A prayer based on 1 Peter 5.

<aside> 🙏🏻 Lord Jesus, our Good Shepherd. We praise you that out of your great love for us, your sheep, you have laid down your life for us. Dying in our place. Taking our sins. Being punished until the wrath of God was satisfied. So that we can have life.

We praise you that you are also our Chief Shepherd who leads and guides us, providing for our spiritual needs and protecting us from spiritual dangers, by placing us in local churches with elders to shepherd us. Help them in this good work we pray. To feed us with the Word of God by faithfully preaching and teaching it to us, and leading us according to what it says. To care for us and be examples to us by displaying the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. Help them to do this willingly and not because they feel forced to. To do this out of love for us and not for what they gain from it. And to remember, above all, that they are serving in your name and are accountable to you.

We pray that we would recognise the leaders of this church as good gifts from you, and submit to them as they lead according to your Word. Give us the humility we need to do so. Lord, protect us from an attitude of pride, of thinking we don’t need help and that we are better than others. Humble us with a fresh reminder of our weakness and sinfulness, and that everything we are and have is because of your grace.

Our God, we are full of many and various kinds of cares. These things that cause to be anxious. Concerns about our lives - our health, our job, our finances, our marriages, our children, our friendships. Concerns about others, for the church. Concerns about the present - the state of the nation and our world. Concerns for the future. And they weigh us down. We feel burdened by them. To hear then, your kind invitation to cast all our cares upon you, is a wonderful comfort and relief. Thank you that you care for us in this way and want us to give them all to you. Help us to do this. To hand them over to you and leave them with you, trusting that you are in control and will work all things for our good.

But Lord, it is not only these cares that we have. We are only too aware of how hard it is to keep following you each day. The devil is like a roaring lion, prowling about, looking to cause us harm, to see us turn away from you our mighty God and Saviour. So, Holy Spirit, strengthen our faith. Help us to be on our guard, to be watchful and self-controlled, and to resist the temptations of the evil one. Especially in times of suffering, when the pressure to doubt your goodness and disobey your Word is strong. Gracious Father, we pray this not just for ourselves, but for fellow believers around the world in places like [LIST] who are suffering in ways have fortunately never had to. May their suffering be short, and may you the God of all grace support and uphold them, and enable them to persevere in the faith.

And for other local churches, faithful to the gospel - Those near us and known to us, those far away, those part of [the FIEC], and [CHURCH] who we have partnered with - We pray for their growth in love and holiness and unity. We pray that they will shine like stars in their communities and that you would bless their witness for Christ. Provide all that they need to serve you, the gifting and resources, as they live as strangers and exiles where you have placed them.

We give to you now all the glory, dominion, and power, for ever and ever.

Amen.

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