Prayers of the Church, 10.26.08

Most wonderful God, You provide for Your creation in a seemingly simple, yet complex way. You combine basic elements, swirl them together and You provide for the things You love. You feed the least of Your creatures. You clothe the lilies of the field. And You care of us. Your greatness, power and majesty are unmatched.

We witness Your creation, but still we worry…about our lives, our futures. So, while we worship You, we’re building our fortunes. We try to argue and cajole, finesse and rationalize a way to love our mammon and still be true to You. We often think we do a pretty good job of it. What we really succeed at is convincing ourselves that we’ve pulled it off. We might even think we’re as smart as You, tearing down our barns and putting up bigger ones to store our riches, cleverly squirreling them all away.

Some of us have better success with money; others with fame. But time is the great equalizer and, therefore, one of our greatest treasures. We guard our time like we guard our money, behind barriers as strong as steel.

Help us, O Lord. Our idea of riches is so shallow. Our idea of security is so juvenile. We can think we’ve protected ourselves and our treasures up until the very night they are demanded of us. Then there is no escape.

Instead of investing in ourselves and our riches, Father, help us invest in our one sure thing – YOU – by investing in Your kingdom. Instead of building up barns for our riches, help us build up others in fellowship and Godly service. Instead of guarding our time, help us be free with it; free to invest it on others, in serving them, in lifting them up. When we build up each other in the name of Jesus, our true riches are revealed.

And now in the silence, Father, hear our prayers…our petitions on behalf of others and ourselves:


We pray Your blessings on our missionaries, Your emissaries in foreign lands. Bless the Coleys, the Freelands, the Headens, the Hillmans, the Nyadors, the Veals, and the Orths. Refresh the McDades in their time with us. We also remember before You the Jacksons and the Colemans as You prepare then to follow Your call.

And now we pray together as Jesus taught us to pray: