Prayers from The Night of Prayer for the City Beautiful

Journey Christian Church – 1965 S. Orange Blossom Trail, Apopka, FL 32703

www.journeychristian.com

Prayer for the Victims & Families (Harvey Carpenter)

We’ve gathered this evening as family and friends with heavy hearts and deep sadness at the
tragic and sudden loss of forty-nine precious souls.

It’s difficult to see past our anger, our sorrow, and the many tears. Yet, we rest in the assurance
that even in the midst of our heartbreak, God is present and will lead us through this dark valley.
Psalm 34 reminds us: "God is close to the brokenhearted.”

Join me in praying for the families who have suffered this terrible loss:

Father, our hearts are broken and we are torn with grief at this tragic, sudden and unimaginable
loss of life. We pray for Your presence to be with every family shattered by this inconceivable
act of violence. The human heart can scarcely grasp the weight of sorrow and the depth of
mourning these families are experiencing. So, we trust in You, Lord. For You alone know the
secrets and the sufferings of the human heart. You alone understand the disappointment,
frustration and sorrow these families are feeling. We plead for Your comfort to be upon them.
We beg for You to give them a peace beyond all comprehension.

Father, take Your loving arms and wrap them around each family, every parent and
grandparent, every sibling and extended family member and draw them close to You that they
may sense Your presence and know that You are here for them in their time of need.

Lavish Your loving kindness upon them. Pour out Your grace, Your mercy, and Your comfort as
they walk through this dark valley. Provide them a heavenly comfort that exceeds explanation
and one that brings healing to an aching soul. No one can comfort us like the one who knows us
best and loves us most, and that is You, Lord.

Father, You know the righteous anger and holy rage that will inevitably follow in the days ahead.
May the coming emotions be tempered by the knowledge that evil will not ultimately prevail, and
that death has been defeated by the resurrected Christ.

We ask for Your personal guidance in the lives of every family. Speak to them through Your
Word; encourage them by the love of others. Help them to see they do not walk this path alone.
For You are close to the brokenhearted. May each one look to You for renewed strength. May
they experience the hope found in Christ and the comfort He provides.

Remind all of us, once again, that even in the presence of death You are Immanuel, “God with
us.” And that You are our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of distress; that You
are a strong fortress. Therefore, we will not fear.

Be near to these brokenhearted families and save all those who are crushed in spirit. For You
have shown us Your everlasting love through Jesus Christ who suffered the cross, endured
death, and rose in victory that we might have LIFE in Him.

We ask and pray all of these things in the name Christ our Lord, Amen.
 Prayer for Law Enforcement (Randy Green)

Lord, You know how much we love You; Great are You, Lord.

Father, You know our inmost thoughts and feelings. Lord God Almighty, You are the one who
truly gives life to all of mankind, and You, more than anyone on this earth, know how precious
and priceless a human life is. For You were willing to give your son to die on a cross for all of
mankind, to save all of us from our sin.

Today, we come to You in prayer, humbling ourselves because we know that only You can
bring light to the darkness that shadows our city. So we gather tonight trusting in You as the
one true God of heaven and earth.

Father, at this time I want to thank You for all of the police officers, SWAT teams, and FBI
agents who put their lives on the line every day and night for our safety. I want to thank You
for their hearts to serve and protect, and how they give even their own lives if necessary to keep
our community and families safe. So we give You praise for them. We ask that You honor
them for their service, and that they know how much they mean to us and are appreciated.

God, I want to thank You for those who serve on the SWAT teams who courageously went in to
do battle with a man who was bent on doing evil by killing and harming as many people as
possible. Thank You for protecting one of our own SWAT officers here at Journey who helped
take this madman down. I want to thank You for their courage and their determination and their
passion to protect and serve our city. I want to lift them up to You and ask that You bless them
and keep them safe as they strive to help keep law and order in our beautiful city. Father,
please continue to protect them and watch over them, and please place a hedge of protection
around them.

For their families, we ask that You would strengthen them and give them courage, and that You
would comfort them as they see their loved ones go out and protect our community day after
day.

So again, we thank You for these men and women who faithfully help protect our community,
and we ask your blessings and protection upon them.

In the Name of Jesus we pray… Amen

 Prayer for First Responders and Medical Community (Anita Burns)

At this time, we would like to recognize the medical community – the nurses, doctors, EMTs, lab
workers, members of the medical examiner’s office, and all those who work in the medical
profession, including Journey member Jonathan Wilson and his team at the Big Red Bus.

Are there any here with us tonight who have worked with the victims of this tragedy?

All have worked tirelessly, and have been affected by this tragedy. We are united with you, and
inspired by you. Our wish is to honor you in the same way you have honored the victims – both
the living and the deceased. You bring dignity to the workplace. We applaud you and are
grateful for you. You are heroes!

The acts of courage and healing you have demonstrated since Sunday morning are a
magnification of what you do every single day, quietly, humbly, and effectively. You are
servants dedicated to helping others using God-given gifts and passions along with skills
attained through sacrificial study and training.

Every physician is only as great as the team with whom he works. God has been called The
Great Physician, and He is! You are God’s medical team on earth. We lift you up to the Great
Physician with this prayer:

“Blessed are those who have regard for the weak; the Lord delivers them in times of trouble.
The Lord protects and preserves them— they are counted among the blessed in the land.”
Psalm 41:1-2

Dear Heavenly Father,

We lift up to you our brothers and sisters in the medical community. Through their precise work
and caring hearts, they are the hands and feet of Jesus. God you have used them to bring
about miracles under your sovereign power, calling them to their vocation and placing them in
their jobs for such a time as this.

Remind them and their loved ones that they are not alone – that we are with them, and more
importantly that You are with them, always guiding, always energizing, always replenishing. As
the psalmist said, “…where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord...” Psalm
121:1-2 Help them now, Lord; bless them now, Lord.

Draw them near to You so they may experience the peace that surpasses all understanding as
they bring their burdens to You. Instill in them the confidence of knowing that, with each patient
they care for, Jesus looks and says, “Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine,
you did it for me.” Matthew 25:40 The vulnerable patients are the least of these, and the men
and women of the medical community represent the best of us.

Lord, the work is overwhelming. They can’t do it alone. They need You every moment of every
day.

We pray in the name of Jesus, Amen.

 Prayer for our LGBT Community (Ryan Tucker)

Father God,

We approach You tonight with hearts that are heavy with grief and sorrow, minds that
are cluttered with endless thoughts and questions, and souls that are restless and in need of
repair. Tonight, we acknowledge that nothing evil comes from You and that You are a good
God. We give thanks that You are sovereign and just, and we find comfort in knowing that You
are a God who is full of mercy and love. We lean in to who You are and we rest in Your
unchangeable qualities and nature.

I ask in this time, Father, that You would break our hearts for the LGBT community and
their loss. We ask for healing and restoration for this community that stretches far beyond the
city limits of Orlando and impacts those from coast to coast of our nation. We call upon Your
Spirit to instill a renewed sense of safety and security, and to cast out all fear because we know
that fear does not come from You, but from the enemy.

God, we ask that the events of this past Saturday would shake us free of our bigotry, of
our hate, and of our self-righteousness, and we ask that this freedom would lead to a unity that
is established and rooted in the fact that regardless of race, gender, nationality or sexual
orientation we are all image bearers of the same creator. We all bear the mark of a holy and
perfect God, and we all are in daily need of Your grace and forgiveness.

Father we ask that tragedy would not happen in vain but that it would lead to us taking
an inventory of our heart, searching out darkness and evil, and giving You access to purge us of
all things leaving behind only what You find to be honorable and good.

Father God, we ask that in the aftermath of this event You would wake up Your Church,
and open our eyes to see the destruction that we have caused in our foolish attempts at
engaging our LGBT family, friends and neighbors. God, we ask that Your Spirit would mend and
heal.
Give us, as Your people, eyes to see the pain we have inflicted. Give us ears to listen to
the words of those around us who may be different than we are. God, grant us hearts that are
free from fear, which leads to hate and frustration, but are overflowing with a love and kindness
that knows no boundary. Father, we ask that You would help us be a church and a community
that builds bridges, not walls.

God, we ask that You would be close to our family, friends and neighbors in the LGBT
community during this time of despair. Help this community to know and experience a level of
love and support that is beyond what they can even comprehend. I ask that You would provide
a sense of peace and comfort in an otherwise chaotic time. And above all else, I ask that You
would use Your Church to be the bearers of Your love, support, peace and comfort to this
community in this time. Lord God, we need You.

I pray all of these things in the comforting and restorative name of Jesus.

Amen
 Prayer for our Community Leaders (Joel Craig)

As it says in scripture, when the apostle Paul is speaking to Timothy as a messenger of Christ,
urging him to live a life of worship to God, he says, “…first of all, that petitions, prayers,
intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that
we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases
God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
1 Timothy 2:1-4

We are going to be praying right now for the community leaders, those on the front lines of this
battle, those that are in and have authority throughout our city beautiful.

Father, I'm praying for our government and community leaders throughout our city.

Give those in authority wisdom in every decision, and help them to think clearly. Grant them
discernment and direction from Your Spirit, whether they know You or not; so they'll be strong
and effective leaders. “My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight, preserve
sound judgment and discretion.” Proverbs 3:21

Help them to lead and govern with integrity, and may their integrity guide them and keep them
on track.

Direct their steps according to Your Word, for we know that it is a “Lamp unto our feet, and a
light to our paths.” Psalm 119:105 God, we pray that Your light will shine throughout all of the
offices, all of the decisions to be made, all of the influence that will be put into place. That the
darkness would have no place here any more, and that sin would not have any sort of foothold
to rule over us.

Father God, be their defender and protector, and keep them always on guard. Help those who
are Christians to be strong and courageous, standing firm in their faith and influencing others for
Your kingdom. Encourage and strengthen them, giving them the wisdom they need. Help them
to have courage and faith in You no matter what they're facing day-to-day. And we know, Lord
God, that each day has enough worries of its own, and in this, it has been a daily prompting for
us to fall to our knees in prayer to You. God we truly are weak today, but we rejoice in that
weakness, because as we sang, you reveal Your strength through our inadequacies.

God we are reminded that in this world, we will have troubles, but fear not, as You have
overcome the world.

So as I close out, we fall back on Your scripture and we see that when all else goes away, what
we are left with is faith, hope, and love. God, give us a faith that says we believe that You have
Your hand on everything that is happening, and You sit with us in our distraught lives as Your
son did, and does moving forward; a hope that assures us that King Jesus will one day return,
and there will be no more weeping. God, we hope and look forward to that day. But as we sit in
this world today, we recognize that the greatest of all of these is love. And this is where we can
live out our lives. God, we pray that the community leaders feel Your love throughout all of this.
God, we pray that we, as followers of You, would reveal and show that love in every arena and
avenue that You would allow; that we would speak boldly the love that You have so richly
poured out on us through Your beautiful Son Jesus; that this city would be the City Beautiful
because Your love is undeniably felt throughout our communities, throughout our leaders,
throughout our offices, and throughout our city. It is in the beautiful name of Jesus Christ, our
Savior and Lord, that we pray. Amen.