In our own homes – let us give thanks to God for Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

Lord, You call us with Your challenge. You call us to make our choice. We are to put the past behind us. We are to press on into the future – with You and for You. We hesitate – and we end up doing nothing. Help us, Lord, to turn from our self-centred ways. Help us to walk with You in Your way – the way of faith, the way of obedience.

We thank You, Lord, that You are greater than all our problems. As we look back on the way You’ve led us, help us to say, “Grace brought me safe thus far.” As we look to You to lead us into the future, help us to say, “Grace will lead me home.” Thank You, Lord for Your “amazing grace.”

Sometimes, Lord, Your blessing seems to be “so near and yet so far.” Help us, Lord, as we seek Your blessing, to remember that it is never our own achievement. It is always Your gift to us. We do not achieve victory in our own strength. You give to us Your victory. When, Lord, we feel like we are in a barren wilderness, help us to remember that the place of testing can become the place of triumph – when we put our trust in You.

Lord, You have saved us. Help us to serve You. In all our service, may we never forget Your salvation. May we always serve You with “the attitude of gratitude.”

We thank You, Lord, for the Scriptures. They lead us to our Saviour – Jesus. The Scriptures speak to us of His suffering and our salvation. When we think of all that Jesus has done for us, may we receive, from You, the spirit of thanksgiving – joyful thanksgiving, heartfelt thanksgiving.

Lord, we are called to fear You – and to love You. We tend to think that fear and love are opposites. You teach us something else, something very different. Fear and love belong together. You are the holy God, the God who cannot look upon our sin (Habakkuk 1:13). We fear You. You show us our sin so that we might be brought to Jesus, our Saviour. We come to Jesus. We learn how much You love us – and we begin to love You.

Lord, living for You is not easy. We have a fight on our hands. Satan is a determined enemy. Help us to remember that he’s also a defeated enemy. When the battle seems to be getting too much for us, help us to remember that we are “kept by the power of God” (1 Peter 1:3-5).

We thank You, Lord, that “we do not live by bread alone” (Deuteronomy 8:3). We need bread for the body. We also need Jesus, the Bread of Life (John 6:35). Help us, Lord, not to become too easily satisfied by the things of this world. Help us never to forget that we need Jesus. Without Him, there will always be something missing. With Him, there will be a new – eternal – sense of meaning, purpose and direction.

Help us, Lord, to listen to You and live for You, to speak to You and speak for You. Help us to receive from You and respond to You. Help us not to get caught up in the “What do I get out of it?” way of thinking. Help us to ask the more important question: “How can I give myself more fully to You, Lord?”

Lord, You give us Your promises and Your warnings. You show us the better way – and You say to us, “Make sure that You don’t go back to the old way of living, back to the world’s way of living, back to the way of life that will never satisfy.”

Who chooses what is important to us? Is it You, Lord? or Are we the ones who are in control?  Help us, Lord, not to pay lip-service to You – without really opening our hearts to You and giving You first place in our lives.

Lord, You are the God of love. You are also the God of holiness. We like to hear about Your love. It makes us feel good. We’re not so keen on hearing about Your holiness. You are the holy God. You are the God who calls us to be holy. Help us, Lord, not to be content with the half-truth, contained in the words, “All you need is love.” We do need love – but we also need holiness. Help us to “strive… for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).

Lord, You call us to belong to You. This is wonderful. It makes our hearts glad. You also call us to serve You. We’re not to remain what we were before we became Your redeemed people. We’re to be renewed – “beholding the glory of the Lord, we are being changed into His likeness from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Lord, we celebrate Your love. We rejoice in Your salvation. Your love is a dying love. We see Your love in the death of Jesus, our Saviour. It’s also an undying love. It’s the only love that never dies. It never comes to an end. It’s eternal love, shown to us in the sacrificial death of “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Help us, Lord, to be obedient to Your Word. Help us, in our obedience, to remain humble. How can we possibly bring glory to You, if we’re thinking about how obedient we are, when we should be rejoicing in the great love by which You have saved us and the great power by which You keep us walking in the way of faith? Even when we’re pressing on to a closer walk with You, help us never to forget this: “Who is a God like You, forgiving sin … ” (Micah 7:18-20).

Help us, Lord, never to forget what we were before Jesus saved us. Where would we be without Jesus? Life with Jesus is so much better than life without Him. Help us never to forget this. When we’re tempted to go back to our life without Jesus, help us to say,”No, Lord. No turning back. It’s Jesus for me – Jesus, today: Jesus, all the way.

We thank You, Lord, for Your love – “You loved the world so much that You gave Your Son, Jesus” (John 3:16); Your Son – He died for “the sins of the whole world” (John 1:29; 1 John 2:2); Your command – “the Good News” of Christ’s love is to be preached to “every person” (Mark 16:15); and Your purpose – You’re looking for disciples of Christ in every nation (Matthew 28:19).

Lord, we read about Barnabas – he “was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord” (Acts 11:24). Help us to pray, “Make us like Barnabas.” Help us to give ourselves to You, to be changed by You, and to become more useful in Your service.

We thank You, Lord, for Your Word – and we thank You that it is more than words. It is the Word that comes to us in the power of the Holy Spirit.

We thank You, Lord, for Your Good News – “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). We are sinners. Christ is our Saviour. For this, we give You our heartfelt thanks.

By Your grace, Lord, You call us to be Your soldiers and servants. Help us not to be “fearful and fainthearted” (Deuteronomy 19:19). Help us to be “good soldiers of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3). When we hear your challenging question: “Who is on the Lord’s side?”, may we give our committed answer: “By Thy call of mercy, by Thy grace divine, we are on the Lord’s side; Saviour, we are Thine.”

We thank You, Lord, for Your amazing love – “while we were Your enemies we were reconciled to You by the death of Your Son” (Romans 5:10);  “Once we were no people but now we are Your people; once we had not received mercy but now we have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:10).

Help us, Lord, to be caring people. Where does this love for one another come from? It comes from Your love for us. Where there is a growing appreciation of Your love for us, there will be an increasing commitment to sharing Your love with others. Help us to love people without loving the ways of those who “live as enemies of the Cross of Christ” (Philippians 3:18). May our love for them be a true expression of Your love for them. May it call them to return to You, to be forgiven by You, to make a new beginning with You.

Show us, Lord, what we really are – without You. Make us, more truly and more fully, what You want us to become – by Your saving grace. Fill us with Your holiness – and fill us with Your love. You’ve lifted us out of our sin and into Your salvation. This is Your doing. It’s not our own achievement. We’re called to be Your holy people – but we dare not imagine that we’re better than everyone else. We’re set apart for You – but we must never forget that we’ll never be anything more than sinners, saved by Your grace. Your love has reached us. Your love changes us. Make us more like Jesus – walking with You on the pathway of holiness and reaching out, in love, to others, inviting them to receive the Saviour’s love and respond to His call: “Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19).

We thank You, Lord, that You love us. We thank You that You have done great things for us. We think of Your great love. We think of all that You have done for us – and we say, “To God be the glory.”

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father who art in heaven,

What a wonderful thing it is to know that God is our Father. We don’t come, in prayer, to a faraway God, who has no real interest in us. We come to our Father. We come to him through Jesus, his Son. In Jesus, we see love. It is the love of our heavenly Father. His love is greater than human love. He never lets us down. He lifts us up. The moment we speak the words, “Our Father who art in heaven”, is the moment our thoughts are lifted up from this earth. Heavenly love: This is the first thing that comes to mind, as we speak the words, “Our Father, who art in heaven.” In love, our heavenly Father created us. In love, he has redeemed us. Let us open our hearts to his love. Let us praise him for his love.

Hallowed be Thy Name.

When we speak of God as our loving Father, we must not think of him in purely human terms. We must remember that he is perfectly holy. His love is very precious to us. It speaks to us of his nearness. His holiness reminds us that he is greater than anything else we can think of. This is something we must not forget. We do not rush into our Father’s presence without reminding ourselves that he is holy. We come to worship God. We acknowledge that he is worthy of all our praise, and so much more. Our words take us so far, but there is, always, more to say about God that we can ever say with our words. When our words fail us, let us lift up our hearts to him. May his holiness show us our sin. May his love show us his forgiveness. Let us confess our sins, and let us receive his forgiveness. As we pray for God’s forgiveness, let us never forget the way in which God’s forgiveness comes to us. It comes to us through Jesus, God’s well beloved Son.

Thy Kingdom come.

We live in the present. We find it difficult to lift up our eyes to something that’s bigger than where we are right now. These words of Jesus lift up our eyes. They give us a glimpse of something wonderful;. God’s kingdom is coming. When will it come? We don’t know. We are to pray for its coming. We can’t say when his kingdom will come, but we can pray that it will come. Jesus, God’s Son, tells us that he “will come back and take us to where he is” (John 14:3). When we think about the coming of God’s kingdom, we have more questions than we have answers. Let us not dwell on any unanswered questions we may have. Let us be content with this: Jesus has given us his promise, ant that is enough for us.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus is teaching us to pray. He’s teaching us to come to God with praise and thanksgiving. He’s giving us encouraging hope for the future. How are we to respond to these things that Jesus is teaching us? We’re to pray that our lives will be changed by what we hear from Jesus. We’re to live the way God wants us to live. We’re not only speaking words of worship. We’re not only speaking about a kingdom that belongs to the future. As we pray the Lord’s Prayer, let us come to God with the real desire that we will be changed: changed by the love of God, changed by the holiness of God.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Our daily bread: Jesus is speaking to us about food for physical growth, and he’s, also, speaking us about food for spiritual growth. When we have plenty of food to eat, we must never forget that “all good gifts around us are sent from heaven above.” We must, also, remember that we need Jesus. He’s “the bread of life” (John 6:51). We need him “this day.” We need him every day. He’s there for us, “this day” and every day.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

“Debts” make us think about bills that have to be paid. “Trespasses” make us think about breaking into private property. “Transgressions” make us think about breaking a law. What do “sins” make us think about? When we think about our sins, we think about God. Where do we stand in relation to him? Have we received forgiveness from him? Jesus, also, speaks to us, here, about forgiving one another. We’re not to thank God for the forgiveness of our sins, and, then, refuse to show forgiveness to other people. What is Jesus saying to us here? Is he telling us that God forgives our sins because we forgive one another? Do we earn God’s forgiveness by forgiving one another? We must remember that God’s forgiveness is the gift of his grace. It’s not something that we earn by doing good works. Having said that, we must emphasize that forgiven people are called to become forgiving people. If God’s forgiveness really means as much to us as we say it does, we will show forgiveness to one another.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Here, Jesus speaks to us about temptation. It is important that we understand what temptation is, and it is, also, important that we understand what temptation is not. Temptation comes to us from the evil one (also known as the devil or Satan). He’s trying to draw us away from the Lord and make us sin against him. Temptation is not sin. Temptation can lead us into sin, but it doesn’t, always, lead us into sin. When, in the strength of the Lord, we take our stand against Satan, we are led in the pathway of victory. This victory is not something that we achieve in our own strength. We come to the Lord in our weakness. We ask him to give us his strength. The victory is given to us by the Lord. Let us give all the glory to him.

Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever, Amen.

This is not about a human kingdom. It’s not about human power. It’s not about human glory. It’s about the kingdom of God. It’s about the power of God. It’s about the glory of God. Human kingdoms rise, and they fall. Human power comes to an end. Human glory fades away. The kingdom of God goes on for ever. The power and glory of God go on for ever. Where do we catch a glimpse of the power and glory of God’s kingdom? We look at Jesus Christ, crucified for us, and we see God’s power and glory. “Christ crucified” is “the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:23-24). We look at the cross, and we see suffering and death. God looks at the cross, and he sees his Son, “the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:8). How do we know that, in the cross of Christ, there’s a revelation of God’s power and glory? God “raised” his Son from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). We look back to Jesus’ death and resurrection. We catch a glimpse of God’s kingdom, God’s power and God’s glory. We, also, look forward to the full revelation of God’s kingdom, God’s power and God’s glory. This is where the Lord’s Prayer is leading us. It is this glorious hope that prompts us to say, from our hearts, “Amen.”

We thank You, Lord, for Your gift of the Holy Spirit. We are not called to serve You in our own strength. We come to You in our weakness. You give to us Your strength. This is the strength that we need – the strength that comes to us from You.

We thank You, Lord, that the Holy Spirit directs our attention to Jesus (John 16:14). He leads us to make our confession of faith: “Jesus is Lord” (1 Corinthians 12:3). He leads us into a new life – a life that is centred on Jesus, a life that brings glory to You and blessing to us.

What we cannot do for ourselves, You do for us. Thank You, Lord. You forgive our sins. You give us new life. You’re leading us on to Your eternal glory. Thank You, Lord.

Without You, Lord, we are weak. With You, we are strong. Lead us, Lord, out of our failure and into Your victory, out of our sin and into Your holiness. How are we to walk with You in holiness and victory? – We must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, our Saviour (Hebrews 12:1-2; Acts 4:12). When we fail You, Lord, help us to learn from the testimony of Peter – he failed (Matthew 29:69-75), and he was filled (Acts 4:8). Help us to join, with Peter, in saying, “Lord, You know that we love You” (John 21:15-17).

We thank You, Lord, for Your Word and Your Spirit (Acts 6:3-4). Help us, Lord, to “be filled with the Spirit”, as we “let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly” (Ephesians 5:18; Colossians 3:16). Filled with Your Spirit and obedient to Your Word, may we look to You for Your blessing (Acts 6:7).

You call us, Lord, to be Your faithful servants. Help us to follow our Saviour. Give to us His forgiving spirit. May our lives be marked by loyalty and love – loyalty to Jesus, love for people who need Him.

Help us, Lord, not to be content with empty religion when we can have full salvation. We want ‘the real thing.’ We want Jesus. We want more than ‘going through the motions of religion.’ We want to have the Holy Spirit, living in us and working through us. Jesus, the Holy Spirit – This is not only about what we want. It’s about what You want us to have. It’s about what You give to us – a real Saviour and a life-changing Spirit.

Keep on praying for our troubled world – and don’t forget to thank God for answers to prayer.

God bless you all.

Charlie

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