Fuelling our prayers!


Utter confidence that we can pray.
Total assurance that we are heard.
Deep certainty that God answers.

And yet perhaps on some days we struggle for words. How do we articulate our thoughts, longings and concerns? 
Some great resources are being published to spark our prayers.

An amplified version of the Lord's prayer.
Our father in heaven – thank you for Jesus in whom you have adopted us as your beloved children; help us remember that sickness and death will never separate us from your love, believe you will be with us through whatever lies ahead, and trust you are fully in control and perfectly good;

Hallowed be your name – we pray this crisis will result in much praise for you – that believers will be strengthened in their faith and unbelievers will recognise our human frailty and mortality and turn from sin to worship you;

Your kingdom come – until Jesus returns to rescue us from this world of pain, as far as this virus spreads, we pray your kingdom will grow further, in the hearts of people of all nations finding in Jesus the sure hope of resurrection into your new creation, free from sickness, suffering and death to enjoy you forever;

Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven – Father, we rejoice in your sovereign power; in your mercy, please end this crisis soon, deliver us and all your people through this crisis, and may your gracious plans to save the lost be advanced by this season of humbling;

Give us this day our daily bread – thank you for dedicated doctors, nurses and other NHS staff, for our government and its advisors - please grant them the wisdom and endurance they need; sustain us with the daily bread of Christ crucified for our sins, in the living bread of your Word; reassure us when we’re anxious, heal us when we’re sick, strengthen us when we must die, comfort us in our bereavement, and embolden us to share the gospel of Jesus, the living bread we all need;

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us – have mercy where we have presumed upon our health, forgotten our frailty, or neglected to thank you for your daily care and protection; forgive us because Christ died for our sins, count us acceptable in his perfect righteousness, and in the light of your mercy, helps us show mercy to all;

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil – deliver us through this time of testing – help us resist every temptation to doubt your love; help us stand firm in our faith against Satan’s lies, knowing that all over the world, your people are enduring the same kind of trials;

For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever, Amen.








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Midday tomorrow!

Image
Over recent weeks, in both our morning congregations, we've been trying connect with one another's lives beyond 'Sunday' by hearing from someone about what they will be doing the following day. Obviously this has normally meant Monday morning - but this week we are shifting the question to the end of the week and asking...  'What will you be doing at midday tomorrow (Friday 27th)?' In current circumstances it might be tempting to think everyone's at home, yet the reality is that we're much more diverse than that - not only do we have a number of 'essential workers' in the church family, who are 'out' at work but whose jobs look very different to normal, but those of us working or doing school at home will be establishing different patterns and focusing on very varied things, and of course retirees will be finding their own rhythms to the day.  So whether it is gardening, a maths class (doing it or trying to teach one), accou
Read more

Word Online

Image
Enjoy something of Word Alive from the comfort of your own home! This year Word Alive is Word Online the strapline is 'Plug into the Word', as this is a chance to be refreshed and energised as we hear from God. There is something for everyone as you can see from our daily timetable. Tuesday 6 April – Friday 9 April Here's the basic schedule for each day; a more detailed version is available here . 4pm–4.30pm Children's meeting – Awesome Cutlery, Ed Drew, Colin Buchanan 6.30m–7.15pm Youth meeting 7.45pm–7.55pm Count Everyone In 8pm–9pm Main meeting - with talks by David Cook on Proverbs and music by Olly Knight There are also sessions for international students running throughout the day – more information here . Seminar Tracks in April & May The Word Online continues after Word Alive week itself. Starting on Monday 12 April 3 seminar tracks  will run weekly for 5 sessions, ending with a live Q&A with the speaker. Three outstanding speake
Read more

Reaching your neighbours - the Mezei's front window!

Image
It feels like yesterday we were doing Christmas in our house. Last year we so enjoyed getting ready for it, celebrating Advent, probably the proper way for the first time. Lockdown has its uses J ! As Lent came round we asked ourselves why we give more importance to Advent and not to Lent. Surely both are as important! Both are amazing news for humanity. So we decided to do Advent the ‘right’ way this year. Of course, with a one and four year old, it might look a lot different to how others celebrate it, but we found ways to involve everyone in our family and to make it meaningful. In December, like others in the church, we made use of our front window to make a giant nativity scene. Let’s just say that if anyone had any doubts we were Christians, they now knew better! The kids so enjoyed making it and adding to it as Advent progressed (although Clara was not too sure she liked her baby doll in the window!). But most of all we loved seeing people stop to look at the scene and read
Read more