Christ's Church

• Pray that the Lord breaks our hearts over the growing sin of homosexuality and gives us compassion to love and minister to those around us who are promoting and practicing this form of immorality. 
• Pray that the Lord emboldens our hearts to stand up clearly and boldly for righteousness sake in the public arena in a spirit of “gentleness and reverence”. 
• Pray that the Lord gives the Washington church’s favor as we speak up for morality and the gospel that transforms lives. 
• Pray that the Lord will move the hearts of our legislators to understand the gravity and impact of this issue upon our culture. 
• Pray that the Lord will use Christians in positions of influence to persuade the decision-makers to do what is right and not what is politically correct.
• Read and pray in the spirit of this prayer Pastor Scotty Smith wrote: 

Heavenly Father, we come to your throne of grace today grateful for our salvation, yet groaning for friends in various struggles and entanglements. Grant us grace and wisdom to serve them well.  None of us naturally enjoys confrontation, and we all decry self-righteous fixers who show up in our lives.  

Give us fire and kindness. If a friend loves in all seasons, that certainly must involve the seasons when we get entangled in sin. Sin brings death. We tend to forget this—death.  Help us hate sin enough and love our friends enough to risk getting involved. Better to risk our awkwardness and their defensiveness than to watch another life or marriage simply go down. 

Give us discernment and persistence. It’s not about a rush to judgment but about a journey to restoration. Help us listen well before launching prematurely. Restoration, not rebuke, must be our primary goal. Some entanglements take a long time to get disentangled; some delusions are more powerful than others. Father, we need the power of the Holy Spirit and the love of Jesus. 

Give us humility and hope. None of us is beyond the need of grace, and none of us is beyond the reach of grace. Keep us gentle and keep us expectant. Jesus is the great Restorer, not us. This is the
law of Christ we are fulfilling; his yoke we are bearing; his story that’s being written. Fill us with hope. Fill us with the hope of the gospel. 

Father, help us be more welcoming of sinners; pursuant of “runners”; faithful in discipline; expectant of repentance and celebrant in restoration. Make the gospel unavoidable in our communities. Make Jesus supreme in our midst.

So very Amen we pray, in his holy and loving name.