Prayers
It Is Finished!
Category: FRAC Matters, Approaching the Throne of Grace
It's official, Front Range Alliance Church has a certificate of occupancy for our new building.
We praise You, O God, and rejoice in Your abundant goodness to Your people. Your sovereign and gracious power have been revealed in many ways throughout this project. All glory to Your name! May this physical building be used mightily to build Your Spiritual building. Edify Your people, expand Your kingdom, shine the light of Your glorious Gospel to Colorado Springs and beyond through the ministry of Your people in this place. Amen!
Be Gracious O Lord, We Pray
Category: Approaching the Throne of Grace
O Sovereign, majestic, omnipotent Lord, I extol Your name, Your power, and Your goodness this morning. You are the risen Lamb, once dead, but now alive from the grave, raised in an incorruptible, imperishable body to live forever as King of heaven and earth. I stand in awe of Your greatness.
O Lord, king of the Unites States of America, I beseech You to make Your grace and long-suffering patience evident to us this day. As we exercise our privilege to choose our national, state, and local leaders, I ask that You exercise Your sovereign right to raise up and to remove kings. Lord Jesus, be merciful to us, I pray. We deserve a magistrate that will take us into further lawlessness and, thereby, into further condemnation. But please grant to us those who will rule according to Your righteousness, those who derive their ethics from the Scriptures, those who love You and seek to obey Your divine mandates.
A New Day as a New Creation
Category: Approaching the Throne of Grace
Gracious Lord and Savior, I am abundantly grateful that Your mercies are indeed new every morning, that yesterday's sins are buried and forgotten, that today is a new day as a new creation, bringing with it a new opportunity to walk worthy of the name of Christ. Please grant it, for Your name's sake.
Father, You Are a Rock, I Am a Vapor; Teach Me the Difference
Category: Approaching the Throne of Grace
O God my Father, You are Yahweh, the great I Am. You have no beginning and no end, You are the alpha and omega, the first and last, the everlasting and eternal Being. All things were created by You, through You, and for You. You exist by Your own power to exist. You were neither given birth, nor can Your life be taken away. You depend on no one and no thing. Were we given the divine attribute of omniscience for a fleeting moment, for an hour the ability to know and perceive all things, we would find that there is no time, place, or dimension of existence that does not find You present. You dwelled in perfection before the universe was created, and You have no future terminal point. You are eternally, I Am.
Holy Spirit of God, I ask You to teach me the grand significance that God lives forever. Please show me what that means. My desire is not simply to be able to pass a theological exam on the attributes of God; rather, I want to have the appropriate appreciation of, and response to, Your eternality. Lord, You are a rock, I am a vapor; teach me the difference. You have no birthday to celebrate, my days are winding down; teach me my transitoriness and Your infinitude. You do not change, I am not even the same person today that I was yesterday; teach me Your immutability and my capricious tendencies. O Holy Spirit of God, I beg You to teach me the grand significance that God lives forever.
Father, please grant me the proper response as You teach me these things. Cause me to worship, honor, and exalt You. Make Your eternal character unique in my thinking, so that I regard You as far superior to anyone or anything else. Although, You have bestowed upon me the special privilege to call You 'Abba!', still I do not want to regard You as though You have become like me or I have become like You. Your ways are still not my ways, neither are my thoughts like Yours.
Father, please, make Your name and character holy to me, that I would be humbled and You lifted high. Amen!
Abba! Father!
Category: Approaching the Throne of Grace
[As we have been studying Luke's account of the Lord's Prayer at FRAC, some folks have expressed a desire to explore further how to pray according to the Lord's instruction. So with the hope that it may help accomplish this, over the next days/weeks I will be posting prayers which follow this model. Please understand that I am in no way suggesting that what I post is exceptional or binding or ought to be repeated by others. Rather, I am only seeking to give some ways that I approach praying as our Lord taught us. In fact, if you have thoughts, please post them as "comments" below so that others can interact with you.]
Great God and Lord of all creation, this morning I stand in awe of Your grace and love, that I should be allowed the untold privilege of calling You, 'Father'. You are the Creator of the universe, You are the majestic, magnificent, most high and most holy King over all, and yet You are my divine Dad.
You are the kind provider and protector of all who love Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ. And, for a reason that I cannot fully comprehend, You delight to give good gifts to all of your children. You welcome us into Your holy presence. You grant us to approach You, not as distant subjects or slaves of Your Majesty (which indeed we are), but as sons and daughters. Lord, just as my children have the freedom to come near and make requests of me, just as they recognize my love and affection for them, just as they seek me for help, guidance, and understanding in all things, so also may we come to You, our heavenly Father. Father, how compassionate You are.
Father, we recognize and acknowledge our sin. We were born into this world children of Adam--sinful in our disposition and sinful in our actions. Just as he sought his own way and disobeyed You, so we have repeatedly proven ourselves his offspring. And yet, in Your infinite, sovereign mercy, You have adopted us into Your heavenly Family and have bestowed upon us the great prerogative of regarding You as our Father.
Father, teach us how to depend utterly upon You for all things. Remind us of Your power and strength which is truly our help in times of trouble. Teach us to look to You, and not to ourselves or to other human provision, when we encounter any and all difficulties. Father, convince our hearts and minds that Your affection and concern for us far outweigh any earthly father's devotion to his children. Father, You love of us with a kindness that is deeper than the ocean and more expansive than the heavens; please enable us to know Your love, observe Your love, feel Your love, trust Your love, and depend upon Your love for us.
Father, as the events of this day progress, please keep at the forefront of my thinking that I am Your child. May this give be comfort in affliction, strength in weakness, purity in temptation, and hope in desperation. At the end of this day may You, by the might of Your Holy Spirit and Your gracious providence, be pleased to be my Father. Amen!