I’m excited to share a special resource with you that may enrich your Sunday mornings. Each week, I write an opening prayer based on a specific psalm for my church’s Sunday morning worship service, using Don Whitney’s method from Praying the Bible. My goal is to provide a thoughtful, scriptural, Christ-centered prayer to start the worship service. Each prayer is typically around 500 words and includes adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. They highlight Christ’s redemptive work and our need for the Holy Spirit’s guidance. I trust these prayers will encourage you as you worship the LORD.
Psalm 75: A Prayer of Justice and Praise
Based on Psalm 75 (Christian Standard Bible)
Worship and Adoration
Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we come before Your throne of grace this morning. We gather to worship You with reverence and awe, for You are great and greatly to be praised.
As the psalmist declares in Psalm 75:1:
We give thanks to you, God; we give thanks to you, for your name is near. People tell about your wondrous works.
Your nearness, O God, is our good, and we thank You for the evident displays of Your power in our lives and in Your church. We especially thank You for drawing near to us through Your Son, Jesus Christ. In His life, death, and resurrection, we see Your wonders most clearly.
Confession and Judgment
As stated in verse 2:
When I choose a time, I will judge fairly.
We recognize that You alone are the Righteous Judge. We confess our sins before You, knowing that we fall short of Your glory. We ask for Your forgiveness through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. We also ask for the grace of repentance to turn from our wicked ways.
In the midst of disorder and confusion in our world, be our stay, O Lord. In verse 3:
When the earth and all its inhabitants quake, You are the one who holds its pillars firm.
Christ Jesus, You are our stability and unshakable foundation in uncertain times. Help us to stand firm in our faith, rooted in the unchanging truth of Your Word.
Prayer for Humility and Providence
We recognize the wickedness, folly, and pride in our hearts. In verses 4-5:
I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn. Do not lift up your horn against heaven or speak arrogantly.’
Father, guard our hearts against pride and arrogance. Teach us humility, following the example of our Lord Jesus, who humbled Himself for our sake.
We thank You, Lord, that the changes of providence are not the tricks of fate or fortune but Your wise and just judgments. As stated in verses 6-7:
Exaltation does not come from the east, the west, or the desert, for God is the Judge: He brings down one and exalts another.
Lord Jesus, You are exalted above all.
Prayer for Salvation and Closing Praise
We pray for the salvation of the lost, O God. In verse 8:
For there is a cup in the Lord’s hand, full of wine blended with spices, and He pours from it. All the wicked of the earth will drink, draining it to the dregs.
Lord, we know that this cup represents Your wrath. We are sobered by Your judgment. We thank You, Jesus, for drinking the cup of Your wrath on our behalf. Because of that, we might receive the cup of salvation. Help us to spread the gospel, that people may turn from their wickedness and be saved from Your wrath.
Help us to declare Your gospel and praise Your name. As stated in verse 9:
As for me, I will tell about him forever; I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.
We close our prayer with the last verse of this Psalm:
All the horns of the wicked I will cut off, but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.
May we walk in righteousness, empowered by Your Spirit, and may the name of Jesus be exalted in all the earth.
We offer this prayer in the mighty and matchless name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Note: All scripture references are from the Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
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