Time to Pray – Daily Prayer for Saturday 23 June, 2018

The Lord our God the Almighty reigns.

Let us rejoice and exult and give God the glory.

Revelation 19.6-7

Glory to God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit:

as in the beginning, so now, and for ever. Amen.

A poem: The Song of Simeon (Nunc dimittis)

Now, Lord, you let your servant go in peace:
your word has been fulfilled.
My own eyes have seen the salvation:
which you have prepared in the sight of every people:
A light to reveal you to the nations:
and the glory of your people Israel.

Luke 2.29-32

The opening prayer

By night and by day we worship the Lord; let us pray with one heart and mind.

We remember God’s presence and pause in silence.

Father of lights, receive the prayer and praise we offer you as our daily sacrifice; make us a light for all the world, delivered by your goodness from all the works of darkness; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.

The readings

2 Chronicles 24.17-25

Now after the death of Jehoiada the officials of Judah came and did obeisance to the king; then the king listened to them. They abandoned the house of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, and served the sacred poles and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. Yet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to the LORD; they testified against them, but they would not listen.

Then the spirit of God took possession of Zechariah son of the priest Jehoiada; he stood above the people and said to them, ‘Thus says God: Why do you transgress the commandments of the LORD, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, he has also forsaken you.’ But they conspired against him, and by command of the king they stoned him to death in the court of the house of the LORD. King Joash did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, had shown him, but killed his son. As he was dying, he said, ‘May the LORD see and avenge!’

At the end of the year the army of Aram came up against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the officials of the people from among them, and sent all the booty they took to the king of Damascus. Although the army of Aram had come with few men, the LORD delivered into their hand a very great army, because they had abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors. Thus they executed judgement on Joash.

When they had withdrawn, leaving him severely wounded, his servants conspired against him because of the blood of the son of the priest Jehoiada, and they killed him on his bed. So he died; and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.

Psalm 89.25-33

I will set his dominion upon the sea
and his right hand upon the rivers.

He shall call to me, “You are my Father,
my God, and the rock of my salvation;”

And I will make him my firstborn:
the most high above the kings of the earth.

The love I have pledged to him will I keep for ever,
and my covenant will stand fast with him.

His seed also will I make to endure for ever
and his throne as the days of heaven.

But if his children forsake my law
and cease to walk in my judgements,

If they break my statutes
and do not keep my commandments,

I will punish their offences with a rod
and their sin with scourges.

But I will not take from him my steadfast love
nor suffer my truth to fail.

Matthew 6.24-end

‘No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

The Prayers

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever.
Amen.

This week’s prayer:

Lord,
we beseech you to keep your family, the Church,
in continual godliness,
that through your protection
it may be free from all adversities,
and devoutly given to serve you in good works,
to the glory of your name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

We thank God for what we have and pray for what we need.

Today we pray for ourselves, that God would give us his Spirit to help us live a life marked by holiness. In our local church, we ask God to bless people preparing to come to worship tomorrow, and support for those who who can’t be at church because of illness or age. In our world, we pray for people who work in our emergency services. We remember before God those who have asked for our prayers, or who are in need of them.

A prayer for the day

Lord of life, by the power of your resurrection, deliver us from all selfishness and bring us to the fullness of your joy; for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.

The Lord be with us

now and forever.

Let us praise the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

May the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, equip us with everything good that we may do his will, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

see Hebrews 13.20, 21