Prayers of the People/Intercession on Father/s
Father God–You invite us to come as a child to his/her daddy. You invite us to open our souls to You. You invite us to lay our desires before You. You are fond of us, Your children–so we come to You humbly, lovingly, yet confidently. We pray for your world–which You created and called “good”. Now we see it so riddled by war and hatred, infected with hopelessness and despair, confused, having lost its way, and refusing to walk in Yours.
Shine Your light in the dark corners of the earth: Ignite your followers as lamps to show the Way. Encourage disheartened missionaries. We pray for our world and nation. Heal our land! Let Your justice roll down like a mighty river, to cleanse away injustice. Replace suspicion of neighbor with trust. Guide our leaders in Your ways, and give us all the courage to follow Your paths. Grant your wisdom and strength to our President, Vice President, Legislators and judges. Lord, Revive Your church in America! Make us all salt in a dying and tasteless culture.
Make us light in places where night has fallen. And, pour out Your Spirit on this church–Empowering the ministry You’ve already given us and lead us in new avenues of reaching this community, and the World, with the good News of Your Son Jesus Christ. We ask Your comfort for friends and loved ones who mourn.
Walk with them through the valley of the shadow. Give them Your peace which passes all understanding. We pray especially for … We pray for Your healing for those who are ill, injured, recuperating from or anticipating surgery: Heal them in body, soul and spirit. Protect them from anxiety; buoy them with hope. We ask Your healing grace especially for ….All this, and more, we confidently ask You to hear and grant, to the glory of Your Son, our Savior–Jesus–Amen.
Abba – Father: Because of Your love and strength, we trust You … believing You are faithful, true and gracious. Thank You for coming into our world when we could not and would not come to You. You walked our dusty roads. You moved in among the crowded streets of our cities, amidst the noise, the chaos and the commercialism. And You are still there when we have eyes to see You, ears tuned to Your voice and wills quick to follow You. You say this is Your world: help us to believe it – and live like it is. You say, You know our sin and forgive us anyhow: help us to believe it, and so forgive others.
You say, You have a better life to give if we’ll open our hearts and hands to receive it by your grace: help us to believe the Gospel of Your grace. You say You can do what we can’t: help us to believe it, to find hope and to stop trying (and failing) to make it on our own. You say, You come to give us life – and life abundantly: help us believe it and live it. You say, You want to make our lives count for eternity: help us to believe it, to willingly risk failure in something worthwhile rather than success in something worth little.
You say, You can heal our hurts: help us to believe and trust You. You say, You can reconcile us to Yourself and to each other through Christ: help us to believe it, to live it and to experience it. We pray for the sick, the injured, the worried and despairing asking You to heal bodies, to rebuild souls and encourage anxious hearts by igniting the light of hope in the darkness of depression. Today we especially ask your healing for the sick/ We pray Your comfort for the grieving/ And we pray for your world: bring peace to the troubled places in our world; break down walls dividing people from people; heal war-torn and battle-weary nations; and embolden Your people in those lands to live and declare the Gospel with power. AMEN.
God of grace, power and glory–Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer–and our Father: When we’re tempted to think it’s all up to us: to change the world, to overcome evil, to establish Your kingdom, to make things right, and good and just, we’re reminded that where our hand is weak, yours is strong, where our wisdom fails, yours holds fast, where our love falters, yours endures, where our wills vacillate, yours remains true forever.
That’s why we lift our hands to you in prayer. In the end, victory in life’s battles is Yours not ours; rejoicing over life’s joys is more for Your work than ours. So we celebrate and give thanks to You for marriages begun and families that grow; for friends that succeed, graduate and move on to new things; for ministries that bring hope, encouragement and salvation; for work and play, for new friends and old friends, for having enough, and even some more, so we can give to others in need.
We pray also for other needs today. For those who are sick, hurt, recovering and rehabilitating: we ask you to heal them. Infuse their spirits with hope. Restore their bodies and turn their eyes toward You. For those who grieve–comfort them. Sustain them. Encourage them.
Draw close to them. For our country’s leaders–give them wisdom and courage, and passion for what is good and true, just and right. For our nation as a whole, we pray that all might act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with You, our God. And we ask your special intervention and protection for those serving our country in dangerous places and with hard duties.
For the mission of your church–we pray for those who shine Your light in dark places, on the streets of urban jungles, in remote deserts and forests, in places where your name is little known and less believed in.
May Your love uphold them; Your grace support them; Your truth empower them and Your Spirit equip them. We pray for this church, as we shine Your light in this community pointing women and men, girls and boys, old and young, resourced and lacking–all of them–to Your abundant grace that makes life worth living: may we be found faithful to your calling for us in this place at such a time as this. This prayer we offer,in the name that is above every name, our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. AMEN
God of grace, wisdom and hope—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—from whom every family in heaven and on earth gets its true name. You created us in Your image, making us for relationships …giving us meaningful work …and putting us in families to nurture and care for one another; and to show Your love to the world.
Today is Father’s Day … or so we’re told. For many of us this can be a hard day. For some, it’s because their father was not a dad who demonstratedY our love, patience and care; theirs was a father who did not protect them from pain, but was instead a source of pain through neglect or abuse, or who didn’t love and care for their mother; or may have even abandoned them.
Lord God—be the Father they’ve always wanted but never had; may they hear Your voice telling them: “You are my beloved; and with you I am well pleased.” May they know Your tender compassion—mindful of our weakness and frailty, to protect and encourage.
For others, today is a hard day because they’ve stood at a bedside sometime this year to say“good-bye” to a father they love as he died. In the grief that this day stirs, bring comfort, reassurance and healing peace. Allow memories to be treasured and shared with thanksgiving; stories that bring laughter or even tears …both coming from love given and received.
And for those for whom today is precious, may love be experienced, joy be felt, wisdom be shared, gratitude be expressed, and the words “I love you” spoken.
Lord—encourage faithfulness in men…enable them to live into and out of both sides of love: the tough and the tender, the strong and the sensitive, and so reflect Your love to those they call family, friends, colleagues and neighbors.
We give thanks and celebrate family love—for marriages that have endured and we thank you for those beginning new.
Thank You for the gift of children and grandchildren. Thank You for graduations that mark the end of one life chapter and the commencement of another.
We also pray today for families who’ve been touched by grief. We pray for families of one–that the church family might embrace, encourage, support and love each. We pray for broken families–that understanding might bring forgiveness, and, when possible, forgiveness bring reconciliation, but in all things, we ask that love would prevail. And, we pray for blended families–that grace might allow new love to form, re-form and to last. However, ours are not the only families we pray for today, Lord.
We pray for missionary families, serving You joyfully and sacrificially. We pray for families whose homes, cities and nations are torn apart by war and ethnic conflict. We pray for refugee families, seeking new homes and lives in places where they are welcome and safe. We pray for the families of those who shoulder the burden of leading nations and cities; the burden of protecting and serving at home and abroad.
In it all, we come back to You, our good and loving heavenly Father: may You continue to be faithful…and enable us to be faithful in turn. All this we pray in the name of the Son, our Savior and Lord—Jesus the Christ. AMEN