Heavenly Father,
No matter where we look in this world, we see your power and glory. You are behind the beauty of the sky at sunrise and sunset. You are responsible for the food and water that all life depends on. You are the model for all relationships in life - in families, in churches, and with friends. You provide work to be done, and you give food and shelter and wages as its reward. You give health, you give freedom, and you give love. You are God Who Provides, and all good things come from you, so that in everything we cannot help but see your greatness and bring you glory for it.
And yet sometimes there are tragedies in this world. Planes crash. Sickness and financial hardship plague our world, and threaten the security of our own lives. Relationships break down. There are wars and massacres that threaten people's freedom, and the lives of our brothers and sisters and of your church. There is worry and anxiety and stress, born of overwork, greed and misplaced desire. We are your family, and yet sometimes we don't even trust you to provide for us, and we don't treat you with the honour you deserve and demand.
But you have revealed yourself to us through your son Jesus Christ, our Messiah. You show us through his life that this is not how the world should be. Jesus healed the sick, and taught us that sickness is not part of your perfect kingdom. Jesus had compassion on people, and showed his love by teaching the people who came to him. And you continue to teach us through your word as it is contained in the bible, as we study it alone in quiet times and together in Bible study, and as we are exhorted to follow it by our preachers. Be with Emily as she seeks to encourage us to respond to your word today. Jesus fed people who had come out to the wilderness to hear him, and did it in an amazing way, showing us your glory. Help us to rely on you, and not on ourselves, and to be thankful for what you provide for us, and to be thankful in knowing that we will never be hungry or thirsty in your perfect kingdom.
You are our shepherd, our leader, and we thank you that we can trust you to always have our best interests at heart. Give us faith to rely on you, even when we don't have answers for why life isn't treating us the way we'd like it to. Regardless of our situations, bring us closer to you, and help us to find peace in that closeness.
You are truly amazing, God, and we pray that many people will come from all over to hear more about you. But you also send us out to preach your word. Help us to speak clearly the good news that Jesus has come, and people need to repent. Let people see the work that you are doing in us, the change you write across our lives, and let us tell them boldly and lovingly about you. Remind us that you also desire to bring us rest, and even as we seek to do our work for you, help us to remember it is your work, not ours, and that you ultimately call us all to rest in you.
We ask all these things, trusting that you give to us all that we need, and will continue to transform us and renew us into the likeness of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, AMEN.
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