David Westerfield

Gospel. Culture. Technology. Music.

Tag: Book of Common Prayer Page 1 of 2


Fighting our Unbelief – A Prayer

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On June 27, 2021

In Prayer

Father, some of us come here from a place of real joy and closeness with You. Many if not most of us are a mixed bag of closeness to You as well as internal and external struggles that weigh and press in on us. And some of us are merely struggling to hang on. Lord for all of us though, there are real points of struggle to believe what You’ve promised, to believe that You’re good to us. Wherever we are Lord, we pray that You would kindle our hearts with the fire of faith by Your Spirit to fight against our tendency to unbelief. Would we not neglect our pursuit of You, knowing that as we patiently pursue You, You promise to reward those who seek after You. As 1 John 3:2 says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” Father, knowing that’s true in the end, would you at a very fundamental level simply show us Jesus in Your Word in greater ways now? Would we be captivated by what we see of Jesus, His glorious power and justice, as well as His tenderness and kindness and mercy, and would this melt our cold hearts that ebb and flow in struggle to believe what you’ve promised? You know our frame and remember that we are dust. We’re desperate for Your sustaining grace in this and pray to this end.

Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP)

The God of Life-Giving – A Prayer

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On April 11, 2021

In Prayer

You are the God who gives food to the hungry and in Jesus you miraculously fed the five thousand from very little. You LORD set the prisoners free and in Jesus You freed the man from the legion of Demons and the self-destruction inflicted; You LORD open the eyes of the blind, and in Jesus you said the word to many who were blind and immediately they received their sight. You LORD lift up those who are bowed down and in Jesus You greatly blessed and upheld a prostitute who washed Your feet with her tears and hair in remorse and repentance and love For Christ; You LORD love the righteous. You LORD watch over the sojourners and those without a home; You uphold the widow and the fatherless, the abused, the broken, the chastised, all those who suffer deeply, but the way of the wicked You bring to ruin. The prideful, haughty, evil, and self-sufficient You oppose.

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Curing the Incurable – A Prayer

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On March 14, 2021

In Prayer

Lord Jesus, just as You healed the daughter of Jairus right after healing a woman with an incurable medical condition, you Lord are demonstrated to be the God of healing not just physical conditions, but the God of healing souls. Lord our state apart from the touch of Your healing grace in our souls is incurable. We’re terminal. Apart from a correction of grace, we don’t want You, we don’t seek You, we’re indifferent to You and Your calls to come to You, we’re comfortable in our soul diseases and sins that eat away at us. We’re comfortable in the distractions of the flesh that all too easily please us that are all around us and pressing in and keep us from enjoying the only One who could deeply satisfy all of our desires and longings.

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Heartfelt Repentance – A Prayer

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On January 24, 2021

In Prayer

Father for all the ways we fall short of Your glory, we pray for forgiveness and know that You are always ready and willing to accept us when we turn. But we pray even further Lord for our hearts that we would be a people who are truly repentant and ready to turn from our sin. And we pray not just that we would merely turn from it, but that we would embrace Christ in the place of it because apart from You we can do nothing and will merely fall back into our sin.

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His Kingdom Above All Others – A Prayer

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On November 11, 2020

In Theology

Your kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, one that has already been inaugurated by Your entrance into the world and Your ascension into heaven after suffering death, throwing the old order into disarray as Your Kingdom is shown to be that which will reign forever and ever, unlike all kingdoms before it and those that exist today. As believers whose eyes are set on His eternal reign, we see You not as a theoretical king or merely a future King but a present King, whose eternal political agenda confronts and upends all of our agendas at different levels. You humble all rulers, you humble all peoples and in the end You will appear in blazing glory to consummate Your reign with Your people, bring judgment, and establish the final order in the new heavens and new earth, where you are the great, forever and final political authority in the heavens and the earth. At present He rules in heaven, in the end He will rule visibly. Lord may we not lose sight of that. 

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A Prayer For a Time of Uncertainty

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On May 17, 2020

In Theology

We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. (Psalm 75:1) 

Father as one of your churches that makes up the larger body of Your people, we come and simply lay at Your feet in thankfulness, for how You have given us life, support us in times of trial, provide for us in times of turbulence like we find ourselves in now, and how you’ve provided an incomparable salvation that we never could have sought after or achieved on our apart from the work of Your Spirit by Grace Alone. We thank You that Your name is near, that You have been made known to us through Jesus and all he’s accomplished to make us Your children. We thank You that You, the great I AM of the universe, would condescend to our level in order to be near us.

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The Fulfillment Realized – A Prayer

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On January 12, 2020

In Theology

Father, after many years of waiting for Your promises to be fulfilled, You brought Christ into the world and made His coming known to the Gentiles, and specifically during this time of Epiphany, you revealed Him to the Magi who had come to see this King who had been born. In fulfillment of so many Old Testament passages such as Moses who says, “Rejoice O Gentiles with His people,” and Isaiah who says, “The Gentiles will hope in Him,” You brought about a great fulfillment to bring salvation not just to ethnic Israel but to include the Gentiles around the world with Your chosen people Israel and so all Israel will be saved together. We rejoice together that we are seeing the promise spoken to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations fulfilled in our very midst. Father in Your great kindness, across history and even to this very day, you are continuing this fulfillment in effecting your work of the covenant of grace in Christ our Lord and bringing in Your called people from every tribe, tongue, language and nation. You are building Your church and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. Though we see so much persecution around the world against believers and even in our midst feel it with our family and friends at times who don’t know You, You are working a glorious end in which You will be lifted up and highly exalted and we will be caught up together and share in Your glory. Lord fill us with the hope and wonder and mystery of these truths that we would seek and find our treasure first and foremost in Christ, seeking the things that are above where He is instead of fleeting things here on Earth, and find rest for our weary souls.

Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan didst proclaim him thy beloved Son and anoint him with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior; who with thee and the same Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. (BCP)

Psalm 77 – Reminding Ourselves of the Gospel Story… Everyday

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On June 17, 2019

In Theology

It was during the course of reading the Daily Office readings for today that I read Psalm 77. Asaph has a struggle of confidence in the Lord within his heart causing him to waver, displayed here (man, have I been here before):

Psalm 77:4–9
You hold my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
I consider the days of old,
the years long ago.
I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;
let me meditate in my heart.”
Then my spirit made a diligent search:
“Will the Lord spurn forever,
and never again be favorable?
Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
Are his promises at an end for all time?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah (ESV)

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I Will Take Joy in the God of My Salvation – A Prayer

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On May 19, 2019

In Theology

Habakkuk 3:17-18: Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

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Resurrection Sunday – A Prayer

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On April 22, 2019

In Theology

Lord this is the day! The day in which all the hopes of the saints from ages past were waiting for, the first fruits of resurrection life coming to pass. And yet this was the moment that people at that time didn’t see coming: that the crucified Messiah, who suffered and died in such a horrible manner, would rise in glorious triumph by the power of the Spirit over all His enemies: Satan, death, sin and hell. This is the moment, the great day in which Your glory burst forth to show in no uncertain terms, that You have won the victory, defeated death, defeated the work of Satan that began in the garden ages ago; that You in fact did conquer our sin, absorbing in Yourself our due penalty, taking it with You to the grave; It is Finished! This is the day that You did indeed crush Satan’s head along with all his works; and this is the moment that all of Your promises of resurrection life and new creation began. Lord because of our union with You by faith, we see in Your resurrection, our resurrection. Because we’re united to You, everything that is true of You is ours, and in this moment in particular we are raised with You both now and will be raised in fullness and completion on the Last Day. Your resurrection life is also our power over sin at the present time, in the already and the not yet in which we live. Through Your resurrection is also our justification, just as Your glory and righteousness and justice was vindicated and You were displayed to be the righteous King over all. Lord we worship You not just as a crucified King, but also as the great conquering, victorious, warrior, Savior, King who will rule the nations with an iron scepter at His second coming, who we will get to spend eternity with and even get to share in Your glory forever! You have risen indeed King Jesus!

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