Prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving

Our Father who is in heaven, Your name should be and will be honored in all of Christendom and throughout the world. You are all mighty and always present. You dwell in the heavens above and in the hearts within. You are everywhere and all things exist because of You. You are the source of life and You set the boundaries as to how far men can go. You are unconquerable: no army can stop you, no earthy power can become your rival. You are above and beyond all human powers. At the blast of Your breath, the word of Your mouth or the thought of Your mind, kingdoms fall and armies perish. Who can stand before You or against You? Your anger is greater than any weapon we can form. Human defiance enhances Your glory. You don’t have to judge us, our sins will bring us low. Only You can save us from our sin. You are glorious and majestic. The highest mountain pales in comparison to You. You are great and awesome and we would be wise to respect YOU and give You our worship and allegiance. You break the power of enslaving sin, You set the captive free. Your blood can make the vilest clean; it even cleansed a sinner like me.

{Based on meditations of Psalm 76}

Solomon’s Prayer

Solomon

O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like You in all of heaven and earth. You keep your covenant and show unfailing love to all who walk before you in wholehearted devotion. You have kept Your promise to your servant David, my father. You made that promise with Your own mouth, and with Your own hands You have fulfilled it today. “And now, O Lord, God of Israel, carry out the additional promise you made to your servant David, my father. For you said to him, ‘If your descendants guard their behavior and faithfully follow my Law as You have done, one of them will always sit on the throne of Israel.’  Now, O Lord, God of Israel, fulfill this promise to your servant David. But will You really live on earth among people? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built!  Nevertheless, please listen to my prayer and my plea, O Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is making to you. May You watch over Your people day and night and this may you always their prayers.  May You hear the humble and earnest requests of your people from heaven where you live, and when You hear, forgive. If the skies are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against You, and if they pray toward this Temple and acknowledge your name and turn from their sins because You have punished them, then hear from heaven and forgive the sins of Your servants, Your people Israel. Teach them to follow the right path, and send rain on your land that you have given to Your people as their special possession. Give Your people what their actions deserve,  for You alone know each human heart. Then they will fear you and walk in your ways as long as they live in the land you gave to our ancestors. In the future, foreigners who do not belong to your people Israel will hear of You. They will come from distant lands when they hear of Your great name and Your strong hand and Your powerful arm. And when they pray [in Your Son’s name], then You will hear from heaven where You live, and grant what they ask of You. In this way, all the people of the earth will come to know and fear You, just as Your own people Israel do. [They too will know that Jesus is Your beloved Son and the real TEMPLE that men worship and pray to].

 [Based on II Chronicles 6…abbreviated version]

A Plea For Help and Mercy

Father, thank You for Your mercy and grace. We could not stand before You and make this petition a part from the forgiveness we have in Christ. We deserve death and hell but because of Jesus, we get forgiveness and heaven. Thank You for this amazing grace. Father our sins have wounded our conscience and weakened our faith; even our bodies groan because of our sins. We are extremely selfish and self-conscience. It takes a miracle of grace and a moving of your Spirit to get our minds focused in worship. Our self-consciousness hinders our prayers, our praise and our worship. Instead of feeling adoration for you and compassion for others, we are bound up in our petty problems and spend most of our time feeling sorry for ourselves in one form or the other. We are consumed with self. We want everyone’s approval, everyone’s love and everyone’s respect which is more than Jesus had when He walked among us. People made fun of Him. They mocked and ridiculed Him but we can’t stand the thought of reproach. This reveals the depth of our depravity and the height of our selfishness and greed, we want more than Jesus had. Where can we go with this vile problem other than to You. The devil doesn’t care and neither does the world. We will get condemnation and more ridicule if we go there but You O God are merciful and kind. You understand the battle we are fighting and you will give us aid and comfort. We cast all our care on You because we know that You care about us. Crucify our loathsome self life and create in us a new heart, a clean heart, a heart that can worship you in a more deserving way. Fill us with Your Spirit so that we may glorify You in every word and deed. In the perfect name of Jesus Christ our LORD, we make these petitions. Amen!

[This pray is based on Psalm 38 in the MESSAGE and came at the conclusion of revival service, November 5, 2014]

Hebrews Thirteen

May God, who gives us peace, who raised up Jesus from the dead and who through the blood of Christ has ratified a new and everlasting covenant and has now become our Good Shepherd, may He transform us and fit us perfectly into His will. To God be praise who through Jesus Christ accomplished through us what is pleasing to our Heavenly Father. To Him be glory forever and forever. Amen!

Thanksgiving For Christ

Father we thank You that we live on this side of the cross; that the agony of Christ is pass and no more sacrifices are needed. We are very thankful that the blood of Christ grants us the right of access which enables us to worship and pray. What a relief to know that Christ has paid for all our sins in full. We further thank you that Christ made Himself an offering for our sins by laying down His life. We thank you that in Christ one offering made us forever perfect in Your sight. We thank you for the privilege and right to enter Your very presence because of the blood of Jesus. Thank you for this fresh, new, life-giving way that Christ has opened up for us by tearing the curtain—his human body—to let us into Your holy presence. Thank You that we have a great High Priest who rules over Your household, which allows us to be near You to enjoy the bliss and blessedness of Your presence. We thank You that we have something to look forward to and that we no longer have to be tormented with doubt. As a gesture of our gratitude, we commit to being kind and gracious to others. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!

 

[Hebrews 10, selected]

Jeremiah’s Prayer

“O Lord God! You have made the heavens and earth by your great power; nothing is too hard for you! You are loving and kind to thousands; you are the great and mighty God, the Lord Almighty. You have all wisdom and do great and mighty miracles; for your eyes are open to all the ways of men, and you reward everyone according to his life and deeds.  You have done incredible things in the land of Egypt—things still remembered to this day. And you have continued to do great miracles in Israel and all around the world. You have made your name very great, as it is today.

Prayer of Praise [Ps.145]

I will praise YOU enthusiastically Father for YOU are my object of worship. I will have no others gods before YOU. YOU are my Sovereign, my keeper and my king and I will bless YOUR name forever. I will praise YOU even though I know that all human praise falls exceedingly short of YOUR greatness and of what YOU deserve. YOUR glory is unapproachable, YOUR power is unlimited, YOUR majesty is incomprehensible and YOUR wonders are unexplainable. YOU are magnificent, good, just, gracious, merciful, patient, rich in pity, loving, generous, and kind. In Christ Jesus YOUR Son, YOU have reached out to all creation and we YOUR servants bless YOUR name. Grace us Father to share YOUR infinite goodness expressed in Christ our LORD with a lost and dying world. Let us make known to all men, YOUR power, glory and splendor. No generation will ever arise without YOU being on the throne; no generation will live or pass without YOU being the King of kings. YOU are Yahweh, the Eternal, self-existent, unchanging One who is forever the same. YOU are true to all YOUR promises and gracious in all YOUR dealings. YOU lift up the fallen and YOU revive the weak. Father, we raise our eyes to YOU as a child looks up at their father. YOU are our provide and protector, our source and sustenance of life. YOU draw near to all those who call upon YOU with a true heart. YOU answer prayers that we lack the wisdom to articulate. YOU watch over us and deliver us from the evil one. May our lives and lips be devoted to praising YOU!

 

[Prayer based on Psalm 145, Ronald Knox Translation]

Prayer of Thanksgiving [Psalm 124, Knox]

Father, thank You for Your mercy and grace. It was by your awesome power that I was delivered from the bondage of sin, from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light and I am grateful. You did something for me that I could never do for myself: I was helpless and hopeless until you rescued me. Thank YOU! Through the years I have been threatened by various individuals who gave me their word that they would ruin me and I admit that there were times when I was afraid. Had it not been for Your GRACE and Your Guardianship, they would have swallowed me whole as the fish swallowed Jonah. You did not allow that to happen; You have been my shield, thank YOU! Now, as I look back, I feel foolish for doubting your providential care and I know now that I was never really in any danger. You are Eternal One, the great I AM, the God of Abraham and I praise and bless YOU for being my salvation and shield, my pardon and my protector. I could not survive one day without your mercy and grace and yet if You never did another thing for me, I should yet praise You for all You have done in the past. I rejoice in the truth that Your love endures forever. In Jesus name I pray, Amen!

Ronald Knox Psalm 123

Unto Thee O LORD I lift my eyes, unto Thee, who dwells in the heavens. As the eyes of the servant are fixed on his master, as the eyes of the maiden is fixed on the hand of her mistress, so my eyes are fixed upon Thee O LORD my God to show mercy to Thy servants. Have mercy upon us O God for we have had our fill of the world’s contempt and ridicule for Your Son and our Savior. Our hearts are sick of the scorn that the rich and famous heap upon our LORD and are weary of the mockery of the proud. We long to dwell in Your house forever.

Thanksgiving For Revelation

Father, You are good, infinitely good and there is nothing good in me. I am convinced beyond any doubt that I need Jesus. He is my Hope and my salvation. He is the only One who can forgive my sins and heal my diseases. I recognize that sin is in my heart and has been since my birth. I have the inclination to be selfish. Sin is always crouching at my door and I am constantly tempted to do what I want rather than what is best for others or that which brings honor to you. My default setting is negative and selfish. I need to be saved from my sin and from my self. I understand why Jesus had to die on a cross. I know that He died because of my sin. I feel the guilt of Calvary; I was there, no doubt about it. I have counted the cost of following Christ and I choose the reproach of Christ over the riches of this world or an eternity of regret in hell. I confess Christ as my LORD and Savior. He is my sovereign and my salvation. Father, I will that you change my life in any way that You see fit, chip away at all that does not resemble Your Son. Execute my self life and make me dead to the world and to sin so that I can be alive to Christ. My outer man is decaying day by day but my inner man has a greater spiritual appetite than ever before. I love Your word, I love to converse with You, I love gathering with the saints for worship, I love the preaching and teaching of your word. The things of this world do not satisfy me but Your word has substance; it is the bread of life. Thank You Father that you have not hid these things from us but have revealed them clearly in your word. We give you thanks in Jesus name. Amen!