Daily Share-a-Prayer w/e 19/01/2025
Derek Mill
Worship Leader, All Saints Church, Belton
Friday 17th January
Heavenly Father, I have prayed before about how our planet is a tiny speck in space, hanging there, spinning and orbiting the sun, which is a massive star, yet in comparison to other stars quite small. And on this planet I am just a tiny, miniscule dot! From a distance I am almost invisible, and from space I certainly am invisible. In the course of history I am, and will be, quite inconsequential
When You became a man, begotten not made, You too became a dot on this planet, however You were not inconsequential, the whole of creation is a consequence of Your being, of Your Word. You explain everything in these few words: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it... The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and Truth"
You gave up Heaven to become a human being, a dot on the planet, just like me. You lived for a short span of time, just a dot in all of eternity, but everything links back to You. When I was a kid I often got dot-to-dot puzzles. The solution to the puzzle came when all the dots were joined and the mystery of the dots was solved. The mystery about life, love, and all of creation can only be understood when we join all the dots together
Help me to work things out by joining the dots together with me. I am starting to get the picture. Life takes a lifetime to understand. Love takes even longer. Which is one reason why we have eternity. Thank You for making my dot part of Your picture! Thank You
Amen
Songs for today:
Lord I lift Your name on high
Beauty Unspoken
From Heaven You came (The Servant King)
Thursday 16th January
Heavenly Father, thank You that You have spoken to us, through the Prophets, through Your Word and even today through conversations and preaching and teaching. Communication is the key; the Word spoken, the spoken Word. How can people hear if the Word is not spoken?
You have told us, through the apostle Paul: "How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" Thank You for sending out people to preach
As Paul says: "And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?" As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" There is no greater Good News than the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Your Son. "Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this Gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the Word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve"
Lord, by Your Spirit help us to preach the Gospel well, just through natural speech, through chat, through telling stories of what You have done in our lives, by including Your Word and Your thoughts in our daily conversations so people hear from You. You have given us the Keys of the Kingdom; communication is the Key: Your Word
Amen
Songs for today:
Our God reigns (How lovely on the mountains)
How can they call on the One
I the Lord of sea and sky
Wednesday 15th January
Heavenly Father, I had a thought yesterday while praying at prayer breakfast. I thought I heard You say, "I'm going to write a book. And use people as my pen". I wonder if this is the Bible You were thinking about?
The pen in the hands of men and women guided by You wrote the Bible containing Your thoughts, Your songs, Your promises and Your history: Your Word. And perhaps many other books that have been written about You and Jesus and Your Holy Spirit inspired by You
You inspire stories and poems and paintings and songs every day, and prayers and psalms; each one glorifying Your name. You inspire actors and athletes, scientists and researchers. Wonderful things happen every day because You live in people and they are obedient to You and Your Word. And You involved Yourself in the world by becoming one of us!
You know all about life because You lived here among us, Jesus, every Word and every action glorifying Your Father in Heaven; doing and saying everything He wanted You to do and say; even to the point of dying on a cross. Even today You are involved in this world
I can imagine You saying to Yourself, "I'm going to paint the sky, a glorious sunrise. And later I'll paint it a beautiful blue with white clouds that sometimes look like other things! People like that! And later in the evening I'll make it glow red and orange and yellow. And I'll do my favourite thing, I'll make more people in my image. People don't always realize it's Me, but I'm there”. King David knew this: "You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well". Thank You for everything, including me
Amen
Songs for today:
Made in Your image
Change my heart Oh God
Father of creation
Tuesday 14th January
Heavenly Father, thank You that my Dad on earth never limited me or my imagination. Whether I was playing with my cars, playing cowboys, or football, reading or writing, drawing, watching TV, or practicing the piano, violin or French horn he never questioned the validity of what I was doing. Never ever did he tell me to "Get a proper job". Nor did he say, "That won't help you to get a proper job"
Thank You that You have given us an imagination and that being creative like You, is a great gift, such a great gift. No other creature reads a book, or writes a story. No other creature paints a picture, draws or even doodles. No other creature cooks a meal or combines ingredients to make bread or a cake
I don't know if a cat or a dog lying on the hearth is thinking of a story, I can't even ask it, but somehow I doubt it. No other creature is involved in art, dance, drama, painting, drawing, or music. We are unique creatures in Your creation, because it was only of us that You said: "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness..."
John Denver wrote a song and the three verses begin: "This old guitar taught me to sing a love song... This old guitar gave me my lovely lady... This old guitar gave me my life my living..." What great imagery! What a fertile imagination. I could say the same about my violin, French horn and piano
Thank You that You have given every one of us an imagination. Thank You that every one of us has dreams. Help us to think big, imagine big, dream big. You did and created the universe, and us within it
Amen
Songs for today:
This old guitar
https://youtu.be/yKxCWg3SAoc?si=j9AxMaTjrpPdnlvl
Thank You Lord
The boy the mole the fox and the horse (1)
The boy the mole the fox and the horse (2)
The boy the mole the fox and the horse (3)
The boy the mole the fox and the horse (4)
Monday 13th January
Heavenly Father, I had a strange dream. I imagined You pondering and saying to Yourself, "I'm going to need a mountain". And Golgotha spoke up. Then You said, "I'm going to need a tree too". And a tree raised a branch to You. "And some iron for the nails". And then, "I'll need some cloth for the grave clothes". Finally, "I'll need a tomb and a large stone". Joseph of Arimathea spoke up!
Then You put Your hand to Your brow and said to Yourself, "What am I thinking; first of all, I will need a virgin and a man to look after them". And Mary said: "I am the Lord's servant. May Your Word to me be fulfilled... My soul glorifies the Lord and my Spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me - Holy is His name"
You realized this was going to take a very special man so You sent an angel to Joseph in Nazareth in a dream telling him to say: "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit". And You chose the right man: "When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary home as his wife"
You said, "And I'll need a prophet to warn people He is coming. John, His cousin!" John then was obedient, proclaiming to the people: "Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him... I baptise you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire". And everything happened, just as You planned
Holy Spirit, help me to hear Jesus' voice, so that I know what He has planned for me, as You did, so I may be obedient too
Amen
Songs for today:
Exceeding joy
My soul magnifies the Lord
The heavens they preach
Hope for everyone
all songs (usually with lyrics) and talks courtesy of YouTube
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