I hope your weekend is already off to a great start. I want to encourage you to spend some time in prayer between now and Sunday morning. Worship is best offered from a prayerful heart. It is difficult to give God our best without first preparing our sacrifice of praise.
The following is a guide for spontaneous prayer, taken from The Worship Sourcebook (2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources, p. 505). I hope it will be a helpful jumpstart for your own prayers of thanksgiving, petition, and intercession this weekend. Note: fill in whatever specifics come to mind when you see ellipses (…) below.
Prayer:
God of light,
we praise you as the one who shows your glory
to the nations in the coming of Jesus Christ!
We thank you for reflections of your glory
in our world and in our community:
for your work in creation, especially…
for your work in the world, especially…
for your work in the church and local community…
Help us to see these signs of glory as signs of your coming kingdom.
We long for the fullness of that kingdom. Come, Lord Jesus.
In light of your love, we offer our petitions to you now,
coming to you in the name and power of Jesus Christ.
Today, we pray for
the creation and its care, especially…
the nations of the world, especially…
our nation and its leaders, especially…
our community and those who govern, especially…
the church universal, its mission, and those who minister, especially…
our local congregation and its ministry, especially…
people with particular needs, especially…
We offer these prayers in the strong name of Jesus Christ,
our light and our salvation. Amen.
Your brother,
Ryan
* F. F. Bruce, The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1984), 257.
**“Gottes Wille hat kein Warumbe” (quoted by G. S. Hendry, God the Creator [London, 1937], p. 141).