Please find below the notes from the Elder's Prayer this past Sunday.

What other god is like you?

What other god shelters his people from threat and destruction?

What other god sustains his people with his words and his spirit?

What other god defends his people from their accuser when he judges their sin?

What other god is merciful to his enemies, who befriends those who once hated him?

You alone are that God. You alone shelter and sustain and defend and befriend. For those reasons and more, you alone are worthy of our praise and prayer.

Thank you for saving us from our sin. All of us were pursuing our own ways, our own lusts, our own desires, none of us seeking after you, yet you sought us out, you changed our hearts, changed our desires, so that we would know and pursue you.

Thank you for defending us from our accuser. We rightly stand before you accused of sin, of unrighteousness, yet you provided a substitute to receive in full, your right wrath against our sin. So when our accuser accuses us of sin, you defended with your own son, Jesus Christ. Those accusations are now forever answered by Christ.

Thank you for sustaining us. When our hearts are tempted to turn away, when our lives threaten to overwhelm us, you sustain us through your word, through your people, through your spirit. You have abundantly provided for our faith to remain and to persevere.

Thank you for changing our hearts and giving us new desires. When you put your spirit in us, you gave us new desires, godly desires, righteous desires, so that we long for what pleases you, we long for what you long for.

Thank you for allowing us to see, even now, even here on earth, the fulfillment of some of those desires. When we see salvation come to the lost, we see you fulfilling our desires. When we see your people grow in knowledge and understanding and wisdom and unity, we see our desires fulfilled. And when we look back on all that you have done in our lives, we see how you have met our every need.

Thank you that you are not done with us yet – you still change our hearts, you are still changing our desires to be more like yours, changing our understanding so that we grow in Christlikeness.

And one day all of these desires and changes will find their fulfillment when we see you face to face. Our sins, our struggles, our failings, all behind us and our faith made complete.

Amen.