O Good and Gracious God,
we come to You this morning in the name of Jesus,
our Lord and Savior.
We come, not as strangers or foreigners,
but with the confident knowledge that
we are Your children, and You are our Father.
We thank You today for Your faithfulness,
and Your mercy and grace.
You are always there when we need You.
You have never turned us away.
You have never neglected us.
You've never failed to fulfill Your promises to us and to Your world.
In our troubles and tribulations,
and when the road seemed too long,
You've been right there beside us, yoked to us,
and today we seek to glorify You
through our lives and through our words.
Thank You, Lord, for walking the journey of life with us.
Thank You for Who and What You are.
Lord, we earnestly want to do Your will
and fulfill Your plans and purposes for us.
We’ve surrendered our lives to You,
and You can do with us whatever You choose.
Or at least that is what we say…
So often, we are overcome
with the busyness of living and the day-to-day activity.
We have jobs. We have families.
We have responsibilities -
some of vital importance,
yet some are only trivial.
We are stuck in a world of instant gratification,
and easily become distracted from our calling
to be Your faithful disciples.
We drift until we desert You.
We fail to count the cost of following You.
We lack endurance and perseverance.
We love the present world and forget our eternal home.
Our vision fades, and we fail those who depend upon and love us.
So help us, Lord, to put first things first.
Help us to keep our priorities straight.
Remind us to seek first Your Kingdom and righteousness
and let the other things fall into their rightful places.
Guide us to make the right choices that will count for eternity.
Lord, we confess we are weary.
This year feels like we’ve been
running a marathon with a sprint mentality.
We are like hamsters on a wheel,
trying to flee this abnormality,
but instead we’re running in circles and going nowhere.
May we stop trying to escape our frustration,
and instead hold tight to Your vision, not letting it fade away.
We know that because of You,
we are ultimately the victors over the trials in our lives.
We lean into the saving grace that nothing in this world
can separate us from Your steadfast love.
Lord, incline your ear, and hear;
open Your eyes and see,
and save us from the sin, which clings so closely,
and the weights, which slow us down.
Turn our eyes upon Jesus this morning,
for He alone is our goal, our aim, and our treasure.
Grant Your Spirit to come,
that we might,
with great hope and expectant joy,
look to Jesus,
the author and perfecter of our faith,
and in so doing,
may we encourage and inspire others to follow You, too.
Grant us a spirit of unity among ourselves, as we follow Christ Jesus,
so that with one heart and one mouth
we may glorify the God and Father of our Lord and Savior,
who taught us to pray by using these words:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
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