On Sunday morning, I spoke about prayer as a part of the process of “preparing the way for the Lord”. Any sermon that allows you to impersonate Bob Barker while proclaiming the Word of God… that’s good fun!

At the end of service, we knelt together in the dark and prayed this prayer in unison. It had been requested by someone afterwards, so I figured I’d post it here as well.

The words below are a mix: Some are pure Scripture–prayers taken from Kings, Chronicles, Isaiah, and Daniel. Other parts are my paraphrases of such passages or thoughts that were reached as a result of praying through those prayers last week.

For what it’s worth…

O Lord, there is no God like you in all of heaven or earth.

You keep your promises
and show unfailing love
to all who obey you
and are eager to do your will.

You have promised that we will be Your temple,
that You will live among us and within us.

But how, Lord?

Even the highest heavens cannot contain You;
how much less our divided hearts.

Yet Lord, You are our Father.

We are the clay,
and You are the potter.
We are all formed by Your hand.

So don’t remember our sins forever.

For we are the creatures of Your hands,
born to bear Your image,
and called to carry Your glory
to the ends of the earth.

Father, hear our humble and earnest requests.
We are a needy people:
Needy of Your forgiveness
and needy of Your nearness.

Display for us Your might in powerful ways.

Oh, that You would burst from the heavens and come down!

How the earth would quake in Your presence!

As fire burns wood and boils water,
Your coming would shake the world.

When You came down long ago,
You did awesome things beyond our dreams.

And oh, how things shook!

For since the world began,
no ear has heard, and
no eye has seen a God like You:

You work for those who wait on You,
and You welcome those who lovingly follow Your ways.

We kneel before You this morning, Lord.

We offer ourselves;
we surrender ourselves.

Your will is our command,
and we will spend our lives upon serving You.

Search our hearts this morning,
and burn away anything in us that is untrue or impure.

For we desire to serve You alone.

Our Father in heaven, great is Your name.
May Your kingdom come
and Your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Do not lead us into temptation
and deliver us from the evil One,

for the kingdom is Yours,
and the power is Yours,
and the glory is Yours,
forever and ever,
amen.