In our own homes – let us remember that the Lord is with us, every step of the way.

_____

Less of our sin, more of Your love – Lord, this is our prayer. Our sin does us nothing but harm. Your love always does us good – nothing but good. We’re sinners, Lord. Why do You keep on loving us? We don’t know why – but we’re glad that You do! We rejoice in this: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).

Your redemption, Lord, is more than rules and regulations. It’s not about the things that we do for You. It’s about all that You have done for us. Jesus died for us – This is what inspires us to live for Him. What a great thing Jesus has done for us! Help us, Lord, to do great things for Him. Help us, Lord, to receive Your great salvation – and to give all the glory to You.

Lord, we’re on a journey. We’re travelling from grace. We’re travelling to glory. Everything comes to us from Your grace. Everything is leading us to Your glory. You have given us all that we need – all that we need to bring us into Your salvation, all that we need to take us on into Your glory. This is not our journey. It’s Your journey. You’re our Travel Guide. You’re with us every step of the way. Thank You, Lord.

We rejoice in Your love. Help us, Lord, not to forget Your holiness. You fill us with Your love. You call us to be holy. Lead us, O Lord, in Your way of love. Lead us in Your way of holiness. It won’t be easy – walking with You on Your pathway of holiness. When the going gets tough, help us to remember that we’re not on our own. You are with us every day. You are with us – all the way.

Lord, You call us to speak Your Word – but, first, You call us to listen to Your Word. How can we speak for You, if we’re not listening to You? Help us to come to the Cross of Christ. Help us to hear the voice of Your love. Send us from that holy place – the place of His crucifixion, the place of our salvation – back into the world. May we return to the world as people who’ve been changed – changed by the love of Christ.

____

_____

Lord, we thank You for Your Son, Jesus. What a wonderful Saviour He is. There is no-one like Him. None can compare with Jesus. He is greater than all the prophets. He is greater than all the apostles. The prophets cannot save us. The apostles cannot save us. They can only point away from themselves. They point us to Jesus. They are only servants. Jesus is the Saviour. We thank You that He was able to do what the prophets and apostles could never do for us – He “came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).

Open our eyes, Lord. Help us to see Jesus – to see Him in His holiness and confess our sin, to see Him in His love and receive His forgiveness, to see Him in His power and be changed by Him, to see Him in His glory and worship Him.

Sometimes, Lord, we don’t feel like the sun is shining upon us. When we feel like this, help us to know that the light and love of Your Son is always shining upon us. When we’re feeling down, help us to remember that You raised Jesus up – “Up from the grave He arose with a mighty triumph o’er His foes.” This is what we need to hear. This is what lifts us up: up – into Your presence, up – out of our sin, up – into Your salvation, upwards and onwards – to Your eternal glory.

Sometimes, Lord, our lights are switched off. Sometimes, they’re switched on. The light of Your love is never switched off. It’s always switched on. Your love is ‘all the time’ love. There is no love like Your love for us. It’s the only ‘always and forever’ love. Thank You, Lord, for the light that never stops shining – the light of Your undying love. This is the only light that is always shining.

Often, Lord, we come to Your House with so little expectation of Your blessing. Where does this attitude come from? – It doesn’t come from You. You are the great God. You fill our hearts with ‘great expectations.’ When Satan comes to us, filling our hearts with apathy – the ‘couldn’t-care-less’ attitude, help us to tell him that You are the great God (Psalm 135:5): great in holiness, power and love, the faithful God who comes to us with great promises of blessing. When, Lord, we are blessed by You, help us to give all the glory to You.

_____

_____

So often, Lord, we get preoccupied with ourselves. Our words say that You are more important than anyone else. Often, our lives tell a very different story – ‘It’s all about us. It’s all about what pleases us.’ How can we be changed? Lead us to the Cross of Your Son, Jesus. Show us Jesus – dying for us. Teach us to live for Him. Lift us out of our weakness and failure into Your strength and victory – and help us to praise You with hearts that are becoming more God-centred and less self-centred.

Lord, You call us to serve You. How are we to serve You? How can we serve You? – Our sin keeps on getting in the way. We start off well – and then, we take our eyes off Jesus, and things start to go badly. Lord, we need Your Spirit. He is the Holy Spirit. How can we possibly serve You – if we are not learning to walk with You in the way of holiness? Before we pray, “Help us to serve You better”, help us to pray, “Lead us in the way of holiness.”

Lord, You are the God of holiness. You are the God of love. Your holiness is loving holiness. Your love is holy love. Help us to see that Your holiness and Your love belong together. It’s not one without the other. It’s not holiness without love. It’s not love without holiness. We need both – Your holiness and Your love. Your holiness shows us our sin. Your love forgives our sin. You love us. Help us to love You – and be changed by Your holy love.

Lord, You are the faithful God. You give us Your promises. You keep Your promises. You never go back on Your Word. You always stand by the Word that You have spoken. Your promises come to us from the past. They lead us on into Your future. What a wonderful future You are planning for us. We thank You for Jesus’ great promise: “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). Help us to receive His Word, to rejoice in His promise, to be renewed by His love.

_____

_____

Help us, Lord, never to think that we have nothing to offer to You. We can never save ourselves. That is something that You must do for us. We have been saved by Your grace. Now, we must serve You in Your strength. You gave Your Son for us. Help us to give ourselves to You. May we never be half-hearted in our devotion to You. Help us to be wholehearted in all that we do for You.

Teach us, Lord, that it’s not all about us. It’s not about getting ourselves noticed. It’s all about You. It’s about giving all the glory to You.

We thank You, Lord, that Your Son, Jesus, is “pure gold.” There’s nothing better than Jesus. there’s no-one better than Him. He’s the very best. What Jesus has done for us – this is “pure gold.” He died for us. He was raised to life for us. This is Good News. It’s the best news we could ever hear. Lord, help us not to get bogged down in the bad news of our sin. Lord, lift us up with the Good News of our Saviour.

Lord, there is work to be done. It’s Your work. Help us all to play our part. We leave it to someone else – and it never gets done. Change us, Lord. Spectators can become workers. Help us not to hang back – on the sidelines. You’re calling us to come into the centre of Your will and Your work. When we’re tempted to stand back and watch, help us to come forward and work. Help us to remember this: “There’s a work of Jesus none but we can do.”

Lord, we want blessing – but we’re not so keen on obedience. Help us to learn from Jesus. For Him, obedience was everything. He was fully obedient. For Him, it meant the Cross (Philippians 2:8). Lord, help us not to be thinking, “What are we going to get out of this?” Help us to be praying, “How can we do Your will? How can we bring glory to You?”

Lord, help us to listen to Your Word, walk in Your way and “worship You in Spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). These are the things that matter most. Are they our priorities? We know, Lord, that they should be our priorities – but we are often distracted. We lose our focus. Other things become more important to us. “Restore our souls and lead us in the paths of righteousness for Your Name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3).

_____

_____

Lord, we come to You in weakness. You come to us in power. Our faith is weak. Your power is great. What is our faith? It is faith in Your power – the power of Your love. It’s not faith in ourselves. It’s faith in You. You are our God. We put our trust in You. May we know, in our hearts, that You are absolutely trustworthy – the God who will never fail us.

When problems come our way, help us, Lord, to see that You have given us the answer – Your Answer: Jesus. What are we to do when we have problems? – We take them to Jesus. We see nothing but our problems – He sees something else: His opportunities. Our big problems can be turned into His great opportunities! Our problems bring us down. Your grace lifts us up. When our faith is put to the test, help us to remember Your precious promise: “My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Lord, You gave Your Son for us. We give all the glory to You. Our salvation does not begin with ourselves. It begins with You – Your gift to us, the gift of Your love: “God so loved the world that he gave His only Son” (John 3:16). Thank You, Lord, for Your love. Thank You for Your gift. Thank You for Your Son.

Lord, You call us to be fruitful for You. You call us to pray to You. Lead us in the way of fruitfulness. Lead us in the way of prayer. Help us to see that real fruitfulness comes from You. It comes to us – when we seek blessing from You and give glory to You.

Lord, give us wisdom. Give us Jesus. Give us faith – faith that is grounded in Your Holy Word, faith that is empowered by Your Holy Spirit. This is wisdom – living in the light of Your Word, living in the power of Your Spirit, living for Jesus. Lord, give us wisdom.

Lead us on, Lord – from our past to Your future. Whatever our past has been, show us Your future. Show us that You haven’t given up on us. Show us that You have a great future planned for us.

_____

_____

We thank You, Lord, for Your love. It’s the greatest love of all. Your love for us is so much greater than our love for You. Help us, Lord, to think less about our love for You, and more about Your love for us.

Lord, we praise You. We pray to You. We preach Your Word. Help us, Lord, as we praise, pray and preach, to remember that this is only part of our life. You call us to belong to You – and to serve You in the whole of life. This is not only about the things that we do – even the ‘holy’ things! It’s about being the kind of people You’ve called us to be. We’re called by Your holiness – called to be holy. We’re called by Your love – called to be loving. We’re called by Jesus – called to become more like Him. Help us, Lord, to hear Your call. Help us to say, ‘Yes’ to Your call – the call to live in holiness and love, the call to follow Jesus.

We thank You, Lord, that Jesus went to the Cross for us. He didn’t stop halfway. He didn’t opt out at ‘the eleventh hour.’ He didn’t give up. He kept on going. What was it that kept Him going? – It was His love for us. Thank You, Lord, for His love – real love, wonderful love, perfect love, complete love, eternal love.

Thank You, Lord, that Jesus gave Himself for us. He took our place. He died for us. We are the sinners. He is the Saviour. He made the complete sacrifice. We receive the full salvation.This is Good News. It’s the best news we could ever hear.

We thank You that Jesus has risen from the dead. He died. He was buried. Was that the end of Him? No! There was a wonderful new beginning – for Jesus, for us. He has been raised to life – a glorious resurrection. We will be raised to life – a glorious future. Here-and-now, Lord, may our life be shaped by Your future – filled with the glory of the risen Lord.

_____

_____

“See how great he is!” (Hebrews 7:4). We read these words, Lord, and we think of Jesus. He’s the greatest man who ever lived. He’s so much more than a great man. He’s Your Son. He’s our Saviour. Thank You, Lord, for Jesus. Help us to come to Him and receive His great salvation.

I will make a new covenant with you” (Jeremiah 31:31-34) – We thank You, Lord, for this great promise of love. You have fulfilled Your promise. “The new covenant in Jesus’ blood” (Matthew 26:28) is “a better covenant” – it is “much more excellent than the old covenant” (Hebrews 8:5-6). Thank You, Lord, for Jesus, our great Saviour. He has died for us so that we might receive His “eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12).

We look back, Lord, to what Jesus has done for us – “He loved us and gave Himself for us” (Galatians 2:20). When we remember what Jesus has done for us, help us to look forward to what He will do for us: “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). Help us to pray, “Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).

Life is good. Eternal life is better. Help us, Lord, to thank You for the good things You’ve given to us – in this earthly life. Help us, also, to look beyond this world. Give to us a real “longing for a better country – a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16). Help us to appreciate Your gift of “abundant life” – and to look forward to our full enjoyment of “eternal life” (John 10:10; 1 John 5:11).

_____

_____

Keep on praying! – A message from the Moderator of the Presbytery of Greenock and Paisley

As you read Jack’s letter, pray for the people he mentions – and don’t forget to pray for him, giving thanks to God for his much-needed and much-appreciated spiritual leadership.

Call to Prayer

Jeremiah 33:3

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

As we face the uncertainty surrounding the present coronavirus pandemic and the fact that we cannot see, feel or touch the problem, it can lead us to become either sceptical about its seriousness or terrified of what it could do to us or our loved ones. There is no doubt that we face the greatest test that our nation has faced since the end of the Second World War. It proves, once again, that we really do not have all the answers to life’s problems.

However, even in the uncertainly and the need to listen carefully to the scientific and medical experts, who are seeking to help our nation get through these difficult times, I believe that there is One who does have all the answers, and we can pray to Him.

I have no doubt that we have all been earnestly praying in these days, but I have been led to believe that, although we cannot come together as a Presbytery, we can still pray together. I would like to suggest that we, as a Presbytery, endeavour to set aside time each day at the same time if possible to pray about the present situation; and I would suggest 11.00 a.m.

It may be that for some that is not possible, but let us pray every day at whatever time is suitable for each one of us.

Let us pray for doctors, nurses, scientists, emergency service workers and indeed all who would seek to respond in these difficult days. Pray for the vulnerable folk in society; let us pray for those who have had to self-isolate, and for folk who contract the virus that they will make a full recovery. Let us pray for families with children who are at home because our schools are closing, that they can cope with the need to keep the children interested and occupied.

Let us pray for our congregations and the folk in our Presbytery and nation. Pray for folk whose employment and income is adversely affected by not being able to work.

Pray for our politicians in Westminster and Holyrood that God will sustain them and inspire them with His Holy Spirit that their decisions will be in accordance with His will and purposes.

Let us all remember that God is Sovereign and that he has shown the depth of his love for us by sending His Son Jesus into our world to be our Saviour and our Lord. He will not abandon us now in our time of need.

God bless you all.

Jack McHugh

_____

_____

Help us, Lord, not only to rejoice in the comfort of Your Word. Help us, also, to respond to the challenge of Your Word.

Help us, Lord, to seek “the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). May we not be content with the ‘holiness’ of the Pharisee – “God, I thank You that I am not like other men …” (Luke 18:11-120. That’s not holiness. That’s hypocrisy. Teach us that true holiness emerges out of real humility – “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13). Teach us to pray for Your salvation – and, then, to seek the holiness which is grounded in Your salvation. This is “the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

Let Your love flow. May we know that we are loved. May we show Your love. Lord, You have welcomed us. Help us to give “a friendly welcome” to others (Hebrews 11:31).  You reached out to us when we were “strangers” (Galatians 2:12). Help us “to show hospitality to strangers” (Hebrews 13:1).

_____

_____

God bless you all.

Charlie

Advertisement