As I've written and considered this prayer for a long while, I see it having two functions:
1) It is a prayer to God to pray together! Simply put, God must work these things in our church, otherwise they won't happen. So we ask Him!
2) It is to remind us what it means to be a church family; who we are in Him, why we are here, and where God is calling us.
My hope is that we would pray this prayer together once a month during a Sunday morning service, and also that each of us may pray it individually as the Lord leads us.
— Pastor Albert
A Church Family Prayer (Acts 2:42)
Father, through the death and resurrection of Your Son, You have forgiven our sins and given us new life in the Holy Spirit. Through this new birth, we have been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the one body of our Lord Jesus Christ, the church. (1 Cor. 15; Rom. 8; Eph. 1:5; Rev. 19:7; John 3; 1 Cor. 12)
Now, as Your children, and as the bride of Christ, holy and dearly loved, we pray to You in the name of our Lord Jesus.
Help us to be devoted to Your Holy Word. Help us to be devoted to the gospel that has saved us, given to us through Your apostles, and to the scriptures You gave us through the prophets before them. Help us in unity to hold firmly to the faith once and for all delivered to the saints. Continually, open our eyes as a church family to Your living Word so that we might be transformed by it through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Eph. 2:20; Acts 2:42; John 17:20; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; 2 Pet. 1:21; Rom. 12:1-2; Jude 1:3; Eph. 1:17)
Help us to be devoted to one another in love. Help us to faithfully encourage, comfort, listen, counsel, teach, admonish, and forgive one another with all gentleness and patience. Help us to bear each other’s burdens; reminding each other of the gospel of grace with fervent love and tender affection. Help us to not forsake meeting together, but instead faithfully spur one another on in love and good deeds, “as long as it is today.” (Col. 3:12-15; Eph. 4:2; 1 Pet. 4:8; Gal. 6:1-3; Heb. 3:13, 10:25)
Help us to be devoted to fervent prayer, daily asking for Your glory and kingdom, for our needs and deliverance. Help us to pray for one another faithfully, for spiritual growth and perseverance; that by the Spirit’s power, Christ might ever dwell in our hearts through faith, filling us with the knowledge of His immeasurable love and the fruit of righteousness that comes from Jesus, until our faith is made sight. (Rom. 12:12; Luke 11:2-4; Col. 1:11 Eph. 3:14-21; Phil. 1:9-11)
Help us to share with one another, to be cheerful and generous givers with our time, talents, and treasure as we are able, storing up eternal wealth. Help us care for the needs of our local church, support her ministry, and relieve her poor. Help us also to contribute to the care of the universal church, and to the relief of the poor in our world as we take wise and loving opportunities. (2 Cor. 8 & 9; Matt. 6:19-21, 25:36-40; 1 Cor. 9:14; Gal. 6:6-10)
Help us to glorify You among the lost, walking in unity together before the world, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts; living before the kingdom of darkness as children of the light and ambassadors of reconciliation. Help us to endure suffering with patience and hope as Jesus did, entrusting Himself to you. Give us clarity and boldness to confess Your gospel as You lead us, always unashamed of our Lord and ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within us. (Mark 8:38; Tit. 2:12; John 13:35, 17:22; 2 Cor. 11:5-21; Phil. 2; Acts 4:29-31; 1 Pet. 2:15, 3:15)
Help us to care for the faithful endurance of gospel ministry as we worship You through song and the Word on the Lord’s day, as we celebrate baptisms and the Lord’s supper, and as we practice biblical church discipline if needed. Lord, help us to eagerly desire spiritual gifts that we might serve one another in love with the varied ministries that the Holy Spirit gives each of us for the welfare of the whole body. (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10; 1 Cor. 11:23-25; Matt. 28:19; Eph. 6:19; Col. 4:3; 1 Cor. 12-14)
Father, apart from You we can do nothing, but with You we can do all things through Christ’s strength. Give us the grace and mercy we need to glorify You in all of these ways. In the name of Christ our Lord and through the power of the Holy Spirit Who lives within us, we pray. (John 15:5; Phil. 4:13; Col. 3:17; Heb. 4:14-16)