Our Father in Heaven, You are most worthy of all praise. Your word and Your world teach us that You have made everything for its purpose even the wicked for the day of trouble. We believe this. We look at the right leaning bias and the left leaning bias in the media today; we hear rumors of conspiracy and propaganda and it quickly becomes difficult for us to know who to believe. We confess that we, Your people have not been like the sons of Issachar understanding our times and yet we take comfort in the command that we must not lean on our own understanding.
We pray, Sovereign Lord of men’s hearts that You would raise up bold men and women to shed light on difficult stories like the Gosnell trial that is currently taking place. We pray that you would stir Christians who have been given a voice and a platform to speak agains the abhorrent evil that is abortion, that we would not miss this opportunity that You have given in light of this wicked man and the vile, torturous nature of abortion being brought into the light.
We pray that you would raise up bold men and women like Chris Broussard who are not afraid and who do not back down when pressured and tempted to suppress or to pervert Your truth. We pray that You would guide the hearts of Christian journalist and bloggers and writers and entertainers to believe and speak with conviction even when it will cost them dearly. We pray that you would grant them wisdom and understanding in how to gracefully and even winsomely be a part of the polarizing conversations taking place right now regarding homosexuality and marriage. Put in into their hearts and into all of our hearts to win the man not simply the argument. That the gospel would prescribe to us not simply our words but our demeanor and our tone. Illuminate Biblical manhood and Biblical womanhood for the beauty that it is so we leave once and for all the shallow, weak pleasures that too easily satisfy us.
Holy Father, Righteous and Just, we plead with You that You would break the teeth of Your enemies. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive? Tear out the fangs of the porn industry in this country and across Your globe. This thriving industry that devours and deceives our sisters and our daughters, let it be like the snail that dissolves into slime. Tear out the lust-saturated fangs that latch on to our brothers and our sons with illusions of control and sexual fulfillment. Set your children free from the bonds of pornographic videos, magazines and websites that have ensnared us as individuals and as a society. Turn our affections toward You and toward Your perfect holiness.
Finally God, we thank You for the common grace You grant toward mankind both the just and the unjust. We thank You for ceaseless technological advancements and I pray that we, Your people would continue to take advantage of social media for the advancement of Your gospel in the same way that the men of the protestant reformation took advantage of the cutting edge technology of their day to circulate Your word in common languages. By Your hand and plan, in our day we don’t have to be journalists or famous entertainers to have a spectacularly broad platform. It may seem silly to those who can’t see, but You have given us facebook and twitter and other social media outlets that enable us to communicate instantly with individuals far and wide, spread all over the planet. Let us follow in the steps of the reformers who laid down their lives to see the good news that in Your mercy, You sent Jesus Christ to save sinners, go forth to every nation, tribe, people and language.
We ask that You do these things, that which is pleasing in Your sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever, world without end. Amen.