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Dear Lord,
We read in the Bible that;
You have called us by name and that we are Yours.
Water will not drown us,
Fire will not burn us,
You will never give us up,
We are precious to You,
You have carved us on the palm of Your hand.
The hands of Jesus bear the scars of His death on the cross for each one of us.
Let the wonder of Your love fill our souls this day and every day.
Lord Jesus, You told us:
‘I have loved you as the Father loved me. Love one another as I have loved you’.
And again You said:
‘Whatever you did for the least of these my brothers you did it to me’.
We pray that You forgive us
If someone was hungry and we gave them no food,
If someone was thirsty and we gave them no drink,
If we met a stranger and we did not welcome them,
If someone was naked and we did not clothe them,
If someone was sick or in prison and we did not visit them.
Help us this day to be Your agent of love to some other person.
Lord Jesus, You had the heart of a servant.
Give us a heart like Yours.
As a church, we pray that You will bind us together with love.
May we love each other as You love each one of us.
Fill us with Your love that does not keep records of wrong,
May we forgive each other’s faults as You forgive our sins.
Bring joy to our hearts when we think of one another.
Bring Your perfect peace and unity into each family here.
Help us to build a united church family.
And as a church, help us to reach out
to the broken-hearted, and the lonely,
to those who don’t have family or loved ones to care for them,
to those whom you place on our paths.
Help us to see people through Your eyes;
to see not only their problems but also their possibilities,
to see them as all that they can be in You.
We thank you for each marriage represented in this church.
We pray that husbands and wives will love each other as You love the church
And that You will be at the centre of each marriage,
creating a three-fold cord that cannot be broken.
You instituted marriage to be the cornerstone of society,
So we pray that it be restored to its rightful place in our nation.
We thank you for each family represented in this church.
Knit together the hearts of parents and their children,
Give parents wisdom to teach their children in Your ways,
Bless them for their self-less acts of love.
Be the guide and guardian of our children in all that they do,
Call them to yourself and go before them to prepare the way for them.
We thank you for members of this church, past and present,
Who spread your love in other parts of the world.
May they walk daily in the power of Your Holy Spirit.
May they be salt and light to those whom they meet.
Protect them from harm and evil.
May Your faithfulness be their shield,
May Your love continue to inspire their hearts.
And bless those who support them financially or with untold hours of prayer.
We pray for all people in our city, in our nation, in our world.
For those struggling for peace and justice,
May You be their Wonderful Counsellor.
For the victims of violence,
May You be their Mighty God.
For children displaced, wounded or orphaned,
May you be their Everlasting Father.
For churches in conflict situations,
May you be their Prince of Peace.
Lord, reveal to us the ways that You want us to act to reach this hurting world.
Come Holy Spirit, and fill our hearts
so that we may work under your guidance and power,
so that we may overflow with joy and love,
so that we may serve others with the strength that you supply.
Lord, it is not the magnitude of our actions that count but the love we put into them.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.
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