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.
One whose heart is corrupt does not prosper; one whose tongue is perverse falls into trouble. (NIV)
Anyone who thinks and speaks evil can expect to find nothing good—only disaster. (GNB)
Proverbs 17.20
In Mark 7 we read about how Jesus’ disciples were condemned by the ‘Pharisees and teachers of the law’ for not following their traditions and laws. They were so concerned about breaking The Law, they extended it out with hundreds of other regulations; and if you kept those you were never in danger of breaking The Law.
It’s a bit like being worried about falling into the pond in your garden, so you put a fence around your entire garden.
In Mark 7 Jesus dealt with the laws about what one can and cannot eat. They were supposed to be a sign of the fact that God’s people were different inside; they were never supposed to be followed for their own sake. It’s like my wedding ring is a sign of the fact that I’m married; if I weren’t, it would be meaningless (in fact, it would be a lie). Without the inner difference that God’s people should have, the outward signs of living differently mean nothing.
[Jesus said,] ‘Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body. What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come.’
Mark 7.19-21 (NIV, abridged)
How is your heart doing? God promises, by his Holy Spirit, to change our hearts, to soften them and renew them, to make them more like his. Perhaps you could ask him to do exactly that to your heart today?
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:
Archbishops Justin and Stephen
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: Malawi & Bolivia Links
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.