Prayer for a New Decade

Father,

How limited are we that a decade encompasses so much of our lives? How fleeting is our time here on this earth and how empty without you. As we look ahead to the next 10 years we know that change is at hand. In this new decade we know there will be great loss and great joy. We know there will be moments of shame and glory. We know there will be times of overwhelming blessing and times of desperate need. None of it will be a surprise to you nor will any of it change you. But we pray, Lord, that it will transform us. That we will begin to have a mind of Christ as we seek to press into you in the midst of all of it. So as we mark the passage of time and look ahead to this decade we take the opportunity to commit it to you. We humbly commit ourselves to you for your service in this decade. We fall before you ask that you take our lives and use us as your Church. Tear down the walls that separate us from you and from each other. As we pray together we ask that you bind us together in Your Spirit across this city. We exalt you above our denominations. We exalt you above our neighborhood. We exalt you above our economic and social influence. We exalt you above wealth. We exalt you above poverty. We exalt you above politics. We exalt you above our families. We exalt you above our ministry work. We exalt you above our jobs. We exalt you above our nationality and our ethnic background. We exalt you above ourselves. We exalt you! We exalt YOU! Father, be exalted in Miami now and in the coming decade. As you transform your Church in Miami we ask that you transform this city. Reconcile this city and her people back to you. There will be many changes in our lives, in Your Church, and in Miami this decade. We know this. But hear the desire of our heart, Father, and let this decade be the decade of revival and renewal in Miami.

So Be It.

A Christmas Prayer

Holy God,

the news of your coming from heaven to earth in the person of Jesus is nearly unbelievable! Help me to believe.
The reality that you would exchange the glory of heaven for the broken realities of human life is truly extraordinary. Help me to allow your incarnation to rock my world. Awaken my sense of awe. Widen my sense of wonder. Heighten my hopes and lighten my burdens. Feed my faith and deepen my devotion. Magnify my gratitude and multiply my generosity. Pierce my heart and grant my peace. All in the One who came, who comes and who is coming again, Jesus, The Christ,

Amen.

Prayer of Preparation

Father,

Forgive us, your Church in Miami, for forgetting you. Give us pause this week to reflect on what you have given us in the gracious gift of Christ Jesus. There is so much distraction from you at Christmas - a time intended to celebrate you. Prepare our hearts and let your Church in Miami be a contrast to the chaos around us and place us in the places you want to bring healing and love. May our lives reflect not the "Spirit of Christmas" but rather the fruits of Your Spirit. May we be different this year in our giving and our receiving. May we receive from you a spirit of humility and joy. May we find ourselves so overwhelmed by your presence that our focus is not on our presents but on loving the people around us who so desperately long for Your Love. May we be givers of Your Peace to those around us who are drowning in anxiety. Please, Father, calm our hearts in preparation so that our very lives will be celebration of Your Love at Christmas.

Amen

Prayer for Provision

Father God,

Free us, Your Church in Miami, from the chains of worry and fear over finances and the future. Give your peace to us this week and give us your affirmation. We admit with our mouths that you are our provider, but we remain anxious in our hearts about our immediate needs. Forgive our unbelief and make us acutely aware of all the ways you are providing for your church. Father walk with us and hold us as we let go of the possessions which possess us and instead cling to you. As we press close to you this week may we know that you are in turn drawing close to us. Fill us with peace and generosity as you work through us to provide for others. As we trust you, let us be lights of joy, peace, and giving in a city filled with panic, anxiety, and selfishness. Take all that we would lay claim to and use it for your purposes. Pour your blessing out upon your Church as we humble ourselves and know that you alone are our provider.

Amen and Amen

Prayer for Joy

Father God,

Fill us with your joy this week. Just as the wind blows across the city this week let your Spirit dance through the lives of your Church in Miami. Lift us and move us. Push us into new places. Bend us in different directions. Shake us and rustle our leaves. Let us proclaim your greatness with excitement be ever aware of your strong presence. We pray this week that across this city you would give peace; give hope; give joy; and give life. We pray that you would use us, your church, to do it.

So be it.

Prayer for the "Lepers"

Father,

As your church and as your city we pray for your wisdom, your grace, and your healing. There are many issues across this city, but there is one wound which festers openly. As a city we try to ignore it but the world is watching to see whether healing and resolution will come. We pray this week for resolution to the crisis under the Julia Tuttle Bridge where there lives a group of about 70 convicted sexual predators made homeless by strict legislation. Father, you know the pain and the suffering their actions have brought upon the innocent. You know their sins. And Father, you know ours. You know the separation from you that our sins cause and yet while we are still sinners you love us. Father, even as we cry out in anger and fear for justice against those who would cause harm to children give us pause. Let us stop and also cry out for compassion, healing, and resolution. We can not walk in the love of Christ and pretend that its okay for men and women whom you love to be cast out and forced to live in septic squalor. Its not right in any third world country and it not right in the heart of Miami. We are at a loss for a solution, but we are not at a loss for who to seek in the midst of the situation. So Father, we humble ourselves before you and beg you to give us the love of Christ for the untouchables in the midst of us. And in that love we ask you to bring healing into the lives of these offenders and into the lives of their victims and the victims families. We also ask that you grant wisdom and means to people who are in a position to change the current situation. May your deep and perfect justice prevail here in this city.

Amen

God of this City

(I've recently been listening to Chris Tomlin's "God of this city" quite a bit. Let the Church of Miami agree in prayer in this for our city.)

Father,

You're the God of this city. You're the King of these people. You're the Lord of this Nation. You are. You're the light in this darkness. You're the hope to the hopeless. You're the peace to the restless. You are. There is no one like our God. There is no one like our God. For greater things have yet to come. Greater things are still to be done in this city.

Amen