1Kings 2; Galatians 6; Ezekiel 33; Psalms 81,82

prayer arising:

Lord, I see a lot of contrasts in Your word this morning - carry each other's burdens; carry your own loads - sowing to please the sinful nature; soing to please the Spirit - avoiding the cross; persecution because of the cross - mouths expressing devotion; hearts greedy for unjust gain - enthusiastic praise; remembering our failures - those in authority being judged in how they care about the weak, powerless, oppressed and needy. A king firmly establishing himself with violence that I can set as a picture of the battle in my soul but which remains in truth a catalogue of violence.

Father, lead me in Christ to sow to Your Spirit - I am all of these contrasts. I pray simply that when it is difficult to do good, give me the strength to persevere and to sow to Your Spirit, being healed from the condemnation in these contrasts.

Instruct me in how to sing with a prophetic incisive voice, carrying the burdens of others.

Amen

1Kings 1; Galatians 5; Ezekiel 32; Psalm 80

prayer arising:

You can restore all things O Lord - let Your face shine upon us. You lie at the heart of all events and in all that happens You are to be found - help me to find you when things are good and when things are bad, for You can restore from anywhere.

Help me to make instrumental moves in Your purposes through living in Your Spirit, positive living in the Spirit that disperses the rebellion of my heart. Be the true authority in my heart, Jesus, against my own false authority, so that the freedom into which you call me is a freedom to love and serve my neighbour.

May the fruit of Your Spirit in me restore relationships. Crucify those passions within me that serve to break relationships with You and with others. Help me, in Christ to give freedom today to others, through grace-filled living.

Amen

2Samuel 24; Galatians 4; Ezekiel 31; Psalm 79

prayer arising:

Lord I get angry when I read a passage where 70,000 people die of plague because David committed some act of sin that I don't understand - what does this mean? I don't understand.

For the sake of Your glory, hear me, so that I can recount Your praise. Don't let pride in me deny my eyes from seeing all things given as gifts - You make beautiful and abundant - let me live thankfully.

Jesus - finding it difficult to praise when the picture of those 70,000 people is before my eyes. I hear Paul's question - what has happened to your joy?

Let Your Spirit in me cry out 'Abba, Father' - and in the joyful freedom of a son, living in Your promise, let me ask - why?

Amen.

2Samuel 23; Galatians 3; Ezekiel 30; Psalm 78 v38on

prayer arising:

Held by a promise, O Lord, what a beautiful thought. We inherit, in Christ Jesus, the promise to Abraham to be a blessing to all nations. Let my trust in Your promise open the floodgates of Your Spirit upon my life to bring such blessing. Place the cross, Your work of power against the oppressor, always before me, that I would not grieve You in my wildernesses but remember you in them. As a passing breeze, O Lord, may I be carried upon Your lips, to bring light and growth through Your breath, O God. I trust in Your promise today - let Your Spirit come.

Maranatha, come Lord Jesus.

Amen.

2Samuel 21; Galatians 1; Ezekiel 28; Psalm 77

prayer arising:

Jesus, when my heart and mind are full of questions, take me to the cross. There is no comfort until I hear You. Don't let my soul be comforted in anything less than You. Take me to the cross.

Father, reveal Your Son in me, that I will speak on the authority of the grace of Christ.
I confess to a desire to please others - reveal Your Son in me.

I hear Your condemnation of violent and dishonest trade, of pride corrupting wisdom, of such things provoking internal fires which consume and destroy. All things are answerable to You. And You will judge with justice. Let my practices of living show that it is You who are God, a God of unfailing love and promise, a God who is merciful and compassionate who shows us justice in the self-exposure of the cross - reveal Your Son in me today.

Amen.

2Samuel 19; 2Corinthians 12; Ezekiel 26; Psalm 74

prayer arising:

Lord, David learnt to take the pain of the consequences in the actions of others and yet continue to lead; Paul speaks of his weakness for the purpose of strengthening the Corinthian church - I pray for such grace in leading people to You. Thank You that You give us times of exhiliration in Your Spirit but my witness to You is not held in these - it lies in knowing Your grace and power in the marks of my weakness not my strength.

You set the boundaries of this earth O Lord, I will not limit myself to our boundaries.

Amen.

2Samuel 18; 2Corinthians 11; Ezekiel 25; Psalm 73

prayer arising:

O God, the authority of Your message in me lies with my life lived. The words that I say only have authority through me as Your word shapes my life. Forgive me when my mouth lays claim to heaven while my tongue takes possession of the earth. Do not let me be like a 'super-apostle' who enslaves, exploits, pushes forward, slaps in the face and betrays Your children. Let me feel the weakness of others and inwardly burn with the sins of others. For you condemn those who glory, in the malice of their heart, in seeing others falling under the weight of their sins.

In Christ, let me be pure in heart through Your Spirit. Do not let jealousies distract me. It is good to be near You, Jesus. You are the strength of my heart for ever.

Amen.

2Samuel 17; 2Corinthians 10; Ezekiel 24; Psalm 72

prayer arising:

Praise You, O God - may the whole earth be filled with Your glory. Let our praise of You be a weapon to demolish strongholds; let our prayers to You be weapons of divine power to demolish strongholds. Forgive us when we take the weapons of this world - frustrate my plans when I live by the standards of this world - let me see Your new creation in me. By Your Spirit help me to take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.

I see the action of Jesus in delivering the needy who cry out; in taking pity on the weak & the needy; in bringing justice to the poor; in releasing from oppression and violence, because they are precious in His sight - and I hear your condemnation of my actions, when people are not precious in my sight. Lord, demolish the strongholds in my heart, Jesus - I bow down before You and I bless You.

Judge me, Father, in Christ alone - and in Christ may I be a true son of the King and practise Your justice today.

May the whole earth be filled with Your glory.

Amen

2Samuel 16; 2Corinthians 9; Ezekiel 23; Psalms 70,71

prayer arising:

Lord I stand willingly and gladly in Your kindness, no matter where it will take me. You are my rock and my fortress - I can bear all things in You. Thank you for the cross, which covers my sins - do not let me take it cheaply. I choose, in Your Spirit, to be vindicated by You - give me the strength and the love not to seek my own vindication but to trust in You.

I decide now, joyfully, to be a giver, according to Your grace - that through my obedience to the confession of my lips thanksgiving will overflow to You.

Thak You for the cross, my friend.

Amen.

2Samuel 15; 2Corinthians 8; Ezekiel 22; Psalm 69

prayer arising:

My Father, when I see what Jerusalem was condemned for - the violence of those in power, the violence against Your way by those who profess to know You, the injustices of financial corruption, the whitewashing of actions by false pictures, the oppression and denying of justice to those in need - are You now again looking for someone to build a wall to protect our world from Your wrath? Are our actions now to fall upon our own heads?

You condemn the violation of personal relationships before You take account of the failures of worship. Help me Lord to see Your priorities. Do not let me uphold what I think to be holy while I crucify You. Do not let another steal my heart. Help me to be an answer to my own prayers - I am pleading for the privilege of sharing in Your ministry - help us to excel in the grace of giving, showing the proof of our love to You.

Amen

2Samuel 12; 2Corinthians 5; Ezekiel 19; Psalms 64, 65

prayer arising:

Lord, You are the first to act, You call me to answer. You are my strength and in Your strength I will answer.....

Why is it so hard to pray this morning? Thank You for the glory of 2Corinthians 5. I feel both out of my mind for You and the need to work at being in my right mind for others. Your love compels me, Jesus, to see no-one except through the eyes of faith in Your work of the cross - forgive me when I fail at this. Father, thank you for the wonder of Your reconciliation to us in Christ, making me new, making others new. Your love compels me to speak of reconciliation as an act of faith in Your new creation in us. Let me be a reconciler, in my own life and in others, in Your ministry and purposes. I am David, the sinner - help me also to be Nathan, acting upon Your voice to bring this word to people who know their own condemnation - "the Lord has taken away your sin".

Your love compels me, through faith, to see a new creation - help me today to see Your new creation in myself and those around me and to let Your ministry of reconciliation through Christ flow, as an act of Your Spirit, in me and through me today to others.

Amen.

2Samuel 11; 2Corinthians 4; Ezekiel 18; Psalms 62,63

prayer arising:

Lord, guard my paths. It is very easy to bring about the possibilities of temptation - Lord guard my paths. Give me eyes to see the damage that my sins do to other people and deny me the occasions to build sin upon sin. Do not let me live in deceptive and secretive ways - give me clear eyes to walk in your life-giving freedom and the gift of your mercy, so that others would see your light and not death in my actions.

Call me again to see my personal responsibility to You for sins committed. You are my Rock and my salvation, my God - I have no other foundation for living beyond your work in Christ. Provoke my thanksgiving again by Your grace and mercy; let me see with fresh eyes the glory of Your resurrection which overcomes all acts of death within me.

I feel Lord, that I am only wanting to seek You, wanting to thirst after You, wanting to long after You, and not seeking, thirsting, longing - I feel the brittleness of this jar of clay - I trust only in Your ministry of life-giving freedom.

Amen

2Samuel 10; 2Corinthians 3; Ezekiel 17; Psalms 60,61

prayer arising:

Lord I pray that I would act with a full heart for justice, but one conscious of my humanity, that such acts may well not be your justice. Do not let me identify my actions and thinking with You, but let Christ work through my humanity - build the humility of not being right into my heart, but let Christ be the right. Lord my confidence is in You, not in me.

I am confident, in Christ, that You are writing a people with the Spirit of God upon their hearts. Thank You for this glorious ministry of life-giving freedom. I live in this hope of becoming like Christ, reflecting Your glory, that is not my own, and giving this gift of freedom to others. This is Your promise and this is my hope. For You make the dry tree flourish - through Christ, Your love and faithfulness are my refuge in the dryness.

Let my roots go down deep in such love.

Amen

2Samuel 8,9; 2Corinthians 2; Ezekiel 16; Psalms 58,59

prayer arising:

Thank You for Your kindness, O Lord; thank You that when our souls are crippled You come and You find us and You restore us and we eat at Your table, always, as a son of God, even though we are crippled. Your care precedes my knowing of You; You grow me to know You through the gifts of living - do not let me displace Your love to me with the gifts that come through Your love. But when I fall let me always hear the promise of Your grace of return, and in humility give out Your comfort to others that the purposes of another would be outwitted.

I am not equal to the task of bringing Christ - I pray Lord to be the fragrance of life to the people around me. Help me to sing of Your love, for You are my strength

Amen.

2Samuel 7; 2Corinthians 1; Ezekiel 15; Psalms 56,57

prayer arising:

I seek a heart that will uphold you O Lord in my actions. Never let me identify the actions of myself or any others simply with You, but let me hear you and bear the prophetic responsibility of speaking and acting justly and with Your humility.

I am established only in You, as You provide a place for me. You establish me in Christ amongst a people; You have become our God through Your actions in Christ. As the sufferings of Christ flow into our lives as the body of Christ, let the distress that we feel be other-person directed, not self-centered; that the comfort which we receive would overflow through Christ bringing endurance in the sharing together.

I set my hope in you, as the God who raises the dead. Help me to live in the grace of this promise, given in the midst of the prayers of others. Help me to say Amen to Your promises this week. Anoint me by Your Spirit to stand firm in Christ that I would work for the joy of others, bearing the fruit of a living vine.

I will trust in You today.

Amen