Friday 14th August:
Hymn: Strength will rise (StF 89/SofF 2034)
Prayer:
So often, Lord, when a crisis arises, we human beings want to take action, to put our spoke in, to offer advice, to do something practical, and when we can’t, when a situation is beyond us, we feel frustrated, helpless, find it difficult to cope with. At times like this your word to us, if we listen, is to ‘wait’ – to wait for the right moment, to wait for you to guide us, to wait for the strength, the resources we need. And to remember that we can only ‘soar like eagles’ when the wind of your Holy Spirit is underneath our ‘wings’!
Amen
Liz Stuart
Thursday 13th August:
Hymn: God of all my days
Prayer:
Loving God, sometimes our problems loom so large and our view of you is so much too small. We become overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information we receive, by the regulations we are asked to adhere to, and then so confused when these change that we fear to step outside our front door. Give us, Lord, a quietness in our souls that calms our anxieties. For you see all things from an eternal perspective, and you are able to weave even these difficult times into your plan both for the world and for our lives, a plan that is always for our ultimate good.
Amen
Liz Stuart
Wednesday 12th August:
Hymn: There is none like you SofF 1035/CMP 943
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, why is it that we so frequently turn to other sources to find fulfilment in life – our job, our family life, our career, our hobbies? For while we may find satisfaction in all of these, even a sense of worth, at the end of the day in some way or other they all fall short of supplying that true sense of peace, of security, of well-being that deep down we all long for. Only in you, Lord, can we find all our needs met, only in you can we know true joy and contentment, and hope for the future – for there is none like you. Thank you, Jesus, for being YOU!
Amen
Liz Stuart
Tuesday 11th August:
Hymn: Take this moment, sign and space (StF 513)
Prayer:
Loving God, you know us through and through, and yet we often try to hide things from you, our disappointments, the things we are ashamed of, our fears and our failures. But, Lord, you love us just as we are, and when we open our hearts and lives to you it is to discover your healing and your holding, and to your enabling us to become the person you created us to be, strong and beautiful in you.
Amen
Liz Stuart
Monday 10th August:
Hymn: Through all the changing scenes of life (StF 638/H&P 73)
Prayer:
Lord God, we never know what tomorrow will bring, and sometimes, quite often in fact, it causes us anxiety. We want to be prepared, we like to have some degree of control over our lives, or at least to think we do. But in reality, Lord, we don’t need to worry, because you are a faithful God, a God who never fails us, and because you love us you are always seeking the best for us, bringing good out of the most unlikely circumstances. Thank you for the peace and security this gives us – and please help us to trust you more!
Amen
Liz Stuart
Sunday 9th August:
Hymn: Christ will be my hideaway
Prayer:
Just when it seemed things were beginning to ease up, Lord, we are experiencing a new wave of coronavirus, and perhaps it’s beginning to dawn on us in a new way just how vulnerable we are and how fragile is human life. But even in the midst of this anxiety and fear, we know, Jesus, that you are victorious over the power of evil and death – and so we pray that all who are suffering, all who have had their hopes of reopening their business dashed, all who are facing redundancy, may have a very real sense of your presence with them, and that we all may find comfort and strength in the knowledge that you hold every single one of us in your loving arms.
Amen
Liz Stuart
Saturday 8th August:
Hymn: Listen to our hearts
Prayer:
Lord God, you are an awesome God, you love us with an amazing and generous love – you have shown us this through all you have done for us in Jesus, and in our own lives. But we’re not always very good at telling you how thankful we are, or how much we depend on you, or even how much we love you. It’s not only that we haven’t the words, it’s also that so often we don’t show it by the way we live. Thank you, Lord, for constantly forgiving us and helping us to start again – and perhaps most of all, for accepting us as we are!
Amen
Liz Stuart
Friday 7th August:
Hymn: Will you come and follow me? StF 673/SofF1120
Prayer:
Loving God, you know us better than we know ourselves, but when you call us into some new adventure we tend to be reluctant and want to hold back. Sometimes this is because we think it’s beyond our abilities, often through fear of the unknown, and, if we’re honest, because we know it will take us out of our ‘comfort zone’. However, when you ask us to step out in faith it is not only to develop the gifts you have already placed in us, but always with the promise that you will give us all the resources we need. So help us, Lord, to take that leap into the unknown, in the certainty that you will be with us to guide us and enable us in all you call us to be and to do.
Amen
Liz Stuart
Thursday 6th August:
Hymn for Thursday, 6th August: I am the gentle light
Prayer:
In an anxious and troubled world, where can we go to find peace and reassurance, and rest for our souls? We come to you, Jesus, because you are like an oasis in a desert place, providing the refreshment, the resources and the renewal that we need. For with you our fears are stilled, our hope is restored, and we find the freedom of life lived in the power of your Holy Spirit.
Amen
Liz Stuart
Wednesday 5th August:
Hymn: Magnificent, marvellous, matchless love
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, nothing can compare with the depth, the height, the immensity of your love for us. We see it in the beauty of the world around us, we see it in the loveliness of your life on earth, we see it in the glory of your Cross and Resurrection. But even more amazing is that we have and can do nothing to deserve it, to earn or to merit it – it is purely your gift of grace, given freely, given unreservedly, poured out into our hearts by your Holy Spirit. As we open our ourselves, our hearts and our lives to receive your love, may it overflow through us into the lives of those around us, to your praise and glory.
Amen
Liz Stuart
Tuesday 4th August:
Hymn: As water to the thirsty (StF 441/SofF 659/CMP 803)
Prayer:
We live in a world of such opposites, Lord, of privilege and poverty, of opportunity and deprivation. But eventually we discover that the things upon which people place such value – power, wealth, position, status – are not, in the big scheme of things, of ultimate worth. In fact, it’s only in you, Jesus, that we find that which is enduring, and really matters. Gifts which you give us out of your grace and great love, gifts not for us to hug to ourselves but for us to share, and through sharing find true fulfilment.
Amen
Liz Stuart
Monday 3rd August:
Hymn: Good forever (Blessings before me)
Prayer:
Almighty and amazing God, you surround us with blessings, and all you do in our lives, and all your plans for us, are always for our good. We praise and thank you for being there for us in every circumstance, for never failing us, and for the security of knowing that nothing, nothing at all, can ever separate us from your love, in and through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen
Liz Stuart
Sunday 2nd August:
Hymn: God is Love: let heaven adore him (StF 103/H&P 36)
Prayer:
Lord God, when we try to find words to describe your Being and your Nature, all of them fall short, because you are greater, wiser and more wonderful than we could ever begin to imagine. Until we come to the word ‘Love’, and while the extent of your love is far beyond our comprehension, it so well encompasses your continual care for us, the way you have reached out to us in Jesus, and the way you long to draw us into an ever deeper relationship with yourself. As we receive your love, Lord, help us to respond in the surrender of ourselves and our lives to you.
Amen
Liz Stuart
Saturday 1st August:
Hymn: Who am I?
Prayer:
As we come before you, Lord God, we are filled with wonder, both at your greatness and by your acceptance of us. You have given us everything, and yet we find it so difficult to be the people you call us to be, not because we don’t want to grow more like Jesus, but because so often our human nature takes over. And yet, Lord, you still love us, and that’s so amazing, not because of who or what we are but because of who you are, and all you have done for us through Jesus. Thank you that through your goodness and grace we can always start again, and again, and know your forgiveness and your gift of peace.
Amen
Liz Stuart
