Ohana Prayer 402 – Philippians 2
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,
4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing,
15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky
Praise the Almighty Creator, our Heavenly Father. Wherever we look, we are convinced that mountains cannot block Your love and deep valleys cannot hide Your blessings. There is no God like You in heaven above or on earth beneath that can do the great work you do. You make the sun to shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil.
Praise the great and awesome Father in Heaven, the Faithful Lord. You promise that You will show Your love to thousands of generations of those who love You and obey Your laws. We make announcements to the COVID pandemic, to natural and man-made disasters, to diseases, to difficult road ahead that Heavenly Father will lead us through every trial. He manifests His power by signs and wonders, and by various miracles in our time of need.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, that being found in human form, You humbled Yourself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. In the past, You calmed the raging storms while You and Your disciples were in the boat, and another time You stepped into the sea to get into the boat with Your disciples. We are exhausted from floods of furious storms in our lives. But You are our strength; You have sustained us in our darkest seasons. So, no matter what we are facing today, You are by our side ready to help and we ought to testify to Your goodness with others.
Forgive our sins. We have not worked out our own salvation with fear and trembling and we have lost our humble and obedient minds and attitudes. We only looked out for our own interest and did not think about how that might hurt others. Forgive us for doing things out of vain conceit, taking credits on achievements, having selfish ambitions and not participating in the furtherance of the Gospel and for not having the same mindset as You. Forgive us for turning the church into a private club instead of a place to preach the good news and to lead people to faith.
Holy Spirit, please shower us with spiritual rain to wake up our sleepy minds, and wash away all the unrighteousness and bitterness in our hearts. Send spiritual wind to blow away our gloomy thoughts. Don’t let us get angry with one another by fighting over trivial things. Spread the fragrance of Christ so that the attitude we should have is the one that Christ Jesus had: For it is God who is working in us both to will and to work according to his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that we may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom we shine like stars in the world.
Holy Spirit, revive us again so that all the churches will turn the message of faith, hope, and love into life’ s channel of blessing. May the church sow the seeds of faith for places that have lost faith from suffering of the pandemic, set up signs of hope for those who are confused and lost, provide food and clothing to those who are in poverty, ignite the lamp and put it on its stand to give light to everyone in the house and people in the community and in all things glorify God the Father.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.