For our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod:

• That we would be a people of prayer, bringing everything to our Lord for His guidance, leading and blessing.
• That the Holy Spirit would convict us all of our sin (no matter where we stand on issues), clearly show us our Savior, bringing about our repentance, that we may follow Jesus first and Jesus only, that we would evidence the love of Jesus in how we speak to and treat each other, especially over the issues that trouble us.    
• That with repentance God would bring renewal in our churches and people.
• That many would take part in a Day of Prayer, Repentance and Spiritual Renewal www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=10945 prior to the July 2007 Convention, asking God to change us as we follow Jesus first and Jesus only.
• For the Lord’s blessing on President Kieschnick, 1^st Vice-President Diekelman, the Praesidium, and all other officers and boards; praying God’s blessings on all who serve our Synod, their spouses, their families, their lives. 
• For the Lord’s guiding and leading of the 63^rd Regular Convention of our Synod as we lift up “One Message: Christ.” 
• For God’s direction for the Convention floor committees, that God-pleasing resolutions be presented to the Convention and that the Convention adopt resolutions that bring God glory and reach more people for Jesus.
• For God’s guidance of the elections at our Synod’s convention, that we elect people who would be about the business of connecting people to Jesus, being One People on One Mission—Ablaze! with One Message: Christ.
• That the Holy Spirit would inspire our Synod, igniting us Ablaze with passion for the lost, and that we will work diligently to carry out “One Mission—Ablaze!” with a goal of sharing the Gospel with 100 million people by 2017, always “keeping the main thing the main thing,” connecting people to Jesus.

For President Gerald Kieschnick and his wife, Terry:

• For body: health and strength. 
• For mind: God’s guidance, wisdom and peace.
• For spirit: that the fruit of the Spirit would be evidenced abundantly in them.

For our nation: for President George W. Bush (body, mind and spirit: see #3) and his advisors, for our military and for peace for the families of our military serving in Iraq , Afghanistan and other parts of our world.

That God would bring peace and stability in the world, especially in Iraq , Afghanistan , Darfur and Israel ; that Christians would share the Gospel with all, including the people of those countries, so they will not die and spend eternity in hell; that terrorism and destruction would wane and the peace of the Prince of Peace would grow.

That the Holy Spirit move within God’s people with the result that the lost of the world come to believe in Jesus, the only Way, Truth and Life, and for a renewed evangelistic zeal throughout our Synod and all of Christ’s Church to share Jesus with our dying world that hell might be emptied and heaven filled and God might receive great glory.

That Jesus would be clearly revealed to His Church, including our LCMS, so that as He is lifted up, people all over the world will see the light of Christ and come to faith in Him. 

Prayer of Repentance

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your Name in all the earth!  You alone deserve our honor and praise.  We glorify You!  We magnify Your most holy Name!  We lift Your Name high!  Receive our honor and praise for the Almighty and most holy God that You are.  Your love, Your grace, Your power is amazing!  We love You!  We honor You and You alone! 

Dear Lord, I know I can be fully honest and I can open my heart to You, for You already know everything about me, and by Your amazing grace You still love me.  You have proven that love forever in the gift of Jesus, whose blood cleanses me from all my sin.  You have made me Your own through the precious waters of Holy Baptism.  You continue to keep me and strengthen me in faith, through Your Word, assuring me of Your love and grace through the precious Holy Supper of our Lord.  I come before You in the Name of Jesus asking to be restored to a right relationship with You and with my brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Gracious Lord, Your Word says, “If My people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:13-14)  I now come before You with a heavy heart on behalf of my church, that part of Your people called The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, and myself.  I am so much like my church and my church is so much like me.  We have not been humble; we have been proud.  Help us to see and remove the log in our own eye before we point out the speck in our brother’s or sister’s eye.  We have not prayed as we should; we have done what we thought best.  We have not sought Your face; we have been concerned for our own face, how we are seen.  We continue to seek our own ways, what we think is best.  Forgive us, dear Lord, for the sake of the precious blood of Jesus, whom I thank and praise for dying for me and for all people.  Revive us.  Reform us.  Renew us.  Return us to our first love, to a love relationship with You.  Bring us to oneness, to the complete unity to which You call Your Church.  Make us one to let the world know that the Father sent Jesus and has loved us even as He loved Jesus (John 17:23).  Through our unity may the world believe that Jesus is truly God’s Son (John 17:21).  Make us one.  May we live and act as one.

Thank You, loving Lord, for guiding The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.  Put Your mighty hand of blessing upon our President, Gerald Kieschnick, upon our 1^st Vice-President, William Diekelman, the Praesidium and all who serve our Synod.  Guide them by Your Spirit that they may lead and guide our beloved Synod to be the Church You would have us to be.  May the 2007 Synod Convention signal a beginning of a time when Your peace reigns in our Synod and our focus turns to the expansion of Your Kingdom, connecting people to Jesus, for “time is short and hell is hot.”  May Your powerful blessing touch our people and our congregations.  May the prayers of our congregations be set before You like incense.  Take control, take charge of our Synod, especially in this 2007 Convention, that Your presence and power may be felt powerfully by all, that Your Kingdom would come and Your will be done among us. 

Help me and my church, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, be about One Mission, seeking lost people for Christ, proclaiming One Message of salvation through Christ alone, as One People striving side by side for the sake of the Gospel, Ablaze with the light and power of God’s love in Christ!  Move in us to passionately reach out to others, even 100 million others who don’t know You as Lord.  May this Synod truly become a church united, committed to Jesus first and Jesus only, evidencing our love for You and for our brothers and sisters within our Synod and throughout the body of Christ and then beyond to those who literally are dying to know Jesus. May we truly “lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim, ‘til all the world adore His sacred Name.”  Our desire, O Lord, is to bring You the glory and honor due unto Your Name.  In the sacred Name of Jesus Christ I pray.  Amen.