Today being Sunday we want to pattern our prayers on those of others from times before us. We stretch way back to the Psalms of Ancient Israel today. We’ll use Psalm 67 as a guide to our prayers today:
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. Psalm 67:1-2
We certainly long for that God. We long to have our hearts touched as we reflect on the truth that Your face is turned towards us. You are smiling with love and joy as we come to You and engage our hearts and minds with You. You love to make Your ways known to us so we can in turn tell others and Your saving help be known across the nations.
The world is in a mess and only You can save us from ourselves, from the forces of destruction that get unleashed with the poor and sinful choices made by individuals and governments. Oh Lord, be gracious to us. Have mercy on us. Save us.
May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you. May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth. May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you. Psalm 57:3-5
Lord we often think about how wonderful it is that at least on one day of the week for 24 hours Your name is being praised and lifted up in churches and gatherings of faithful followers of Jesus around the globe. As my world winds down on a Saturday night I often think of my friends in Asia who are joyfully singing praise already in their Sunday services and then it just goes across the continents. We pray to be joyful, focused people who wholeheartedly give thanks to You and praise You for all You are and all You do.
May the nations be glad and sing for joy. May the peoples praise You, God, may all the peoples praise You.
The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us. May God bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth will fear him. Psalm 67:6-7
Year after year, season after season we’ve had food to eat as the land has yielded its harvest. If You took Your hand off the rhythm of the weather and the rotation of the planets, everything would be a mess before we could blink. But in Your gracious generosity, You bless us.
We dare to ask for Your continued blessing so all those who live in the earth will have food to eat. We see so many who are refugees or who are in war stricken parts of the earth who are starving and our heart goes out to them. We see the homeless on our own streets and we pray that You will show us all what our part is in receiving and passing on blessing from You.
We want to live in such a way that your blessing turns hearts towards You. We don’t want to contribute to lifestyles that don’t honour You. We want all that we and how we do it to demonstrate that You are the Lord who is to be respected and honoured. Give us wisdom and generous hearts to do that today we pray. Amen
Let’s just pray this complete Psalm one more time as we close:
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. Psalm 67:1-2
May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you. May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth. May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you. Psalm 57:3-5
The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us. May God bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth will fear him. Psalm 67:6-7
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