Our Father, we ask your special blessings on those who bear sickness and illness. We asked for patience for those who have chronic illness. We ask for hope for those who seem to have lost hope. We ask that pain be relieved. We ask that disease be taken away. We ask for the forbearance to hold up under whatever Thy mighty hand might put upon us.

Our Father help us to see that the providential events in our lives are decreed by God. The events of the future have already been ordained. Therefore, let us rest in the promises of God that he will never leave us nor forsake us. Whenever we are faced with temptation or trial, You will make a way for us that we might overcome.

Even in the difficulties of life, may we only see that God is being gracious to us. If God chooses to afflict hardship upon us, let us learn to patiently accept it because we know that God is love and that God would never do anything to us that did not work out for our good. When troubles assail us then, even though you seem most distant from us, you are most near to us. Then we know your love most of all because you are working in us to produce something more valuable than gold and silver. You are sanctifying us and what greater blessing could we have but holiness and sincerity in our faith.

Lord, we confess that we are anxious. We are afraid of the future. We are afraid of things we cannot control. And of those things we can control, we worry about whether we have done the right thing. O Lord, we are not always a pleasant people. We can be rude. We can be impatient. We can be cold. We are the type of people that if a man talks to us about ourselves, we will listen for hours. If I man talks to us about himself, our interest shortly wanes.

Our Father, deliver us from idols that will disappoint us. Even those things that are good for us as gifts of God can become idols if we love them more than we love Thee. For some, their jobs and callings in life become their idols. For some, their children become their idols. For some, their physical health, their youth, their beauty become their idols. Material ease can be our god. For some the esteem of others becomes their idol. Lord, help us not to worship idols. They will disappoint us. The house we love soon will not be our pride and joy. The nest becomes empty. The cars we drive someday will not excite us anymore. Lord, when we lose our interest in the things of this world, may we have an interest in serving God that will give us joy when everything else is gone.

Lord, bless Thy Church. Remind us that it is the body of Christ. There Christ is found. The Church baptizes us, marries us, and then buries us. It feeds us, it warns us, it rebukes us, and it comforts us. Kingdoms rise and fall. Kings speak mighty words and yet eventually are buried in the dirt under our feet. Yet, through it all, even through persecution and trial, even through materialism and wealth, even through success and failure, the Church marches on in history, proclaiming the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord give each of us repentance and faith. If we are guilty here today of living in sin, give us repentance. If we are guilty of envy, or jealousy, give us repentance. If we think God has done us in. If we think God is playing nasty tricks on us. If we think we are just pawns on the earth for God to play games, then Lord forgive us of our evil thoughts

Lord, give us victory over the sins that so easily beset us. If we are caught in adultery, lead us away from lust. If we are caught in lies because of the vows we have taken, then give us the willingness to repent and change our ways. If we are bored with life, then find things for us to do. If our hopes have been dashed, help us to find it again. It's not over until it is over. It's not over until God dies or until God changes His character. And we know that neither one of those is ever going to happen.

Lord, for many of us, we just want to be reassured that you love us. That is a very simple request. God loves me. God is my shade by day and my keeper by night. Lord, we find that love in Jesus Christ. We come to worship him and to adore him here today. We come to be reminded that he has won many victories for us. He has turned water into wine, when it was critical. He has divided the Sea, when His people were being overcome by the enemy. He has raised the humble and the one of low estate, and He has given them name that will be blessed forever. He has taken the proud and has cast them far away from His presence.

Grant to us your presence here today. May we be able to say with gladness, that it has been good to be in the house of the Lord. There we saw Jesus again. More importantly, there Jesus saw us and loved us.