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