A prayer based on Psalm 2.

<aside> 🙏🏻 Our great God, when you look down upon the world, You see the entire human race: the nations, the peoples, the kings, the rulers, the great, the small, conspiring and plotting, uniting to fight against you and your anointed one the Lord Jesus. They do not want to be ruled by you. They hate the boundaries and limits you have given to them for their good. They don’t want to obey your laws. And they will not have your Son reigning over them.

We confess that we still see this tendency in our lives. How foolish we are. We should know better, because we know that you have exalted Jesus to the highest place. With all authority in heaven and on earth. With a name that is above every name. You have installed Him as King to rule on your behalf. And his reign is not just over Israel, but over the whole world including those who have rebelled against you.

We praise you that one day you will justly punish all who oppose your rule. How grateful we are that before this day comes, we have heard your gentle, loving, tender voice speak to us, calling us to come to our senses, and trust in you.

Thank you our God that you are willing to take rebels back. Thank you that salvation from the wrath to come is available because the one you installed as King came first to save sinners by his obedient life and sacrificial death. Thank you that because we stand with Christ and have kissed the Son: with a kiss of agreement by acknowledging that He is King. with a kiss of allegiance by submitting to His rule. and with a kiss of adoration by loving Him above all others, we have been sheltered from his anger and have been blessed with eternal life.

Our God, it is our great desire that our friends and family, neighbours and colleagues, those who live in this community and those who live further afield, right to the ends of the earth, would know this too. That they would stop siding with the world and start siding with Christ, so that when they meet him. they will do so not as his enemy but as his friend. Please by your Spirit bring them to fear him and then to flee to him, and receive the blessing that He gives. We praise you that all who take refuge in your Son are blessed.

Amen.

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