Jesus, we need rest in you. Holy Spirit, give us the presence of mind to get away on a regular basis, hopefully daily, and spend some quiet time alone with you. Our spirits need rest; the kind of rest that only you can supply. All the people, all the work, all the money, all the drama – none of it compares to you and in fact, it wears us down! We need you, Jesus. Your presence is a balm that soothes the rawness of our souls after time spent in the world.

We are called to be in the world, but because we are not off the world, we need to come up for spiritual air. Only you have that air, Jesus. We receive it right now, Holy Spirit. Thank you, Lord. We love you so!

Holy Spirit, bring us into unity with our brothers and sisters. Help us to truly love our neighbors unconditionally, even when they seem to disagree with us on foundational beliefs. You love each and every person on this planet, God, so we should too. Convict us of areas of hatred, bias, stubbornness, and unforgiveness. Bring us into balance, Lord. We don’t want to live life believing in shades of grey, but rather in shades of love. We don’t want to compromise our faith, but we do want to perfect it. Make us more like you, Jesus. We love you.

Lord, we lift up prayer requests from two of our sisters in Christ:

First, from Mary…

And for LaMonica…

Jesus, we so easily forget about the power that was available to you when you were in human form on Earth. You could have destroyed your captors with a word, but you put the Father’s will first. You chose to save us, your Bride over escape. You were humble and went willingly to die for our sins. You amaze us, Jesus.

Then, after the world rejected you on the Cross, you defeated Hell and death and rose again! Hallelujah! You are the Almighty One, Jesus. We worship you and are awestruck.

Holy Spirit, help us to always remember that when we don’t understand your plan as your disciple did not understand in the garden of Gethsemane, to trust that you are still doing your Father’s will. In those moments, let our prayer be as your prayer, saying, “Not my will, but yours be done, God.” In the face of pain and loss, help us to keep a Kingdom perspective and know that you, Father, are still Almighty God, and you still love us, and though we may not understand it, you are still moving and you have plans for our good. Thank you, Father. We love you. We love you, Jesus.

Lord, we lift up Mary’s prayer request:

Jesus, help us to be on our guard for false prophets and false Messiahs. Don’t let us be deceived. We trust in your Spirit to guide us and want to just keep on loving everyone in our paths until you take us home. Help us to stay pure and to shine our lights brightly in the world. Even if life gets harder and harder for us, we want to show you, Jesus, to the world around us.

We can’t wait to see your face, face-to-face. We want to dance with you. We want to kiss your face and to be in your arms. For now, Lord, we rest in the comfort and peace of your Holy Spirit. Thank you, Jesus. We love you!

Lord, we lift up Ilona’s prayer request:

Jesus, infuse us with your Spirit’s authenticity. We don’t want to be religious hypocrites who turn people off spiritually because they can see through our puffery, nor do we want to heap condemnation on our brothers and sisters. We are not perfect in ourselves. We are only perfected by your blood, Jesus.

Help us to see just how much you love us and how much freedom and power is available to us through that love, and then let that powerful truth explode from our chests and be evidenced in the way we live our lives. Let people who we encounter be forever changed simply because they were able to sample your love through the way we treated them. Thank you, Jesus. We love you.

Lord, we also lift up Lynda’s prayer request to you:

Lord, thank you for welcoming us to the wedding, and thank you for calling us your bride. We humbly accept and we’re excited for the party! We are yours and you are ours. We love you, Jesus, and we are so blessed by your presence in our lives. Thank you for your love that fills us to overflowing. You are so good, God. We want to dance for you and dance with you, our groom, Jesus. Thanks to your sacrifice, we are pure and spotless. We are lovely in your sight, Lord, and that makes us feel so good! Thank you, Jesus. We love you.

Jesus, when we feel oppressed by the World, help us to press in to you. Help us to cry out all the louder to you. When others would become discouraged or enraged, help us to relax in the peace of knowing that you are still God, and we can count on you to take care of us. We don’t have to have all the answers. We just have to put our faith in you and call upon your name. Thank you, Jesus. We love you.

Lord, we lift up our sister, Lynn’s prayer request:

Please help me feel more faith as I have given my life to god recently pray I may be renewed with his strength love and wisdom and do not let me be impatient let me know what the lord wants me to do and give my life full meaning and please pray my sins be forgiven and I am clean again.

Jesus, help us to understand how absurd it is for us to carry around a sense of entitlement. You lived such a humble life. You lived to serve others even to the point of death. How can we justify living any differently?! You were fully God while in your human body. You were completely blameless; King of the Universe, yet you washed your disciples feet, prized children about earthly rulers, touched the sick, and spent time with people who were considered worthless by society.

Holy Spirit, help this truth to sink deep into our souls. We only have worth because you call us worthy. We are only precious because you hold us to be precious. We only have what you have entrusted us with, and were it not for your blood spilled at the Cross, we would be lost! Help us to live to serve others, walking in humility.

Lord, I lift up my sister’s prayer:

We also lift up Mary’s prayer request:

Jesus, we all have friends and family members who do not know you, and our hearts cry out on their behalf this morning. Our hearts hurt for their hurts. They are struggling and writhing in pain needlessly. They don’t know that you died for them. They don’t know that you were broken for their brokenness.

Holy Spirit, continue to soften their hearts. Do whatever it takes to bring them to the point where they recognize that they cannot live life by themselves. They need you, Lord. They need your Spirit within them. Without you, they are lost and blind.

We thank you that all of your creations are precious to you. You love the lost just as much as the found, and you’re desperately trying to reach them. We pray that their ears would be turned to your voice; your knock at the door of their hearts, and that they would answer you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. We love you.

God, as a child instantly recognizes the face of their mother or father, we want to recognize you and your presence. We know that you are always with us and yet…how quickly we forget! We want to go deeper in our relationship with you, Jesus. We want an intimacy with you that we have never known was even possible. We want a closeness that can only be understood by the Creator and the created. You know us so well, Jesus. We want to know you intimately too, Jesus. We want an encounter with you right now, Holy Spirit. Fill us.

Jesus, we rebuke the attack on our brother, Gideon. We prayed for him yesterday and now he has been injured, breaking his leg while jogging. Lord, Jesus, we bind up this spirit of physical oppression in your name and ask that it be sent away, never to return. Touch my brother’s leg and make him whole, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. We love you.