Every now and again I like to share one of the pastoral prayers from Grace Fellowship Church. This particular one was prayed by Paul Martin on a recent Sunday. The context, as is obvious from the prayer, is the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and, perhaps more specifically, the vaccine mandates that are taking root in our city and country. This context provides many opportunities for Christians to disagree with one another and, therefore, to become disunited. This, then, is a prayer for unity in our local church.

O God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, our one true God, this is a prayer for unity, a prayer on behalf of Grace Fellowship Church of Toronto.Please hear our prayer and answer it.
We are aware of athletes who run hard for 25 miles, only to falter before the finish line. Jesus told of those who started to build towers, but only got part way done. We don’t want to get nearly through this pandemic, only to falter before the end. So, our triune God, make us one. Father, remember the prayer of your Son on our behalf, “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:11).
This season of life has shown us ways we are different from each other in categories we rarely considered before. Some of us think the government has acted in folly, others think it has done well. Some of us think vaccines are dangerous, others think they are a gift. Some of us fear coming to church, others wish we could sit shoulder to shoulder when we do. And these strong differences of opinion on important matters could lead us to grow suspicious of one another; to avoid fellow members we disagree with; or even to judge them in our hearts. O Lord, fill this church with people who value your Word over their opinions. Make it so the most important thing in the world to us is to do what we are certain is absolutely true. Settle our eyes on the simplest of your commands and send your Holy Spirit to empower our faithful obedience to them.
By your grace, let us: love one another with brotherly affection and outdo one another in showing honor (Romans 12:10); keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8); live in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16); agree with one another and live in peace so that the God of love and peace will be with us (2 Corinthians 13:11); greet one another with true love (2 Corinthians 13:12); welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us (Romans 15:7); bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2); behave with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love (Ephesians 4:2); be kind to one another and tenderhearted (Ephesians 4:32); encourage one another and build one another up (1 Thessalonians 5:11); submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:21); if one has a complaint against another, forgive the other (Colossians 3:13); consider how to stir up one another to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24); not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encourage one another, and all the more as we see the Day drawing near (Hebrews 10:25); confess our sins to one another and pray for one another (James 5:16); show hospitality to one another without grumbling (1 Peter 4:9); as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace (1 Peter 4:10); clothe ourselveswith humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’ (1 Peter 5:5).
And as we do all these good things, Lord, keep us from doing some other awful things. Let us not: pass judgment on one another (Romans 14:13); become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another (Galatians 5:26); lie to one another, seeing that we have put off the old self with its practices (Colossians 3:9); speak evil against one another (James 4:11); bite and devour one another (Galatians 5:15).
These are good things we know we can do and bad things we know we must not do. The worst thing that could happen to us as a church is if we would let our circumstances provide us an excuse to disobey the clear commands of your Bible. O God, please forgive us for where we have failed to love and properly care for each other. Forgive us for wishing ill on people who see things differently from us. Forgive us for retreating into little like-minded cells where we can grumble about those we disagree with.
You hate those things. But you love unity without any forced uniformity. You love it when your people choose to be one. That is what Satan hates. He hates it when people show off your love and power by standing together in love even when they disagree. So we are sure that the Devil will continue to hound, hassle and harangue us in every way imaginable to get us to pull out of the marathon. To stop building the tower. O Lord, give us the strength of Samson to persevere in this battle.
I pray for every member of this church facing job loss or education disruptions due to vaccine requirements. O God, grant them the strength of their convictions and show them mercy. Help them to stand before you with honest hearts and to trust that you will carry them through. Help our church to be ready to help wherever we can, even if certain ones of us would make different decisions. And Lord, intervene on their behalf. Open up a new way for them.
I pray for every member of this church who feels quite fearful of attending a public worship service. O God, help them and grant them the courage of their convictions. And when they come and gather, let them do so in faith, not compulsion. May they do it with full confidence in you and your grace.
I pray for those who strongly believe our governing authorities are in error. O God, let them express their views carefully, always remembering to honor their leaders, just as much as they fear their God. I pray for those who think our governing authorities are doing an excellent job. O God, keep them from trusting in mere men and women, and help them to settle their greatest confidence on you alone. I pray for all those lost in the middle, those who have a hard time knowing what is best and what is folly. O God, help them to rest on you like a weaned child on her mother’s lap. If matters seem too complex to them, give them the faith of a child in you. You welcome all who come in humility and weakness.
O God, we would have no idea what to do in these days if we did not have our Bibles. And again, Lord, we ask that you would keep our eyes on the clearest and simplest parts of that Book. We will not live wrong if we do what we know is right. And you have given us such clear commands, the greatest of which is for us to love one another. “God is love.” And we are most like You when we are imitating your love. Therefore, may we “be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1–2).
And may the unity that results from this mutual love make Grace Fellowship Church shine like the sun that breaks through the clouds on the most dismal of days, so that all who look over here and see the light will, in turn, worship the light, our thrice Holy God. To whom we pray, Amen.

Whatever this weekend brings, may you know the Lord’s sweet blessings through it all.

(Yesterday on the blog: The Death of Porn)
Many Voices, One Song
I appreciate this reflection on the Sing! Conference and, beyond that, singing in general. “I’m writing this post because I don’t want a profound dynamic of this conference to be passed by without mention. It’s a truth we need to hear. Specifically, I want to encourage you as you head to church this Sunday to remember this repeated refrain from the conference this week. Here it is: Singing together about Christ strengthens our unity in Christ.”
God Has Satan on a Leash
“The internet is filled with memes. Some funny, others distasteful. Then there are theological memes. Many are quite accurate; others, however, are downright horrible. You may have one notable, cringeworthy meme. Jesus and Satan are having an arm wrestling match—we’re just not sure who has the upper hand! Eternity hangs in the balance; it’s a jump ball.” But nothing could be farther from the truth.
Be Like Adam?
“Isn’t it true that Adam is most often used as an example of what a husband should not be like?” True. Yet in this article we learn what he did right…
I ‘Just’ Do Ordinary Work
Daniel Doriani speaks to those who say they “just” do a certain job. “In some cases, alas, ‘I just’ can be accurate. The desperate and the greedy may just work for money. Workers who lack ambition may have no direction, so they just do as they are told. People even say ‘I just’ because their work has scant value and they know it.”
The Church Was Always International
“The thing is, we’ve been conditioned to believe that the Christian faith is essentially a Western phenomenon, Church history books tell us about the way that the faith moved from the Middle East, to Europe and then out to the rest of the world through the efforts of Western missionaries. It’s a great story – but it didn’t happen like that.” History is complicated that way.
Speaking Rightly About Our Beloved
“Having accurate theology about Christ is not the same as love for Christ, but if we love him we will always seek to speak rightly about him.”
Flashback: Sex Under Law, Sex Under Grace
Any sex outside of God’s good stipulations is sex under the terrible burden of law.

The most amazing perverseness in man is proven by the fact that he does not remember what God has so arranged that it would seem impossible that it should be forgotten. —William S. Plumer

The God of peace be with you today, my friends.
Today’s Kindle deals include a book by Christopher Ash that your pastor wishes you would read along with several other great picks. (If you’re into Kindle deals, remember I’ve got an X account dedicated to them: @challiesdeals.)
(Yesterday on the blog: Lowest and Last of All)

Randy Alcorn shares a key bit of writing from John Piper on the importance of brokenhearted boldness. “Boldness can become brash, harsh, severe, cruel, angry, impatient, contentious, belligerent, coarse, crude, snarky, snide, loud, garish, obnoxious — all in the name of Christian courage. Or more subtly, boldness in the cause of truth can become, even if less brash and severe, more all-consuming. It can become such a fixation that all other beautiful affections and dispositions are eaten away from within.”

Many have wondered why Jesus didn’t defeat the Romans, though I guess he did, in a sense. Alastair Roberts speaks on that in this brief video.

Bob Kellemen: “Much of our thinking about suffering is unbiblical. We tend to think that spiritual maturity somehow inoculates us against the pain of suffering. We falsely imagine that the more spiritually mature we are, the less emotional pain we will experience when we suffer.”

Matt Walsh has a new film out and, as Denny Burk explains, it “has opened up a conversation about the ethics of deception and lying when doing so for an ostensibly good cause.” Denny provides his take on the ethics of the matter.

Amy Medina considers “how often I assuage my fears based on odds. The news headline gives me a fright, but I analyze it carefully: That would never happen to me. I don’t live in that city, in that neighborhood; I don’t frequent that bar, that park, that dark alley. I always buckle up; that cancer doesn’t run in my family; my country would never go to war; I have insurance for that. I don’t need to worry.”

We often consider the task of prayer or the duty of prayer. But how often do we consider the beauty of it? That’s what Ceenu Susan Jebaraj does here.

All the way back in the seventeenth century John Bunyan produced an incredible work of visual theology titled “A Map Shewing the Order and Causes of Salvation and Damnation.” In a pair of side-by-side timelines he traced the salvation of the believer (or the elect) and the damnation of the unbeliever (or the reprobate). 

Repentance is more than a repeated apology.
—Kevin DeYoung