Public prayers are an important part of church services and the ministry of the gospel.
However, in his book A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of God-Centered Worship, Michael Horton makes a telling observation:
One of the most disappointing features of contemporary worship is the absence of prayer, and one suspects that few of the youth in evangelical or mainline churches today even know the Lord’s Prayer, which covenant children have prayed—and used as a model for their prayers—for two thousand years. If corporate prayer does not play an important part in our worship, it should not be surprising that it is marginalized in the individual lives of Christians.1
Certainly Horton is right, and in the broader contexts of evangelicalism, doubly so. Today it is not uncommon for there to be no pastoral/congregational prayer amidst the flow of contemporary worship, with no worship leader opening in prayer, no prayer at the offering, and no pastor praying that God will bless his message. It seems that prayer is regarded as something that interferes with the movement of worship. Other times, the congregational prayer, such as it is, is an existential stream of consciousness inspired by the singing that preceded it amidst equally existential riffs on the acoustic guitar. A caricature? Yes, but one that is based on an actual Sunday morning service that happened in time and space. This said, most Sunday services are not so overtly prayerless.
Likewise, most or certainly many extemporaneous prayers are beautiful and edifying. But often they are not. There are the “just” prayers, in which the one praying repeats the word just before every clause as he considers what to say next: “Lord, we just . . . want to say that we love you and that we are just . . . sinners, but we just . . . want to be right with you, so just . . . forgive our sins . . .” The thinking behind this kind of prayer apparently is that inarticulate fumbling for what to say is a sign of a humble dependence on the Spirit rather than “just” having nothing to say. There are also the “heavenly Father” prayers, in which the title is used twenty times in two minutes, with no thought that the Father has many other appellations, such as almighty Father, loving Father, holy Father, gracious Father, merciful Father, and eternal Father—not to mention the title God and the dozens of other titles used for him in the Scriptures. Such praying suggests a limited knowledge of God and his Word.
Again, these are caricatures, and somewhat cranky ones. But it is God’s name that is being blithely abused by mindless repetitions and pious empty fumblings. This kind of public prayer also abuses the body of Christ.
THE IMMENSE IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC PRAYERS IN THE WORSHIP SERVICE
The conviction that informs this chapter is this: our public prayers in our corporate worship services have a massive impact on the prayer lives of God’s people, in that such prayers teach the church how to approach our transcendent but immanent God. They also bring power to our churches.
OUR PUBLIC PRAYERS TEACH OUR PEOPLE HOW TO PRAY
The early Reformation worship liturgies were rich in prayer, with specific designations for the kinds of prayers included. There were prayers of:
All of these prayers (and others for the sacraments) were included variously in the Reformers’ two- to three-hour-long services on the Lord’s Day. This, of course, raises the question of whether we must be denied the rich variety of prayer because our worship services are shorter. Actually, no, because the various prayers can be subsumed under as few as two headings: Invocation and Pastoral/Congregational Prayer. For example, the invocation can invoke God’s presence and naturally include adoration and confession, and the pastoral prayer can include confession, thanksgiving, petition, intercession, and a prayer for illumination. Therefore, our services can instruct our people on how to pray in multidimensional richness.
Because of this, we must work on our prayers, as D. A. Carson has strongly admonished:
If you are in any form of spiritual leadership, work at your public prayers. It does not matter whether the form of spiritual leadership you exercise is the teaching of a Sunday school class, pastoral ministry, small-group evangelism, or anything else: if at any point you pray in public as a leader, then work at your public prayers. . . .
In brief, public praying is a pedagogical opportunity. It provides the one who is praying with an opportunity to instruct or encourage or edify all who hear the prayer. In liturgical churches, many of the prayers are well-crafted, but to some ears they lack spontaneity. In nonliturgical churches, many of the prayers are so predictable that they are scarcely any more spontaneous than written prayers, and most of them are not nearly as well-crafted. The answer to both situations is to provide more prayers that are carefully and freshly prepared.2
So much depends on how well pastoral leaders prepare to lead the people in prayer. If they prepare well and create a prayer-rich context, children through adults will learn how to adore God, confess sin, give thanks, petition, intercede, ask for the illumination of the Word, offer a good word of benediction, and, we may add, pray the Lord’s Prayer. Prayer is more easily caught than taught.
The resources provided throughout this chapter have been carefully selected to inform and elevate the prayers under the headings of Invocations, Confessions, Pastoral/Congregational Prayers, and Benedictions.
OUR PUBLIC PRAYERS BRING POWER TO THE CHURCH
The immense importance of the corporate prayers of the body of Christ rests on Scripture’s direct accounts of the power wrought by such prayers and the apostolic dependence on the prayers of the church.
The book of Acts tells us that it was after a mighty corporate prayer for boldness (Acts 4:24–30) that “the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (v. 31). Acts also recounts how the church’s corporate prayers brought deliverance for the imprisoned apostle Peter. The manacled apostle felt an angel tap him on the side, heard his chains rattle to the ground, and saw the iron prison gate automatically open for him (12:7–10). After Peter collected himself and went to the house of Mary, he found the church praying for him (v. 12).
The same thing happened to Pastor Zebedayo Idu, who, having been imprisoned by a Marxist dictator (who had given orders for his immediate execution), suddenly found himself free and on the street due to a “mechanical” malfunction. As he ran back to his village, he glanced into the church, where he saw his congregation united in fervent intercession for him.3
The apostle Paul’s intimate knowledge of the power of corporate prayer prompted him to conclude his teaching on spiritual warfare with the ringing challenge for his readers to take “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the spirit, with all prayer and supplication . . . for all the saints” (Eph. 6:17b–18). And then, very significantly, Paul asked for the church’s prayer for himself, adding, “And [pray] also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel” (v. 19).
There is mighty power when the church comes together for focused, corporate prayer, because when the prayers are not perfunctory but thought through, and when the people are truly engaged and praying in concert, great grace is poured out on world mission, local evangelism, national leaders, the preaching of the Word, the sanctification of God’s people, and the ill and grieving.
PREPARING FOR PUBLIC PRAYER
Preparation for public prayer requires preparation of the heart and of the head. Preparation of prayers apart from the heart may result in accuracy and eloquence, but of a frigid sort. Preparation of the heart is indispensable, but apart from some thought, prayers may be pious and vacuous. Pulpit prayer requires a melding of both types of preparation.
The public prayers of the pastor must be a reflection of his private prayer; public prayer must flow from our communion and intercession with God in secret. Congregational prayers can be theologically precise and beautiful but hollow if they are not rooted in the heart and practice of the pastor. Samuel Miller, of the old Princeton Seminary, argued in his Thoughts on Public Prayer that our prayers must be deeply felt and must engage the whole heart:
When the heart is engaged, and in proportion that it is deeply and warmly engaged; when the value of spiritual things is cordially felt, and the attainment of them earnestly desired; when the soul has a heartfelt sense of its own unworthiness, and an humble, tender confidence in the Saviour’s love and grace—in a word, when the whole soul is prepared to flow out in accordance with the language uttered, in faith, love, gratitude and heavenly desire;—then, and only then, will every petition, and word, and tone be, in some good degree, in happy keeping with the nature and scope of the exercise.4
The takeaways for those of us who are charged with leading in corporate prayer are significant:
PREPARING PRAYERS
When we speak of “preparing prayers,” we are not referring to set prayers that are sometimes used for invocation or confession, but prayers that the pastor may compose for any part of corporate worship, including invocations and confessions. Some advice about the use of set prayers appears at the end of this section.
First, we must understand how not to pray, a negative that must certainly inform the subject of preparation. Significantly, just before Jesus told his disciples how they ought to pray, giving them the example of the Lord’s Prayer, he told them how they ought not to pray: “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words” (Matt. 6:7). Jesus warned against two kinds of prayers: those full of empty phrases (today’s pious, vacuous jargon) and lengthy prayers (inflated by such empty jargon). This is not an argument against extemporaneous prayer, but a warning to take care as to the words and content of our prayers. This can best be done by writing out our prayers, as this personal anecdote from Douglas Wilson illustrates:
I grew up in evangelical circles and knew the public prayer ropes. I could pray readily in public settings, particularly in church, and did so in accordance with the accepted canons for many years. When I finally began to write my prayers out before the service, I noticed something funny. I had stopped repeating myself. I found myself praying in new territory. In short, the previous situation had allowed me to pray predictable prayers that I had not really thought about. Composing prayers beforehand, sitting down and actually thinking through what I was going to say, brought in a whole new world of possibilities in prayer. Too many people, when they pray extemporaneously, pray in the same way they comb their hair. It is a habitual action that requires no thought.5
At this point, readers may think that we are down on extemporaneous prayers in public worship. We are not. If we are Spirit-filled Christians, our waking hours are filled with extemporaneous prayer, and not just before meals and meetings. As pastors, we may be called on to offer extemporaneous prayer several times a day. In this sense, extemporaneous prayer is a barometer of spiritual health. It can even be said that at times an extemporaneous prayer is the height of spiritual expression and heartfelt devotion.
We are saying that thought-through public prayers will enrich and elevate public worship and the prayer life of the congregation. In fact, preparation often provides the ground for remarkable extemporaneous prayers. And because of this, we pastors should embrace the discipline of writing out our prayers.
Years ago, in the Princeton days of Miller, it was noted that Rev. John Gillies, a visiting Scottish preacher, prayed with remarkable pastoral grace and depth. When asked why that was, after demurring, he explained that if there was anything in his public prayer different from the prayers of others, it was due, “under God,” to the fact that in the first ten years of his ministry he never wrote a sermon “without writing a prayer, in part or in whole, corresponding with it in its general strain.”6 This kind of discipline pours grace on the gathered worship of the church.
Having made the case for the discipline of writing out our prayers for public worship, we are not suggesting that those prayers be read verbatim. They can be used as “security blankets” in making sure that we pastors stay on target. They can even be reduced to suggestive outlines or their contours committed to memory. In any case, they must be internalized so that they come from the depths of our hearts with much affection. Likewise, the set prayers and prayers of confession, some of which are listed below, must never be “said,” but prayed with the full engagement of our minds and hearts. Our people can sense the difference. And by the way, never invite your people to “say” the Lord’s Prayer (the ultimate of all set prayers), but rather invite them to “pray” it: “Let us now pray the prayer that the Lord taught his disciples to pray, praying, ‘Our Father . . .’”
The prayers that follow under their categorized headings are meant to be used in full or in part—for outtakes or for inspiration for writing your own prayers. Some of the prayers are ancient and others quite contemporary (written as recently as last year).
INVOCATIONS
We begin with Puritan Richard Baxter’s Savoy Liturgy of 1661. It is full of deep theology and unique expressions, and is therefore a mine for excellent thoughts for composing invocations. From there, we will look at the brief, classic invocation from The Book of Common Worship, followed by invocations made from various biblical texts.
BAXTER’S SAVOY LITURGY
O eternal, almighty, and most gracious God: heaven is thy throne, and earth is thy footstool; holy and reverend is thy name. Thou art praised by the heavenly hosts, and in the congregation of thy saints on earth, and wilt be sanctified in all that come nigh unto thee. We are sinful and unworthy dust; but being invited by thee, we are bold, through our blessed Mediator, to present ourselves and our supplications before thee. Receive us graciously; help us by thy Spirit: let thy fear be upon us; let thy word come to us in power, and be received in love, with attentive, reverent, and obedient minds. Make it to us a savour of life unto life. Cause us to be fervent in prayer, and joyful in thy praises, and to serve thee this day without distraction; that we may find that a day in thy courts is better than a thousand, and that it is good for us to draw near to God; through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Amen.7
THE BOOK OF COMMON WORSHIP, 1946
ALMIGHTY God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that we might perfectly love Thee, and worthily magnify Thy holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.8
AN INVOCATION BUILT FROM A TAPESTRY OF TEXTS
Our Father in heaven, we have come to worship and bow down, and kneel before You the Lord our Maker, for You are our God, and we are the people of Your pasture, the sheep of Your hand (Ps 96:6–7).
We come to You in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world; He is our advocate with the Father; He is the only Mediator between God and man; He always lives to make intercession for us. Through Him we come boldly to Your throne of Grace. In His name we earnestly seek You. O Lord, our soul thirsts for You, our flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water (1 Jn 2:1; 1 Tim 2:5; Heb 2:18; 7:25; Ps 63:1).
Bow Your heavens and come down. Inhabit the praises of Your people; remember Your promise, O Spirit of Christ, to be present in the midst of Your worshipping people when two or more are gathered in Your name. Condescend to us; grant us the joy of Your fellowship; speak to us through Your word; and be blessed by our prayer and adoration (Ps 22:3; 144:5; Mt 18:20); even as we pray as our Lord taught us to pray . . .9
AN INVOCATION FROM SEVERAL PSALMS
Almighty Father, the Psalms provide us with the heart language for a proper passion for you, and so as we begin our worship we invoke the Psalms for ourselves as we pray in the first-person intimacy of these longings of the soul:
Indeed, Father, we do pant and thirst and seek and desire and long and faint for you because it is going to be so wondrous when we see your Son and become like him, for we shall see him as he is and will gaze on the beauty of the Lord and join “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’” (Rev. 5:13).
So now, Father, receive our worship as we long for you and your Son and for the Holy Spirit. Amen.
AN INVOCATION BASED PARTLY ON GENESIS 2
The following invocation is based on Genesis 2:2–3 (“And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done. . . . So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation”) and, in part, on the Lutheran Book of Prayer:
Heavenly Father, who on this day began your work of creation, we ask that you would renew us—your new creation—in your creating and saving love. Lord Jesus, who on this day conquered death and rose from the grave, help us to die to sin and to rise to new life with you.
O Holy Spirit, who on this day came upon our Lord’s disciples with power, come upon us now afresh, giving us victorious faith and humble obedience.
O blessed Trinity—Father, Son, and Spirit—our God, who cannot be contained in houses of worship made with our hands, we ask that you make your presence known among us now as we worship you. Gracious God, as we gather together this Sunday as your people, on this day of worship and rest, we pause now to lift our hearts in adoration and thanksgiving to your throne. And so with grateful hearts, we praise you for your Son, our Lord Jesus, for his life and death and resurrection, for all the work he has done on our behalf to make us sons and daughters of God. For while we have stumbled, through him you have lifted us up. And while we have sinned, through faith in him we have received full pardon and a complete and final Sabbath rest.
AN INVOCATION BASED ON THE Shema
Our mighty Savior, the words of the Shema echo down to us today: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deut. 6:4–5). And this, our Lord, you identified as the “great and first” commandment (Matt. 22:38). And more, you drove it home when you asked Peter three times if he loved you. Love for you, our risen Christ, is meant to fill all our horizons.
You know everything—you know the temperature of our souls. You know that as we are gathered here in worship today, we vary in our love for you, and you discern every degree. We cannot fool you. What do we need to do? We need to see your death and resurrection more clearly.
So we pray that as we, your body, greet one another, we will see your life in our brothers and sisters, and that as we praise you in hymn and song, our hearts and minds will focus upward to the cross, and that as we confess our sins, it will be with the transparency demanded by your all-knowing gaze, and that as the Word is preached, you will be exalted and love for you will rise in our souls.
Christ Jesus, we love you for dying on the cross for our sins and rising to new life for our salvation. Refresh us by that love.
In your name we pray. Amen.
AN INVOCATION BASED ON PHILIPPIANS 2:9–11
Our Lord Jesus, after your resurrection from the grave and ascension into heaven, God the Father highly exalted you and gave you a name that is above every name so that at your return and the judgment, every knee will bow in heaven (the knee of every angel and archangel and the saints above), and every knee will bow on earth (the knee of every believer and nonbeliever alike), and every knee will bow under the earth (the knee of every demon and Satan himself) and confess that “Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
On this Lord’s Day, your day, we confess as we begin our worship that you are Jesus (the incarnate Son of God), we confess that you are the Christ (the Messiah, the yes to every promise of God), and we confess that you are the Lord, the God of both covenants.
Jesus—Christ—Lord, may we worship you this day in the fullness of your name! Amen.
CONFESSIONS
Corporate confession of sin was a primary feature in all the liturgies of the early Protestant churches. The Strassburg Liturgy of Martin Bucer, John Calvin’s The Form of Church Prayers, John Knox’s The Forme of Prayers, The Middleburg Liturgy of the English Puritans, The Westminster Directory for the Publique Worship of God, and The Savoy Liturgy of Baxter, the consummate pastor, were all heavily loaded with substantial corporate confession of sin.10 The Savoy Liturgy contains a 1,500-word confession. Certainly the decline of prayer that has spread to so many churches, bringing with it the infrequency or even absence of confession, ought to concern us. More, if church is the place where Christians learn to pray, what will happen to the souls of those who neglect to confess their sins? Corporate confession of sin is of vast importance to the health of the evangelical church and the future of her children.
Before we move to examples, we must say loudly and clearly that we are not advocates of a pro forma weekly confession in which brain-numbed worshipers repeat a confession of sin in muffled Latinate cadences. Rather, we are advocating transparent, engaged, passionate confession by the assembled body of Christ. We believe it should never be routine. Corporate confession of sin must be varied. Sometimes there needs to be no more than a reading of a Scripture passage along with the pastoral invitation, “Let us confess our sins” (or, “Let us confess our sins, as is fitting to each of our souls”), followed by sixty seconds of silence (real silence, without musical accompaniment) in which the congregation may do so! Another time it may be done by the use of an ancient confession with a brief pastoral rubric about praying it from the heart and then praying it slowly enough for people to do it. Then, perhaps the majority of the time, there can be a prayer of confession by the pastor written by the pastor for himself and his people. This can take the form of a set confession said in unison or one prepared specifically for the service. The pastor can also decide to include this crucial component of confession as part of his pastoral prayer.
Below are several examples of early Protestant Confessions, followed by examples of three types of corporate Protestant confessions: (1) pastoral prayers of confession, (2) unison prayers of confession, and (3) responsive prayers of confession. We have also provided suggested Scripture passages to facilitate silent confession of sin.
EARLY PROTESTANT CONFESSIONS
We have chosen three early Protestant confessions that are representative of the penetrating vitality of corporate confession. Note that the prayer from The Strassburg Liturgy is followed in the original by a lengthy alternative confession that works through all the Ten Commandments, confessing that the pastor and his people have broken them all. These older prayers are theologically rich and lend themselves to easy translation to modern English for theological grist for our own written confessions.
The Strassburg Liturgy, Second Alternative Confession
Almighty, eternal God and Father, we confess and acknowledge that we, alas, were conceived and born in sin, and are therefore inclined to all evil and slow to do all good; that we transgress thy holy commandments without ceasing, and evermore corrupt ourselves. But we are very sorry for the same, and beseech thy grace for help. Wherefore have mercy upon us, most gracious and merciful God and Father, through thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ. Grant to us and increase in us thy Holy Spirit, that we may recognize our sin and unrighteousness from the bottom of our hearts, attain true repentance and sorrow for them, die to them wholly, and please thee entirely by a new and godly life. Amen.11
John Calvin, The Form of Church Prayers
My brethren, let each of you present himself before the face of the Lord, and confess his faults and sins, following my words in his heart.
O Lord God, eternal and almighty Father, we confess and acknowledge unfeignedly before thy holy majesty that we are poor sinners, conceived and born in iniquity and corruption, prone to do evil, incapable of any good, and that in our depravity we transgress thy holy commandments without end or ceasing: Wherefore we purchase ourselves, through thy righteous judgment, our ruin and perdition. Nevertheless, O Lord, we are grieved that we have offended thee; and we condemn ourselves and our sins with true repentance, beseeching thy grace to relieve our distress. O God and Father most gracious and full of compassion, have mercy on us in the name of thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And as thou dost blot out our sins and stains, magnify and increase in us day by day the grace of thy Holy Spirit: that as we acknowledge our unrighteousness with all our heart, we may be moved by that sorrow which shall bring forth true repentance in us, mortifying all our sins, and producing in us the fruits of righteousness and innocence which are pleasing unto thee; through the same Jesus Christ &c. [our Lord. Amen].12
The Book of Common Prayer (1662)
A General Confession to Be Said of the Whole Congregation after the Minister, All Kneeling
ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father, We have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep, We have followed too much of the devices and desires of our hearts, We have offended against thy holy laws, We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, And we have done those things which we ought not to have done, And there is no health in us: But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us miserable offenders; Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults, Restore thou them that are penitent, According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord: And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, To the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.13
PASTORAL PRAYERS OF CONFESSION
A Prayer of Confession Based on Psalm 32
Our merciful Father, we thank you that you never allow us comfort when we are not walking with you. When we refuse to confess our sins you give us an inward ache, as though our bones are wasting away, and we groan with an inaudible roar of guilt. You keep your hand heavy upon us, always pressing and depressing us. And our energy evaporates as dried up by the heat of a summer night. O Lord, the misery of unconfessed sin is a grace; it is a sign of being your child, and that we are loved. Thank you for the gift of guilt.
Merciful Father, thank you for forgiveness—because when we confess our sins there is real forgiveness for our real guilt, and the ache and the heaviness and the apathy disappear. And our hearts sing: “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” (v. 1). “You are a hiding place for me . . . you surround me with shouts of deliverance” (v. 7).
Loving Father, thank you for the blessed discomfort that you bring to us when we are away from you.
Hear us as we now confess our sins in these moments of silence.
A Prayer of Confession Based on Psalm 139
Almighty God, unto whom all things are open, we set ourselves before you.
Where can we go from your Spirit?
Where can we flee from your presence?
If we ascend to heaven, you are there!
If we make our bed with the dead, you are there!
If we dwell in the deepest part of the sea, you are there!
Darkness and light are alike to you.
You observed us before we were born, and in your book all our days were written.
There is nothing hidden from you. And we take great comfort in this. We are your relentless focus, “the apple of your eye” (Ps. 17:8). You have numbered the hairs on our heads.
Your loving knowledge of us also disquiets our souls. We can fool others (and we do), we can fool ourselves (and we do), but we cannot fool you! Your intimate knowledge of us demands honesty. You have seen our outward sins, which we now confess: our deceptions; our lies; our gossip; our hurtful words; our loveless actions; our “me first” self-focus; our irritability; our anger. Hear our confession of these sins, as it fits our own souls.
We confess our inner sins, the attitudes that are contrary to the fruits of the Spirit: our jealousies; our hatreds; our malice. Hear our confession of these sins, Lord, as it fits our own souls.
Thank you, merciful Father, that the blood of your Son cleanses us from all sin and that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
A Prayer of Confession Based on Luke 19:10
Our eternal, loving God, we celebrate your missionary heart—that, although you are completely self-sufficient, having no need of us, you sought us. The greatest missionary enterprise ever undertaken began when “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). And Jesus, the living Word himself, would announce, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10). And truly we would not be yours if you were not, indeed, the awesome Son of Man to whom the Ancient of Days gave “dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him” (Dan. 7:14). You sought us with ineluctable power. Sovereign Lord Jesus, you are the Hound of Heaven, and we bear testimony to your glorious footfall. We celebrate that in all our wandering and seeking, we were sovereignly sought.
Merciful Lord, your pursuing love causes us to see ourselves for what we are, ever-wandering sheep. We confess that we have strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed the sinful desires of our own hearts. We have broken your laws. We have left undone those things we ought to have done, and we do things that are wrong. There is no forgiveness or comfort in ourselves. Some of us have done things that we feel are beyond forgiveness. We wish that we could take back what we have done. We have wrongly kept back our confession of sin and suffer from guilt.
Hear our confession. Hound of Heaven, we repent of our sinful wandering. Forgive us our sins and cause us to follow you faithfully. Amen.
A Prayer of Confession to God the Father by Virtue of Jesus’s Name
Our mighty God, we come to you only by virtue of Jesus’s name. Were it not for his blood, we would find no place before you. There is an infinite distance between your holiness and us, your sinful creatures. Your purity and perfection forbid our access—except through your Son. So we come to you by his perfection, which has been given to us through his death and resurrection.
Lord God, your beauty overwhelms us. We long to dwell in your temple and behold that splendor. Our hearts are drawn to you. We desire your presence. Our souls thirst for you.
Our joyous confession is that you are light and life and joy. We believe that you are good, we believe that you are merciful, we believe that you are gracious, we affirm your steadfast love, and we believe that you are unchangeable in all these things.
And, Father, in confessing you as the holy God of all perfection, we see ourselves for what we are, and we humbly confess our sins in the silence of the following moments, trusting in Christ’s blood alone for forgiveness.
The most widely used and influential unison confession comes from Thomas Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer, included above in the early Protestant confessions. It appears verbatim in the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship, and its expressions turn up variously in modern confessions, especially “We have left undone those things that we ought to have done, and done those things that we ought not to have done.” The first unison confession below is a nice modern rendering of this prayer from Common Prayer: Resources for gospel-shaped gatherings, while the remainder are our own compositions. Note that we begin these confessions with the phrase, “Let us join together in confessing our sins.” In practice, it would be good to vary the invitation to confession.
A Modern English Unison Confession from the Book of Common Prayer
Let us join together in confessing our sins.
Merciful Father,
we have strayed from your ways like lost sheep.
We have followed too much the schemes and desires
of our own hearts,
and have broken your holy laws.
We have left undone what we ought to have done,
and we have done what we ought not to have done.
Yet, good Lord, have mercy on us;
restore those who repent,
according to the promises declared to us
through your Son, Jesus Christ.
Grant, merciful Father, for his sake,
that from now on,
we may live godly and obedient lives,
to the glory of your holy name. Amen.14
Additional Unison Prayers of Confession
Let us join together in confessing our sins:
Heavenly Father,
you have loved us with an everlasting love,
but we have gone our own way,
and rejected your will for our lives.
We are sorry for our sins
For the sake of your son who died for us,
forgive us, cleanse us, and change us.
By your Holy Spirit, enable us to live for you,
and to please you in every way,
for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.15
Let us join together in confessing our sins.
Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
you made all things, and you call everyone to account.
With shame we admit that we have sinned against you
in what we have thought, said, and done,
and we deserve your judgment.
We turn from our sins and are truly sorry for them.
Have mercy on us, most merciful Father.
Because of the cross of your Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, forgive us.
Enable us to serve and please you in new life,
to your honor and glory,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Let us join together in confessing our sins.
Father, we gather together with the expectant knowledge that,
through your Son, you freely pardon
all who repent and turn to him.
We have sinned against you this week
in our thoughts, our words, and our actions.
We have not loved you, or others, as you told us.
Grant us the mercy,
the forgiveness, and the cleansing
that Jesus gives to those who confess their sin.
Grant that we may worship you in Spirit and in truth,
to the glory of your name. Amen.
Let us join together in confessing our sins.
Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
maker of all things, judge of all people,
we acknowledge and confess the grievous sins and wickedness
that we have so often committed by thought, word, and deed
against your divine majesty, provoking most justly your anger
We earnestly repent and are deeply sorry for these our wrongdoings;
the memory of them weighs us down,
the burden of them is too great for us to bear.
Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us, most merciful Father;
for your Son our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, forgive us all that is past;
and grant that from this time onward we may always serve
and please you in newness of life, to the honor and glory of your name,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
RESPONSIVE PRAYERS OF CONFESSION
In the following prayers, paragraphs in bold are to be spoken by the congregation.
Eternal God, You do not change. You have revealed Yourself to us in Your Word. You call us to worship You in spirit and in truth.
But we confess that we often worship a god made in our image and who we wish You to be.
We frequently ask You to bless what we do, rather than seeking to do what You bless.
Forgive us for seeking concessions when we should be seeking guidance.
You command us to be generous with our love and resources, for the sake of the church and the lost.
But we have been selfish and insensitive to the needs and opportunities around us.
Display Your glory before us.
That we might bow before Your unspeakable majesty and so live for You now and forever in Christ. Amen.
Individual confession of sin.16
Our lips are ready to confess,
But our hearts are slow to feel, and our wills are reluctant to repent.
We bring our entire selves to You, this morning—
Bend us, wound us, and, if necessary, break us.
We have seen the purity of Your perfect word, the happiness of those in whose heart it reigns, the calm dignity of the walk to which it calls—
Yet we daily violate its precepts.
Your loving Spirit strives within us, brings us Scripture warnings, speaks in startling providences, allures by secret whispers—
Yet we make shameful choices that grieve Him and quench His influence.
We mourn and lament these sins, crying to You for pardon.
Grant that through the tears of repentance we may see more clearly the goodness and glory of our Savior and His cross.
Individual confession of sin.17
Father, we gather together with the expectant knowledge that, through your Son, you freely pardon all who repent and turn to him.
We have sinned against you this week in our thoughts, our words, and our actions. We have not loved you, or others, as you told us.
Grant us the mercy, the forgiveness, and the cleansing that Jesus gives to those who confess their sin. On that basis, grant that we may continue to worship you in Spirit and in truth, to the glory of your name. Amen.
SCRIPTURE PASSAGES FOR SILENT CONFESSION
A meaningful time of solemn confession can be created by the reading of a text that evokes reflection and confession, followed by the simple pastoral injunction, “Let us confess our sins.” The following texts are suggested in Robert Rayburn’s O Come, Let Us Worship.18
The LORD is in his holy temple;
the LORD’s throne is in heaven;
his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.
The LORD tests the righteous,
but his soul hates the wicked and the one who does violence. . . .
For the LORD is righteous;
he loves righteous deeds;
the upright shall behold his face. (Ps. 11:4, 5, 7)
Let us confess our sins.
O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
who does not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor,
nor takes up a reproach against his friend. (Ps. 15:1–3)
Let us confess our sins.
Who can discern his errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression. (Ps. 19:12–13)
Let us confess our transgressions.
Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
He will receive blessing from the LORD
and righteousness from the God of his salvation. (Ps. 24:3–5)
Let us confess our sins.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Ps. 51:15–17)
Let us confess our sins.
O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. (Ps. 139:1–4)
Let us confess our sins.
Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isa. 55:6–7)
Let us confess our sins.
“Yet even now, “declares the LORD,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. (Joel 2:12–13)
Let us confess our sins.
PASTORAL/CONGREGATIONAL PRAYERS
Carson emphasizes the importance of the congregational prayer, citing Charles Spurgeon’s regard for the responsibility:
In the last century the great English preacher Charles Spurgeon did not mind sharing his pulpit: others sometimes preached in his home church even when he was present. But when it came to the “pastoral prayer,” if he was present, he reserved that part of the service for himself. This decision did not arise out of any priestly conviction that his prayers were more efficacious than others. Rather, it arose from his love for his people, his high view of prayer, his conviction that public prayer should not only intercede with God but also instruct and edify and encourage the saints.19
Leading God’s people in praise, intercession, and petition is an immense privilege and responsibility because of the power that corporate prayer brings to the church and also because of how it informs and strengthens the prayer life of the body of Christ. The following prayers are provided as examples of how we as pastors have gone about it. Readers should note that the prayers do not include the typical weekly petitions for the ill or for God’s blessing on the coming ministry events in the life of the church. These important things were prayed for in the context of the congregational prayers.
SAMPLE CONGREGATIONAL PRAYERS
Sample Congregational Prayer #1
Lord God Almighty, we come before you today and ask that you would enable us to pass all the time of our pilgrimage here on earth in such a way that when we pass from this world we may be prepared to meet you in your heavenly kingdom.
When we think of this life and its various temptations, when we look around and see the wickedness of the world, and then contemplate also the weakness and corruption of our own nature, we recognize how easy it would be to fall under the power of such temptation. But we praise you, O Lord, for that abundant grace that is treasured up for us in Christ Jesus. We thank you for all the promises and encouragements given to us in your gospel, which is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). So we exalt you because your Son has died as a sacrifice for sin and the Spirit of Christ has been given to sanctify us. And so we pray now for the filling of that same Spirit; we ask that you would fill us with the Holy Spirit so that in all we think and say and do this world might also be filled with the righteousness of God, your will, O heavenly Father.
Prepare us, we ask you, for every task of this day and coming week; arm us for every trial that may come upon us. Sanctify us, O Lord, in body, soul, and spirit. Help us this week to devote ourselves more fully to you; and may we, by your grace, be found walking in the fear of the Lord, fulfilling, each of us, our proper vocation with Christian humility and simplicity.
Deliver us from a careless and unbelieving life, from a life of idleness and foolishness, as well as of wickedness and vice. Save us from the sins that in times past may have most easily beset us and from those temptations to which we may now, through our age and our circumstances, be most exposed.
May our hearts be filled with love to you; and may all our abilities be so used in doing good that no place may be given for those temptations that continually overcome those who do not know the gospel of salvation. And may your grace increase in us and our corruptions be weakened day by day. At the same time, forgetting the things that are behind and looking forward to those things before us, may we continue to press toward the mark of the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus.
O Lord, help us this day to remember how short and uncertain is the time of our pilgrimage here on earth, so that, whatever work we might do, we may do it with all our might, and to the glory of your name. Amen.20
Sample Congregational Prayer #2
Lord Jesus Christ, when you took on flesh, you humbled yourself “by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8). Your obedience did not begin in heaven. Unlike your love, which is eternal, your obedience is not eternal. Today, exalted Christ, you obey nothing in the heavens above or on the earth or under the earth. Your obedience began when you became a man, the one obedient man of all history. You lived in full obedience to your Father all your years as a man, and though you were God, when you prayed for deliverance, it was not God praying to God, but man praying to God, who “In the days of his flesh . . . offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence” (Heb. 5:7). Lord Jesus, when you asked to have the cup taken from you, your loving Father heard you and answered no. And you, as a man, the Man, obeyed. Your Word tells us that you “learned obedience through what [you] suffered. And being made perfect, [you] became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey . . . being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek” (Heb. 5:8–10).
Suffering Servant, your incarnate obedience made you “obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8). Apart from your obedience as a man who became the sacrificial lamb who took away the sin of the world, we would be lost and without hope. And more, your obedience in suffering in human flesh has made you to be our merciful and faithful high priest, because having suffered when you were tempted, you are able to help those who are tempted (cf. Heb. 2:10, 18). So when we are tempted by life’s difficulties to engage in doubt and disobedience, you will help us. Therefore:
Since . . . we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace in time of need. (Heb. 4:14–16)
So, Lord, when we are tempted by suffering to doubt and disobey you, we know that you understand our humanity and weaknesses, and there is not a note that can strike in our humanity that does not sound a sympathetic chord in your exalted humanity. So we now, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace in our time of need.
Merciful Savior, we pray for those in our midst who are being tempted to engage in disbelief and disobedience by the difficult circumstances of life—perhaps a difficult marriage, perhaps the loss of a job, perhaps the loss of a spouse or a child, perhaps a series of failures, perhaps the unremitting pressure of debt or problems at every turn—and as a result want to bail and resort to their own devices. Lord, assure all believers that you do understand and sympathize, and draw them to the throne of grace for unremitting mercy and endless grace. Amen.
Sample Congregational Prayer #3
Almighty and everlasting God, our creator, sustainer, redeemer, and friend, we now enter into your sacred presence under a deep sense of our weakness and unworthiness and your unspeakable greatness, holiness, and majesty. We approach you, at the same time, as a God of goodness, grace, and mercy; for you have made yourself known to us in Jesus Christ your Son and have proclaimed pardon to every repenting sinner through faith in the sacrifice that Christ has offered on the cross for us. We desire to honor you for this strong and sure foundation of hope, and we would now address you in the full assurance of faith, renouncing all confidence in ourselves, rejoicing in him who has become the hope of all the ends of the world. We praise the Lamb who died for us, has risen again, and is now exalted at your right hand, where he ever lives to make intercession for us.
So we ask you, our God, to accept for Christ’s sake our imperfect worship that we offer up to you both now and throughout this week. Having been taught through your Word to know your will, may we be diligent to fulfill it. Grant us a faith that loves, obeys, and works! Within our homes, workplaces, and this church, give us a spirit of humility and kindness and patience. Our great God, you have been bountiful and gracious to us. You have multiplied our temporal comforts, and you pardon our many transgressions. Grant that we may follow the example of your generosity and that we may also be like you, ready to forgive. May we, by your assistance, be watchful over ourselves but tender toward the infirmities and weaknesses of others.
Strengthen us, our Lord, in our seasons of trials and temptation; guide us through all the difficulties into which we may fall; and bless us in all the scenes of life through which we may pass. Prepare us by all the events and circumstances of this life for the last day and the life of the world to come. When the shadows of the evening shall come upon us, when age and sickness shall arrive and human help fail, O Lord, be the strength of our hearts and our portions forever.
We pray all this in Christ’s name and for his glory. Amen.21
Sample Congregational Prayer #4
Lord Jesus Christ, incarnate Son of God, the firstborn of all creation, you are the Creator of everything in the universe, for the Scriptures speak of you when they say, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:16–17). You created every texture, every aroma, the unseen beauties under the sea, the gliding rainbow of a cell, the stripes on a bumblebee, the trackless, fleeing galaxies, every speck of stellar dust. You were existing before these things were, and you hold all things together by the word of your power (Heb. 1:3). And, as the firstborn of all creation, you are the heir of everything in the universe and, indeed, its very goal—as you, Christ, affirmed at the end of the Revelation: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Rev. 22:13).
Sovereign Lord, you are the Creator, the Sustainer, the Goal who became our Redeemer when you took on human flesh, lived among us, and then died on the cross for our sins. Lord Jesus, help us grasp the immensity of who you are and what you have done for us, and then believe it with all of our hearts—because the most important thing about us is what we believe about you. You are the Creator, Sustainer, Goal, Redeemer, and Lover of our souls. We believe; help our unbelief!
May those who are doubting their significance in this uncaring world grasp the immensity of your person and the vast love with which they are loved, and likewise those reeling from rejection, overcome with loneliness, struggling to provide, dealing with errant children, or aging and facing the loss of a loved one. May the astonishing wonder of your death on the cross for us, eternal Son and Creator and Sustainer, and the unending tide of your love cause us to rest in you.
We pray this in the name that is above every name. Amen.
Sample Congregational Prayer #5
“The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne” (Ps. 97:1–2). Our great and sovereign God, we bow before you this morning and recognize your righteousness and justice, your holiness and love. And we recognize that you alone are worthy to be praised. So we lift our voices and hearts in praise of you!
Our gracious and merciful God, as we dwell upon the perfect requirements of your holy law, we quickly recognize that we are great sinners—our flesh still battles with our spirit; our new hearts still long for the new day of the resurrection of our bodies. But until then, O Lord, please hear again our confession of sin. Please forgive us our sin. And please help us by the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome sin.
We thank you for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and man. We thank you for his perpetual cleansing blood, for your constant forgiveness through him. We thank you for the gospel—the good news of salvation through Christ. And we thank you for the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, minds, and wills to embrace this glorious message of salvation.
Lord, you have commanded us, through your Word, to give thanks in all circumstances, for such is your will for us in Christ. But while we admit how easy it is to rejoice in your gospel and the good news of our salvation, and to rejoice when we see all things working together for our good, we also admit how hard it is to give thanks when we cannot see through the storm. Help us, O Lord, to see through our trials, to have a divine perspective on them, to see them as you see them, and thus to trust in you so that we indeed can rejoice and give thanks even now. Lord, come to the rescue of those who cry out to you. Heal the bodies and souls of those who cry out to you, or of those on whose behalf others cry out. Be the God of all grace and comfort.
On this Lord’s Day, our Lord, we acknowledge you as Lord. And so we bow before you, Lord of the universe and Lord of the church and Lord of this church, trusting that you alone hear our prayers and you alone have the power to answer them. So do answer them, our gracious Lord and Father, according to your perfect will and for the sake of your perfect glory. We pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.
Sample Congregational Prayer #6
Father, we have gathered this morning because of the resurrection of your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. So this is a day of great rejoicing, and a time in which our hearts are raised up to you in adoration and praise. Hear us, O God. Hear now our heartfelt praise and thanksgiving for all you have given us in Christ.
But hear also, our gracious and merciful God, our confession of sin. Lord, we know that you are faithful and just to forgive all our sins if we come to you, like the prodigal son, saying: “I am no longer worthy to be called your son. . . . I have sinned against heaven and before you” (Luke 15:19, 21). We know that you, as a kind and loving Father, will forgive us all our trespasses. So, Lord, listen now to our confession of all that we have sinned against you in body and in mind.
Lord, have mercy upon us. Forgive us our sins against you and against one another.
Our God in heaven, you have taught us in your Word that “the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16). So, Father, knowing that you have heard our confession of sin and have absolved us through the righteous blood of Christ, our Advocate before you, we ask now that you would hear our prayers. Lord, we pray for our government officials—the president, the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as our governor, mayor, and all other local officials. We ask that you would give them knowledge, wisdom, and virtue. We pray that they will know and accomplish their duties, namely, that they would punish the wicked and administer justice according to your law.
Lord, we also lift up the leaders of this church and ask that you would help the elders and deacons to make wise and prudent decisions. Help us to have clarity of mind and vision. Give us patience and wisdom, and bestow upon us a spirit of humility and unity in Christ as we seek to be servants of the servants of God.
Lord, we “rejoice with those who rejoice” and we “weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15). We rejoice especially with ___________. And, Father, we weep for those who weep—whether it is due to some sickness or distress. And we ask that you would be the God of comfort to them. Be especially with ___________.
Lord, we gathered today to worship you. So we look forward now to honoring you through the songs we sing, the words we hear, and the response we give. To you, Father, Son, and Spirit, be all the glory in the church, both now and forevermore. Amen.
Sample Congregational Prayer #7
Our loving Savior, your Word tells us that the light of the gospel has been entrusted to us in the frail “jars of clay” of our humanity “to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Cor. 4:7). And, Lord Jesus, you told the apostle Paul directly, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9a). The reality is that all through history, you, our God, have chosen and used nobodies because their unusual dependence on you made possible the unique display of your power; you chose and used somebodies only when they renounced dependence on their natural abilities and relied on you. So you don’t need our strengths, if they are what we depend upon. You need our weaknesses, and, Lord, we have a lot to give!
Lord, you are telling us that the ministry of the gospel goes out when we live in profound dependence upon you. Regardless of our wealth, education, or standing in the world, you are pleased to use only clay pots. This is humbling, but so beautiful. Paul, a man of immense abilities, understood it and lived it out, saying, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor. 12:9b)—because Paul knew that you pitch your tent with us in our weaknesses. Jesus, you camp with those who depend upon you. Lord, apart from you, we can do nothing. So now as we pray for the spread of the gospel, we pray for full dependence upon you.
We pray for the children of this church. While we instruct them, we are helpless to open their eyes. Open their eyes, Lord.
We pray for our community as we endeavor to share the gospel through our ministries, realizing that a ministry never won anyone to Christ.
We pray for our missionaries, ___________ in ___________, that you would encourage their efforts with new believers.
We pray for our government leaders—for ___________, ___________, and ___________. You hold the hearts of kings in your hand. Turn their hearts to you.
Our Lord, we are “not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). It is your power. You can save anyone, anywhere, anytime. And you can use clay pots to do it—“to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Cor. 4:7). Amen.
Sample Congregational Prayer #8
For the congregational prayer this morning, I want to involve you—the congregation—in the prayer itself. I will do this by using a traditional formula for congregational prayer—namely, I will give a series of brief petitions, ending each one with the words, “We pray to the Lord.” Then you will reply by saying, “Lord, hear our prayer.” After six brief petitions, I will give a short concluding prayer. After that, we can all reply with a hearty “Amen.” Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, you have called us as Christians to remember to pray for the church, the world, and the ongoing ministry of the gospel, that it might increase and make disciples of all nations. And so we pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
For those in need—the poor and the hungry, the homeless and the unemployed, the sick and the lonely—that they may receive help in their distress, we pray to the Lord.
For those who do not yet believe, and for all those in spiritual need—that they may find faith, hope, and comfort, we pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
For our nation and for all who govern—that justice and freedom may be preserved for all citizens, and that we may dwell in peace, as so to give a greater opportunity for the spread of the gospel, we pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
For the church throughout the world, and especially for our missionaries in ___________—that these brothers and sisters of ours may remain faithful to their calling (help them to proclaim the gospel boldly even in the midst of much conflict) and so prove to be the light of Christ among the nations, we pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
And for our own congregation—for parents and children in the home, and for each of us in our vocations, that we may prove to be Christ’s disciples in both word and deed, that we might walk in a manner worthy of God, we pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
Heavenly Father, source of all good and Savior of mankind, grant grace to your people to live as faithful followers of Christ our Lord and worthy witnesses of your gospel. Have mercy on the peoples of the earth, and draw the lost into your gracious kingdom. Help us meet the needs of the poor and suffering through the love of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.
Amen.
SAMPLE CONGREGATIONAL PRAYERS BASED ON TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE
A Prayer Based on Exodus 20:2
Father, you are the Lord our God, who brought Israel out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who has brought us out of darkness and into your marvelous light, out of slavery in our sins and into the freedom of the gospel.
You have commanded that we are to have no other gods before you. Lord, help us resist the gods of this world—the constant temptations of our society that war against our hearts and minds. By your Spirit, renew us day by day, that we may not only resist false gods, but actively seek after you, the true God, with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
You have commanded that we not make any idols in the form of anything in heaven or on earth. Lord, help us not to recast you in our image. Help us not to try and change you according to how we see fit, if even inadvertently, but rather re-form us by your Word and Spirit to be conformed to the likeness of your Son.
You have commanded that we not misuse your name. While most of us probably don’t misuse your name by speaking it hastily, we are much more likely to misuse it by not representing it well. As those born again and given a new name—Christian—may we not be found to misuse the name of Christ by our words or deeds. Help us not only to avoid misusing your name, but also to excel in using it—to represent our Savior Jesus in the ways that we speak and live.
You have commanded us to remember the Sabbath. Lord, help us to be faithful to work diligently for six days, and to treat this Lord’s Day as holy. May we not merely rest from our work, but may we remember and worship you, the Creator God, who rested on the seventh day.
You have commanded that we honor our father and mother. Lord, help us to do this not only by refraining from disrespecting our parents, but also by actively seeking ways to honor and bless them.
You have commanded that we not murder. Lord, forgive us for how we murder in our hearts through hatred and bitterness. Free those who are even now in bondage to animosity toward others. Renew us by your Spirit, that we would learn to love those who do us wrong, just as you have loved us.
You have commanded that we not commit adultery. Lord, forgive us when this command is transgressed, whether physically, emotionally, or mentally. Renew and strengthen our marriages, that we might reflect well Christ’s forgiving and reconciling relationship with the church, and foster purity among those who are single, that they might be holy servants of you, our pure and holy God.
You have commanded that we not steal. Lord, help us not only to refrain from taking what is not ours, but also to give generously to those in need.
You have commanded that we not give false testimony. May we not only refrain from lies in our words, but may we also live truthfully. May how we live behind closed doors coincide with how we live in view of all.
You have commanded that we not covet. Lord, may we not scorn your goodness by coveting your providence upon others, but develop in us hearts that are grateful for your providence in our lives.
As we consider your commands, Lord, we must confess that they are good and right. We also confess that we fall short of them, and so we rely on your mercy through Jesus. Thank you for forgiving our shortcomings. Thank you for your grace in imputing to us Christ’s perfect obedience of your law. Enable us to grow in holiness by loving you the ways you have commanded us, that you might be glorified in our lives. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
A Prayer Based on Deuteronomy 4:5–8
See, I [Moses] have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me. . . . Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today? (NIV)
Father, you are the mighty God Most High, El Shaddai, the one who called Abram and graciously promised that his descendants would be more numerous than the stars. You made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to be their God, and by your mighty hand you rescued their descendants Israel out of bondage in Egypt and gathered them as a kingdom of priests. In your mercy, Lord, you dwelled with them in the tabernacle and the temple, and in your goodness you gave Israel laws and decrees for how to live holy lives in your presence in the Land of Promise. But they rebelled, Lord, and did not seek after your wisdom and did not abide by your statutes.
Our Father, how much are we your people today like Israel. You have graciously made promises to us. You have sent your Son Jesus to rescue us from our bondage in sin, and you have given your churches a covenant in his blood, that through his sacrifice we are made to be your people—a royal priesthood and a holy nation. And like Israel, Lord, you have given us laws and decrees by which to live—commands from the very lips of our Lord Jesus himself, that we might live holy lives in your presence as we move toward the new heaven and new earth that you have promised. In your mercy, you dwell with us by your Holy Spirit, transforming us into the very temple of God.
And like Israel, Lord, we acknowledge that we are prone to rebellion. Although you are holy, true, righteous, and good, our flesh is weak. So we pray, Lord, that you would quicken our hearts, grow us in holiness, change us from the inside out, and enable us to grow in our obedience and adherence to your word, so that your great wisdom and understanding would be manifest to our neighbors and to the nations, who will hear about your grace and mercy to us and say, “What other religion, what other people, is so great as to have their God near them the way Jesus has drawn near to his church?”
Lord, we pray for those here who are struggling with persistent sins. Whether it be anger, lust, vanity, sloth, envy, or pride—whatever it may be, you know our hearts—we pray that you would, by your Word and Spirit, bring sharp conviction where it is needed here today. We pray you would give us eyes that see and ears that hear, that we may not be blind and deaf to our sin, and that we would turn from it. And, Lord, in the midst of this struggle, we pray for your comfort. We pray that those here who are struggling in obedience to Jesus’s words would remember that you are slow to anger and rich in love, and that you will finish the good work that you have started in them.
We thank you that our obedience to your Word is a reflection of our salvation and not a means to it. We thank you that Jesus’s words are righteous, that they are words of life that are for our good. We praise you that you are a God who is worthy of obedience. All glory, honor, majesty, and dominion be yours, our God, now and forever. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
A Prayer Based on Psalm 19:1–14
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge. (vv. 1–2)
Our God, we are not hidden from your power and your grace. And we praise you this day for the wonders of your creation, which reveal to us but a fragment of your holiness, sovereignty, mercy, and love. Yet we realize, our Creator God, without your gracious revelation of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ (the Word incarnate), as well as your gracious revelation of the written Word (the Bible), we, with our sinful hearts, would likely worship the creation rather than the Creator, who is forever to be praised. We thank you, our Lord, for your Word, and praise you for the way it emits your glory and warms our souls. For,
The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the LORD are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward. (vv. 7–11)
Teach us this day, O God, to know, understand, and obey your Word; for your testimony is the only truth that can enlighten our minds and revive our hearts. Your truth is pure, as sweet as honey, and reveals your righteousness and our impurity. For as the psalmist said,
Who can discern his errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression. (vv. 12–13)
Our gracious Lord, who can declare us innocent from hidden faults? Who can save us from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life? Your Son and his atonement is our only refuge! So take all our sins of this week and even this moment, and nail them to his saving cross. Lord Jesus, our advocate, speak kindly on our behalf and resurrect in us obedience to your Father’s will.
Our righteous Savior, we ask you to watch our church, to keep its people from temptations and from the bite of the Evil One. Heal our sick. Provide for those in need (financially, emotionally, and spiritually). Save the lost in our midst and in our neighborhoods. May this church, by the strength of your Spirit, radiate the light of your gospel throughout this lost city and dark world.
Father, Son, and Spirit,
Let the words of [our] mouth and the meditation of [our] heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O LORD, [our] rock and [our] redeemer. (v. 14)
A Prayer Based on Psalm 73:25–28
Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works. (NASB)
Father, along with the psalmist, we turn to you for perspective. When all in this world seems to go against us, when life is apparently unfair, and when trials fall upon us like a rock, we turn to you, our Rock of redemption. We come into your sanctuary and see things as they truly are—with you upon the throne, and with the loving purpose of your perfect plan in place.
Lord, we pray this day, the Lord’s Day—as we take but a momentary break from our weekly labors, to rest in you, to fellowship with one another, and to speak of that which matters most—that you would help us to see well the wonders of your works, the glory of your name, and the holiness of your person, so that we might bow in reverence, adoration, and praise.
For, Father, we recognize how little we understand your holiness, your perfect holiness. And this is why we so often fail to see ourselves as we should, as less than holy, as so unholy in your perfect light. But teach us even now how far we fall from your glory, and how much we need daily, hourly to come to you, to cling to Christ and his perfect holiness—his birth for us, his life for us, his death for us, his resurrection for us, his ascension for us, his sending of the Holy Spirit for us, his exaltation for us, his moment-by-moment mediation for us and for all our sins. To him be all the glory in the church and in this church—for Christ alone, and his deep, deep love, is worthy of our deepest love and commitment.
Help us to know his commandments, to walk in them, to teach them to others, and to share with others the way that leads to life. Give us the grace to serve you, to tell of all your works.
And, Lord, as we now come to sing unto Christ, and as we stand to hear your Word read and then sit to listen to it explained and applied, and then as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we ask that you will help us to acknowledge our need, and to run to Christ with outstretched arms—for love, safety, and salvation. We pray this in his name, and for the glory of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
A Prayer Based on Psalm 89:6–8
For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD? God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee? (KJV)
Our strong and faithful God, we come before you this day, acknowledging that you are to be worshiped with reverence and awe. In a world that mocks you, so often debases your name, and forgets you as its Creator and Savior, we have gathered in this assembly on this Lord’s Day to acknowledge and praise you as our God, Creator, Savior, and Lord.
But who are we, O God, to speak to you? Who are we to so come into your presence? Who are we to call upon the name of the Lord God Most High—we who are so small, sinful, and full of pride and presumption? We who think this world revolves around us—centers on our desires, on our needs, and on our wills being done.
Lord, if the perfect angels bow in fear and reverence in your very presence, we who are imperfect, earthbound, and of the flesh ought to cover our mouths, ought to hold our tongues, and ought to guard our hearts until we come to know you, to accept you, and to acknowledge you as holy, holy, holy, the Lord God Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth. If you answer not one of our petitions, answer this one: Humble us, O Lord. Humble us! Make us this day to tremble under this privilege of prayer, under this privilege of coming into your presence through Christ.
We take you too lightly, O Lord. We call you “Father,” and yet we so often think and act not like sons and daughters. We wander from your commands. We trample on your decrees. We say, “Yes” with our lips and “No” with our lives. We need forgiveness more than favors. We need grace more than goods. So give us this grace. Give us this forgiveness. Hide us now, hide us again, in the shadow of Christ’s wings. Wash us clean in the blood of your Son. Touch our lips with your burning coals and we, like Isaiah, shall be healed, healed so that we might serve and speak.
Fill these empty vessels, O Lord, with your Holy Spirit, so that we might be holy as you are holy, so that we might strive to live a life that is pleasing to you—a life that considers others better than ourselves, a life that works to advance the kingdom of God on earth, a life that seeks the welfare of the poor: the orphans and the widows of our world. We, your prodigal sons and daughters, ask you now to take us and to make us pleasing children of God.
And, Lord, as we consider what we should be and ask that you would make us that, we also ask that you would come to us today and have your hand upon those who are in need. Touch those who need healing in their bodies. Touch those who need healing in their marriages. Touch those who need healing in their homes, healing with their children, or healing with their parents or with siblings. Touch those who need healing at work, with employers or employees. Touch those who need healing here within this church, with our brothers and sisters in Christ, those we are called to love and be at peace with. Lord, for these needs and many more, we ask of your provision through the only name that gains acceptance before your throne of grace, the name of Jesus, our only mediator. Amen.
A Prayer Based on Psalm 118:1–4, 19–21
Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever.
Let Israel say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
Let the house of Aaron say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
Let those who fear the LORD say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
Our gracious God, we praise you this morning for your goodness and enduring love. We praise you as the Maker, Creator, and Sustainer of all things. We praise you for your mighty acts in history. We praise you for our great redemption in Christ.
Our gracious God, we are a sinful people. Our minds and hearts have wandered this week from the way of life, from steadfast obedience to your righteous Word. And so we come to you now, confessing our sins and asking you, through the holy blood of Jesus Christ, to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all iniquities.
Our Lord, we ask that you would purify our souls of the acts of our sinful nature, and fill us with your Spirit. Conquer our sin, and generously bestow upon us the gifts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Open to me the gates of righteousness;
That I may enter through them
and give thanks to the LORD.
This is the gate of the LORD;
the righteous shall enter through it.
I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
Our Lord, we thank you for our salvation. And we thank you for the gift of the church, and the gift of this church. And we pray this day for our marriages, our homes, our jobs, and our ministries. We pray that you would bring an extraordinary spirit of humility, unity, and love within this body of believers.
Lord, we also pray for our nation and our world. We lift up our president and all who are in authority. Give them great wisdom in these days of internal and external conflict. And we lift up missionaries around the world. Use them to grow your gospel.
Father, we have gathered this day, the Lord’s Day, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; our Jesus, who has taught us how to live, how to love, how to die to self, and also how to pray. And so we pray now the prayer he taught his disciples to pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
A Prayer Based on Isaiah 40:27–31
Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Our Most High and supreme God, who exists from everlasting to everlasting, you spoke, and by your very word the earth and all that is in it came into being. Just as you have created the ends of the earth, so shall one day your glory be recognized unto the ends of the earth.
As your people, Lord, we come to you as those who can relate to the words of Isaiah. Because of the fall, and because of our ongoing sin, we undergo much pain and heartache in our lives, and sometimes we feel that our way is hidden and disregarded by you. Some of us go through personal struggles in our hearts and in our minds. We have an ache inside that has gone untreated for so long. We think that our way is hidden from your sight—that there is no hope. Some of us have struggles in our homes, families, marriages, or with our children, and when days and weeks and months go by with little or no change, we feel as if we’re at the end of our rope and we find ourselves saying, “My cause is disregarded by my God.” All of us here, Lord, feel the effects of the sin that has been brought on by humanity’s rebellion against you, and all of us, at one time or another, and maybe even right now, feel weak and weary.
And so we call upon you, O Lord, and we ask you to revive us. Your Word here declares that you give strength to the weary, and so we pray that you would send your Spirit to comfort and strengthen those who struggle. We pray for those whose struggles are unseen to the world, who struggle within themselves with anger, sadness, dissatisfaction, or even despair. We pray that you would come to them, comfort them, and instill in them the hope of trusting in you, the One who does not grow tired or weary. We pray for those whose struggles are with others, whether within the family, within the church, or elsewhere. We pray, Lord, that you would increase the power of the weak and that you would mend broken relationships. We are prone to become hard—Lord, make us soft. We are prone to despair—Lord, give us hope.
And our hope is in your Word, that those who trust in you will have their strength renewed, not in our time, Lord, but in yours. Our hope is in your Word, that those who trust and hope in you will soar on wings like eagles, not by our own strength, but by yours. Our hope, O Lord, is in your promises, that you are making all things new, that you have started this process through the work of your Son, Jesus, that one day there will be no more tears, and that you are able to bring it to completion because, unlike us, you do not tire or grow weary.
We praise you, our sovereign Lord, and we cling to your Son Jesus as our hope and our Savior. In his powerful name we pray. Amen.
A Prayer Based on Isaiah 66:22–24
“As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the LORD, “so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the LORD. “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.” (NIV)
Our God, in the beginning you created the heavens and the earth. Your power is shown forth in creation. And in the end you will create the new heaven and the new earth. Your power is again shown forth as you conquer the death brought about by Satan and establish your creation as a place of righteousness and peace. Your majesty will then be fully revealed, as all mankind will come and bow down before you, the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Lord, we confess here this morning that left to ourselves we are rebels and deserve nothing but death. But because of your patient mercy, you have taken us, who were dead in our sins, and made us alive in Christ. You have turned us from rebels to servants, from enemies to your children. Although we have never deserved it, you have given us a place in your new creation as sons and daughters of the High King. Praise be to you for your great mercy!
Our Father, we pray for this city in which we live. We pray because there are many, many people here who remain dead in their sins, imprisoned by Satan’s deception that you are not real, convinced that they face no judgment from you upon their death, and persistent in rebelling against you. Although they have been created in your royal image, Lord, they do not reflect you by their words and actions. Our God, even as you will create a new heaven and a new earth for those who profess faith in you through Jesus Christ, so does your Word say that those who rebel against you unto death will be punished with unquenchable fire.
Our God, this grieves us, not merely for the sake of the lost and the dreadful fate that awaits them, but especially because of your great name. Lord, would you show your power, grace, and mercy to this city by redeeming the lost by your Word and Spirit? For your great name’s sake, Lord, would you take many in this city who are dead and make them alive? Would you conquer those who do not give their allegiance to you as King, renew their hearts and minds, and give them a new name—Christian—bringing them into your kingdom to enjoy the new heaven and new earth, all for the glory of your name?
Lord, we pray for us as a church. We pray that you would embolden and enable us, as the body of Christ, to be faithful witnesses to these truths. We pray that you would give us the ability to live and serve now in this present creation with our eyes fixed on the new creation. We pray for humility of character, that we would not hinder your gospel by our pride. We pray for wisdom and understanding, that we would know your Word well in order to communicate it to others. We pray for perseverance under opposition, that we would not fear mocking or scorning. And we pray for peace and unity within our church and among all the churches that believe your gospel—that division would not taint your message of peace. We worship and adore you, our God Most High. May your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
A Prayer Based on Jeremiah 10:6–10
No one is like you, LORD;
you are great,
and your name is mighty in power.
Who should not fear you,
King of the nations?
This is your due.
Among all the wise leaders of the nations
and in all their kingdoms,
there is no one like you.
They are all senseless and foolish;
they are taught by worthless wooden idols.
Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish
and gold from Uphaz.
What the craftsman and goldsmith have made
is then dressed in blue and purple—
all made by skilled workers.
But the LORD is the true God;
he is the living God, the eternal King.
When he is angry, the earth trembles;
the nations cannot endure his wrath. (NIV)
O Lord, our God, as Jeremiah says, so do we say here this morning: Great is your name. You are mighty in power and worthy of all honor, adoration, and reverence, and so we gather together as your people this morning to give you your due. We praise you as the true God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Lord, your Word here describes the foolishness of idolatry—the giving of allegiance to created things that cannot provide life and do not provide satisfaction. Father, although we here are not guilty of fashioning wooden idols, we are certainly guilty of being taught by and often following the worthless idols of our society. Although we are not tempted to bow down to hammered silver, the temptation is hammered into our heads that happiness is found in the attainment of the ideal. We are guilty of idolizing the ideal life, the ideal job, the ideal spouse, the ideal home—the ideal situation—and in idolizing such things, we distract ourselves from the true source of joy and satisfaction, you.
Lord, we confess this to you today, and we confess along with Jeremiah that you are a righteous God who would be just in bringing your wrath upon us. Because of this, it is only upon your great mercy that we cast ourselves. Our only hope is that you will be pleased to forgive, and it is with great joy, therefore, that we look upon the work of your Son, Jesus. As a faithful Son, Jesus never bowed to idols or sought to better his situation by manipulating his circumstances, and because you are indeed a God of great mercy, you have credited us with his faithfulness, and have placed the punishment for our idolatry upon him. Praise be to you, our God. Thank you for your grace and mercy upon us, and may this truth be the garment of joy and hope in which we dress ourselves.
We read in this text also that you are not only the King of Jeremiah, the King of Israel, but that you are the King of the nations as well. And, Lord, we know that there are many nations even now that are steeped in great idolatry. Some still have literal idols of wood, silver, and gold, and some have idols similar to those of our own society. And we know that in many of these places, this good news of your Son Jesus is not known—many nations do not know the God who made them, and the only God who can save them. We pray for these nations, Father, and as Jesus instructed us to pray, we pray that your kingdom would come, that your will would be done, on earth—over the whole earth—as it is in heaven. We pray that you would show your mercy to the nations because they cannot endure your wrath. Although you are just to judge, we pray that you would use your church to extend your mercy across creation. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
A Prayer Based on Daniel 7:13–14
In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (NIV)
Our Father, you are the Ancient of Days, the one who has existed from eternity past, who created this world out of nothing, and who decreed that your glory should fill this earth as far as the waters cover the seas.
Lord, you have made us, humanity, as your image bearers, those you created to reflect you and to represent you obediently throughout this earth. But like Adam and Eve before us, all of us have gone astray. We have all eaten the forbidden fruit of misplaced priorities and disbelief. None of us, Lord, have sought first your kingdom and your righteousness. Instead of being preoccupied with your glory throughout this earth—of seeing your gospel preached to all nations—we often prioritize our own agendas of our comfort, happiness, and security. Instead of investing our energies in your kingdom that will never be destroyed, we try to erect our own little futile kingdoms, where we are the rulers, where we are served, but which are ultimately like mist that vanishes in an instant.
Father, because of our sin, we are in need of one to take our place. We are in need of a human like us—one like a Son of Man—to obey where we have failed. Lord, we see this Son of Man in your Son Jesus, whom you sent to this earth to redeem us. We confess that we are cracked images of you in need of forgiveness, and that our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’s blood and righteousness. We thank you that in your mercy, you laid our punishment upon him, and we praise you that the grave could not hold our Savior in, but that you raised him up, that he has ascended on the clouds to your presence, and that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. We praise you, Lord, that Jesus’s authority is over all nations, all peoples, and that as Daniel’s vision shows us, one day people from every tribe, language, and nation will worship him. May this make us bold as we serve you, our God.
We pray for our missionaries—for those who serve in ___________, as well as the many others in our sphere who labor amidst the nations with your gospel—that the power of your everlasting dominion would empower their efforts. We pray that the fact that they serve you, the Ancient of Days, whose plan for your own glory throughout this earth will not be thwarted, would encourage them when they are discouraged, would strengthen them when they are weak, and would enable them to spread the glories of Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, who suffered on our behalf, yet who has been vindicated in glory.
Lord, we pray also for ourselves, the congregation of ___________. We pray that you would shape our hearts and minds so we would view this world the way that you do—as the display case of your majesty, which you have called us to participate in filling with the redeemed from every nation. May we view our resources, money, and time as instruments to be used by you. May we become preoccupied with your plan for the nations, and may you use us despite our shortcomings for your glory, by your Sprit. We praise you for your mercy, and we long for the day when you will consummate your plan for the world, when all peoples will worship Jesus as King, and when sin will be no more on this earth. Amen, come Lord Jesus. Amen.
A Prayer Based on Habakkuk 2:2–4
Then the LORD replied:
“Write down the revelation
and make it plain on tablets
so that a herald may run with it.
For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
it speaks of the end
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
it will certainly come
and will not delay.
See, the enemy is puffed up;
his desires are not upright—
but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness.” (NIV)
Lord, you are great and most worthy of praise, and we your people ascribe to you glory, honor, and majesty, for you are the one true God, the Maker of heaven and earth, and you and you alone are due our allegiance and our worship. We praise you that throughout the ages you have required the same thing from your people—faith—trust in you and in your words. From Adam in the garden, you required faith. From Israel during the time of Habakkuk, you required faith. And from us now, you also require faith.
However, Lord, we confess that even as your requirement of faith has been consistent, our failure to meet that requirement has also been consistent. Adam did not trust your word in the garden, and so sin entered this world. Israel did not trust your word, and so you exiled them out of their land. And we, too, Lord, like them, are often guilty of a lack of faith.
Father, our lack of faith is reflected by our worries, stresses, and fears that often consume us. We worry about the future—how our jobs will hold up, how our kids will grow up, whether or not we’ll achieve what we want to achieve. We stress about the present—how our relationships are going or not going, how we are perceived by others, and how we will manage the workload of our busy lives. And we fear the unknown—what will happen tomorrow, whether or not we can handle what is coming next. Father, our tendency is to dwell on things like these, to focus on them, instead of focusing on you, the one who sustains all things by your power and might, and putting our faith and trust in your ability to provide for us in every way.
Lord, forgive us this tendency not to trust you. Forgive us, and restore in us hearts that are prone, not to wander from you, but to wait faithfully upon you and to trust your good providence. Free us from our tendency to want to walk by sight—to see the path ahead and to know the particulars of it. Instead, give us eyes and hearts that are content to walk by faith, even when it means we cannot see.
Lord, we pray for those here today who are struggling with various issues. We pray for those with concerns about jobs. Lord, give them faith to trust and rest in your sustaining providence. We pray for those with concerns about relationships. Give them faith to forgive where necessary or to ask for forgiveness where necessary. We pray for those whose hearts hurt for one reason or another. May you put lenses of faith over their eyes through which to view their pain—not lenses that ignore their pain, but lenses that put it in the proper perspective.
Most of all, we pray for those in this room, in this city, and in the world who have not put their ultimate faith in you for this life and the next life. We pray for those who have not turned from their rebellion against you and have not yet trusted Jesus for their salvation. Lord, would you give them eyes of faith to turn to you and find forgiveness and life everlasting?
May we not be a puffed-up people who trust in ourselves, but may we be a people characterized by radical faith in you. In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen.
A Prayer Based on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7)
Our Father in heaven, as we pray now the words of your Son, we ask—for the sake of your glory and our blessedness—that you would help us to be poor in spirit, to mourn over our own sins and the sins of the world, to be meek, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful, to be pure in heart, and to endure persecution for righteousness’ sake.
And, Father, we ask that you would encourage us, through your Holy Spirit, to be active in good works, making us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, so that many might give glory not to us but to you.
Lord, make us quick to forgive our enemies and those who have trespassed against us, quick to serve those in need, and slow to murder through thought, word, or deed. Purify our minds of all wicked and adulterous thoughts, allowing us to be faithful both to you and our loved ones. And, Lord, in these days when lies are the norm, make us abnormal—enable us to speak the truth always.
Father, as we reflect on our righteousness in and through Christ (what a gift to us!), we ask that you would give us even more “righteousness”—that is, an unseen life of righteous prayer, righteous fasting, and righteous service; and yet make us ever aware of trumpeting our faith in order to be seen and esteemed by others.
Lord, may you and you alone be our only Master; and thus keep our hearts from the love of money and any other earthly treasure, and help us instead to lay up eternal treasures in heaven.
Gracious God, help us with our worries. Make us anxious only about your rule on earth. Grant that we may seek first the kingdom of God and your righteousness; so calm our cares over life, and even over the necessities of food, drink, clothing, and shelter.
Our holy and loving God, help us not to be judgmental, but to judge rightly; so allow us first to see our own sin, and then, if necessary, the sins of others. Lord, help us to be prayerful—to knock upon the door of heaven in the trust and hope that you will give us only good things, even your Holy Spirit. Lord, remind us always of the narrow gate, that the way that leads to life is hard and that few find it. And, Father, for the sake of our very souls, keep us aware of and away from false teachers and their works of lawlessness; Lord, kept by your grace, may we never in thought or deed follow their wide path, incurring your judgment.
Father, Son, and Spirit, make us always attentive to Christ’s words, these words we have now prayed, so that we might build the house of our lives upon the rock of your truth. And give us a renewed vision for your kingdom priorities as we now pray the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
A Prayer Based on Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46–55)
Lord, we rejoice as Mary did years ago, that you have sent to us a Savior—your Son and our Lord, Jesus Christ. And we come to you this day, as humble servants, in order that we might magnify your holy name; that we might give praise to you as our exalted King, as the God who has fulfilled his promise to Abraham and to his offspring in the person of Jesus.
Father in heaven, you are a God who scatters the proud and lifts up the humble, who brings down the mighty from their thrones and exalts those of low estate. So, Lord, we come now in humility, in low estate, in poverty of spirit, recognizing our need for the riches that Christ alone provides. And so give to us again and again the wealth of his mercy. Forgive us our sins against you. Forgive us our sins against others. Cleanse our hands and hearts from all iniquities, and wash us clean in the blood of our Lord.
Father, you are the Lord who fills the hungry with good things and sends the rich away empty. You are a God of provision, protection, and promise for your people, and a Judge to those who oppose your ways. And so, Lord, we ask that you would judge the wicked; that you would soon send your Son again, to judge the living and the dead, to bring upon the earth an eternal kingdom of righteousness and peace. Yet, Lord, in the meantime, for those of us who are your people and who live now between the first and second advents of Christ, we ask that you would continue to meet all our spiritual and physical needs. And we ask in the way your Son taught us to ask for provision and protection, praying together the Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
A Prayer Based on 2 Corinthians 1:3–5
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. (NIV)
Father, we do praise you as a God who comforts the afflicted, as a God who mercifully draws near to your children with fatherly compassion. You are the true expression of a loving Father, and we exalt you and glorify you this morning.
But, Lord, although you have shown yourself compassionate, we often find ourselves living with a lack of compassion toward others and a lack of passion toward you—like children who have been given a bounty of good gifts, yet thanklessly and thoughtlessly have cast them aside.
We view our troubles and sufferings, not as a unifying participation with the suffering that Jesus went through on our behalf, but rather as obstacles to be avoided. We view our troubles and sufferings, not as opportunities to trust you and be filled with your supreme comfort and so show your glory, but rather as barriers to the shortsighted happiness and pleasure for which we foolishly thirst. We want comfort from you, but we are unwilling to suffer for you. And when suffering does come, we proclaim with our lips that you are our Great Comforter, but we often look to find our comfort from every other futile source we know of before turning to you. Lord, we confess these things to you and ask you, as our great Father of compassion, to forgive us.
We pray, Lord, not that you would spare us from suffering for your sake, but rather that you would comfort us and sustain us in the midst of that suffering—to the glory of your great name—and that through that comforting, we would receive unspeakable joy and would attest to your great compassion.
We pray that you would indeed comfort those of us who are troubled and suffering here. But do not allow us to be unchanged by your compassion. Rather, Lord, let it overflow in and through us to others, both within and without the church, that your glory as the Father of compassion may spread throughout this church, this city, and this world.
We pray for the brokenhearted, that you would mend them.
We pray for the sick, that you would heal them.
We pray for the proud, that you would humble them.
We pray for the weak, that you would strengthen them.
We pray for the apathetic, that you would enliven them.
We thank you for purchasing us from death and giving us life in Christ, our Savior.
We pray, Lord, most of all, that we would be a people who find our rest and comfort in you and, in turn, who offer your rest and comfort to others—to the glory of your name. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
A Prayer Based on Ephesians 4:2–6
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (NIV)
Our Father, we praise you as the mighty Creator, the Most High King of kings, the exalted Lord of lords, the one who is over all and in all; yet you have condescended to dwell with humanity—in relationship with us—and you even call us your children. In the garden with Adam, in the temple with Israel, in the flesh through your Son, and even now in our hearts by your Spirit, you are a God who has drawn near to us, our Immanuel.
Your Son Jesus, in his incarnation and throughout his life, provided the ultimate demonstration of humility, gentleness, patience, and love. He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but he made himself nothing, becoming a servant and humbling himself even unto death for sinners such as us. In light of his obedience, Lord, and in light of your commands for us to imitate him, we are acutely struck by how we struggle to keep them.
Lord, give us humility. Relieve us of the inborn pride that fights in our flesh and replace it with a recognition that we are sinners saved by grace, brought into your kingdom to reflect the humble One who has purchased us with the high price of his life. Lord, give us gentleness. O how we are prone to anger, yet your Word says that man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that you desire. Lord, cultivate in our hearts a softness toward those around us. When our flesh moves us toward intemperance in our relationships, help us to display gentleness. Help us to remember that we are recipients of your gentle forgiveness of our deep transgressions, that we might show such gentleness toward others. Lord, give us patience. We feel our impatient tendencies—our quickness to point out the faults of others and our forgetfulness of our past faults. Rebuke our haughtiness, Lord. When a spouse disappoints us or a friend hurts us, give us the patience of heart and mind to extend grace to them, and in so doing to reflect well the grace and patience you have shown to us.
Lord, in learning to grow in these ways, may we bear with one another in love. May the love that we display to one another be a reflection of the sacrificial love that your Son Jesus has shown to us. May we be willing to sacrifice for one another—our time, our money, our emotions—in order to build one another up, and so that the world may look upon us, see that we are one, and know that you have called us and changed us. By our unity in the Spirit, may they see your love reflected and come to you, the great King who is worthy of their praise and allegiance.
We thank you, Lord, that you have given us redemption by your Son and new birth by your Spirit, and that you have promised that you will bring to completion this work that you have started in us. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
BENEDICTIONS
A benediction is simply a “good word” prayed by the pastor at the conclusion of a worship service, though there may be occasions for one during the service. Generally it is done by use of a brief sentence or two of Scripture, but not always. For example, the following benediction, based on a line from Philippians 4:7, comes from the Book of Common Prayer and is used verbatim in the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship:
The peace of God which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord: And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you and remain with you always. Amen.
Another venerable example that contains no explicit scriptural citation reads as follows:
Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that the words, which we have heard this day with our outward ears, may through thy grace be so grafted inwardly in our hearts, that they may bring forth in us the fruit of good living, to the honour and praise of thy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Both these prayers (in modern English) make wonderful benedictions to the preaching of God’s Word.
This said, most benedictions do well to quote or stay close to the rich treasury of benedictions in Scripture. Some are explicit benedictions in their contexts, while others are implicit benedictions that, with a couple of introductory words, work well. Also, nice benedictions can be created by conflating texts—for example, Romans 16:25, “Now to him who is able to strengthen you,” and verse 27, “to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.”
We have listed numerous examples of scriptural benedictions in the following pages. The list makes it easy for the pastor to locate a benediction that fits a particular situation. We have not included Old Testament possibilities for benedictions because the Old Testament Scriptures do not abound with explicit benedictions as do the epistolary writings of the New Testament. However, when preaching from the Old Testament, the preacher will find that most texts contain memorable lines that can be easily crafted into perfect benedictions. It must be mentioned that the two most used benedictions in Protestant worship are the Aaronic benediction, “The LORD bless you . . .” (Num. 6:24–26), and the Pauline blessing, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ . . .” (2 Cor. 13:14).
Benedictions are not to be pronounced or “said,” but prayed with the pastor’s heart and mind fully engaged. Offering a benediction at the conclusion of worship on behalf of God’s people is a high privilege, and an opportunity to remind them of the preached Word and to send them out with a sense of blessing and mission as they depart for their week.22
NEW TESTAMENT BENEDICTIONS
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom. 1:7b)
[Let us remember that] from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Rom. 11:36)
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom. 15:5–6)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Rom. 15:13)
May the God of peace be with you all. Amen. (Rom. 15:33)
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (Rom. 16:20)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 1:3)
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Cor. 15:58)
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. (1 Cor. 16:23)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 1:2)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction. (2 Cor. 1:3–4a)
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. (2 Cor. 9:8)
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Cor. 13:14)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Gal. 1:3)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Eph. 1:2)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. (Eph. 1:3)
[May] Christ . . . dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph. 3:17–19)
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Eph. 3:20–21)
Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. (Eph. 6:23–24)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Phil. 1:2)
[May] the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, . . . guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:7)
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. (Phil. 4:23)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father. (Col. 1:2b)
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (1 Thess. 5:23–24)
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (1 Thess. 5:28)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thess. 1:2)
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. (2 Thess. 2:16–17)
Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all. (2 Thess. 3:16)
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. (2 Thess. 3:18)
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. (1 Tim. 1:2b)
To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. (1 Tim. 1:17)
He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. (1 Tim. 6:15–16)
Grace be with you. (1 Tim. 6:21b)
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. (2 Tim. 1:2b)
The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you. (2 Tim. 4:22)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philem. 3)
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. (Philem. 25)
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Heb. 13:20–21)
Grace be with all of you. (Heb. 13:25)
According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. (1 Pet. 1:2)
After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Pet. 5:10–11)
Peace to all of you who are in Christ. (1 Pet. 5:14b)
Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love. (2 John 3)
May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. (Jude 2)
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24–25)
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Rev. 1:5b–6)
Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. (Rev. 4:11)
To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever! (Rev. 5:13b)
Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen. (Rev. 7:12)
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. (Rev. 22:21)
1 Michael Horton, A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of God-Centered Worship (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003), 156.
2 D. A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1992), 34–35 (emphasis original).
3 Kent and Barbara Hughes, Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008), 73–74.
4 Samuel Miller, Thoughts on Public Prayer (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1985), 262.
5 Douglas Wilson, Mother Kirk: Essays and Forays in Practical Ecclesiology (Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2001), 147.
6 Miller, Thoughts on Public Prayer, 295–296.
7 Quoted in Bard Thompson, Liturgies of the Western Church (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1980), 386.
8 The Book of Common Worship (Philadelphia: The Board of Christian Education of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, 1946), 46.
9 Terry L. Johnson, ed., Leading in Worship: A Sourcebook for Presbyterian Students and Ministers Drawing from the Biblical and Historical Forms of the Reformed Tradition (Powder Springs, GA: Tolle Lege Press, 2013), 26.
10 Thompson, Liturgies of the Western Church, 168–169, 197–198, 295–297, 322–323, 368–369, 387–391.
11 Ibid., 168.
12 Ibid., 197–198.
13 The Book of Common Prayer (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, n.d.), 18.
14 Common Prayer: Resources for gospel-shaped gatherings (Sydney: Anglican Press Australia, 2012), 10.
15 Ibid., 22.
16 See The Worship Sourcebook, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Calvin Institute of Christian Worship/Faith Alive Christian Resources/Baker Books, 2013).
17 Ibid.
18 Robert G. Rayburn, O Come, Let Us Worship (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2010).
19 Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation, 35.
20 This prayer is a slight revision of a “morning prayer” from Henry Thornton’s personal prayer book, published as Devotional Prayers (Chicago: Moody, 1993), 49–51. This is an incredible resource for public and private prayers.
21 Much of this prayer is taken from ibid., 160–162.
22 Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Worship: Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009), 252–254, details the rich pastoral theology underlying the benediction.