Ohana Prayer 291 – Luke 20

9 He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some

farmers and went away for a long time.

10 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of

the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love;

perhaps they will respect him.’

14 “But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said.

‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’

15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “What then will the owner of the

vineyard do to them?

17 Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written:

“‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’[a]?

18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be

crushed.”

21 So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and

that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.

22 Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

23 He saw through their duplicity and said to them,

24 “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied.

25 He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

The Lord who created the world and everything in it, you are Lord of heaven and earth. Our

Father God in heaven, we praise you. You do not live in man-made temples and human hands

can’t serve your needs–for you have no needs. You yourself gave life and breath to everything

and you satisfy every need. We praise you and thank you for your great kindness. You have

done great things in extremely meticulous ways and you also have carefully examined our

hearts and motives.

Holy and solemn God, righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. You are a

jealous Lord who would not tolerate evil. Please help us to guard against evil because you never

excuse the guilty and will lay our sins upon us.

Praise to the merciful and gracious Savior Jesus, you are slow to anger and filled with unfailing

love and honor. You unlocked the right path and left us with beautiful footsteps. By dying on

the cross, your love for us was fulfilled; our transgressions and sins were forgiven.

Lord Jesus, you are the cornerstone of our lives. In the face of the pandemic, social unrest and

daily hardship, please forbid us to harbor distrust with negative attitude and irreverently blame

you for all the troubles and brokenness. Please help us not to become bitter and grumble.

Otherwise, if the holy and righteous stone falls on us, we will be crushed. We kneel before you

in reverence, quietly waiting for the Father to respond to your pleading for us at His right hand.

Yet may the Father’s will be done, not ours.

Holy Spirit, please come and fill us so that we can lay aside all worldly man-made authorities

and put on all of God’s armor. Then we can rely on the power of the Spirit to remain faithful,

focused, honest and righteous when we go out to preach the good news and proclaim that the

Lord’s return is at hand.

Thank you, Holy Spirit. You give us unique gifts according to your will. Please always remind us

that the gifts are not for our own benefit but are “on loan” to us by our Father so that we can

bear more fruit and bring glory to God.

We pray with thanksgiving in the holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!