a mothers prayer at church
Please join with me in prayer, and at the end, with a firm Amen if you agree....
Heavenly Father, Almighty God,
It is amazing that we call you both – that you are as personal as a father - our father - , and yet at the same time the supreme ruler and creator of the universe.
Help us to know these truths intimately with daily reading of your word – help us to WANT to soak in your presence and meditate on your character.
Father, forgive us that we often do not do this. We confess that we are distracted by so many other things -often good things, and sometimes bad - , and that those things push out time with you. Give us clarity of perspective that we may rightly prioritise time that seems all too pressured. Thank you that you have revealed yourself in your Word that we may read it over and over and relearn what our fickle hearts forget.
Thank you for giving us your Spirit so that we may be prompted, not out of guilt, but out of desire to spend time with you. Help us to keep the main thing the main thing.
I pray particularly for those who minister to us – those who read and teach and guide us - for x,x,x,x,x and the new deacons who are to join the leaders of our small groups and children's groups, for those that work on campus and those who organise church functions. Help them not get so caught up in ministry and preparation that they lose personal time with you. Help them to be regularly refreshed with meditation on your Word and prayer to you, especially as the demands of a new year clamour for attention.
Thank you Father that we are a body. Thank you that none of us does this alone. Thank you that in the church each of us is an active and important part in love and encouragement to others. Help us build each other up and be actively on the lookout to serve one another. Help each Sunday be a day of pouring out for one another and at the same time a day of being inspired and spurred on to do the good deeds that you have made us for. Thank you that when we are hurting and tired and angry and confused there are others who encourage and care for us. Help us accept that help gladly and be spurred on to greater generosity at other times as we experience in each other the grace and sacrifice that you modelled for us in Jesus' death and resurrection.
Thank you for the Men's day time away. Thank you for the encouragement and bonding and thinking that happened. Thank you for the challenges and the stimulation. Thank you for the chance to spend a bit more time with friends and newcomers in depth of conversation and shared experience. Thank you for the blessing this will be on the families of those who were able to go. Help our men to love and serve their wives well in a reflection of Jesus and his church. Help them to be kind and available and wise, loving us so that we may be better helpmeets for them. Help us as wives not to idolise our men and to look to them for our fulfilment, but to stand alongside them in looking to Jesus. Help us not to be too demanding in day-to-day life. Help our marriages to be healthy and holy as good models for our children. Help the men in this church generally to look out for women – especially those who are widowed, divorced or single, and to care for them as they need. Thank you that you have revealed the guidance for our behaviour in your Word. Help us to be obedient.
We pray for those who have special needs at the moment – for x and x, for x in NICU, and his siblings who are so far away. Thank you that mother and baby are both safe. Be with them now and heal them to full health if it be Your will. Be with the staff and with the family as all work together.
Be with x family whose grandfather passed away last week. We pray that the family dynamics will be peaceful and full of goodwill as they gather at this time. Help them to grieve well and support each other in their loss.
Be with x and x, 2 weeks away from their wedding day. Be with them as they adjust to the different demands that sharing life as a married couple inevitably brings. In the next fortnight, give them time to enjoy each other as well as organise the final preparations that need to be made. We pray that the dress gets sorted in time if it be Your will. We pray that money and time will be well-spent and that the day will be a good memory for them in years to come.
Be x and x as they prepare for the birth of their baby next month. Thank you that things have gone well for them so far and that they can be back here in Newcastle for this new stage of their lives. Help them in their preparations and time together. Help them when they are tired and stressed and not feeling well. Help them to be kind to each other and to negotiate different ways of parenting with soft hearts.
We pray for the start-up of new groups – for small groups with new members, for Fresh, Youth Group, SWAT, play group and Sunday school. We pray for campus groups starting up – Please raise up more Scripture teachers to reach so many children who otherwise would have little spiritual input. Thank you that you are sovereign and will reach those whom you have chosen. Thank you for your patience in waiting for a great multitude to be saved. Thank you for your grace and mercy and compassionate love in saving us. Thank you for the privilege of being part of your salvation plan as we live and speak the gospel of life and truth to those around us. Let our lives overflow with thankfulness.
Be with those who are travelling or far away. Thank you so much that we can be involved in teaching and training others to multiply your work. We pray for all your churches in Newcastle, ...in Australia, ...and over the whole world; that they might be a stunning bride to Jesus on the day He returns - transformed by your Spirit and radiant with the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. May your people be known by these things in the world. Help us to be those people and thank you, that by Your grace, we can be.
In all these things we pray through Jesus, who died and rose for us, ...Amen!