Psalm 95
December 3, 2023
Father, Son, Holy Spirit, we are in awe that you, our wonderful creator of the seas, the mountains, and the land, invite us into Your presence. We marvel at your goodness. We are indebted by your mercy and grace. We worship you together in this sanctuary. We make a joyful noise with songs of praise.
We are taken aback by this Psalm’s strong warning, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…” Despite your boundless mercy and grace in our lives, every human being struggles with something. It is hard to trust you when it feels like our world is falling apart. Thank you for the Bible that includes the numerous things that go wrong in the life of humanity, and shows your faithfulness over thousands of years.
We pray for the war in Ukraine, and we pray for the war in Israel right now. We pray for the lives that have been lost, and we pray for those who have lost loved ones. We pray for the soldiers that have to fight. We pray for the innocent that do not want the fight.
Father, we are grateful that we do not have to live in fear. We know that you are sovereign over all of your creation. Even though it seems the world is spiraling out of control, we chose to put our hope in you. We chose to listen to your word of truth, and we chose to turn our hearts toward you. We pray that we not harden our hearts. Let us not think for one moment that you have abandoned us. You are with us. And we thank you for our church community that is with us here. Help us to lean into one another’s lives and carry one another’s burdens.
We pray for our global partners that have left their home, family members and community to travel abroad and build new community and share the good news and hope that we have in you. As they see success and failure in connecting with others, we pray their hearts would be filled with you and that you would sustain them in these foreign lands.
We also pray for our global partners that return home to a country that has changed so much from when they left. Help us to support them and pray for missionaries in their re-entry.
We thank you for the hope that you have given us in sending Jesus to Earth and dwelling among us. We thank you for sending your Holy Spirit to help transform us. May your Holy Spirit work in our lives to increase our fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.