyes so that they can see the glory of the gospel – that which no eyes had seen, no ear has heard, and no heart has conceived – unless it has been made known to them.
Only You can do this, so we beg of You to, so that more people will praise You for and marvel at Your wisdom.

Amen.

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A prayer based on Romans 16.

Our God and our Saviour,
We give You our praise for the gospel,
the good news about Jesus through which You save everyone who believes,
and through which You establish them in the faith.
We thank You that through His death,
He is drawing His people to Himself,
and He is drawing those same people to one another,
and through them is making known the message of salvation to others,
so that they might believe and obey Him.

Lord, as those whom You have rescued from sin and death,
whom You have set free from the rule of Satan,
we pray that as a church we would be committed to the gospel.
In response to all that He has done for us, we pray that we would show our devotion to Christ, according to the gifts we have been given and the opportunities we have.
Give us a desire to work hard in ministry,
to be generous in using our money to support gospel work and workers,
to be willing care for those in need,
to be welcoming by opening our homes and our lives to others,
to be ready to support in practical ways those who have been set apart by God,
even to suffer for Christ’s sake;
because it is our heart’s desire and prayer that people in this local community You have placed us in, and beyond, would call upon the name of the Lord Jesus and be saved.
That they would hear the good news that Christ had died for sinners and will save all who turn from their sins and trust in Him.
Forgive us for those times when we are lazy, uncaring about the fate of the loss, or lacking in zeal.

We pray also that as a church we would committed to one another.
Help us to love one another.
To have a real warmth and affection to those in this church.
To welcome everyone including those who are different to us, thinking of them as dear brothers and sisters.
To encourage each other and to look for ways of building them up in the faith.
Help us to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through bond of peace.
To accept one another and not fall out with those we disagree with on disputable matters.
To not do anything that would undermine another’s faith and cause them to drift from Jesus.

Loving Father, if we are going to be a church that is firm, strong, and stable,
that is committed to the gospel and to one another,
we need You to be at work in us by Your Spirit,
we need Your sufficient grace to advance in us the obedience of faith as we hear Your Word proclaimed.
So that, You, the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, receive the glory.

Amen.

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A prayer based on Romans 11:1-32.

Gracious God,
Loving Father,
Merciful Saviour,
We praise You that Your grace and mercy and love is so high and so deep and so wide that You can save even the most hostile rejector of Jesus.
We thank You for saving us who believe.
That You will save all Your people.
That all Israel will be saved.
That the church will be a great multitude made up of both Jews and Gentiles.
Not every Jew.
Not every Gentile.
But all that You have chosen to save.

We rejoice in Your kindness, that because of this there are now people You have chosen to save found all over the world,
on every continent.
We know in some countries there are many believers, whereas in others there are only a few,
but we know that nothing can stop Jesus from gathering into the fold
all those You have given Him.
That all You have chosen in Him will come to Him.
Even now we are sure that there is a great number whom You have chosen, who have not yet put their trust in Christ, but some point they will.
So, we pray for them, that You would open their blind eyes and unplug their deaf ears and change their hard hearts so they can respond to the gospel.

We thank You that among the Jews, even though many have rejected Jesus as their Messiah, there has always been a remnant who believe, and there still is today,
and that those who stop rejecting Him and who do not persist in unbelief will be saved.
Lord, we pray that many will come to faith in Christ.
That as they see the Gentiles live as God’s saved people, it will be used by You to stir up belief in them.
We pray for gospel work that seeks to reach out to them, that the ministry of the International Mission to Jewish People would bear fruit.

Father, it is a privilege and delight, to have been saved by You.
We give You all the glory.
Help us to remember that this is not something that we deserve.
Humble by Your grace because we are not worthy of having You set Your love upon us.
Help us to not make the mistake of thinking that we are better than those who are currently outside of Your family, whatever their background is.
We pray that by Your Spirit, You would help us to not only continue speaking the good news of Jesus, because faith comes from hearing this message about Him,
but also, to live such good lives that adorn the gospel and provoke people to ask about the hope we have.
We ask too, for Your help to keep going.
To have the assurance that we won’t be cut off from You and punished in hell because we are maintaining our trust in Christ.
In His Name we pray.

Amen.

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A prayer based on Romans 8:18-27.

Loving and merciful God,
We thank You that You are our Father and You sees us and You hear us.
You know, Lord, how hard it is to follow Your Son.
It is not easy living in this world,
experiencing that suffering that is all around us,
struggling against sin and temptation,
sometimes even facing persecution because our faith in Him.
We cry out to You in the brokenness and disappointment and loss and pain and sadness and grief.
We cry out to You when it feels like it is too much to keep going,
when yet again we give in and sin against You,
when it appears that we are not making much progress in becoming like Christ,
and say “How long?”

How long until Jesus will return?
How long will our bodies groan as they are subject to fatigue and decay and death?
How long until they will be renewed and restored to sinless perfection?
How long will we have to keep fighting against sin?
How long will our brothers and sisters face opposition and persecution?
How long will all creation have to wait to be released from its bondage to decay and be transformed into a new heavens and a new earth?
How long will we have to wait for all of God’s people to shine out in their resurrection bodies?
How we long for the day when the trumpet will blast, the voice of the archangel will be heard, and Christ will descend from heaven with a shout?

We praise You that You are the God of hope, and You give hope to us,
so that as we wait for this day, we can do so with confidence.
That as we fight the good fight of faith, we can do so assured that our present sufferings will not compare with the future glory that awaits us.
We thank You that however tough life is for us now, what is being prepared for us in the future is far greater.
We thank You that as we struggle to pray in those times when we are weak, we have Spirit praying on our behalf,
communicating the aching of our hearts,
expressing our longings in line with Your will,
and that He will continue to do so until the time comes when our Saviour will return and wipe every tear from our eyes.

Holy Spirit, fill us with this hope that what is ahead will more than make up for the difficulties in the present.
Strengthen our belief that when Jesus returns we will not be condemned for our sins,
because He has come to die for us and has taken the punishment of hell we deserve.
Empower us to live out the new life that is ours in Christ.
And assures again that we are children of a loving and merciful Father in heaven.
May this enable us to keep running the race that has been marked out for us.

Amen.

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A prayer based on Romans 4.

Almighty God,
Our Lord and our Saviour,
We praise You for Your love and for Your welcome.
That You invites us who are so undeserving,
who have treated You and Your Son so terribly,
to come into relationship with You and to spend eternity with You in the new heavens and new earth.
We praise You that this can only happen because Jesus has done everything.
He is our redemption.
He is our propitiation.
He is our justification.
And because He is, it is possible for You to look upon us who are guilty and unrighteousness, and declare us not guilty and righteous in your sight.

We thank You that this righteous standing is ours through faith and faith alone.
We can take no credit for it.
We have no grounds for boasting.
Because when it comes to our salvation; getting righteousness; having our sins covered, what we do counts for nothing.
We cannot earn it by our good works or deeds.
Help us by your Spirit, to not slip into thinking that our acceptance with You depends on what we do.
That we are more accepted when we do the things your Word tells us to,
and we are less accepted when we sin and stumble.
May we never forget that we are saved by grace, and even our faith which saves is a kind gift from you.
And with salvation being by grace through faith, we praise you that this means people from all sorts of backgrounds and who have sinned in different ways can be saved.
Lord, may we not restrict who we share the gospel with to only a certain type of person.
May our love and our welcome be as wide as Yours is.

Lord, we pray that You would increase our faith,
that You would strengthen it,
that You would give us a greater assurance that You are willing and able to do all that You have promised in Christ.
Give us a fresh assurance that we are righteous in Your sight.
Holy Spirit enable us to rely wholly on what Jesus has done for us,
that our sin and guilt has been transferred to Him, and His own righteousness has been transferred to us.
We confess that there are times when our faith is weak;
when we doubt;
when we wander.
So, we ask that you would increase it.
Increase it breadth by helping us to understand and believe more of your Word.
Increase it in depth so that we stand firm in the face of trials and pressure from the world around us and the remaining corruption within us.
How we need this faith because there is no salvation without it;
because without it we are unable to please you,
and because without it there is no grounds for comfort in times of trouble.
So we come to you, Lord, the author of faith, trusting You, that because You brought Jesus back to life from the dead,
you are not only able to raise us from being dead in our transgressions and sins and make us alive in Him,
but also raise us up on the last day when our faith will be perfected.

Amen.

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A prayer based on Acts 28:11-31.

Our gracious God,
We praise You that You are a kind and loving God, and You have been very kind and loving towards us.
We thank You for the good news that there is salvation in Jesus Christ, and for enabling us to trust in Him and be saved.
We thank You for the ability to gather every Sunday with other followers of Jesus, to spend time worshipping You and being encouraged as we do.
And for every opportunity we have to meet with other Christians and for the warmth and hospitality they offer to us.

We thank You for the freedom we have to make Christ known.
That God’s Word is not chained and has been unleashed all over the world.
It is a joy and a delight to know that followers of Jesus can be found on every continent.
In Europe and Asia,
in North America and South America,
in Africa and Australia,
even in Antarctica.
We give You our praise that the gospel has gone out in all these places, and people have listened and responded in repentance and faith to the message proclaimed.
Thank You that we can trust Jesus to keep His promise to build His church, and nothing can stop His from doing this.
Not opposition from the world.
Or hypocrisy and friction within local churches.
Not persecution and martyrdom of believers.
Or cultural barriers that need to be overcome.
Not even a global pandemic can stop the gospel’s progress.
Because we know the good news about our Lord Jesus will go to every place You want it to and will save every person You have chosen to save.

And because we know this to be true,
we pray that as a local church we will play our part in what Jesus is doing in this His world.

Help us by Your Spirit to keep teaching the Word.
Cover to cover.
Patiently and faithfully.
Persuading people about Christ.
Calling people to trust in Him as their Saviour and obey Him as their Lord.
As teaching and preaching the Word is the means Your Spirit uses to convict and convert and change people.

Help us to keep looking for new opportunities to declare that there is salvation in Jesus’ Name.
To push doors and see what comes of them.
To go in search of people to teach the Bible to and explain the gospel from.
To not turn away anyone who comes to us wanting to learn.
We pray that as a church that You may open a door for our message, so we may proclaim the mystery of Christ.

And strengthen us so that we keep going in doing this.
Even when people won’t listen.
When doors are slammed in our faces.
When people reject our message.
And when life is made difficult for us.
Because we are confident that there will be some who will listen and believe.
That not even the gates of hell can stop our risen Saviour who has all authority in heaven and on earth from extending His kingdom.
In His name we pray.

Amen.

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A prayer based on Acts 21:1-16.

Our Great and Good Shepherd,
We praise You that You laid down Your life for us so that we can be saved from our sins.
We praise You that You protect us and keep us.
We praise You that You guide us and provide for us.
And we praise You that You feed us with Your words.
Words that are perfect and trustworthy and right and radiant and pure and reliable.
Words that are more desirable than gold and sweeter than honey.
Words that renew, that make us wise, that thrill our hearts, and that are full of precious promises.
Words that lead us along paths of righteousness and equip us for living a godly life.
Lord, how we need You and how we need Your Word if we are going to stand firm in the faith
and fight the good fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil.
We need the Word of Your grace to build us up and strengthen our belief in You.

So, we pray that You would give us an eagerness to be encouraged by Your Word.
To regularly read Your Word personally and privately,
and more importantly with Your people.
To be eager to be encouraged by hearing the Word sung and prayed and read and preached every Sunday.
Increase our appetite to gather with Your people.
Give us a determination to make use of every opportunity we have to receive food for our souls and light to direct our paths.

But our God, we don’t just want to be encouraged by Your Word,
we want to encourage others too.
So, they can be established in the faith,
strengthened in their beliefs,
have their questions answered,
find solutions to their problems,
trained to serve,
and be instructed to live the narrow way by You.
We thank You for our pastors and elders who take the lead, and who have the greater opportunities to do this.
And we pray that we would also play our part.

Help us to remind people of the gospel and the way of the gospel.
That the Son of God loved them and gave Himself up for them by dying in their place on the cross to rescue them from the wrath to come because of their sin, so they should trust Him.
That He is with them to the very end of the age, so they don’t have to be afraid.
That they can confess their sins to God, because He is faithful.
That in Christ they are new creations, so they should be holy.
That He has begun a good work in them and will complete it, so they are secure and will make it to the end.
Help us to do this we pray, for their good and our joy, as we see them persevere in the faith.
But supremely for Your glory.

Amen.

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A prayer based on Acts 14:1-20.

Almighty Creator,
who made the world and everything in it,
and who shows His kindness daily by giving rain, fruitful seasons, and who fills us with food and our hearts with joy.
We praise You.
We acknowledge before You now, that this world we live in is Your world.
And yet it distresses us that this world is also one,
where people don’t give You the honour that You deserve,
where so many people, not just in our nation, but in our community, choose to worship things that are created, rather than You their Maker.
It distresses us, not just because they are robbing You of the glory You deserve,
but also because of the danger that places them in,
a danger we at one time were facing,
of being punished for our sin and rebellion against You.

Merciful Lord,
We thank You that there is good news for them as there is good news for us.
And we desperately want them to hear of it.
To hear that Jesus Christ is the Saviour.
That He can offer forgiveness for every single thing they’ve done wrong,
and that He can remove all their guilt before You and give them eternal life,
if they turn from worshipping worthless things and trust in Him.
We thank You that You have graciously opened our hearts to believe in Him,
that we know the joy that having our sins washed away brings,
the assurance the hope of heaven provides,
and we want our friends, our family, and those who live in this community, to know this too.

The responsibility of making Jesus known we feel as a church.
We want to be good witnesses.
We want to speak of the One who loved us and gave Himself for us.
We want to warn them of how awful the day of judgment will be for those outside of Christ.
But we confess we don’t find this easy.
We are fearful.
We worry about what to say and about saying the wrong thing.
Lord, we need Your help, we need Your Spirit, so fill us we pray.

Holy Spirit,
Give us a boldness so that we can speak fearlessly of our Saviour.
To be unashamed of Him.
Give us the wisdom we need to speak in a way that those we are talking to can understand.
To proclaim the wonder of what Christ has done clearly,
especially as many have little or no knowledge about what the Bible says or about who Jesus is.
And give us the perseverance we need to keep going in spite of difficulties and disappointments.
To remain faithful to the task our Lord has given to us when setbacks happen.
We pray that through our witness as a church, Jesus would extend His kingdom by seeking and saving those who are lost.
And by doing so, would bring glory to His great Name.

Amen.

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A prayer based on John 1:14-18.

We give You our God all the glory and praise as we marvel at that awe-inspiring moment,
when Your Son,
the eternal Word of God,
the uncreated Creator,
who made everything and holds everything together,
became flesh;
when He added human nature to His divine nature,
when He who was infinite, unlimited, invisible became finite, limited, and visible,
as He shrank Himself into a baby;
as He came into our world as the man Jesus Christ,
to dwell among His people in an even more personal and much closer way.
We praise You that in Him,
You have made Yourself known with a clarity never seen before.
That He has revealed Your glory by showing You to be a God who is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth;
that You are a God who forgives iniquity, rebellion, and sin.

Lord Jesus, we thank You that You are full of grace and truth, and we can know this for sure, by looking at the cross.
As we see You bleeding and dying as a sacrifice for sin,
we see Your grace, as You are forgiving the sins of Your people who don’t deserve any forgiveness from You.
As we hear You cry out as One forsaken by Your Father,
we see Your truth, as You are not leaving the sin and guilt of Your people unpunished but receiving what they deserve.
We thank You that You took on flesh so that You would have flesh to offer up to God as a sacrifice for us, so that we can be brought into relationship with Him.

Gracious Father,
We are truly amazed by what Your Son has done for us.
We are astonished by how much He must love us that He would give up the riches and splendour and glory of heaven to enter this dark world of sin and suffering,
to experience all the weakness and temptation we face.
And yet we confess our response to the news that the Word became flesh for us is not what it ought to be.
Though He cares about us, about every detail, domain, and day of our lives,
we do not care about Him as we should.
We are prone to drift and disobey and dishonour Him daily.
Though He has saved us from all our guilt and shame before You, and rescue us from the wrath to come,
we do not live in a manner worthy of this salvation.
Though He has given us eternal life and a future hope,
we do not live as citizens of heaven,
but cling far too tightly to the things of this world and continue to be attracted by its ways.
Forgive us we pray and continue to conform us by Your Spirit into the image of the Son, who loved us and became flesh for us.
Help us to fix our eyes on Him who is the author and perfector of our faith;
and in whatever we do, to do it all to Your glory and the glory of Your Son, our Saviour and King.

Amen.

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A prayer based on John 1:10-13.

Father in heaven,
We praise You for Your Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Word who became flesh,
because in Him, life and light has come into this world.
We praise You that He is the One who can give spiritual life to those who are dead in their transgressions and sins,
who are objects of God’s wrath,
and who are deserving of His judgment.
We praise You that He is the One who can give spiritual life to those who are in darkness,
showing to them how they can be saved.
And we praise You that He came into this world,
this world in rebellion,
this world without hope and not in relationship with You,
with an incredible invitation:
The invitation for people to be children of God and to have You as thier Father.

We thank You for the immense privilege we have of being called Your children.
We don’t deserve this right.
We don’t deserve this access to You.
We don’t deserve any of the good gifts you give to us,
the love and care we can count on You for,
the work You are doing by Your Spirit in our lives to grow us in Christlikeness,
nor the security of knowing that our future is in Your heavenly home;
for, these blessings have come to us, because You have been so gracious and merciful.
They have not come because we were born into the right family or in the right country.
They have not come because of anything we’ve done or will do.
They are only ours because by Your Spirit,
You have opened our blind eyes to see Jesus,
You have unplugged our death ears to hear the message of Jesus,
and You have changed our hearts to respond in faith to Him.
We will be forever grateful for the new birth we each have experienced.

And yet we are grieved at the sheer number of people in our country, and especially in our community, who have not received Christ by believing in His Name;
who do not see Jesus as He truly is,
who do not trust Him with their lives and deaths,
who will not worship Him as their King.
For those who are unable see Him, who have been kept from recognising Him because of their sin, whose minds have been blinded; show them Your glory in the face of Your Son.
For those who are unwilling to see Him, because they love the darkness; show them how evil and wicked sin is, and how unsatisfying and dangerous is it because it leads to death.
For those who are too proud to admit they need saving; humble them so that they cry out for rescue.
We pray this especially for those we are witnessing to at this time;
who we are seeking to tell the good news about Jesus Christ to.
Would they not reject the offer of life – new life, spiritual life, eternal life – and instead come to Jesus who is the way, and the truth, and the life.

Amen.

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A prayer based on John 1:6-9.

We praise You our God that the true light that gives light to everyone has come into the world.
That Jesus the true light came into this dark world.
That He came to be our Saviour.
That He came to be our King.
And He came to give light.
To make You known.
To expose our sin.
And to bring us into relationship with You.

We give You thanks that this unbelievable news about Christ has been announced to us by witnesses.
For sending people to proclaim the truth about who the light is,
and what He has done to save a people for Himself,
so that we might believe and by believing have life in His name.

We are grateful for the witness of John the Baptist,
who announced that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,
that He is the One who baptises with the Holy Spirit, filling us with Your very presence,
and that He is the Son of God.
For the Gospel writers, who have provided a record of His testimony,
but also eyewitness accounts of what Jesus said and did;
who testify to His perfect and righteous life,
death on the cross as a ransom for many,
and that when the women visited the tomb, the stone had been rolled away, the body was gone, because He had risen from the grave.
And we are full of gratitude for all those who have continued to make known what they know to be true about the true light based on the reliable testimonies found in Your Word.

For those who have taught us the Word:
Parents who read the Bible at bedtime or at dinner table;
Sunday School teachers who simply explained the gospel to us;
Friends who invited us to church to hear about some who had transformed their lives and patiently answered questions that we had;
Pastors and preachers who Sunday by Sunday faithfully opened the Scriptures and showed us Christ;
Evangelists who passionately spoke of our need to be rescued from the wrath of God that is coming.
For all those whom You used to bring us to faith in Jesus, we give You our thanks.

Help us, we pray, by Your Spirit, to be faithful witnesses ourselves.
To testify that the light has come and that He gives light.
To point people to the Lord and what He has done.
To speak of the wonder of what it means to be rescued by Him.
To not hold back from the uncomfortable parts of the message:
that judgment is real
and repentance of sins is necessary.
To call people to trust in Jesus and be saved.
Because Lord, it is our great desire that sinners be saved, rebels be rescued, and unbelievers believe.
Would we see that happen?
Would you do that marvellous work before our eyes?
Would our labour for You not be in vain but produce fruit?

Lord Jesus, build Your church and extend Your kingdom in this community and beyond through our witness about You.

Amen.

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A prayer based on John 1:1-5.

Almighty and everlasting God,
Our Father in heaven,
We praise You that You have made Yourself known to us,
through Your Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ;
who is the eternal Word,
there in the very beginning,
before there was time,
existing from eternity,
who was with God and who is God.

We thank You that as we look at Him,
we see what You our Father are like.
As the second person of the Godhead,
everything that is true of You is true of Him.
You are all-powerful, so is He.
You are all-knowing and all-wise, so is He.
You are full of mercy and grace and compassion, so is He.
You are holy, so is He.
You are great and good and glorious, so is He.
And we could go on and on acknowledging and delighting in Your character and attributes,
because He has made You known, by coming into the world.

Lord Jesus,
How grateful we are that You did.
Though what was made through You has revealed God’s existence and power,
since the Fall, we, like the rest of humanity, has suppressed this truth.
The truth that the powerful Creator who made the heavens and the earth, who made us in His image, is the only God,
and He is worthy of our worship, our thanks, and our dependence.
We have no excuse for not giving You along with the Father and the Spirit, all the glory You are deserving of, yet foolishly we don’t.
We confess that we were born spiritually dead.
Because of our sin, we don’t know You as our God.
We confess that we were born spiritually darkened.
Unable to see the truth and choosing to believe lies and falsehood.
So, we thank You that You came to bring life and light to us.
Opening our eyes to our need for rescue.
Showing us how we can be through Your righteous life and sacrificial death.
Giving us forgiveness and eternal life when we turned from our sins and put our trust in You.
Christ Jesus, we can’t thank You enough.
Forever we will be giving to You all blessing and honour and glory and power,
for by Your blood shed for us and in our place on the cross,
You have done for us what we could never do for ourselves.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic You are, our Creator and our Saviour.

Amen.

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