Heavenly Father,
All your works are amazing and astounding to us. From the beginning, you created the world and everything in it, suspended in a universe so finely tuned for our survival that the very existence of everything speaks to us of your love and care for us. You made humanity in your own image, and revealed yourself to us, wanting your creation to know its creator and to relate to you in love. Again and again you have chosen to work through the weak, the troubled, the sinful and the scorned, so that when you are victorious - which you always are - your victory is that much more impressive for the path that it came. You chose a man and woman, old and unable to have kids, and turned them into a nation. You took that nation, when it was overpowered and enslaved, and made them your people, giving them freedom and riches and blessings.
When you came into our world as Jesus, you didn't do it as a mighty king backed by legions of angels, or born to the emperor of the most powerful nation. You chose shepherds and foreigners for your ancestors, a carpenter and a vulnerable young woman for your parents. You came without fame or fortune, and yet you healed the sick, drove out demons, and taught us your will with power and authority. You modelled a life of love and holiness, caring for the needs of your creation. And then you did the most amazing thing we can imagine: you defeated our greatest enemies - sin and death - through dying yourself. You made yourself the lowest of the low, a criminal on a cross, cursed for us.
And then you raised Jesus from the dead... and he left again. Rather than storming the earth and conquering it at the hands of your glorified and risen Son, you sent your spirit to dwell in your people, in ordinary people, in people like us, and you sent them to conquer the world in your name - not with violence, but with love. You have worked through us - ordinary, normal, weak and stuttering and sinful and stumbling people - to bring your loving message to billions.
And so we come together today, Father, to ask you to continue doing what have done from the beginning. We ask you, Lord, to glorify yourself. Make your name great among all the people that we meet - Waitara locals, family and friends, workmates, acquaintances and strangers. Show your love to us and through us to others, so that more and more people might know you and love you in return. Reveal yourself and your love in every way possible, and give us the faith to know your love and accept it even when it doesn't look like the love we might want.
We pray for those among us who are sick, who are struggling, who are in pain, who are suffering trials of many and various kinds. We ask, in love for them and for you, that you will act in love to them. And we know in faith that you already do. If it is your will to heal them and to make their situations easier, do that and be glorified, Lord. If it is your will that they continue on these difficult paths and you give them the strength to overcome through faith in you, do that and be glorified, Lord. And if it is your will that they be helped through their pain and suffering by the loving actions of your people, give us the strength to do that, so that you will be glorified, Lord.
And in all these things we pray that you will be revealed to us in greater measure, so that we might know you better, love you more, and live for your glory. And we ask these things in the authority of your son, Jesus Christ. Amen
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