{"id":18229,"date":"2024-08-03T07:53:10","date_gmt":"2024-08-03T06:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/?p=18229"},"modified":"2024-08-05T21:32:03","modified_gmt":"2024-08-05T20:32:03","slug":"prayer-for-the-week-3rd-august-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/2024\/08\/03\/prayer-for-the-week-3rd-august-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Prayer for the Week 3rd August 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Prayer for the Week\u00a0 3 August 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n

Read 1 Corinthians 9: 24-27\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

More than Gold<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am sure like me you have been glued to the TV or a screen over the last week enjoying the coverage from the Paris Olympics, absolutely in awe of the athletes and their skills.\u00a0 You will have your favourite sports or athletes you like to follow, for me it\u2019s the Equestrian competitions.\u00a0 A sport which hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons prior to the start of the games; but we all fall short don\u2019t we?<\/p>\n

Can we begin to imagine the hours and years of training, often beginning in childhood, that the athletes have put into their chosen sport?\u00a0 The sacrifices made to become an Olympian, the best in their field representing their country.\u00a0 For a few the opportunity has come more than once, perhaps on up to three occasions, competing at Olympic standard for over twelve years!\u00a0 How do they stay focused, and have such determination, endurance, courage, fitness and continue to hone their skills?<\/p>\n

Thinking of the games brought me to our text for this week taken from Paul\u2019s letter to the Corinthians. In Paul\u2019s letters we can find many illustrations where he uses sporting or competition to relate to the Gospel Message.\u00a0 I thought it would be interesting and enlightening for us to consider some of the attributes of a successful athlete and a committed Christian as we continue to enjoy the second week of the games in Paris.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Will we look to our Life Coach, Jesus, to help us keep focused through prayer, to have discipline, perseverance, endurance, courage, to deepen our faith and hone our Biblical knowledge for the fight, our individual race, as we press on forward to reach the goal and victory, finishing strong!\u00a0 As to our victory, Jesus is Gold.\u00a0 Jesus is Victory.\u00a0 He is the Glory the ultimate prize, the unfading garland.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Please use as your prayer for the week this song written by Andrew Pratt in 2004, found on StF+<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Stainer & Bell<\/p>\n

Christ ran this race before us<\/p>\n

The witnesses are watching,<\/p>\n

more athletes join the race.<\/p>\n

We cover ground before us,<\/p>\n

we run within God\u2019s grace.<\/p>\n

We persevere with patience,<\/p>\n

we lay aside each load<\/p>\n

that holding or constraining,<\/p>\n

might slow us on the road.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Christ ran this race before us<\/p>\n

and in his steps we tread.<\/p>\n

His faith is our example,<\/p>\n

we follow where he led.<\/p>\n

Our passion is Olympian,<\/p>\n

our strength has come from God;<\/p>\n

like every saint before us<\/p>\n

we take the route Christ trod.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Throughout our lives we\u2019ll follow,<\/p>\n

we never will regret<\/p>\n

the faithfulness and fervour,<\/p>\n

the pattern he has set.<\/p>\n

No shame could make him falter,<\/p>\n

we\u2019ll follow to the end<\/p>\n

the one who died at Easter<\/p>\n

our risen, living friend.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tune : Aurelia\u00a0 (H&P 515) Andrew Pratt\u00a0 (2004)<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Stainer & Bell<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Debs Coggrave – Trustee for Darlington, Newcastle & Cumbria<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Prayer for the Week\u00a0 3 August 2024 Read 1 Corinthians 9: 24-27\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 More than Gold I am sure like me you have been glued to the TV or a screen over the last week enjoying the coverage from the Paris Olympics, absolutely in awe of the athletes and their skills.\u00a0 You will have your favourite sports or athletes you like […]<\/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":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prayer-for-the-week"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 06:07:14","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\/18229","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=18229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18229\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}