{"id":17881,"date":"2024-01-20T06:37:51","date_gmt":"2024-01-20T06:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/?p=17881"},"modified":"2024-01-20T06:37:51","modified_gmt":"2024-01-20T06:37:51","slug":"prayer-for-the-week-20th-january-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/2024\/01\/20\/prayer-for-the-week-20th-january-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Prayer for the Week – 20th January 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

20th January 2024<\/p>\n

Psalm 62:5-12<\/p>\n

Yes, my soul, find rest in God;<\/em><\/p>\n

my hope comes from him.<\/em><\/p>\n

Truly he is my rock and my salvation;<\/em><\/p>\n

he is my fortress, I shall not be shaken.<\/em><\/p>\n

My salvation and my honour depend on God;<\/em><\/p>\n

he is my mighty rock, my refuge.<\/em><\/p>\n

Trust in him at all times, you people;<\/em><\/p>\n

pour out your hearts to him,<\/em><\/p>\n

for God is our refuge.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Surely the lowborn are but a breath,<\/em><\/p>\n

the highborn are but a lie.<\/em><\/p>\n

If weighed on a balance, they are nothing;<\/em><\/p>\n

together they are only a breath.<\/em><\/p>\n

Do not trust in extortion<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0or put vain hope in stolen goods;<\/em><\/p>\n

though your riches increase,<\/em><\/p>\n

do not set your heart on them.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

One thing God has spoken,<\/em><\/p>\n

two things I have heard:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Power belongs to you, God,<\/em><\/p>\n

and with you, Lord, is unfailing love\u2019;<\/em><\/p>\n

and, \u2018You reward everyone<\/em><\/p>\n

according to what they have done.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have chosen only the Psalm from the four lectionary readings this week, but all four are important. We have Jonah 3:1-5, 10; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; and Mark 1:14-20. These are all about response \u2013 the way we behave in light of what God has done.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting to note that, in ancient Hebrew, there was no word for \u2018obey\u2019; they just said \u2018listen\u2019. If one listened to God\u2019s voice, that was the same as being obedient to Him. This is why we read so often in Scripture phrases like, \u2018Be ever hearing but never understanding\u2019 (Isaiah 6:9), or, \u2018I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy\u2019 (Psalm 116:1).<\/p>\n

We all have a calling on our lives to respond to God\u2019s love. When Yeshua died on the cross, it wasn\u2019t for a generic faceless mob of \u2018everyone\u2019 \u2013 it was for us<\/em>, for you<\/em>; it was personal. He responded readily and extravagantly to our need; we respond readily and extravagantly to His love. It\u2019s worth noting, however, that God does not expect<\/em> us to respond. Of course, He waits for us with longing expectancy, but it\u2019s important that we get away from the image of a stern authority figure tapping their foot and checking their watch; I like to picture a dear friend who has organised a surprise party, gleefully standing in wait with a fistful of confetti.<\/p>\n

Our response to God can sometimes be something that is lasting on the worldwide stage, like Helen Kim who founded the World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women, or something which makes a huge impact in our local area like our Ministers and church leaders, or something which makes a lasting impact in one person\u2019s life, like the woman who was driving home from church one Sunday five years ago when she witnessed my car crash and immediately pulled over and offered us all prayer. I never learnt her name, but she spoke with God\u2019s love and I\u2019ll never forget her.<\/p>\n

A lot of the time, we devalue the little things we do when we see others doing bigger, more glamourous things. Do you remember the story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5? He went to the prophet Elisha to be healed of leprosy and Elisha told him to dunk himself seven times in the river Jordan. \u2018But Naaman went away angry and said, \u2018I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy\u2026\u2019 Naaman\u2019s servants went to him and said, \u2018My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, \u201cWash and be cleansed\u201d!\u2019 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan\u2026 and his flesh was restored\u2026\u2019<\/em> (2 Kings 5:11, 13-14)<\/p>\n

What little thing did you do this week that caused God to throw that fistful of confetti that I mentioned? Did you help someone carry something? Did you listen to someone\u2019s problems? Did you give something to someone who was lacking? Did you pray to God on someone\u2019s behalf? He saw you do it. He treasures these things, keeps lists of them with hearts doodled in the margins. When you say \u2018in Jesus\u2019 name\u2019, He\u2019s sweeping you up in His arms.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Loving God,<\/em><\/p>\n

Thank You so much that You delight to bless us.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thank You that You\u2019re waiting for us to respond to You with breathless delight.<\/em><\/p>\n

We recommit ourselves to You today,<\/em><\/p>\n

And we acknowledge that every good deed and act of love performed by us<\/em><\/p>\n

is a perfect gift from You, demonstrating Your love for us, to us, and through us.<\/em><\/p>\n

We love because You first loved us \u2013 Hallelujah!<\/em><\/p>\n

We praise and pray in the beautiful name of Yeshua Messiah.<\/em><\/p>\n

Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n

Madeleine Reed – Helen Kim Memorial Scholar<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo by Simon Berger<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

20th January 2024 Psalm 62:5-12 Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I shall not be shaken. My salvation and my honour depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[349,44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prayer","category-prayer-for-the-week"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 06:10:54","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17881\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}