May the Lord bless our DIY virtual service today!
Let's pray:
Dear Lord and loving heavenly Father, as we gather today online at various times and in various places, would you be tangibly with us all by your ever-present but not always perceived Holy Spirit, teaching us, correcting us, rebuking us and training us in grace-bought righteousness ... for we pray in Jesus Name. Amen.
Our Word for the Week video premieres on Saturday 24th at 5 p.m. You can chat on the link as the video plays out!
In COVID times, giving Christian literature can be a bit tricky. How about sharing the link to this short video on social media (or whatever) with your friends?
Father, please help us to know how to live wisely in these times to use whatever means remain at our disposal to make much of Christ and to see your Kingdom come in human hearts. Would you, by your Spirit, apply the content of this video to turn people's hearts into following in your Way and finding the new life that there is in Christ.
For Jesus' sake.
Amen.
Here's a rousing old hymn from that great servant of God, John Newton
Prayer prompts
As we have now moved into seventeen days of public health protection measures in Wales and have been prohibited for three Sundays from meeting up to worship the Lord together, let's pray both for the well-being of our fellow citizens, our leaders and for the forward movement of the Kingdom of God during this unusual time.
For the people of our land
- We pray for those in our land currently going through isolation and anxiety, who are alone or who are worried about the impact that COVID-19 may have on their lives.
- We pray that we ourselves may be upheld by our fellowship with the Lord and by the encouragement of the reassuring promises of His Word.
- We ask that being strengthened by the Lord we might be of use to such people as we retain contact with, whether on trips to shop for necessities or through telephone or internet conversation.
- We pray particularly for those who are sick, and for their relatives, for peace and for healing.
- We pray for those who have been bereaved, sometimes under trying circumstances, for comfort and for practical arrangements and provision and that true and lasting peace might be found for them in the arms of the God of all compassion.
- We pray that as people of this land we ourselves might live as clear pointers to the good things that the Lord does in their lives for His people.
For those in authority
- We pray too for the leaders of our land, who are charged with a high level of extra responsibility at this time.
- We ask for leaders in Government, in politics and in the Civil Service, and for those who lead in our nation's security services, industry and business. We pray that we will be governed with wisdom and care, and that a genuine culture of public service and the laying aside of self-interest may characterise our public and economic life as a nation.
- We pray also for clarity, for fairness and for justice in the regulations that are developed in response to our public health crisis and for the just application of these laws by our legal system, that we might be well, justly and wisely governed.
For the forward movement of the Kingdom of God
- We ask that as some of the harsher realities of human life in a fallen world are brought into clearer focus in our land, the call of the Kingdom of God might also be more clearly heard and understood.
- Let's pray that times of difficulty and of challenge might lead people to seek God.
- Let's pray that the Spirit of God might be active in fresh and powerful ways to bring men and women to repentance and faith in Christ, that souls might be converted and that real discipleship to Christ might increase radically across the land.
- And let's pray that we will see a revival of spiritual life in God's people in this land, and in our own hearts too.
Lord hear our prayers from your Heavenly throne and as you hear, have mercy we pray.
In Jesus' Name.
Amen.
Let's sing ...
1 Thessalonians 1 (Listen)
Greeting
1:1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace.
The Thessalonians’ Faith and Example
2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. 9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
(ESV)
Robin Mark helps us assess what is really important to us as believers ...
Let's worship the Lord ...
Let's pray
We thank you, Lord of Heaven and earth, that we can find our safety, security and confidence in the face of any eventuality in the love and the mercy that has been shown to us in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Implant, strengthen and secure this living faith in us all our days, that we too might live
as those who truly believe the Lordship of Christ,
and whose trust lies simply in the effectiveness of the shed blood of Christ at the Cross, the Resurrection of the body and the life that is everlasting.
For we ask for Jesus' sake.
Amen.
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