Hello Everyone

This Week’s Prayers are once again in the shape of LECTIO 365, a National & International Aid which exists to help us pray in groups or as individuals. The aim is that our prayers, wherever we are, at whatever time we pray, are being prayed to our Father in heaven 24-7 every day of the year.

Together, each day we pray (P.R.A.Y) – ‘P’: PAUSING to be still. ‘R’: REJOICING with a Psalm and REFLECTING on a scripture. ‘A’: ASKING God to help us and others and ‘Y’: YEILDING to His will n our lives, come what may.

SO, WE TURN TO GOD IN PRAYER

PAUSE

As I enter prayer now, I pause to be still; to breathe slowly; to re-centre my scattered senses upon the presence of God.   (Pause and pray)

Prayer of Approach

Loving Father, I still my soul now and remember that You are here with me, you are here in me, You are here for me. Lord Jesus, I worship You. Holy Spirit, I welcome You.

REJOICE and REFLECT

Rejoice and Reflect Psalm 10 v 17

Lord you know the thoughts of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them.

ASK

To help us in our prayers this week we have three prayers written by Nick Fawcett “For Such a Time as This”.

When faith is shaken by the crisis that has come upon us Why, Lord?

Why have you let this happen, this dreadful virus descend upon us?

Yes, I realise that the whole business, in the final analysis, is not down by you, but can’t you do something, anything, to offer a helping hand?

Why do you seem simply to sit back, unmoved, unconcerned?

Don’t you care?

Aren’t our prayers reaching you?

That’s not fair, I know that, for you’ve made the world in such a way that you cannot simply intervene when it suits you; your hands instead being tied by the laws you have set in place.

Yet I’m asking you, I’m pleading with you, look kindly upon us, and reach out to our aching world, ministering your love and binding up its wounds.    Amen.

For those selflessly supporting others, and those who think only of themselves.

In this time of crisis, Lord, you call us to pull together, as families, as friends, as communities.

Thank you for those who are leading the way in doing that: relatives helping loved ones, neighbours helping neighbours, support groups reaching out to strangers, individuals responding to the plight of the vulnerable.

Thank you especially today for the efforts of shops and supermarkets to do likewise, setting aside shopping times and delivery slots for those most at risk.

Forgive the heartlessness, the greed, the selfishness, that looks only after number one and cares nothing for anyone else. Challenge and shame such behaviour and prosper the efforts of all who are seeking to show compassion, concern, and care to those least able to help themselves.

We are all in this together.  Prompt each and every one of us to realise that.    Amen.

Trust that God is with us, however much it may seem otherwise.

Lord, it’s hard to glimpse your presence even at the best of times, and now, with this disease causing such havoc among us, it’s harder than ever, our prayers appearing to go unanswered, your face seemingly turned away from us. Yet it is at such a time as this, more than ever, that we need to keep faith you are with us.

Though we feel abandoned, we are not.

Though we feel alone, we are not.

Though we feel forgotten, we are not.

Though we feel hopeless, we are not.

Though we feel left high and dry, we are not.

Draw close to us, Lord, and envelop us in your love.

Draw near and help us to recognise that you are by our side. Amen.

YIELD

Yielding prayer

Lord I yield to your invitation to watch with you, to share in your grieving, to wait patiently with you, to mourn for the hurt of Your wounded world, and not to hide from the pain of those we meet.

Not my will, but yours be done.

Yielding Promise

And now, as I prepare to take this time of prayer into the day, I echo Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians, ‘The God of all comfort…. Comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ’ 2 Cor 1 v3-5

Closing Prayer

Father, help me to live this day to the full, being true to You, in every way. Jesus, help me to give myself away to others, being kind to everyone I meet. Spirit, help me to love the lost, proclaiming Christ in all I do and say.  Amen.

KEEP SAFE – KEEP PRAYING    

Peter