If you have adapted one of these pastoral prayers or written some of your own would you be willing to share them with other pastors? Just Send them to me and I'll post them here to help other pastors. keith.drury@indwes.edu

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Sunday, December 21, 2008

Pastoral Prayer by Paul Meeks (# 13)

Pastoral Prayer by Paul Meeks (# 13)

Our gracious and loving Heavenly Father, we come to you today in the name of Jesus, the name that's above very name on earth and in all of heaven. We bow our heads and our hearts before you today, Lord Jesus. Your word tells us that some day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that you are Lord. We joyfully bow before you today and confess that you're OUR Lord now.

Much of the world is thinking about your coming into the world. Decorations are being put up in our homes, in our yards, on the streets and in malls. Somehow every decoration is a testimony and an acknowledgement that you did come. There are billions and billions of little twinkling lights and although many of the people that put them up don't know it, every little light is a witness that you came. That's why we have Christmas with all of its celebrations.

We pray for all of the students that will be leaving in a few days for their Christmas break. We ask for protection as they travel over the miles. We ask, too, that they'll be able to be a witness for you with friends and family, and that they can return refreshed to begin a new semester. We pray for the faculty as they have the break to recoup and prepare for classes that they'll be teaching next semester.

And in the church as we continue with different Christmas celebrations and activities, we ask they we will all be drawn closer to you and that we can be a blessing to those all around us. We want to portray the Spirit of Christ and remind people of the reason we celebrate Christmas.

We pray for special needs among us, particularly those who have lost loved ones in recent months. They'll be having many reminders of the absent ones and having a difficult time with all of the memories. May they be able to focus on the wonderful times of the past and be comforted even as they go through times of sadness.

We pray, too, for those with physical problems. These are difficult times for them as they may not be able to do things as in the past because of their physical limitations. Please minister to them and their families, too, as they need you.

Some are experiencing difficult times financially and may not be able to share with family and friends in ways they want to. But you know all about that and we ask that you would supply the needs and help them to find ways to make up for the lack of money in other ways.

We pray that in this service today we may continue to focus on you and your goodness and blessings. We want to hear from you and we know that you do speak to us when we listen to you, so our hearts and minds are open to you. Enable Pastor Steve to effectively give the message that you've inspired him to preach to us in a few minutes. May your anointing be on him and us as we hear.

We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Paul Meeks
pauldarmeeks@aol.com

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