As life takes it toll on all of us, give us the faith that sees the loving hand of God who will never allow us to be tempted without a way out of that temptation. For no temptation has overtaken us but such as it common to man, and God is faithful who will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to endure. But with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that we will be able to endure it.

Help us to remember that as your children, every pain, every disappointment, every illness, every failure on our part - is only God's loving providence to sanctify us and to make us more useful that we might be a comfort to others. If we have walked in the shoes of those who cry, we can cry with them. If we have lived through the darkness of depression, we can bring light to those who suffer with this dreadful burden. If we have fought the temptation of immorality, we can give wisdom to others on how to beat this cursed enemy. If we never grieve, how can we minister to those who grieve? If we have never been poor, how can we minister to those who are poor? If we have never been proud and then humbled to the ground and seen as fools, how can we lift up our brethren?

Our God, we confess that we are indeed justified by faith without works. Our works can merit nothing that can contribute to the atonement of Christ that satisfies the justice due to our sins. You have justified us by pardoning all of our sins, and by accounting and accepting us as righteous. This belongs to us not for anything wrought in us, or done by us, but for Christ's sake alone. It is not ours because of imputation of faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience, but by the imputation of the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto us.

Lord, this is a day of rest. We come to rest from the labors of the week. We thank you that life is not simply a rotation of one day after another without any meaning. We thank you that our rest on the Sabbath points us to a final rest in Jesus Christ. We thank you that we come to reaffirm our confidence in that rest. We thank you that because we have received and rested on Christ as our righteousness we can rest from the guilt of our sins.

We can rest knowing that all things work together for good for us. Life is not a game of dice where some times our numbers show up and sometimes they don't, where we need not go and hide in a dark room and wait on chance to catch up with us. We boldly live each day, knowing that for each of us, God has a purpose for that day. Today, we rest. Tomorrow, we work.

Lord, help us to be good workers. Help us to work hard. Help us to go beyond what others expect of us. Help us to go the extra mile. When others complain about how unfair it all is, how us to keep our mouths closed and to produce even more. More precious in the sight of God is one who suffers under trial, than one who constantly complains about how unfair life is.

Our Father, we thank you for our forefathers who came to this country seeking the freedom to worship the true God according to their conscience which was informed by the word of God. Freedom comes with a people who know how to control their lusts and greed. Freedom comes with a people who call upon God to be their helper and guide. Freedom comes with a people who have become slaves to the Lord Jesus. Only a slave of a God who loves us as a benign and gracious Master can truly be free. Make us slaves that we might be free.

Hear the prayers of your people today. Lord, only You know the sufferings and the fears deep down in the hearts of your people. You know us better than we know ourselves. Only Your Holy Spirit knows our true weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but he Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.