Opening Prayers/Prayers of Adoration on God’s Works
O my all-merciful God and Lord, Jesus Christ, full of pity: Through Your great love You came down
and became incarnate in order to save everyone. O Savior, I ask You to save me by Your grace! If You save anyone because of their works, that would not be grace but only reward of duty, but You are compassionate and full of mercy! You said, O my Christ, “Whoever believes in Me shall live and never die.” If then, faith in You saves the lost, then save me, O my God and Creator, for I believe.
Let faith and not my unworthy works be counted to me, O my God, for You will find no works which could account me righteous. O Lord, from now on let me love You as intensely as I have loved sin, and work for You as hard as I once worked for the evil one. I promise that I will work to do Your will, my Lord and God, Jesus Christ, all the days of my life and forever more. Amen.
Prayer of St. John Chrysostom
Adapted from Psalm 92:1-5, 8, NRSV
It is good to praise the Lord
and make music to your name, O Most High,
proclaiming your love in the morning
and your faithfulness at night,
to the music of the ten-stringed lyre
and the melody of the harp.
For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord;
I sing for joy at what your hands have done.
How great are your works, Lord,
how profound your thoughts!
Heavenly Father, blessed Son, eternal Spirit,
We adore you as one Being, one Essence,
one God in three distinct Persons,
for bringing sinners to the knowledge of you and your kingdom.
O Father, you have loved us and sent Jesus to redeem us;
O Jesus, you have loved us and taken on our nature,
You who shed your own own blood to wash away our sins,
Who worked righteousness to cover our unworthiness;
O Holy Spirit, you have loved use and entered our hearts,
implanted there eternal life,
revealed to us the glories of Jesus.
Three Persons and one God, we bless and praise you,
for love so unmerited, so unspeakable, so wondrous,
so mighty to save the lost and raise them to glory.
O Father, we thank you that in fullness of grace
You have given me to Jesus,
to be his sheep, jewel, portion;
O Jesus, we thank you that in fullness of grace
You have accepted, supported, bound us;
O Holy Spirit, we thank you that in fullness of grace
You have exhibited Jesus as our salvation,
implanted faith within us,
subdued our stubborn hearts,
made us one with him forever.
O Father, you are enthroned to hear our prayers,
O Jesus, your hand is outstretched to take our petitions,
O Holy Spirit, you are willing to help our sufferings,
to show us our need, to supply words, to pray within us,
to strengthen us that we do not faint in our supplication.
O Triune God, who commanded the universe,
You have commanded us to ask for those things
that concerns your kingdom and our souls.
Let us live and pray as one baptized into the threefold Name.
Taken from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, ed. Arthur Bennett (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1975), 3. Language modernized for corporate worship by Stuart Strachan Jr.
(Prayer of Adoration)
Lord, our Lord – How excellent is your name in all the earth.
Because of who you are – we praise You.
Because of what you’ve done – we thank You.
You are a Father to the fatherless.
the Strength of the weak,
the Protector of the powerless,
and an Advocate for the disenfranchised …
just in all your ways and righteous in all your judgments.
While those all around us spin facts and lie to us,
You alone speak clear, unvarnished truth.
While the love of most comes with small print and strings attached,
Your love is gracious, unfettered and free.
(Prayer of Confession)
Yet – when we encounter the light of Your purity, truth and glory,
we ourselves are revealed for who we are,
our shadow-sides are unmasked,
our motives laid bare
and we must confront what we’d rather hide or hide from.
However, we know your grace is sufficient for even that,
and Your mercy is lavish beyond imagination.
So we humbly come to you confessing our errors, faults and sins –
all of which are first degree –
Amen.
(Assurance of Pardon)
The love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting.
Nothing you do can make Him love you any less …
so free and gracious is His love;
And nothing you do can make Him love you any more …
so abundant and overwhelming is His love for you.
Because of His grace, mercy and love for us:
I declare to you
that by His grace active in your faith
in Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior –
you are forgiven all your sins;
and you are free
to live life in the joy and fullness of the Spirit
now and always. AMEN!