O Lord God,
We come boldly now to the throne of grace, where our Savior stands at your right hand, interceding for us.
We come bringing our cares and burdens before you, knowing that you care for us.
We bring these things to your throne in faith, Father. And we appeal to you not only according to the multitude of your tender mercies, but we plead with you on the grounds of the blood of Christ shed for us.
You have demonstrated your love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
He shed his blood, he was nailed to the cross of shame, he suffered mockery and humiliation, “all for love’s sake, he became poor.”
There is no clearer evidence that you love us than the cross.
And it is to the God who has so infinitely demonstrated his love for us to whom we now bring our requests and burdens.
We bring these things to you knowing that you are good; that you bring all things to pass according to the counsel of your will; that all things work together for the good of those who love you; and that whatever is given to us comes from the hand of him who is called Faithful.
O Lord, we trust you, but we would trust you more. We believe; help our unbelief. As we pray, shape our understanding of your faithfulness and kindness by the gospel.
Salvation of All Men
Father, our first request is this: That you would save our family members and close friends who are estranged from you.
O Lord, they lie in darkness. Their eyes are blind, their ears are deaf to the truth, and they are without hope in this world. Our hearts break for our brothers and sisters, our moms and dads, our aunts and uncles, our husband or wife, our grandparents, our sons and daughters, our grandsons and granddaughters who are unwilling and, because of their love for sin, are unable to bow the knee to Jesus Christ. We pray that you would rend the heavens and come down, and gather our loved ones together and save their souls from your eternal wrath. We know they deserve it as we once did. But we pray that you would apply the blood to their account. Count them as righteous in your eyes. Give them new hearts that have new desires, desires to follow Jesus and obey all that he has commanded. O Father, glorify yourself by counting our family members and loved ones among your elect. Save them, O God, save them, we pray.
Sanctification of the Saints
Our second request is this, O Lord: Grow our church. May we grow in love for one another. May we grow in our love for your word and prayer. May we grow in our understanding of and commitment to the gospel.
Grow us in holiness and conformity into the image of Christ. Help us, by your grace, to see progress in our spiritual maturity. Grow us in our hatred for sin, and in our love for our Savior.
Grow us financially, O Lord. We know who we’re praying to. You are the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills. You are the God who owns the patent on the stars, and you’ve given them their names. You own all things, and so we ask that you grow our financial situation so that we can do more ministry and fund more missionaries and church plants both at home and abroad. Keep us from being foolhardy with our money, but keep us also from hoarding and simply tucking away the resources you’ve given us. Help us instead, O Lord, to be found faithful.
Grow us, we pray, numerically. We rejoice that we baptized someone last week, and that we witnessed her conversion by the gospel. And now we pray earnestly for more. Add to our church those who are being saved, Father. We pray for church growth that comes by people being saved, baptized, and discipled. Give us church growth that comes from Spirit-wrought regeneration.
The Word
Father, our last request is this: May Christ be exalted in the preaching of your word. Break down the idols of our hearts, and set Christ in all his glory in their place. Open our eyes to behold wondrous things out of your law, and open our ears to hear what the Spirit says to the church this morning. All this we pray in Jesus’s name. Amen.
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