Holy Father, in Jesus name, thank You for the mercy, grace, and kindness that You have shown to Your people. God, You are so good, loving, majestic, and magnificent. You are awesome, almighty, and all together lovely. There is none like You in the heavens above or the earth below. You are the Creator of the heavens and the earth, things visible and invisible. You are the One who sustains Your creation by the word of Your power and through the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, will reconcile all things in heaven and on earth to Yourself by making peace through the blood of the cross. You are holy and enthroned over all creation as King.
You, Jesus the eternal Son of God, would leave Your holy throne in heaven and the glory that You shared with the Father before the world began to come into this fallen and broken world. You came into this world created through You which was corrupt and rebellious against God deserving of His holy wrath. Yet You were not sent by the Father to condemn the world but to save it. It blows my mind every time I think of the truth that God demonstrated His love towards us in this that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. God, You came into this world in the person of Jesus Christ to be born in a miraculous way (the virgin birth) without a sin nature, lived a sinless life, and died as a substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of the world. This is why Acts 4:12 is true.
These are interesting times that we are living in as people are trying to bring about unity, peace, love, hope and salvation in the world without Jesus. Yet our nation is on the brink of a civil war characterized by deep political polarization, racial tension and unrest, economic distress, gross immorality, injustice, and inhumanity. We find ourselves in the midst of a worldwide pandemic with multitudes of people getting sick and dying and families grieving loved ones everyday. Yet with all of this happening we think that we can dig ourselves out of this ditch in our own effort. We've looked to government, science, medicine, technology, education, money, and the philosophies of men and as we have our ditch keeps getting deeper and deeper.
God, what saddens me most greatly is that this is true of many of us who claim to follow Jesus. God, please get our minds and hearts off of anything that would give a false sense of hope, identity, security, and salvation. Help us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross despising the shame and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Since this is true we know, that in spite of what we see with our natural eyes, that You are fulfilling Your purpose in the world. For You are the One with all power and authority in heaven and on earth and there is no power in heaven, on earth, or under the earth that can stop, block, or hinder Your Kingdom from coming and Your will being done on earth as it is in heaven.
God, please empower Your people by Your Spirit to be strong in the Lord and in the power of Your might that we may stand against all the schemes and wiles of the devil. Help us not to wrestle against flesh and blood (human beings) but to war against the powers of darkness in the spiritual realms. God, grant us boldness, urgency, and wisdom to live for You and to hold out the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the multitudes who are without hope and without God in this world. Help us to love You infinitely more than we do our own lives to the point where we are willing to die so that others may live by coming to know Jesus. Break us free from the fear of man and the fear of death and bring us to the place where we fear You only Lord Jesus. God, move us from the comfortable shores to the deep treacherous waters so that You may use us to bring a great catch of people into Your eternal Kingdom. In Jesus' name, Amen!!!