Our church building may be closed, but God’s eyes are open and his ears are attentive to our prayers (2 Chronicles 7.15).
Welcome back to the daily proverb!
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Opening
Speak these words out loud:
This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One, says:
‘In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength.’
from Isaiah 30.15
Today’s Proverb
Read the proverb through three or four times, slowly. Pause in-between, maybe write it out by hand – savour the words, let them speak deeply to you.
The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish. (NIV)
A good person’s house will still be standing after an evildoer’s house has been destroyed. (GNB)
Proverbs 14.11
What’s the best thing you ever built (or made)? I’ve had some spectacular failures, including a bookshelf with the world’s worst dovetail joints. But I’ve had some successes, including most recently a cardboard autocue that I made for recording services during lockdown. If I’m honest the afternoon I spent making that was one of the most rewarding and enjoyable parts of lockdown for me!
Remember one of the rules for reading Proverbs… sometimes they are about how things should be and one day will be. Of course we see wicked things and people flourish in the world; we need to have faith that this is only temporary, and that one God will bring justice and sort all that out.
That is one of the encouragements of this proverb. But it’s the other encouragement I’d like us to reflect on. In 1 Corinthians 3 (especially verses 10-15) Paul talks about his work as a ‘builder’: of God’s people. I often come back to it; I think it’s vital for all Christians (not simply leaders like Paul) to learn how to build.
Of course ultimately it’s God who builds his church, but in his grace he allows us (and gives us the Holy Spirit to enable us) to join in with what he’s building.
What / how / who are you helping the Spirit to build?
Prayers
Pray for Five – pray for your five friends / family from Thy Kingdom Come.
Our daily prayer sheet includes the names of everyone for whom we have a signed church family directory form – and local parishes and senior church leaders. Today we are praying for:
Wayne, Claire & Jude Pinner-Rosenbach
Father, please bless them with your peace, and a deep awareness of your presence with them, every day and in every way.
Please pray for our leaders and healthcare workers, and all those working to keep us safe, well, and fed. Please pray that people would unselfishly put others before themselves, and buy only what they need.
Church Family Prayer
Come Holy Spirit,
and make us one in heart and action,
so that we can serve God faithfully:
abounding in love,
maturing in holiness,
and seeking out the lost.
Help us grow as disciples of Jesus –
in commitment, in depth, and in number –
that we may be a blessing to Amington;
to the glory and praise of God the Father.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.
Closing Prayer
Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labour in vain.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus
the only way to the Father.
Psalm 127.1, Hebrews 12.2 & John 14.6
May Christ our Saviour give us peace.
Amen.