Prayer In Thanks For The One Who Is For Us Not Against Us

 ADVOCATE

As with many cities around the world the anti-maskers rallied and protested twice here this past weekend in Downtown Vancouver. There is plenty of “anti” sentiment around isn’t there?  I’m so grateful today that we have an advocate whether we get things right or particularly, when we mess up and get things wrong.  

Listen to these encouraging words:

My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.    1 John 2:1-2

Thank You, God, for the gift of Jesus Christ who is advocating for us today.  We do long to be those who do not sin but we’re not there yet.  We find ourselves falling more often than we would wish.  We’re grateful that, since this is no surprise to You, that You have prepared in advance and are willing to forgive us when we confess our sins and you cleanse us from all wickedness.  Help us today to live in the humility of our sinfulness and our need of the Lord Jesus that You were reminding us about when You told us:

f we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.  1 John 1:8-10

And so our prayer today is that we would live in loving response to Your gift of forgiveness and life.  Help us to make ourselves aware of Your commands by spending time in Your Word and in prayer so we hear what Your Spirit is saying to us today and seek Your agenda rather than just doing what we want and hoping You will hang around with us. 

You said:

And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth.    1 John 2:3-4

So, amid the many pressures and distractions that we have not only because of the pandemic but just with the day-to-day responsibilities and complexities that surround these things in this season, we pray to pause often and remember that You are with us and that You have a plan for us today that You are more than willing and very ready to share with us.  Help us to not just say we are Your followers and then stay busy doing our own thing.  You call that kind of person a liar and someone who is not living in the truth.  Forgive us for the times we’ve done that and help us to walk a new path today, we pray.

t’s our desire that we would reflect our love and gratitude to You today by obeying Your commands  to love You with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbours as ourselves. Lord Jesus, You said this was at the heart of what mattered and that everything else hung on that central truth.  Refocus our thinking and desiring and behaving today we pray so we stay simple and live in humble obedience to this command.

We want to do that not because we have to do it but because we are so grateful for the loving care You’ve given us.  Help us to regularly inventory what we are doing so we can reassure our own hearts that we are not fooling ourselves but are actually living as true followers of Jesus – as true Christians rather than those who just say words and hope for the best.

We want to be faithful to this simple truth:

ut those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.   1 John 2:5-6

And so based on God’s own word I speak this blessing over us today:

May the Lord God who is like the sun that gives us light and a shield that keeps us safe, bless us with favor and honor. May He hold back nothing good from us whose lives are without blame. May the Lord who rules over all bless us as we trust in Him today.

he Lord God is like the sun that gives us light.  He is like a shield that keeps us safe.  The Lord blesses us with favor and honor. He doesn’t hold back anything good  from those whose lives are without blame. Lord who rules over all, blessed is the person who trusts in you.      Psalm 84:11-12