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

Father,  

We confess our fear, our weak faith, our timorousness, and our worry. You call us to rest in you, and you have made clear your sovereign nature and love for us. 

Guide us in engaging the difficult, self-denying recognition of our sin, of confessing that sin, and of turning to you in repentance that we might rejoice in the assurance of your forgiveness.

Lead us in meditating on how Christ was pierced through for our transgressions, and how he was crushed for our iniquities, so that by his scourging we are healed. May we take hope, rejoice, and grow in the applied recognition that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Much more then, being justified by Christ’s blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him.

We rejoice that there is no other God like you, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession. We exult that you do not retain your anger forever because you delight in unchanging love.  

May the reality of our great deliverance, of your great love, the fact that those who are trusting in Christ will never perish, and that our security is guaranteed by you, who is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of your hand, grant us confidence to do your will, boldness to testify of your Gospel before the world, determination to live according to your precepts, and the diligence to mortify our innermost anxieties, surrender our skepticism, and preach the Gospel to ourselves in the midst of our doubts. 

We thank you for your gracious provision for our assurance. Deepen us in your Word and in the shared comfort of discipleship this day, and throughout this week. 

This we pray in Christ’s name,   

Amen.