Advent: Third Sunday
Advent—Love
December 22, 2013
“For thou art a holy people unto Jehovah thy God: Jehovah thy God hath chosen thee to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.
Jehovah did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all peoples: but because Jehovah loveth you, and because he would keep the oath which he sware unto your fathers, hath Jehovah brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)
In 1917, Fredrick M. Lehman wrote,
“The love of God is greater far Than tongue or pen can ever tell
It goes beyond the highest star, And reaches to the lowest hell
God’s love so sure shall still endure, All measureless and strong
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race – The saints and angels’ song.”
Because God’s love is infinite and eternal, He has given us the privilege to ask Him to bless the those things we care about. Since we have this honor and responsibility, this morning we will be praying for four things:
- Our Nation
- Our Church and our Pastor
- Others in need
- Ourselves and families
Please pray with me:
“Almighty God our Father, we love you. You have planted love in our hearts and you have nurtured it, so that love has grown in us.
Lord Jesus, there are many things we care deeply about and the love you give us expands to encompass them. Now as we pray hear our hearts and intercede for us before the Father.
Holy Spirit of truth, guide our prayers to express the desires of our Savior’s heart for saving the world.
Lord, you have blessed America far beyond the blessing of any other nation except, Israel. You built into the land vast resources and fruitfulness. You established our nation in freedom. You revealed Yourself to our forefathers and they established in this nation a godly government. Over the two centuries of America’s existence, our generosity has been unprecedented in history.
And yet in these latter days we have lost our first love. Since we are now turning our backs on You, we are in serious danger of losing Your blessing so that America ends up on the dust heap of history. Save us from our foolishness.”
Please pray for God’s intervention and His saving of America:
Prayer
“Thank you, Jesus for blessing us with Grace Fellowship Church. You love us. You called us out and brought us together in this special relationship with You and with one another. We are deeply grateful. Thank you.
We know we are not complete. We want to grow into the Body of Christ that You intend for us to become, so we are open to grow in our relationship with You and grow in numbers.
You have blessed us with an educated Pastor that loves us and is seeking to nurture us to see the purposes You have for us.
We ask that you strengthen his spirit and deepen his love for us, so he will have the resources to minister to Your glory and our benefit.”
Please pray for our church and our pastor:
Prayer
“We live in a fallen world, Father. We see that in the lives of those we care for. They struggle with their situations in the world. They struggle with afflictions in their bodies. The struggle to find employment, they struggle with finances.
Therefore, as You have laid the struggles of our loved ones on our hearts we now turn them over to You, with confidence in Your love to bring them through their struggles and into Your blessings.”
Please pray for the ones you love:
Prayer
“We need more of You Jesus. You love us and we love You. We acknowledge that too often we do not live in Your love. Manifest Your love in our lives to cure all our ills and bring us closer to You. Heal our diseases, Guide our prayers, strengthen our faith, and make us more like You, Lord.”
Please pray for yourselves:
Prayer
Join with me now in offering the prayer that our Lord Jesus taught us, saying…
