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