A prayer based on 1 Corinthians 12:1-11.

<aside> 🙏🏻 Our God, we praise You, for all the many ways You have been our helper. We praise You for the work of Your Spirit that enables us to say “Jesus is Lord” – to believe in Him and be saved. We praise You for joining us to and uniting us to others who also have made this same profession in this local church. We praise you for the way Your Spirit is changing and transforming us, so that we display the fruit of Christ’s character more and more. For helping us grow in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And we praise You for all the different gifts that the Holy Spirit has blessed us with, so that we can serve one another and help each other grow in the love and knowledge of Jesus.

Lord, we don’t want to take any of these things for granted. It is truly amazing that You have given to us the gift of repentance and faith which made it possible for us to trust in You. We are so grateful for the work of Your Spirit in our lives because without this we would never have believed. Yet we do want to confess that we have not always lived well in the light of this wonderful salvation we have received. We have not shown the fruit of the Spirit nor used the gifts we have been given in the right way. We have used them for our own glory, to make ourselves look good, rather than for the common good of building up Your people. We have sometimes failed to use them at all and neglected serving Your people and by doing so have caused them harm. Father forgive us for these sins we pray.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You lived a perfect life of service in the power of the Spirit. That You came not to be served but to serve, for our good and the glory of Your Father in heaven. And You did so supremely by dying on the cross and giving Your life as a ransom for many, taking the punishment our sins deserve. We pray, Holy Spirit, that You help those who have never confessed with their mouth that Jesus is Lord, to recognise what He has done for them and wholly rely on Him. And help us now to follow His example and to use the gifts You have given to us for the benefit of others. Help us to serve in the ways that have been appointed for us. To trust the Spirit has the given the gifts and abilities to us that He has, because they are needed in this local church for it to be built up.

Spirit, be at work in us and through us, and may Your presence be seen in how we love one another, practically care for one another, welcome guests, proclaim the gospel and long for sinners to repent, be taught to obey everything Jesus has commanded, offer up prayers in faith, and many other ways we can serve one another for the common good and the glory of Christ.

In His Name we pray.

Amen.

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