Intercessory Prayer

Lord Heavenly Father,

We come to you today to worship You. We are grateful that we can have this house of worship where we can praise You openly, without reservation, with all our hearts.

We celebrate You and rejoice in the birth of your Son, Jesus Christ. You brought Him here to bring love, hope, but most importantly salvation to those who receive Him as their Savior. We pray for this week’s Christmas service and that we’ll find opportunities to invite family, friends & colleagues to hear Your message and celebrate this truly joyous occasion.

Lord, as we approach the end of the year, we reflect on your blessings, whether great or small. While we are truly thankful for giving us so much, we also pray that we are not consumed by material things. You have blessed us with homes, jobs, but most importantly You have given us family, friends and this church community.

We pray for the students--especially those in university--as they finish their first term and exams. We know that school can be challenging and stressful, so Let the next couple of weeks be a time of rest and a chance to reconnect. We lift them up to you to give them focus when they return to school for their next term.

Even so, we remember those of us who are experiencing some times of hardship or brokenness. God, we know that You can restore. In our loneliness, we find solace and comfort in you. If we have broken relationships, we pray for wisdom, discernment and a heart of compassion to reconnect and mend those relationships. If we have lost our job or experiencing some financial hardship, we trust in Your will and timing to provide. We know that you will meet all our needs.

In our church, we want to pray for the ongoing ministries and small groups. We pray for the pastors, deacons and leaders in the church. We pray for that we look to you for guidance so that the ministries are glorifying to You and lead others to seek You. We pray for our small groups and the opportunities to serve, learn and grow with one another as a community of believers.

Lord, You are the God of Compassion. Thank you for blessing our church with people and resources to serve those who are in need--whether it’s physically, emotionally or spiritually. We want to continue to pray for the development of ministries at Gibson. We pray for programs that will meet the needs of the community. We also pray for the preparation of the Out of the Cold Program that starts in January. We pray for the relationships that we can build through Gibson or Out of the Cold. Use us to find opportunities to share our stories--your story--and be a witness for You.

We pray for the rest of this worship time. Let it be a time where we can let go of all our other thoughts & burdens and instead focus on You. Let it be heart-filled and spirit-led.

Lord, You are the God of Wisdom. We pray for Ian as You use her to share Your words and teachings. Let our hearts be open to hearing and learning so that we can grow as together as men and women of God. We also pray that beyond today’s service, we can continue to share and encourage one another with what You've taught us.

We lift this time to you.

In Jesus name,

Amen

Intercessory Prayer

“Father, hallowed be your name.
God, you are Omnipotent. You are almighty and rule over all things.
God, you are Omnipresent. We know that the Holy Spirit is with us at all times. You grace us with your presence whenever and wherever we need you.

God, you are Omniscient. You are all-knowing. You know our very thoughts, our feelings, our desires, our needs and our brokenness.

Your kingdom come.
God, we thank you for bringing the Festival of Hope to Toronto last weekend. We are amazed that 10,000+ people came out each night to hear your message of hope. We give praise for those who committed themselves to you and declared You as their saviour. We continue to pray for those who may not have been ready to do that, but we pray for the seeds that were planted and that we can continue your work to open their eyes and hearts to You Lord.
God, we give thanks for all those who have served You this summer in missions. We give praise for their desire to share the gospel and Your message of hope and love to those who do not know You yet. We pray that as they share about their experiences, it will also open our hearts and encourage us to consider doing the same.
Give us each day our daily bread,
God, we give thanks for our jobs, the friends and families that you have put into our lives, the homes that we have, this church where we come to worship You. All these things you have provided to sustain us.
God, we also want to pray that we will regularly seek and rely on You through prayer and scripture. You are our daily bread that will renew us day by day.

and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.God, we acknowledge our sins against You. We are not perfect and we know that we have hurt You with our acts and thoughts. We come before you now to repent and ask for Your forgiveness. Just as you forgive us, we pray for reconciliation and forgiveness to those that we may not be right with. We pray for opportunities to build and strengthen relationships with those who are close to us.

And lead us not into temptation.”
God, we want to pray for wisdom and discernment in our daily lives. We know it can be challenging in our workplace, schools and homes to live lives that are glorifying to you. We for pray for your spiritual guidance so that we can make choices and decisions that will reflect You so that we are the men and women that You want us to be.

All these things we ask in Jesus name,
Amen

Wise words from Kari Jobe

“Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!”
- Psalm 27:14 (ESV)

“God’s timing is perfect, you know, and everyone’s walking through things that they’re having to trust the Lord for His timing,” She went on,“My favorite scripture verse is Psalm 27:14, it says, ‘Wait on the Lord, be of good courage and He will strengthen your heart.’ So, I know that He’s had me wait, I’m in my thirties right now, you know, He’s had me wait because His timing is perfect.” She then continued,

“So, those of you girls who are listening and you’re single, God has a perfect man for you and it will be the best timing when it’s the right time and it’s God’s time,”

From Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence:

”Save your best striving for seeking My Face. I am constantly communicating with you. To find Me and hear my voice, you must seek Me above all else. Anything that you desire more than Me becomes an idol. When you are determined to get your own way, you blot Me out of your consciousness. Instead of single-mindedly pursuing some goal, talk with Me about it. Let the Light of My Presence shine on this pursuit, so that you can see it from My perspective. If the goal fits into My plans for you, I will help you reach it. If it is contrary to My will for you, I will gradually change the desire of your heart. Seek Me first and foremost; then the rest of your life will fall into place, piece by piece."

Thanks HH.

Intercessory Prayer

Lord Heavenly Father,

We thank You for this day to come worship You. Let this house of worship be a place where we can praise You openly, without reservation, with all our hearts.

You are the Creator of all things. We remember and appreciate all things as You've made them beautifully and perfectly.

You are our Provider. You know what our needs are and You care for Your people accordingly.

You are Compassionate. You know are weaknesses and hurts. You restore us spiritually, physically and emotionally.

We give thanks again for the connections we've made with our community, local businesses and friends through the Open Market. We pray that we can continue building relationships with them and that You can be seen through us.

We pray for the Open Market organizers and leaders as they take the next few weeks to reflect upon the successes and challenges of putting together such an event. We pray for their wisdom and discernment as they meet to determine what You want us to do next.

In our church, we want to pray for the ongoing ministries--CCSA softball and small groups. We give praise for blessing us with new friendships and being able to connect and grow with old ones through our community in these ministries.

We want to pray for our brothers and sisters who are doing Your work to bring the gospel to new places. Grace Cheung Tanzania, Chanelle with her music ministry in Guatemala, Gary, Gina, Keith, Alice, Ben & Holly to Peru. We pray that You will use them to share Your message of hope and love in those places.

We also want to pray for those who will be do mission work back home. For those serving with the Bridletowne and TCCC Day Camp, we pray for their preparation and we are grateful for their service to the kids in these various communities.

We pray that as we look forward to the Festival of Hope in September, we will continue to develop relationships and make connections with family, friends and colleagues. Give us the courage to find opportunities to invite them out in September so they can hear more about You.

We pray for the rest of this worship time. Let it be a time where we can let go of all our other thoughts & burdens and instead focus on You. Let it be heart-filled and spirit-led.
We pray for Mary as You use her to share Your words and teachings. Let our hearts be open to hearing and learning so that we can grow as together as men and women of God. We also pray for our Junction table discussions afterwards where we can share and encourage each other with what You've taught us.

We lift this time to you.

In Jesus name,
Amen

Life is Wabi-Sabi

Simply said, "Life's not Perfect," and we need to appreciate these imperfections. Wabi-Sabi is the Japanese view of life that finds beauty in things that are simple and humble, ordinary and unrefined, incomplete and impermanent. Everything ages, nothing lasts forever, and sometimes things don't work out as planned. Embrace the Wabi-Sabi concept, laugh, learn, and be come a better person.

- Life is Wabi-Sabi

Intercessory Prayer

Lord Heavenly Father,

We thank you for this day to come worship you. Let this house of worship be a place where we can praise you openly, without reservation, with all our hearts.

You are the Creator of all things. As spring is now here, we want to appreciate the beauty of all your creations. As we hear the birds sing, see the leaves on the trees grow, we remember how good and perfect you have made everything.

You are an awesome God. You give us the strength to do all things that we can't do ourselves.

Around the world, we want to continue to pray for the families of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.  Please comfort them as they grieve the loss of their loved ones. We want to continue to pray for the safety of the searchers as they do their work to help find answers.

In our city, we pray for our elected officials. For the leaders of our city, we pray for Your wisdom to help them govern and make decisions that will be glorifying to You.

As the Out of the Cold Program wrapped up last week, we give praise for all the volunteers who came out over the last 10 weeks to open the doors of our church to host and serve the guests of our community.  As You have commanded us to love our neighbours, we thank you for moving people of our church and our community to share Your blessings and love to serve our guests. We pray that our hearts are changed so that even when we see our guests or others in need outside our church that we take the time to continue meet and build relationships with them.

We want to continue praying for our guests. We pray that You will continue to provide them shelter, food and community throughout the spring and summer and if need be that they can come join us again next year.

We pray for the Open Market. As preparation continues for the event on July 4/5, we pray for the leaders who are planning this event. It is an ambitious event, but Lord You want us to do great things. We pray that You will provide the volunteers and vendors in the coming weeks and months. You have blessed us with the Gibson Centre and we pray that the Open Market will bring out everyone from our community so that Gibson can be a hub where You will be glorified.

In our church, we want to pray for our students as they finish their school year, we pray for their focus and the strength to get through the last few months of studies with hard work and integrity. For the university students, we want to welcome them back into the T3C community and reconnect with them as they return after their final exams.

We give praise and thank you again for the blessings you have given us--whether it's our job, our family and friends, our home--You have given us so much and we are grateful.

For those of us who are experiencing some times of hardship or brokenness, let us not forget to look to You. It is through these times that our hearts can be most open to hearing and learning from You to be the men and women that You want us to be. We trust that You will make things right and we praise you that You are the one that will bring us through these storms.

We pray for the families of those who have recently lost their loved ones--Edmund and Cecilia, Alfonso and Karlenna, and Lesley. It is a difficult time for them as they mourn and grieve, but we are thankful for the relationships they had with their parents and the impact they had on their lives. As a congregation, let us continue to support them in our friendships or through prayer.

We pray for the rest of this worship time. Let it be a time where we can let go of all our other thoughts & burdens and instead focus on You. Let it be heart-filled and spirit-led.

We pray for Caleb as You use him to share Your words and teachings. Let our hearts be open to hearing and learning so that we can grow as together as men and women of God.

We lift this time to you.

In Jesus name,
Amen