Evening Prayer Thursday, 22 April 2021
A reading from John’s First Letter
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 if our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: we know it by the Spirit he gave us.
1 John 3: 16–24 NIV®
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, you are the Good Shepherd, who laid down your life once and for all that all your flock might live.
May we lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters, by living a life of service to them and to you.
We pray that we may be quick to see the needs of others and do all we can to meet their needs.
Please grant that we may show our love for you not by words,
but by acts of kindness and compassion and by treating everyone with truth and integrity.
We thank you for all that you have given us, whether we have asked for it or not,
for you alone know what we truly need and what we require to follow you in love and truth.
Strengthen, we pray, our faith and belief in you, God’s Son and our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Looking back on the day now closing, we reflect on all we have encountered, experienced, and even suffered.
Help us to learn the lessons that you are teaching us in the events of our day-to-day lives.
Let us reflect on those situations where we did not, perhaps, respond appropriately
as a true follower of you; help us to see how we may do better the next time.
Show us, please, how we may, even now, make amends for any shortcomings.
We thank you now for the greatest gift you have given us: the Holy Spirit,
who stays with us and watches over us, no matter where our wanderings may lead.
May we be still and listen out for the still quiet voice speaking to us through the Spirit,
and leading us back to the path along which you lead us to eternal life.
Amen
