Monday, September 22, 2008

Holy, Holy, Holy

Holy God,

We praise your name! We exalt you because you are infinite in holy perfection. Moreover, you are holy in that you transcend this creation and far surpass all that has been made by the power of your word. Even the angels in their burning light must fall down and cover their faces when in your presence.

As we come into your presence we do wish to rejoice that you have made us fit for your presence. We thank you that through the blood of your Son we have been justified. We give you praise for the outpouring of your Spirit, who has washed us and sanctified us so that we can stand before you and worship you today as the angels in heaven.

Moreover we thank you that we might be ones whom you have called to be holy. We do ask that you would come to us during this time of worship and stir our hearts up to that end. We pray that we might leave here with faces burning like Moses. We pray that our hearts might be set aflame with holy desires. We pray that in this time, as we are exposed to your majestic splendor, sin might be burnt like chaff and purged from our souls forever more.

We Can Do Nothing

Dearest Lord,

You are the God who dwells in heaven, and we are the people who have erred and gone astray. Your law declares your holiness. It convicts us of our evil and condemns us for it. Yet we come to you, poor sinners that we are, and seek your pardon.

We can by no means cover our guilt or make up for our offenses. No amount of offerings can take away your anger and no amount of charity could outweigh our evil. Even if we were to have the power to cease from our iniquity at this very hour, we know that we would still owe a debt beyond our ability to repay.

So as we come to you all we can do is throw ourselves upon your mercy, and look to the blood of your Son, our Savior. IN him we find one who is sufficient to pay our debt. In him we find our only hope of heaven and means of salvation.

So we pray that you would pardon our iniquity and fill us with a holy fear of you. Let us be ever thankful for your grace and sanctified by it. Let your spirit dwell within us continually and let him have his purifying work.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Almighty God,

You are the king and head of the church. You indeed have secured for us life forevermore. In you we have a mighty fortress. Through you we have a great inheritance. With you we have all confidence—be it against foe, fiend, and death alike.

Therefore we unite together to sing forth your praise. We come to you, our great God—three in one--to pledge our allegiance to you again, to renew our vows, to forsake our sins, to find grace and pardon, direction and teaching.

We pray that your glory would be sounded forth. We pray that the earth beneath us might be shaken and your presence known among us. We pray that your will would be revealed to us and your worship would be kept from all corruption.

Above all we pray that we would worship you both inwardly and outwardly. We pray that our worship would not be formalized or external only. We pray that our hearts would be renewed, our minds transformed. We pray that our souls would be dedicated to you, presented as a pleasing offering. For this is the one to whom you will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at your word. Bless to us this spirit, that you might be blessed above all things.
Most Merciful and Saving God,

We come to you as the one who delivers sinners from their affliction, the one who saves those who are caught in the mire of sin. We know you to be a compassionate God, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin. But we also know that you are most just and terrible in your judgments. You hate all sin and you will by no means clear the guilty.

Were we without hope of forgiveness we would be in great despair. But we know that your dear Son did bleed and die upon the cross. His flesh was torn and his body was crushed on behalf of sinners like us. And we do fly now to you with the hope of receiving salvation through his life, death and resurection. We do pray that you would accept his sufferings on our behalf and hold not against us the penalty of our sins.

We pray that you might raise us up with Christ that we might walk in the newness of life. Restore to us a heart of flesh and lead us in the way everlasting. And let not the death of Christ be in vain. But let all the merits that he did accrue in this perfect life be credited to our account. For this we ask in Jesus’ name.