Our church building may be closed, but God’s eyes are open and his ears are attentive to our prayers (2 Chronicles 7.15).
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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.
Do not those who plot evil go astray? But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness. (NIV)
You will earn the trust and respect of others if you work for good; if you work for evil, you are making a mistake. (GNB)
Proverbs 14.22
Have you heard the phrase, ‘Look out for number one’? It sometimes has a second part: ‘because no-one else will’. The idea is that if you need to look out for yourself – and then you’ll be fine.
There is a grain of truth here, because the world is broken. As more people ‘look out for number one’ (rather than each other) it becomes more and more attractive to do the same; aside from the pressure to conform with those around us, there is the need simply to survive!
Yet I’m not content with that attitude. Of course, the world is not perfect, but here’s another well-known phrase: ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’. Giving in to the imperfections of the world is no way for God’s people to act.
In fact, it’s literally the opposite of what God calls his people to do. God calls his people to be different (hence Jesus’ famous ‘not so with you’). We are to demonstrate a better way of living to the world, in the hope (and prayer) that others will recognise that and see it.
If more of us lived God’s way, working for the good (of others), and not ‘looking after number one’, I wonder how much more love and faithfulness we would start to see around us? After all, that’s the way God made the world: it may be broken, but it is not lost!
How can you, today, bring more of God’s love and faithfulness to someone, or to a situation you are facing?
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:
Marian Cox, Christine Farmer, Judith Walker
Father, please bless them with your peace, and a deep awareness of your presence with them, every day and in every way.
We also pray for: Youth Work – something new
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.
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.