Daily Share-a-Prayer w/e 01/12/2024
Derek Mill
Worship Leader, All Saints Church, Belton
Sunday 1st December
Heavenly Father, we may hear people say, as they know a problem is looming: "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it". I heard a testimony a couple of nights ago in an open meeting. The man who spoke told of a colleague and friend, who unexpectedly took his own life. He had no awareness of the friend's anxieties or problems so it came as a great shock and made him incredibly angry
Statistics show that suicide is the biggest killer of people under the age of 35 and the biggest killer of men under the age of 50. Different sources quote slightly different figures but all draw the same conclusion. The man who spoke at the meeting eventually found himself on a bridge, but wasn't crossing it; he was going to jump off it onto a railway line below. Men, in particular, are notorious for bottling up their feelings, being 'blokes' who don't show emotions
Lord Jesus, You showed Your emotions and You were the most manly man who ever lived. You spoke about, and showed Your anger. You wept. You shared Your feelings about the world You lived in. In the end Your life was taken from You, but only because You allowed men to crucify You. In doing so, You became the bridge that we all must cross. You are the bridge to God. We can try to avoid You. We can try to take another route but eventually we come to You
Lord, help me to share my feelings, no matter how vulnerable I may feel. Let me share them with You and others, never bottling them up inside. May I be a willing listener to anyone who wants to offload. And when I come to the bridge may I cross over to meet You on the other side
Amen
Songs for today:
What a friend I've found
Jesus loves me this I know
Jesus is
Saturday 30th November
Heavenly Father, it is so easy to forget how much I owe Jesus! I know I don't have the wherewithal to pay the debt and I know Jesus knows this too. Your Word tells me: "I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the Law, Christ died for nothing!"
It is an awful, horrendous thought that Jesus may have suffered and died for no good reason or outcome. But I know the reason; me, I am the reason, and millions of others like me. Unable to fulfill the Law, unable to work my way into Heaven, unable to get into Your 'good books' I was doomed
St Paul thought he was doing everything right, keeping what he thought was a tight rein on his life, but came to this conclusion: "But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith"
The word translated garbage, or rubbish is actually dung. That is what Paul thought of his life before meeting Jesus! This is what I also need to remember every day. Jesus died for me so I do not need to carry my sin, guilt and shame around with me like a bag of dung
Self-righteousness is no righteousness at all! "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." Lord Jesus, I know I can never repay You, but never let me forget how much I owe You
Amen
Songs for today:
For All You've Done
You laid aside Your majesty
Let there be joy
Friday 29th November
Heavenly Father, thank You that, even today, we can meet with Jesus. Thank You that today anyone, anywhere, can meet with Him. There have been many prophets, but in the end any wisdom that speaks of the Truth, and really is the Truth, speaks of Jesus
The Bible tells us: "In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed Heir of all things, and through whom also He made the universe". Words that speak Truth speak of Jesus because He is the Truth!
Lord Jesus You said to the religious leaders of Your days on earth: "You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life". Because You wanted to make it entirely clear You also said: "I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me"
You made it clear that You are a one-Way street. Not every road leads to Rome, and not every road leads to Your Father, God. You are a One-off; unique amongst human beings, Son of God and Son of Man. Humans give birth to humans; God gives birth to God. "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life"
Thank You that I can come to You today and share my life with You, as You share Your Life with me. "I AM going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high". Thank You that Your power is now in all who believe
Amen
Songs for today:
God so Loved the World
I AM the Way the Truth and the Light
You shall be clothed with power
Thursday 28th November
Heavenly Father, one of the common events we see at this time of year is the Nativity. At home we have a model stable with statuettes of the manger and Jesus, Mary and Joseph, shepherds, three wise men, sheep and a cow all ready to display. We also have two or three wooden silhouettes depicting the same scene
Countless schools will have a Nativity play with a doll for Jesus and children playing the various characters; audiences waiting to hear the famous line, something like: "There is no room at the inn, but You can sleep in the stable if you like". There may be all kinds of wondrous characters included in the scene, a lobster in one film, but the central message of the King of kings born in a stable is always there, along with the door shut in the face of Mary and Joseph. I wonder how often we shut the door on Jesus?
Lord, I wonder how often I do? How often You want to offer advice or guidance and I don't want to listen so I shut my heart, my mind and my soul down. I shut the door in Your face and tell You: "Go away! Leave me alone!"
I wonder how often You knock on the door of my heart and I remain silent, peeking from behind a curtain to see if You've gone away? I wonder how often I tell You there is no room for You in my heart because there are other guests taking all the rooms? Guests like fear, anxiety, selfishness, hurt?
If I open the door to You some of these might leave, and I wish they would! But for some reason I hang on to them and shut You out
Lord, I want to open the door and let You clean every room. You are welcome in my heart. I give You the keys; let Yourself in, any time
Amen
Songs for today:
No room for the King
In the bleak midwinter
This Christmas
Wednesday 27th November
Heavenly Father, one of the ways we can try to change things in the world we live in is through voting in elections. Locally in town and county elections, and nationally in a General Election. There is of course no guarantee that the changes we hope for will come about
Another way we can try to bring about change is through a petition. If enough people sign up then the petition can be presented to those in power and we can hope that they will act on the request made. You tell us in Your Word: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God"
Thank You that we can come to You with our prayers and petitions
Thank You that we can ease our anxieties by coming to You
Thank You that You hear us when we pray
Thank You that when just two or three of us are together Jesus is with us
Thank You that we sign up to a petition whenever we say "Amen"
Lord Jesus, You said, "Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in Heaven". When we pray for healing and two say "Amen" Your Father will act in Heaven. I guess this means that all prayers are answered in Heaven, not necessarily immediately on earth?
Thank You that often, more often than we think, Your will is done on earth as it is in Heaven
Thank You for all those saying "Amen" today
Thank You for all those who pray for Jane, and me, every day. Still here, ten years after being diagnosed with leukaemia; You have heard, answered and acted on our petition. Thank You
Amen
Songs for today:
Pray - Mojisola
Don't stop praying
The Lord's Prayer
Broken prayers
Whisper A Prayer
Tuesday 26th November
Heavenly Father, a friend who prayed with me on Sunday mentioned a phrase he had read on a flip-over calendar he had which read: "Don't meditate on the mess, meditate on the Lord". It got me thinking where is my focus? There are plenty of things I could be complaining about, but I am choosing to focus on You and Your loving kindness
Thank You for all those who pray with me every day. I have been writing to You every day, for over eight years now, and You never let me down. Your blessings are new every morning
Thank You for those who say "Amen" every day
Thank You for those respond occasionally. I know time is precious and many people simply don't have time to respond, or even read every day
Thank You for those who send prayers back, those who send scripture verses and commentaries, those who pass on to others and those who pray my prayer with others
Thank You for those who are in other nations: America, Germany, Barbados, Nigeria
Thank You for friends and family all over the UK, and of course those in my own church here in Belton. The love and support of every one of them helps and encourages Jane and me every day
Thank You for the encouragement You give and Your faithfulness to each and every one of us. Even on the worst of days we can look to You and meditate on Your Word, Your love, Your gentleness and Your sacrifice for us. Knowing we are safe with You is a great comfort: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me". What a blessing You are!
Thank You Jesus for everything and everyone
Amen
Songs for today:
Faithful One so unchanging
You never let go
Goodness of God
Monday 25th November
Heavenly Father, after praying yesterday with Jane we found ourselves talking about memories; are they a blessing or a curse? There are some memories that are so painful we might wish we could forget. Words that have been spoken over us that come back again and again to haunt us. Words that insult us and demean us that we try to forgive and forget, but we can only forgive
On the other hand there are such joyous memories of times spent together, loving and laughing and enjoying life. Times that have been such a blessing that we can only give thanks for; times we will never want to forget. There are memories of loved ones that have now left us, some who have moved on to another place, perhaps another partner, others who have died and gone from this life
Grief can be a horrendous memory, with both the good times and the bad causing us pain; laughter and tears mingled. Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote in his poem 'In Memoriam A.A.H' "Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all". I am sure that many people would agree, even though memories will be bittersweet
This coming season has memories for all of us, and perhaps those memories may be painful, but even so, thank You Lord for our memories. I struggled to remember the name of an actress in a film recently. I was so glad when it eventually came to me! Bob Hope's theme song, 'Thanks for the memory' is true for us all. Memories are such a blessing, even when painful. Thank You for this gift
Thank You, that even though memories of us may cause You pain, You promise never to forget us
Amen
Songs for today:
When my heart runs dry
My First Love
Thanks for the memory
all songs (usually with lyrics) and talks courtesy of YouTube
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