Every Sunday, a ruling elder in the church I pastor prays the pastoral prayer. Recently, Jon Boardman (you can read a brief bio here) has been preparing his prayers as he meditates on some of the names of God. Some in the congregation have asked that these be transcribed and posted where they could be read and reflected upon later on. That is worthy request.

Jon has been doing something that every congregation needs: modeling scripture infused prayer. God has given us a gift in Jon and in the prayers he prays. I intend to get his recent prayers posted here, and then regularly hereafter as we are able.

Some of the names and requests will be unknown to many of you. That’s okay. There is still wealth here to be mined.

Thanks, Jon, for letting us do this!

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Pastoral Prayer
Covenant Presbyterian Church, Oviedo, Florida
7/11/2010
Jon Boardman

El Roi – The God Who Sees

When Hagar fled from the wrath of Sarai to a well in a strange land, she was pregnant, lonely, and desolate. In her moment of distress, the angel of the LORD came to her and comforted her with promises and assurances.

Genesis 16:13-14 describes Hagar’s response: “She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.’ That is why the well was called Beer-lahai-roi [the well of the living one who sees me].”

God saw Hagar in her distress and came to her. He continues to watch over His children today. He never abandons His own.

Let’s pray to El Roi – the God who sees.

Lord,
in Psalm 11:4-5, 7, the psalmist declares:
“The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; his eyes examine them. The LORD examines the righteous but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates. … For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face.”

LORD, you see all things.
Nothing escapes Your watchful eye.
There is no where on earth we can hide from Your presence.
There is nothing so dark in our lives that can be hidden from You.
No matter how distressful our lives become, 
no matter what or who we try to run from, 
and no matter how lonely or abandoned we may feel, 
You are there watching over us.
Knowing that You see all, we can find great comfort and healing.
You do not allow us merely to hide our sins, our thoughts, our fears, or our pain from You.
Rather, You bring all these things to light, so that we can face our sin, our darkness, and our pain, and then we can find healing in You.
Thank you for the forgiveness of sin and the deliverance from darkness when we turn to You and repent.

We also thank You, O Sovereign God, who permits suffering, 
for using all things to bring about Your good.
This morning we pray for those who need to know that You have not abandoned them 
and that Your eyes are upon them every moment of every day.

We lift up those under distress due to physical pain 
like Jim Fitzgerald and Penni’s mother.
Lord, grant them relief and healing.
We pray for the Nuwayhids – grant them comfort.
Grant all those in grief and pain the knowledge of Your presence.
May You give them eyes to see You and Your hand at work in their lives.

Lord,
we pray also for those who are apart from loved ones.
Even though they may not know their whereabouts or they may worry about loved ones who might be in difficult situations where they have no ability to help them,
we take comfort in knowing that You are with them. You see their comings and goings.
We pray for the likes of Thomas McFadden and others who serve in the military. Grant them Your protection.
We pray for our brother Josiah as he spends time and ministers with his family in Kenya.
We thank you for Carol’s ministry at General Assembly and for returning her to us safe and sound.
And for many others from our church family who are traveling, we ask for your providential hand to sustain and protect them.

We also pray this morning for our church.
We take comfort in knowing that You see all that the future holds for us.
We need not be anxious, but rather we rest in the absolute trustworthiness of your nature.
We trust and ask that You would lead us to a meeting place to worship. Grant the facilities team discernment to find such a place.
We ask that you grow our body and the ministries of our church: the children and youth ministries, college ministry, small groups, our missionaries and evangelists.

We pray for the families, marriages, and singles in our church that you would encourage them and lead them.
For our pastor Randy and our elders and deacons, we ask that you give them wisdom to guide and serve Your people.

May we all have eyes to see the work you are doing in Oviedo and beyond.
Convict our hearts to participate in what You are doing and in reaching out to others with the hope that resides in our hearts.

And it is in the name of Jesus, our Everlasting Hope, we pray.

Amen.