A Father’s Day Prayer

Minister:  Our Father in heaven, on this Father’s Day, we are once again reminded that You have revealed in Your Word who You are to us.

People:  You are not only our Creator, our Ruler, our Lord, but a Father to us.

Minister:  You established family and appointed men to be heads of their households and earthly representations of You.

People: Thank you for the precious gift of fathers.

Minister: We pray for men who have courageously assumed this sacred role of reflecting  who You are on earth.

People: Would You father them, mentor them, and give them hearts like Yours?

Minister: When they face the difficult task of teaching their children to walk upright:

People: Would You help them not to be afraid to discipline, yet to be known by their children for their compassion, tenderness, mercy, and wisdom?

Minister: When they are engaged in the spiritual battles of keeping their families faithful:

People: Would You anoint them to be warriors of prayer, defenders of the Truth, and guardians of the faith of their children’s souls?

Minister: When they are bombarded with the lies of the world that portrays a twisted view of what a father should be:

People: Would You enable them to hold their ground, make them light in darkness, and living examples of Yourself to this Fatherless world?

Minister: O Father, You know the hidden fears fathers have, when they are unable to provide and protect due to loss of income or health, or the increase of needs:

People: Would You grant them understanding children, free them from the pride of self-reliance, and help them find strength as fathers by putting trust in You?

Minister: We pray for fathers who are striving to balance the demands of work, marriage, children and Kingdom service with both joy and sacrifice.

People: Would You bless their efforts and reward them with the fruits of their labor?

Minister: We pray, on this day, specifically for the spiritual fathers of the church, our elders and leaders, for You know the weighty tasks they are confronted with daily.

People: Would uphold them, sustain them, help them walk blamelessly before You,  and grow in them knowledge and understanding of Your Truth, so that they may effectively father and shepherd those under their care.

Minister: And we pray for ourselves who have all been fathered.

People: Would you teach us how we may best love, honor, support and take care of  our fathers, in prayer and in deed?  Help us overlook their short-comings but carry on those legacies that are of eternal value.  Amen.

–Virginia Yip

Wrong Approaches to Leading Worship

• Think of yourself as a spiritual engineer.
• Lead worship that reinforces narcissism rather than challenging it.
• Shy away from naming the folly of life apart from God. Hold back from telling all of God’s wonderful deeds (Psalm 73:28).

 –John D. Witvliet, “Worship in a Beatitude-Shaped World: Learning from Psalm 73,” Reformed Worship 100 (June 2011), 6

Right Approaches to Leading Worship

• Desire to worship God, not to worship worship.
• Realize that we don’t engineer the spiritual value of worship but receive it as a gift.
• Realize that—by the Spirit’s power—worship is formative, not merely expressive; it changes our perspective, shapes our desires, corrects our vision.
• Long for the Holy Spirit to work through our preaching and praying, tasting and seeing, to convert and sanctify us.
• Be convinced that worship at its best immerses us in a countercultural world that fits the second rather than the first half of Psalm 73.

 –John D. Witvliet, “Worship in a Beatitude-Shaped World: Learning from Psalm 73,” Reformed Worship 100 (June 2011), 6