A prayer based on the necessity of Scripture (inspired by 1.1 to 1.3 of 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith).

<aside> 🙏🏻 Lord God, You who spoke creation into existence, How we need You to speak to us. To make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ. To tell us what we need to know, believe, and do, to be saved.

You have revealed Yourself to everyone in a general way; through creation and providence and by our conscience. You have made known: Your existence, Your goodness, Your wisdom, Your power, Your order, and Your holiness. The heavens declare Your glory. The skies proclaim the works of Your hands. Day after day they are pouring forth speech. Night after night they display knowledge of You. So, it is true that people have no excuse for rebelling against You their Creator. Yet creation and providence and our conscience do not tell us how we can be saved.

Therefore, we praise You that You have spoken. In a special kind of way. To make Yourself and Your plan of salvation known to us. In the past through the prophets at many times and in various ways. And supremely in Your Son, the Lord Jesus: the exact representation of Your being; the One who sustains all things by His powerful word; and who has provided purification for our sins.

We thank You that what You have spoken has been preserved for us in the Scriptures. In both the Old Testament and the New Testament. In all 66 books. We thank You that every single word was written down to teach us and to give us hope. So that we can know God and how to be saved by Him.

Holy Spirit, help us as a church to have an increasing desire to read and hear and understand God’s Word. To hear the whole will of God proclaimed to us when we gather. Give us elders who are devoted to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching, because faith in Christ come from hearing the message of the gospel which is heard through the word of Christ. Forgive us for all those times when we downplay or minimise the Bible’s importance and centrality in our lives and the ministry of this local church. Lord, by Your Word correct, teach, rebuke, and train in righteousness so that we are thoroughly equipped to live godly lives and serve You.

Speak O Lord, because we Your servants are listening.

Amen.

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