(115) A Prayer for the Community on the National Day of Prayer

AMDG

          You have talents and skills I don’t have and I have talents and skills you don’t have.  So we work together to satisfy each other’s needs.  We need each other and everyone is needed to make a contribution.  That’s what community is all about......a group of interdependent people organized to obtain common goals. With that concept in mind, I presented a prayer for our community at the observance of the National Day of Prayer at the University of Rio Grande on April 24.  Permit me to share it with you.  A prayer for our national and state leaders can be found on Blog #28 and another for our troops may be found on Blog #82.

A PRAYER FOR THE COMMUNITY

Given in Observance of the National Day of Prayer at the University of Rio Grande 24 April 2014 and also in the Gallipolis Daily Tribune July 2013

-Lord, you gave each one of us special talents and gifts, some of which many people don’t have.  Please help us to use our talents to serve our neighbors in our communities, be it one in Gallia, Meigs, Mason, or Jackson counties, our university community, the organization in which we work, the church in which we worship. 

-Help us to understand that’s why you created us as social beings……to serve each other by satisfying our own and each other’s needs for the common good of all……as a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker, as a volunteer or in whatever job we may have.  Help us to realize that’s what community is all about……we need each other.  That is to serve each other, not to take each other.

   
-Give us a Christian mentality of not only working for ourselves, but also to serve the customer, the client, the patient, the student, our coworkers, our classmates, the members of our families, our neighbors down the street, our superiors, and our subordinates.  We offer our work to you and for your people.  Help us to be acutely aware that somebody out there, a person will benefit from what we produce.  Instill within us this Christian mentality so that we will be happier and our communities will be more prosperous and harmonious. 

 

-Lord, make us your instruments to form a solid, cohesive, and prosperous community where its members care about each other as we bring your love to those around us.  Please protect our community through our police officers and justice system officials, firefighters, and the volunteers involved with the Neighborhood Watch.

   

-Motivate our students to study hard not with the goal of simply making more money, but to prepare ourselves for the special mission you gave to each one of us to serve the community more effectively in our careers.  Help us to realize that our current and future jobs are very important to the community, whether as a chief or as an Indian. 

 

-Help our businesses and other enterprises to prosper so that there will be good jobs for all while each provides indispensable services to the community…… producing the goods we consume and the services we need……which keep our cars running; our buildings and homes maintained; distribute manufactured goods and provide convenient places to buy what we need, 

    

-Help our hometown newspapers and our radio stations that keep us informed as citizens in order to    more effectively participate in the political process, that facilitate marketing, community functions and activities

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-Help us to elect government officials who are honest and dedicated to the common good as they provide the services so vital to the members of the community.

-Bless the farmers who produce the food we eat, the processors, and those who bring it to market.

-Bless our teachers, administrators, staff, parents, and the taxpayers who make our education possible and form the future citizens who will work to serve the community in the jobs they hold.

   

-Bless those who work in the libraries that enrich lives and foster lifelong learning.   

-Bless our pastors who teach us and feed us sheep with the word of God as they guide us along the road to eternity, give meaning to our lives as well as a moral foundation so necessary for the social order.

-Bless the health care providers and the many workers who support them in order to keep us healthy.  May they follow in the footsteps of you, the great healer with compassion and tender loving care.

-Bless the musicians, the actors, and other entertainers who give us a restful distraction from our problems.

-Bless the coal miners who risk their lives and the electric workers who keep our lights on.

-Bless the volunteers who give of themselves, including their time, talent, and treasure to enrich the community with no pay because they love you, Lord and your people. 

 -Lord, thank you for everyone in the community as we help each other during the flight of spaceship earth zooming to eternity.  May your kingdom come to our families, our churches, our organizations, and to our communities.  Help each one of us do his or her part.

Supplemental Bible Verses

2 Chronicles 7:14 (New International Version)

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

1 Timothy 2: 1-4

¹First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, ²for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity.  ³This is good and pleasing to God our savior, ⁴who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.

Theme and Verse of the Year

2016 - Wake up, America!  Isaiah 58:1a - “Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice                like a trumpet.”

2015 - I Kings 8:28  “Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this                 day.”

2014  - Romans 15:6 "One Voice, United in Prayer".

2013 - Matthew 12:21 - “In His name the nations will put their hope.”

2012 - Psalm 33:12 - “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his               inheritance.”

2011 – A Mighty Fortress is our God.  Psalm 91:2  “I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my              fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

2010 - Nahum 1:7 “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble.  He cares for those who trust in         Him.”