Prayer: John 3:22-36 Man from Heaven - Greater than John

Heavenly Father,

You are the biggest and the strongest, the greatest and the smartest, the fairest and most just, the best and most righteous, the most powerful and the most loving, the richest and the most generous - you are superlative in every way that is good. You are infinitely perfect, so much so that our brains can't even begin to fathom the magnitude of your awesomeness. We only see reflections of your amazingness: in the beauty of the creation around us; in the love of one person for another; in the endless complexity of even little, insignificant things; in the history of your truthfulness and faithfulness to your people.  You have no equal - no-one else even comes close to your all-encompassing greatness - and we realise in the light of your total perfection that we could never be like you.

And so you became like us. When we consider what you have done in sending your Son to earth, God as a human among us, we just have to stop and stare, because it is so amazing. You are almighty and supreme above all things, but you don't lord yourself over us like a tyrant. Instead, you made yourself nothing. You shed the royal robes of heavenly glory and took on the humble rags of an ordinary human being. You became one of us; and more, you went further and humbled yourself to become our servant! You who are the only thing in existence untainted by sin washed our dirty feet! You who needs nothing to sustain yourself gave us bread, and ate it with us. You who lives forever wept for our deaths. You, the infinitely perfect, died on a cross, alone and ashamed, to save us from a punishment we deserve.

And so we bow down our lives before you, almighty God, because you are worthy of the highest honour, the greatest glory, and all our praise and worship. And we do that by humbling ourselves, surrendering all we think and do and have and are to you. We humble ourselves because that's exactly what you did for us. We aren't as good at is as you, and sometimes we stand back on our feet, or we seek a little glory for ourselves.  We apologise for that, and we turn away from it.  You have given us so much, you deserve to be at the absolute top of every list in our lives.

Because we know that you love and care for us, we have confidence to come to you and ask for anything according to your will. we pray for all those who are newly entering our community - please give them a warm welcome, and bless their time in Waitara. We ask for healing and strength for all of those in our community, that they can honour you. We pray for those who are being mistreated and caused to suffer by our government's harsh asylum seeker policy - please give them freedom and hope. We pray for those who stand against injustice - please give them courage. And we pray that in all things you might be glorified and exalted.

We pray this by the authority of your son Jesus,

Amen