Prayer 3.

ADORATION

Our Father in Heaven.

We, your people, gathered here tonight, praise you as the only God of the universe. The creator of all that exists. Perfect in power, in knowledge, in judgement and in love. We praise you, our Father, because you make and uphold all things, you rule all the nations, you reign over time as generation after generation comes and goes, you alone will remain, unchangeable, incorruptable, forever. 

And you, father, made each one of us with your own hands and gave us the breath of life. you’ve watched over us. You give us all things necessary for life and godliness. Let us bless you at all times and not forget how you have forgiven us, healed us, redeemed our lives from destruction, crowned us with your loving kindness, satisfied us with good things, and inwardly renew us day by day.

We praise Jesus, your only son, firstborn over all creation, who did not grasp hold of his place on the throne, but gave himself up, made himself one of us, humbling himself even to die the death of a criminal by execution. He died to conquer sin and death, and he now sits at Gods right hand, and the day will come when everyone will bow before him. We praise Jesus and call him our king and trust in his name, receive forgiveness by his blood, and strength by his presence.

We praise the Holy Spirit of God, who gives us the words to praise, who gives us the desire to seek God, who helps us listen to his word, who changes us to be more like Jesus, and we commit everything we do and say to God, for building his church and his kingdom.

CONFESSION

Father, at this time we confess our sin. Our frequent sin, our deliberate sin, our selfish sin. Everything that is evil in your sight. Even the good things that we do for others are often based in earning approval or trying to seem like we have it all together. We all try and live without you as God and all we have is a facade of niceness, over souls that are broken, helpless and dying. The whole world is proof that humanity is the problem. War, poverty, pollution – we can’t even help ourselves from hurting the people we love. Our sins are terrible. Too many to count, too heavy to carry. So we confess them to you knowing that Jesus carried them to the cross. When we turned away from you, you turned towards us. you paid the price, died the death, you wash us clean and make us your sons and daughters. Like King David wrote, “let me hear joy and gladness, let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” So we bring you our broken spirits, our broken and contrite hearts, which are restored to you in Jesus.

THANKSGIVING

Heavenly Father, you have blessed each one of us with more than we deserve. We have enough to eat, we have houses, we have clothes, we have a stable government and responsible defence forces and a better health system than most other countries. We thank you for fresh water, food, access to education, emergency services, so many things we just take for granted. Each one of us is blessed also by unique circumstances, people we know, help we’ve received, opportunities we don’t deserve, and we will take a moment to think in our own minds of the people we are grateful for, the blessings in our lives, and give you thanks.

…………….

SUPPLICATION

Father, you are a powerful and generous God who loves to hear our prayers, so we bring before you the things we hope for.

We ask that wars would cease. We ask that nations and individuals would show compassion to the vulnerable. We ask for a generous response to the refugee situation. We ask for an end to corrupt governments which exploit the people they should be serving. We ask for an end to first-world materialism which replaces God with Stuff and wastes the earths resources. We pray that government policy would uphold traditional marriage while respecting the needs of all people. We pray for an end to domestic violence. We pray for an end to inequality of indigenous Australians in areas like education, health, employment, and every measure of wellbeing. The list of things wrong with this world is long. We take a minute to think in our own minds of an issue beyond our control that we feel burdened by, that we ask you work in.

…..

Every person in the world needs, more than anything else, to know Jesus and be reconciled to God. So we pray for boldness for Christians to take the gospel out. We bring before you Christians who are persecuted minorities in many countries, that they would not be afraid to live for Jesus. Help them to love their enemies, and do good to those who persecute them, as Jesus said and did.

We bring before you some of our partners in gospel proclamation. Kelly Landrigan in France, Simon, Margie and Noah in Namibia and Maddie Gillham here with us, the Mackees in the NT, and Heather Green at Newcastle Uni. Use these men and women to grow you kingdom wherever they are sent. We too, here in Maitland, ask for boldness and opportunities, at work, at school, in our homes, with our friends or our families, to speak of Jesus. “Because we know the fear of the Lord, we seek to persuade people…. for Christ’s love compels us.”

Father, some of us here tonight are burdened by sorrow. We think of the XX family from morning church, grieving so much the loss of little X. And their close friends and family who also feel it deeply and are caring for them at this time. We just ask that they know your faithfulness through the pain and as they are weary from suffering, and that they draw closer to you. We trust ultimately in the hope of heaven.

I’ll finish with the words Paul wrote to the Eshesians, chapter 3. For each one of us:

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.