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:

Let us take up the cross and follow Jesus,
whatever the cost.

from Luke 14.27-28

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 appetite of labourers works for them; their hunger drives them on. (NIV)

A labourer’s appetite makes him work harder, because he wants to satisfy his hunger. (GNB)

Proverbs 16.26

I imagine this Proverb has been used in the past to justify unfair wages and treatment of workers – to ‘drive them on’ in their work. And maybe Solomon meant it in that sense; he did make use of slaves after all to built the Temple and his palace.

But that doesn’t mean we have to read it in that way. One of the consistent patterns in the Bible, from start to finish, is the way God brings good from bad, hope from despair, life from death. Perhaps that is the way for us to read this Proverb?

Many of the people who read this won’t know what it means to be hungry. I mean real hunger, where there’s no food and has been no food for a long time, where we genuinely don’t know where the next meal is coming from. Some readers may, because even in our country, one of the richest in the world, many do still go hungry.

That said, we will all have other negative experiences, threatening situations – in terms of relationships, work, health, and so on.

But just as God can turn hunger into a good work ethic – so God can take even the worst situation, the most difficult relationship, the hardest reality – he can take those and bring good out of them. That is the power of the one who raised Jesus Christ from the dead – and that same power lives in his people.

Where in your life do you need that power to be at work? Tell God about it in prayer and ask him to bring good, hope, peace, and life into it.

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:

Don & Jean Sands, Helen Slim, Gill Knight

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: Primary Schools in Amington

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.