JCRB Fall 2007 National Conference Prayer
October 18, 2007 -- Elder Robert Giertz

Our Heavenly Father,

We come to You this morning, Lord, as we begin to have communication one with another.

We pray, Father, that Your most Holy Spirit might descend upon this body and fill us with that light from above that would cause us to be lifted up that we might see ourselves as we are, that we might recognize, Father, that we must strip ourselves of pride and that we must be filled with charity and brotherly kindness.

Grant us, Father, that we might have patience to seek Thy will, even though, at times, Father, Your will to us seems as if the mists of darkness have closed in around us and we become confused and we become unable to determine what is Your will and what is ours. We recognize, Father, that Your thoughts are higher than our thoughts and that Your understanding exceeds any understanding that we can possibly have.

We pray, Father, that in our deliberations and in our common meetings that we might plead with You, Father, to grant unto Your children the discernment of Your Holy Ghost that when we are given to know and understand and have opportunity to acquiesce to Thy will, Father, that You would give us a burning in our bosom that we might have that [assurance] that it is of You. And, Father, when Your will is not being expressed, I pray that that light of understanding might come to us in the form of stupor of thought, that we might step back and recognize, Father, that we need to reconnect with You.

I pray, Father, that as a body we might have come in prayer and fasting, in study and preparation for this Conference. And that, Lord, we would be open to Your will even if Your will is contrary to our own. May we be open to that Spirit of light and truth that You desire to bring to Your church.

Grant us, Lord, that we might have Your favor this morning, that Your grace might attend to us, and that Your Spirit might manifest itself even in the words that we speak, that our assembly, our convocation, might be worship and might be an acceptable offering unto You.

I pray that You would give our Chair and those who would deliberate, the Spirit of reason and [assurance] and that You would direct us, Father, in the path that You would have us to go.

And we pray, Father, that You might be that light and truth and that we might seek for that light and truth in these ways that You have instructed Your church to seek and to ask and to knock and we pray that the door might be opened that we might respond to Your knock, that You might come in and sup with us.

We pray these things in Jesus most holy and sacred and precious name. Amen.