2Kings 13; 2Timothy 3; Hosea 5,6; Psalm 119:145-176

prayer arising:

Lord, I feel so often that my life does not show the power of Your godliness - do I love pleasure more than You? Help me to know You and acknowledge Your truth, standing still long enough to meditate on Your promises and to know You. I want to learn through You Lord, through being with You, forgive me when my life spins too fast to see You. My love is so quick to disappear. I pray Lord that I will acknowledge You in my living and not in the pretence of false sacrifice and cheap trust that simply expects without hearing any prophetic call of Your word. Lord deal with my defensiveness before You and before others, so that the power of Your godliness would be seen not in what I set up but in what You tear down.

Amen.

1Kings 22; 1Thessalonians 5; Daniel 4; Psalm 108,109

prayer arising:

Lord, keep me close to you so that my words will not become manipulative for my purposes, do not let my words become words of hatred that infect and envelop my being. I praise You, clothe me Lord in praise and thanksgiving, guard my words to be of You - I confess Your authority over my words and life this morning.

Let the fire of Your Spirit burn within me, cleanse me from pride. Lord these words are too easy to say without humility - forgive me and mark my living in praise of You today with kindness, with joy, with thankfulness. Let the confession of my lips be done as these things. For you are faithful to me and You will do it even out of the poverty of my soul.

Amen

1Kings 21; 1Thessalonians 4; Daniel 3; Psalm 107

prayer arising:

Jesus, Your enduring love stands at the beginning of every day - whatever this day will bring, Your enduring love will hold me.

• If I wander in desert places today, bring me to Your people and feed me.
• If I sit in dark places today, break the chains that hold me and give me freedom in my soul
• If I act as a fool today, heal me through Your word
• If today disorientates me, still the storms in my head and heart and bring me Your peace.

Provoke Your joy and peace in me today, Lord, as I consider Your great love, for You walk with me through the fire and I will worship only You.

Amen

1Kings 20; 1Thessalonians 3; Daniel 2; Psalm 106

prayer arising:

I commit this morning, Jesus, to stand in Your enduring love. And when the testing times come, to seek Your wisdom and knowledge, so that others would know you. Make my love overflow and strengthen my heart to be holy in Your presence, for Your kingdom in me is a rock that will break all other authorities and powers in me and over me. Your love endures forever even when we make false promises, worship what should not be worshipped, rebel in our hearts and forget what You have done. You are God in both my valleys and my high places - You are never not God in my life. I pray that whatever I face today, through Your wisdom and power, I would encourage someone else, through Your enduring love, to stand firm in Your promises.

Amen

1Kings 17; Colossians 4; Ezekiel 47; Psalm 103

prayer arising:

You are a God of abundant new life who forgives and heals me and crowns me with love and compassion - my youth is renewed this morning and I praise You! My life is a brief moment but You are from everlasting to everlasting. Let my roots go down deep into Your abundant life-giving river. Bear Your fruit in me and bring healing through me that is of eternity. Help me to wrestle in prayer for others leading them to their inheritance of abundant life in You.

Lord, when everything is barren bring me into Your depths. I trust in Your abundant life-giving love for the healing of my inmost being.

Amen

1Kings 16; Colossians 3; Ezekiel 46; Psalm 102

prayer arising:

Lord, give me new eyes to see that Your work in my life is not about me. It is about those who have yet to come being able to live in Your presence. My life is fragile and short - I pray it would leave a legacy of Your hope by which others will live in Your enduring presence.

Father, because you raise me in Christ, guard me against provoking You to anger. And in Christ, this morning I set my heart and my mind on You - I commit to putting to death those things that damage and break the love of friends and family - I commit to letting Your peace rule in my heart so that Your work in me will be both my inheritance and that legacy of hope to those yet to come - help me to prepare the way for future generations to know You through the quality of my relationships. Lord it seems an impossible thing when I know myself - but my trust is in You and not in me.

Amen

1Kings 14; Colossians 1; Ezekiel 44; Psalms 97,98

prayer arising:

Lord, forgive me that singing for joy because of Your judgement is a new thought to me this morning - forgive me that I have seen it in some dark pictures before - place this new picture of singing for joy, the whole earth bursting into song and shouting for joy, all creation rejoicing, because You come and You judge with fairness, with justice, practised in love and faithfulness - place this joy deep in my heart.

Forgive me, through Christ, for the sin in me that betrays You in the fearsomeness of judgement and demonstrates my guilt before you of the inequality, injustice of my life in relation to others. Let me sing a new song in my living that is full of hope through You - strengthen my faith in Christ, build my love for others, and let Your coming justice bear fruit in joy.

Thank You Jesus for the hope of the gospel - bear Your fruit through me today as You release this hope in me.

Amen

1Kings 13; Philippians 4; Ezekiel 43; Psalms 95,96

prayer arising:

Mark this day with joy , O Lord. I will sing to You a new song filled with thanksgiving! Thank You for creation - I don't know what it means to give thanks for creation when 20 000 people are buried under the rubble of an earthquake - my heart and mind Lord are vulnerable to not being at peace in so many ways - I pray for them Lord and ask Your peace and strengthening Spirit to be with those whose hearts and minds and bodies are shattered with the pain of such loss - guard our hearts and minds with Your peace in such loss, Jesus, You whose own body was so broken and who knew the despair of forsaken-ness.

I come to You with thanksgiving this morning, walking in Your pasture, that whatever is taking place now, there will come a time of justice and in Your holiness all will be judged fairly and that Your justice is a cause to sing and rejoice, and that all creation will be filled with Your glory. Let all my prayers be filled with such joy and thankfulness that one day, lifted up by Your Spirit we will walk in the fullness of Your glory and hear all of creation worship You when Your justice and judgement are a cause for celebration and not a provocation to harden hearts.

Lord do not let Your word to me become an abusive spiritual authority in me - bring me back always to this word of thanksgiving and joy. Thank You for the glory of what will come and let Your peace guard our hearts and minds.

Amen

1Kings 10; Philippians 1; Ezekiel 40; Psalm 91

prayer arising:

Lord, mark my life today by joy abounding in hope and love - and may Your wisdom born in love overwhelm my life, in my heart and mind. Give me new visions of Your work in our lives that extend my hope and joy in You, sharing in the ministry of Your Spirit through each other's prayers, and knowing Your faithfulness as a shield against all despair.

Amen

1Kings 9; Ephesians 6; Ezekiel 39; Psalm 90

prayer arising:

Lord let me be clear on where the battle lies - it is never against another person, but I am called to stand against the spiritual authorities and powers of evil that work through flesh and blood. You call me in the gospel of Christ to make a stand through prayer. Lord give me clear insight. Establish Your prayers in me that I may practice a life of prayer, gaining a heart of wisdom through embattled prayer that makes a stand with others against all that comes against them.

May Your favour rest upon us and establish this work in Your purposes

Amen

1Kings 8; Ephesians 5; Ezekiel 38; Psalm 89

prayer arising:

Thank You Lord. You approach me, before anything else, in love and faithfulness. And Your justice comes through Your love and faithfulness. Thank You that You fulfil Your promises. As I come in the confession of my own sins, You hear me in Christ and you forgive; and You enable me to pray for others in that special place of forgiveness - I pray that my life would be marked by thankfulness for such a gift.

I commit today to finding what pleases You. I am called to imitate You, to live a life of the love that is seen in Christ Jesus - show me today what this means. And when I don't see Your love and faithfulness in my life, help me to trust and to pray honestly; to wait for You, to pray for Your Spirit to fill me until I am overflowing with joy and You send me away with thankfulness instead of the pain of things lost.

Amen

1Kings 7; Ephesians 4; Ezekiel 37; Psalms 87,88

prayer arising:

Lord, soften my heart and shape my desires so that I can think straight this morning. Where things are impossible, in You they are possible. I pray that today I would carry Your prophetic word of new life and a new Spirit into the deadness of my life and others, placing all my questions in You.

Jesus - I feel like I am playing with words before this glorious call of Ephesians 4, when what You require are simple commitments on my part:

• I will bear with others in love
• I will make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit
• I will not see the differing gifts of Your grace in others as a cause for breaking apart but as a means of growing to maturity, giving thanks to You for the extent of Your grace and seeking to be built up through such differences
• I will seek words that will build others up, not grieving Your Spirit
• I will forgive as You have forgiven me

How can I seek anything else if I am in You, O Lord? Give me grace sufficient to Your purposes today. Help me to see Your grace which underpins the differences in Your body and let Your new life flow as a fountain through us.

Amen

1Kings 6; Ephesians 3; Ezekiel 36; Psalm 86

prayer arising:

You are abounding in love, O Lord, great is Your love to me. I come boldly, with freedom and confidence into Your presence this morning, rooted and established in Your love. I pray that I would have power to know how much You love - the height, width and depth of Your love. I pray that this Your church would make known to all spiritual authorities that You are God and that in Christ we are sharing together Your promise of cleansing, of a new heart and a new Spirit - may my heart of flesh now act with justice as Your love overflows in abundance, my God of all compassion and grace, whose glory in Christ rests not on the perfection of a temple but in Your willingness to be pierced by my sin so that in all my imperfections I can be embraced in the midst of Your glory and power and know the wonder of Your promise of new life.

Amen