 A PRAYER FOR CHRIST'S CHURCH
In a day when Christ's precious church is being ravaged and torn by agents of change who reject his authority and rebel at his prohibitions, we offer up the following prayer. Please join us in daily prayer for the welfare of the
Lord's church.
Holy Father:
We pray that you will bless the men who stand before your congregations as preachers of your gospel. May they take seriously their privilege and duty to represent You to your people. May they preach "the whole counsel of God," taking no liberties with it and omitting nothing that is needful for your people. Give them the courage to be faithful even in the face of opposition.
Please raise up a new generation of young men who love your church, your Word and your Son.
We ask that you bless the elders who lead your people. That they will lead wisely, seeing that your flock is properly feed and protect from those who would do them harm. Give them wisdom and discernment that no one be able slip into their fold and steal away the hearts of your people. May their congregations grow strong and flourish under their supervision and guidance.
May they not be intimidated into compromise by those who clamor to be like the world about them.
Please bless those who teach our classes. May they understand the importance of indoctrinating your people in the truth; showing their students the right way to serve you and pointing out the dangers of the wrong.
Be with those who work with our young people. There are tremendous allurements to draw them away from faithful Word to the allusions of entertainment and emotionalism. Please help them be faithful stewards looking after their charges. May they fill their young disciples with love for Christ and his Church and an appetite for the knowledge of your Word. May they lead them to understand that discipleship in Christ means service to God and humanity, taking the gospel tot he lost and not just having fun.
Please bless our sisters in Christ. They are under tremendous pressure by the world to embrace the ideas and lifestyle of the Feminist Movement. While we are grateful that they have opportunities in higher education and the business and profession world, may they not seek to bring the standards of the world into your church. Please help them to be content with the role you have prescribed for them in your holy Word. Help them to understand, that great will be their reward in heaven if they are faithful to your standards.
Father we pray for those who lead and teach in our Christian schools. We are truly grateful for the many contributions they have made to the progress of your kingdom in days past. It appears that some of them have forgotten their proper roll as helpers to your church. Please Father help them to reject those who seek to use them to impose harmful changes to your spiritual family. May they be faithful in teaching the ancient truths of the gospel and in strengthening the faith of our young people and preacher students.
Dear Lord, we pray that you will protect your people from those who have embraced the doctrines of men and are seeking to interject them into your church. Please Father, defeat those who would destroy your people by their false teachings;. Confound their schemes and projects. We pray that they will repent and return to the safe boundaries of your Holy Word and once again be true soldiers of Christ. But if they refuse to do so, please dash and destroy their plans to change your church into a church of their own design.
Please bless your people, one and all, that they will awaken to the dangers before us and rise up to defend the walls of Zion against her enemies. May every preacher be willing to take his place in the battle lines. May every elder be a strong leader of the home-guard. May every member shout "No with an emphatic voice when false teachers seek to lead them astray.
Help us Holy Father to be strong in evangelism, benevolent to everyone in need and determined to maintain the unity of the Sprit in the bonds of peace. May we please you in all ways and in all things is our prayer,
Through our Lord Jesus
JHW |
