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Prayer helps
Here are 31 prompts for prayer. You could use one for each day of the
month. Alternatively you could use
one from each of the four major headings each day for a week. However you use them, they have been a
great help to me in fixing my eyes on Jesus…
CHRIST
1)
The Beginning and the End
“Christ is the image of the invisible God. The firstborn over all creation… All
things were made by Him and for Him.
He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.” Colossians
1:15-17
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,
the Beginning and the End.” Revelation 22:13
Christ is the Rationale, the Origin, the
Principle, the Centre and the Goal of every atom of creation and every
second of history.
PRAY:
2)
The Eternal Man
“Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing
my day; he saw it and was glad." "You are not yet fifty years
old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!"
"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham
was born, I am!" John 8:56-58
Every human being who has ever had true
spiritual fellowship in the history of the world has had it with Christ – the Eternal Man
PRAY:
3)
Judge and Saviour
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you be destroyed in
your way, for His wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who
take refuge in Him. Psalm 2:12
The Judge is also our Refuge. He will conquer us either in our
condemnation or in our salvation.
All are brought under His feet!
O that we might love the
Judge!
PRAY:
4)
The Lion and the Lamb
"Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of
Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll
and its seven seals." Then I
saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the centre of
the throne. Revelation 5:5-6
Christ
is Almighty in strength and power and weak in submission and
service. Our Fearful Lion has
stooped to the Altar to be slain as a Lamb.
PRAY:
5)
My Creator, My Brother
"The LORD possessed Me at the beginning of His
works, before His deeds of old; I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning,
before the world began… Then I was the craftsman at His side. I was
filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in His presence,
rejoicing in His whole world and delighting in mankind. Proverbs
8:22-30
“The Word was with God in the beginning… The Word
became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory.”
John 1:1-14
The LORD Jesus is
committed to His creation, committed to humanity, committed to the
Church. He has joined Himself
irrevocably to us. To make sense
of anything in creation, humanity or the Church we must come to the
Incarnate Creator.
PRAY:
6)
The Self-Assured and the Self-Giving
“I am the living bread that
came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live
forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world." John
6:51
Christ confidently asserts His supreme
centrality to all of life AND His supreme sacrifice for all of life. Never was a man so self-possessed and
so self-giving.
PRAY:
7)
The Almighty and the Intimate
“I looked up and there
before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of the finest gold
round His waist. His body was
like chrysolite, His face like lightening, His eyes like flaming torches,
His arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and His voice like
the sound of a multitude. I
Daniel was the only one who saw the vision; the men with me did not see
it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves. So I was left alone, gazing at this great
vision; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was
helpless. Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell
into a deep sleep, my face to the ground.
A
hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. He said, "Daniel, you who are
highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you,
and stand up, for I have now been sent to you." And when he said
this to me, I stood up trembling. Then he continued, "Do not be
afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain
understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were
heard, and I have come in response to them… While he was saying this to
me, I bowed with my face toward the ground and was speechless. Then one who looked like a man touched
my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak. I said to the One
standing before me, "I am overcome with anguish because of the
vision, my Lord, and I am helpless. How can I, your servant, talk with
You, my Lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe."
Again
the One who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength. "Do
not be afraid, O man highly esteemed," He said. "Peace! Be
strong now; be strong."
When He
spoke to me, I was strengthened.”
Daniel 10:5-19
The
grace of Christ shatters men AND builds them up again. To see Him face to face is to be
humbled AND exalted. He is
Almighty AND Intimate!
PRAY:
THE CROSS
8)
Propitiation
The next day John saw Jesus
coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away
the sin of the world! John
1:29
The LORD
enthroned between the cherubim banishes all the priests and all of the
sacrifices from the temple. He
Himself lays down on the altar and is slain.
PRAY:
9)
Justification
“God presented Jesus as a sacrifice of
atonement, through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate his
justice, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed
beforehand unpunished-- He did it
to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the
one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” Romans
3:19-25
The
Judge is judged. He climbs off
the bench, puts Himself in the dock and receives the harshest sentence
possible. All so I, the guilty
one, go free.
PRAY:
10)
Substitution
God made him who had no sin to
be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of
God. 2 Corinthians 5:21
The LORD is
thrust to down to hell in Godforsaken agony. My sinful soul is raised to the highest heaven. The Father turns His face from Christ
and turns to me – His murderer!
PRAY:
11)
Passover
“Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel
and said to them, "Go at once and select the animals for your families
and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the
blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides
of the doorframe. Not one of you shall go out the door of his house until
morning. When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the
Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe
and will pass over that doorway, and He will not permit the destroyer to
enter your houses and strike you down.”
Exodus 12:21-23
We shelter under the blood of the Lamb. If it were not for this shield, the
merest drop of the wrath of the Lamb would consume us for eternity.
PRAY:
12)
Ransom
No man can redeem the life of another or give to
God a ransom for him- the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever
enough Psalm
49:7-8
“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but
to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." Mark
10:45
For you know that it was not
with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from
the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with
the precious blood of Christ, a Lamb without blemish or defect. 1 Peter
1:18-19
‘You were bought at a price’ – the
infinitely precious blood of Christ.
PRAY:
13)
Demonstration
“God is love. This is how God showed his love among
us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live
through Him. This is love: not
that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning
sacrifice for our sins.” 1
John 4:8-10
Jesus said to
Abraham ‘Now I know you love me for you did not withhold from me your
son, your only son.’ How much
more can we know the Father’s love!
PRAY:
14)
Death sentence
“I was crucified with Christ and I no longer live but
Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the
Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Gal
2:20
“You died and your life is now hidden with Christ in
God.” Colossians 3:2
‘Were you there
when they crucified my Lord?’ Yes.
His death was my death.
The old Glen is on the cross.
Crucified. Done away
with. I am set free to live for
God!
PRAY:
THE FUTURE
15)
The New Heavens and the New Earth
"Behold, I will create new heavens and a
new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come
to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I
will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will
rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of
weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. "Never again will
there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does
not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere
youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. They
will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat
their fruit. No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or
plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of
my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands. They
will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will
be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them.
Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will
hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat
straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither
harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain," says the LORD.
Isaiah 65:17-25
‘I
am making all things new.’ God
will create
this new order free from every
shackle which bound the old. It
will be boundlessly, unimaginably, unspeakably good.
PRAY:
16)
Now and Then
“Now if we are
children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if
indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His
glory. I consider that our
present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be
revealed in us. Romans
8:17-18
We inherit the Father and the Son and
everything the Son is inheriting!
We await our inheritance joyfully, fixed on the hope of a glory that
swallows up all suffering.
PRAY:
17)
At Hand
This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from
heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who
do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will
be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence
of the Lord and from the majesty of His power on the day He comes to be
glorified in His holy people and to be marvelled at among all those who
have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to
you. 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10
Behold He comes! Riding on the clouds! Shining
like the Sun! At the trumpet call! Every eye shall see Him. His enemies will despise Him but we
shall marvel!
PRAY:
18)
Reward
“For what is
our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of
our Lord Jesus Christ when He comes.
Is it not you? Indeed you
are our glory and joy.”
1 Thessalonians
2:19
“Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of
the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for
ever and ever.” Daniel 12:3
“Now there is in store for me the crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on
that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His
appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:8
On
that day – how we will wish to have suffered more for Jesus. Let us share now in His sufferings so that we will share
all the more fully in His glory.
PRAY:
19)
The Feast
On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine- the best of
meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the
shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; He
will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the
tears from all faces; He will remove the disgrace of his people from all
the earth. The LORD has spoken.
In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we
trusted in Him, and He saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in Him; let
us rejoice and be glad in His salvation." Isaiah
25:6-9
We are heading for an eternity described by
feasting and celebration, by community and closeness, by rejoicing and
intimacy. We trust Him and He
WILL save us.
PRAY:
20)
Hell
“For a
fire has been kindled by my wrath, one that burns to the realm of death
below. It will devour the earth and its harvests and set afire the
foundations of the mountains.” Deut 32:22
"If anyone worships the beast and his image
and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink
of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the
cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the
presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever.
There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his
image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name." Revelation
14:9-11
Hell is real.
It is eternal. It is
filled with the fury of God’s wrath.
It is the destination of every soul outside of Christ.
PRAY:
21)
Face to Face
And I – in righteousness, I shall see Your face;
when I awake, I shall be satisfied with seeing Your likeness. Psalm
17:15
When He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall
see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2
"Now the dwelling of God is with men, and
he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be
with them and be their God. He
will wipe every tear from their eyes.”
Revelation 21:4
‘Though you do not see Him,
you love Him and are filled with an inexpressible joy.’ Oh the love, Oh the joy when we shall
see Him! These eyes will see
Jesus! Their tears will be wiped by His nail-scarred hands.
PRAY:
TAKING
ADVANTAGE
22)
Eating and Drinking Jesus
“I am the
living bread that came down from heaven.
If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh which I give
for the life of the world… I tell you the truth, unless you can eat the
flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in
you. Whoever eats my flesh and
drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last
day. For my flesh is real food
and my blood is real drink.” John 6:51-55
Faith is not about thinking – it’s about
drinking. We must eat and drink
Jesus. We must feed on Him. We must come to nourish ourselves on
Him, to take advantage of Him, to gorge on His all-satisfying goodness.
PRAY:
23)
Taking His Bath
Cleanse me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than
snow.” Psalm 51:7
Jesus knew that the Father had put all things
under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to
God; so he got up from the meal,
took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a
basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel
that was wrapped around him.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him,
"Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"
Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what
I am doing, but later you will understand."
"No," said Peter, "you shall
never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you
have no part with me." ”Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied,
"not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!" John
13:3-9
Do
I clean myself up for God, or do I come for the bath? He came to stoop and to cleanse, may I
submit to His gracious washing.
May I bathe in His forgiveness.
PRAY:
24)
Coming for His Reward
“Without faith
it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must
believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek
Him. Hebrews 11:6
“O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you.” Psalm
63:1
Let me not come dispassionately before the
LORD! Let me come greedily. Let me come demanding the reward of
His fellowship. And may I never
settle for anything less.
PRAY:
25)
Tasting the LORD
I
sought the LORD, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my
fears. Those who look to Him are
radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called,
and the LORD heard him; He saved him out of all his troubles. The Angel of the LORD encamps around
those who fear Him, and He delivers them.
Taste
and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in
Him.
Fear the LORD, you His saints, for those who
fear Him lack nothing. The lions
may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good
thing. Psalm
34:4-10 | 