Prayers For The Week 20

  “Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favour again?  Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time?  Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”  Then I thought, “To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.  I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.  I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”  (Psalm 77: 7-12)

We can connect with the ancient voice of faith as he experiences disappointment and despondency:

In the struggle back to what we recognise as normal;

In the impact of the pandemic on our lives and the lives of those we love;

In the prospect of future days and the challenges we face as your Church.

But that same voice of faith calls us to the deeds of long ago when You came with power among Your people to raise them up and take them forward.  

In time there would be voices of faith calling believers to  the Cross where the worst of human impulses were displayed and yet was the means whereby Your loving purpose for humankind was fulfilled.  

So bring us to the Cross.

Where in the midst of our struggles we can be assured of Your presence;

Where in our weakness we can be made strong;

Where in our sin we can be forgiven;

Where even in face of death we have hope.  

We thank you that even as the gaze of our Risen Lord reveals what needs to be changed still it holds for us a vision of what we can be and what we will be.  

We thank you that even as we share the brokenness of humanity still by your grace we can show the fruit of the Spirit.

We thank you that even as Your Church seems to falter and diminish still You hold before us the promise that the earth will never be without a witness to Christ.  

We thank you for those we have known now at rest who recognised their inadequacy and yet looked to the Spirit to renew and revitalise.  

We pray for the world-wide Church that she will be powerful in her proclamation and consistent in her living.

We pray for the world that in a time when our limitations are recognised that the need for a Saviour will be intensified.  

We pray for our nation enjoying new freedoms but required still to be cautious.  

We pray for doctors, dentists, nurses and others in the medical world under constant pressure.

We pray for those whose work is to keep us safe: police offers, fire-fighters, government officials, locally and nationally.

We pray for those restricted by pain, burdened by anxiety, desolated by loss.

Prayers For The Week 19

 

Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts!

We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.  (Psalm 65: 4)

The day begins and many ways open up to us

Places we can go, people we can see, things we can do.

But on this day followers of Jesus feel the pull of Your Spirit.

Our minds have become fixed on Him and we have chosen to be in this place in anticipation of good things filling our lives.  

We open up our hearts to:

The fellowship the Spirit creates for us;

The fulfilment of Jesus’ promise that He is present in our midst;

The assurance that from Him flows forgiveness for our sins, strength for the challenges of this day, and hope for the unknown days that lie ahead.  

We join with the ancient people of Israel who gathered with confidence that despite the shadows that might fall on their lives good things await those whose hearts a
re turned to God.

We join with the early Christian communities whose hearts were so focussed on the sacrifice of Jesus that they knew that nothing would hinder the flow of love from the heart of God the Father.  

We join with brothers and sisters throughout the world who wait in expectation for Your Voice to speak to us in the depths and for Your Spirit to take us forward and to energise us in the building of Your Kingdom.  

Father, you have set before us the eternal example of self-giving in Jesus Your Son and we praise You today that this has brought us forgiveness, renewal and the promise of a place in Your eternal Kingdom.  

We praise you for those we know who have reflected this self-giving in their lives and have been a blessing to us in practical help, encouraging words and prayerful support.

We praise you especially for those who are now beyond our sight, our touch and our call but who have so much for the advancement of Christ’s Kingdom in their time.

May Your Church throughout the world be a giving people, offering time, talents and money to make known the story of Jesus and the transformative power of His love.

May the nations of the world who can afford to give show a new generosity to those whose homes have been destroyed,  to those who cannot feed their families, to those denied justice.

May our own nation benefit from the Christian witness that continues in our midst so that laws and institutions may be shaped according to Your will.

May those whose health is failing, whose employment is threatened, whose finances are strained, whose care for a loved one has become overwhelming - may all of those receive what is needed to renew hope and faith.

May those within our families and amongst our friends be blessed, kept safe, and aware of the love of Jesus which no circumstance can erase.  

Prayers For The Week 18

 Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.  (Psalm 54: 4)

We thank you for the ancient voices of faith who turn us towards You in those times when our resources are strained.  

In times when pain distracts us and turns us in on ourselves:

‘Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.’ 

In times of anxiety when we are caught up in a whirlwind of emotion:

‘Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.’

In times when bitter experience threatens to take God away from us, even then help us to persist in saying:

‘Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.’

Father, enable us to see that all of this is the experience of Jesus, born as one of us, our brother, our friend, who is heaven today carries the pain, the emotion, the anguish that so often falls to us.

The One who in the power of His Spirit comes to us when we need help to sustain us and take us forward in strength and in hope.  

Forgive us our lack of faith in His Spirit and bring us now the assurance that whatever our sins of word, of thought, of deed, we are sustained and set free to renew our walk in His ways.  

We praise you that you have called us to be a people together,

Who can praise You with one voice for Your blessings to us,

Who can look to one another for inspiration and encouragement,

Who can share the great commission to tell the story of Jesus and serve those in need.  

We praise you for those in the past who were faithful in responding to the call, who came through the challenges of their time, who believed through their own personal suffering, even death, and now enjoy their place in the eternal Kingdom.  

We pray for the life of the Church throughout the world, that whatever the circumstances there will always be reason for thanksgiving.

We pray for our world, so broken, so divided, so much in need of a Saviour who forgives, heals, unites and satisfies.

We pray for our nation, pressing on with so much pain behind us and so much unknown before us, may our hope be grounded in what You alone promise.  

We pray for those whose pain, anxiety and loss we carry with us today in the faith that Your eye is upon them and Your love is reaching out to them.