Evening Prayer Thursday, 14 January 2021

Good evening friends? God is good? Welcome to this Thursday evening prayers. As you will know, Pat and Robin Kyd would be bringing us our prayers. Sadly, they are still poorly. Let us continue to hold them in our prayers…

Opening prayer: Merciful God, hear our evening prayer of praise, and let our hearts never waver from the love of your law. Lead us on through night’s darkness to the dawning of eternal life. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your beloved son who took on flesh and came to take away all the sins of the world – Amen.

Psalm 51: 10-17

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.  Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Saviour, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.  My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.

One of the most misleading pieces of advice you will hear is the recommendation to follow your heart. Here is what the Lord says in Jer 17: 9 though. “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick”.  We all enter life with an inclination toward sin and selfishness, and there is no way we ourselves can change this. Instead of trusting a sinful heart, what we really need is a new, clean heart, and only the Lord can give us one as the psalmist advices above.

In love, God sent His Son into this world to die on the cross and pay the penalty for our sins. Only in that way could we be forgiven and receive a clean heart from which flow holy desires and ambitions. Through Christ, we are set apart for God, welcomed into His family as adopted children, and indwelt by His Spirit.  Thanks to our new heart and the Holy Spirit’s empowering presence, we are enabled to live a righteous life of obedience to the Lord. Instead of living with a deceptive heart, we can now draw near to God in fellowship and understand the truth of His Word. With gratitude for our new heart, let us rely on the Spirit’s power to help us discern error and make wise decisions.

Intercessions:

Let us pray to God, who alone makes us dwell in safety. Living God, we thank you for the gift of today and the life in it. We now come before you in humility to bring prayers for your people and ourselves.

We pray for all who are affected by the virus, through illness or isolation or anxiety, that they may find relief and recovery. For those who are guiding our nation at this time of great anxiety and uncertainty and shaping national policies, that they may make wise decisions.

Lord, in your mercy- hear our prayers

We pray for doctors, nurses, medical researchers, pharmaceutical companies and all frontline workers-that through their skill and insights many will be restored to health. For the vulnerable and the fearful, for the gravely ill and for the dying,
that they may know your comfort and peace:

Lord, in your mercy- hear our prayers

And we commend ourselves, and all for whom we pray, to the mercy and protection of God this night and ask the Merciful Father to accept these prayers for the sake of His Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

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.

Loving God; thank you for holding us together. We need you desperately and you were there for us. Thank you for every act of kindness, love, mercy, and grace that has been shown to us in these very testing times, undeserving even as we are. To you alone be the glory

Blessings: May the Spirit of the Living God watch over you as you sleep and bring you to a tomorrow full of hope and possibilities….

Nite, nite))!

Revd. George Mwaura