Goodness & Kindness

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Pastoral Prayer
Father, you know our hearts, you know we are drawn to various passions and pleasures, toward envy, jealousy, spite attitudes, and we struggle to lean toward one another with love, compassion, and kindness.  We know our tendencies and temptations to act out of sheer selfish desire. Father, your Word and your ways tell us of your goodness and loving kindness and this is not of our own but appeared through your Son Jesus when you saved us.  You saved us from our sinful tendencies and habits.  You saved us, not because we were good, but because Jesus was good and righteous.  And Jesus, according to his own mercy, washed us clean and gave us new life through His Holy Spirit. So, we are rich.  We are richly blessed through the grace of your Son.  Father, would this truth change us.  Would we be more kind, more apt to extend goodness to others.  Would we see your goodness and loving kindness and be overwhelmed by it, knowing we are justified by your grace and now possess an eternal hope, which is eternal life with you. Father, we pray for our mothers today.  Thank you for a day to remember them and all they’ve done for us.  How you knit us together in their wombs. How our mothers cared for us, fed us, carried us, loss sleep for us, taught us the Bible and lived out the gospel before our eyes, and on and on.  We pray for those who long to be mothers and those who have always long to be mothers.  Be with them in their desires and longings.  We pray for those who have not known their mothers or have had a painful relationship with her.  Would you comfort them with your loving kindness.  Father, we thank you for those who have served as spiritual mothers to help us grow in the faith.  Father, we long for the day when all things will be restored. Father, we give you thanks for the gift of new life in the births of Ryan and Kelly Kemp’s son, Grayson and for John and Lauryn Zastoupil’s daughter, Blair.  We pray for those who are in need of our prayers, for Charlie Little, Wanda Moody, Nancy Moore, and Mike Moore. 

Hear us now, as we take a moment to let these prayers up to you. 

Father we pray for the gospel to continue to go forth to the ends of the earth.  We pray this morning for the ministry of City to City Africa and missionary Sam Boateng. Africa presents an enormous gospel opportunity.  A growing younger population that is projected to eventually exceed all other continents. Pray for the training and coaching resources made available through City to City to the whole sub-Saharan Africa and for the formation of training centers. Would you plant healthy gospel-centered churches in Africa? We pray specifically for Sam Boateng’s efforts in church planting specifically in Ghana.  Would your gospel go forth to all the nations, Lord? We bring all these requests and praises and petitions before your throne of grace this morning.  We pray all of this is in Jesus name, Amen.