A prayer based on Matthew 14:13-21.

<aside> 🙏🏻 Almighty God, We worship You. We praise You. We give You all our glory. For You are the compassionate and gracious Lord. You are slow to anger. You are abounding in love and faithfulness. You are the saving Lord who forgives wickedness, rebellion and sin. And we know this to be true, because You have made this known in Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord Jesus, You are full of compassion. You deeply care for people who are broken and hurting. You love us and want to help us. You long for us to come to You and find rest for our souls. We thank You that came not to be served but to serve by saving people, and meeting their deepest needs. We thank You that when we come to You, You give us life, and to the full. You deal with our sins. Healing us of every single one of them. You clothe us with Your righteousness ensuring our acceptance by Your Father. And You promise us a glorious future, where we will be completely satisfied. We thank You that this feast, compassionate Lord, You are preparing for us, won’t leave us unfulfilled or unsatisfied or hungry and wanting more. That every need will be met for eternity. With death being swallowed up and every tear wiped away.

You are our Lord and You are our Saviour. We love You. We trust You. And we rejoice in and are filled with gladness by Your salvation.

But we confess that there are times when we are tempted to trust in a different king other than Jesus. A lesser king that offers temporary pleasures. We confess that too often we look to this world, and to the here and now, for satisfaction rather than hope in what is to come. We are far too easily pleased. Forgive us we pray. Continue the work of transformation that You have begun in us, so that our appetite for sin decreases, and our desire for righteousness and God’s kingdom increases. Holy Spirit help us, every time we feel the temptation, the pressure, to turn from Christ; to remember that He is the better King, our loving and compassionate King, who cares for us like no other, and who delights in us and to use us.

Lord, we do thank You that You gives us good things to do for You. You use us to advance Your kingdom as we call people to repent and believe in You. As we encourage those You have saved, to keep going in the faith by throwing off the sins that so easily entangle and by fixing their eyes on You. Fill us with Your compassion and with a willingness to share what we know of You with others.

For Your glory alone.

Amen.

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