Good day everyone. There is no online prayer meeting tonight due to holidays. However, prepared below are prayers, readings, songs and some thoughts, to help guide you through a time of prayer. We ask you to draw together in your homes at 7.30pm and begin the prayer service, thus joining our combined prayers towards God.
If you can’t manage at 7.30pm then anytime suits. Prayer is always heard.
OPENING WORDS
We gather here to worship God
With ears ready to listen
With hearts and minds open to receive
All: With voices ready to sing praise
God knows us
God guides us
God raises us up
All: God is with us now
We gather together to worship God
We come to God who inclines an ear to us
We come to God who gives us words to speak
All: We come to God in reverence and awe
God gives us life
God sets us free
God speaks a better word
All: We gather to worship God
Psalm 103
Thanksgiving for God’s Goodness
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits—
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the Pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good as long as you live
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The Lord works vindication
and justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
You can’t be half-hearted about this passage. It is generous and life-giving and seems to amplify the energy of the other passages.
The first part of the Psalm seems to be the words of an individual, while the second part feels more communal – “all who are oppressed”, “the people of Israel”, etc. Youth is renewed (v5), which contrasts with a common view that people need to hurry up and mature. We have misappropriated the idea of youth – we yearn for the physical aspects of youth as we get older, but young people are desperate to be adult.
What part of youth is being renewed? Is it the energy and excitement of new faith? What aspects of the eagle relate to or represent youth? Flying, freedom, an aerial view – you have a different perspective when you’re younger.
Psalm 71
Prayer for Lifelong Protection and Help
In you, O Lord, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me and save me.
Be to me a rock of refuge,
a strong fortress, to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from my birth;
it was you who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.
LET US PRAY
In you alone we put our hope, God the Father, Creator and Sustainer, who gives all good things seen and unseen. In you alone we put our hope, God the Son, Saviour and Redeemer, who died for our sins and rose again. In you alone we put our hope, God the Spirit, Teacher and Comforter, who moves us to sing “Our God reigns!” In you alone we put our hope. AMEN
Sunrise, Sunset, Sin
My soul praises you, Lord. You are to us whom you were to Moses–compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love. Your love is so generous it seems to stretch from my back porch to the full moon. If we stand on one side of the globe, you exile our failures to the opposite side. They can no more catch us th an the sunrise can catch the sunset. My soul praises you Lord. AMEN
We continue in prayer
O Lord, you have indeed carried me on your wings. By your mercy, you have delivered me from sin and death. You have set me free from their bondage. Once I was a slave, but now I am free to be your servant. Thank you, Lord. Even as I seek to live faithfully as a child of the new covenant, help me to live each day by grace. May I continue to ride on your wings as you guide and empower me to serve you in every aspect of my life. All praise be to you, gracious Lord, because you carry me on your wings. Alleluia! Amen.
Prayer of Intercession
God, You are a God of compassion and love. Time after time we have experienced your care and provision. Time after time You’ve answered our prayers and met our needs— often in ways we could never have dreamed possible. We praise You for Your faithful love toward us. Because we have known Your love, we come to You with confidence, offering our prayers for the world that You love.
We see so much pain and suffering; so much anger and frustration and despair. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the needs around us. But we continue to bring our prayers to You in faith, because we know that nothing is impossible for You. You are the God who rained down bread from heaven, and made water flow from a rock in the desert; the God who resurrected Jesus Christ from the dead, and who brings new life and hope to all who believe. For You, all things are possible.
Hear our prayers.
We pray for those suffering the effects of recent natural disasters….
(insert your own private petitions here)
Because nothing is impossible for You, O God,
hear our prayer, and in Your love, answer.
We pray for the regions of our world caught up in violence and threats of violence: Because nothing is impossible for You, O God, hear our prayer, and in Your love, answer.
We pray for those who live with serious illness,
- those with chronic pain,
- those without access to proper medical care,
- those for whom treatment is no longer an option.
Because nothing is impossible for You, O God,
hear our prayer, and in Your love, answer.
Merciful God, You sent Your Son, Jesus Christ, to show us a different way to live— the way of deep humility and obedience. You’ve called us to love one another, and to work together with one heart and mind, balancing our needs with the needs of those around us.
Give us courage to follow faithfully, and with integrity— with actions that bear witness to the words we speak, and worship that overflows into our daily tasks and relationships— so that our lives will bring glory and honour to You, our Redeemer and Lord. Amen.
Blessing
Send us out Loving God – our hope and trust from our youth –
that we would not shame, but recognise the dignity of all Your children,
that we would incline our ear and listen for Your call,
that our actions may be just and compassionate.
May our lives be lived in continual praise of You.
Amen
Bellshill Central Church 