2 Chronicles 7:14
14 if my people, who are
called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn
from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their
sin and will heal their land.
Live
Below The Line
Live Below the Line is challenging individuals and
communities to see how much change you can make out of £1. By living off just
£1 per day for food for 5 days, you will be bringing to life the direct
experiences of the 1.4 billion people currently living in extreme poverty and
helping to make real change.
Think about that figure - 1.4 BILLION - that's over 20
times the population of the UK - living every day in extreme poverty.
We pray for those around the world, including in our
own City of Glasgow that are faced with this abject poverty as a daily reality
in their lives.
We pray that as our awareness grows, rather than
feeling helpless, we will have a hope that the God who loves us will intervene and
that Christians around the world will unite and do what they can, where they
are to alleviate this needless suffering.
We pray that those in our City who have been blessed
with wealth will respond to the need that is very much there in our City to
help those in abject poverty to help themselves.
The
Word
Over these last days God has been speaking to me and
bringing to mind scripture that I believe He wants the City and the Church to
pay attention to. I have included it in
this prayer focus, and ask that we together pray through this scripture, and
allow God to reveal Himself to us through this, that it will impact on our lives,
and we will respond as God directs through the leading of His Spirit.
Zechariah 7(New Living
Translation)A Call to Justice and Mercy
7 On December 7 of the fourth year of King Darius’s reign, another message came to Zechariah from the Lord. 2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech, along with their attendants, to seek the Lord’s favour. 3 They were to ask this question of the prophets and the priests at the Temple of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies: “Should we continue to mourn and fast each summer on the anniversary of the Temple’s destruction, as we have done for so many years?”
4 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me this message in reply: 5 “Say to all your people and your priests, ‘During these seventy years of exile, when you fasted and mourned in the summer and in early autumn, was it really for me that you were fasting? 6 And even now in your holy festivals, aren’t you eating and drinking just to please yourselves? 7 Isn’t this the same message the Lord proclaimed through the prophets in years past when Jerusalem and the towns of Judah were bustling with people, and the Negev and the foothills of Judah were well populated?’”
8 Then this message came to Zechariah from the Lord: 9 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. 10 Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other.
11 “Your ancestors refused to listen to this message. They stubbornly turned away and put their fingers in their ears to keep from hearing. 12 They made their hearts as hard as stone, so they could not hear the instructions or the messages that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had sent them by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. That is why the Lord of Heaven’s Armies was so angry with them.
13 “Since they refused to listen when I called to them, I would not listen when they called to me, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 14 As with a whirlwind, I scattered them among the distant nations, where they lived as strangers. Their land became so desolate that no one even traveled through it. They turned their pleasant land into a desert.”
Amos 5:18-27 (NLT)
Warning of Coming Judgment
18 What sorrow awaits you who say,
“If only the day of the Lord were here!”
You have no idea what you are wishing for.
That day will bring darkness, not light.
19 In that day you will be like a man who runs from a lion—
only to meet a bear.
Escaping from the bear, he leans his hand against a wall in his house—
and he’s bitten by a snake.
20 Yes, the day of the Lord will be dark and hopeless,
without a ray of joy or hope.
21 “I hate all your show and pretense—
the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.
22 I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings.
I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings.
23 Away with your noisy hymns of praise!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice,
an endless river of righteous living.
25 “Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, Israel? 26 No, you served your pagan gods—Sakkuth your king god and Kaiwan your star god—the images you made for yourselves. 27 So I will send you into exile, to a land east of Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of Heaven’s Armies.
1
Corinthians 2:14 (NLT)
14 But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these
truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t
understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit
means.
Olympic
Flame & Pentecost
We pray for the preparations of the Church in Glasgow
for the arrival of the Olympic Flame.
We pray for those organising this, that they may be
guided by God as to how best serve and reach the City through this.
We pray for the Pentecost celebrations that are being
planned across the City.
We pray that the power of the Spirit will fall afresh
again on this City. We pray boldly for
revival.
Thy
Kingdom Come
We pray that there is a real and tangible moving of the
Spirit in our City.
We claim that God’s Kingdom will Come.
We pray that souls will be won for the Kingdom, and
that we will rejoice with the angels as men and women, boys and girls turn to
God as their saviour.
Other
requests from previous weeks:
Each week we continue to pray for topics that we prayed
for previously. We won’t always list all
the details, but rather just give you the headings to allow you to pray into
these situations as God leads, and if you need to you can refer to previous
weeks guides.
Community
Church
Leaders
Glasgow
Debt
& Wealth
Elderly
& Vulnerable
Families
Young
People
Elections
Trafficking, refugees and Asylum seekers
Churches
Other
prayer requests from around the city and the world:
We give thanks for answered prayer in our community
that God’s peace is being found in different situations, and that practical
changes that we have been praying for will be happening, which God has guided
and led. We give thanks for this answer
to our prayers.
We pray for the family of Lisa, as they deal with the
bereavement of her cousin James. We pray
the peace of the Spirit upon them in these days.
For the escalating violence in Afghanistan & in the
Middle East & Africa. May God bring
a lasting peace and reconciliation.
Sean Rooney, 15 years old, rare form of cancer
Pauline – that she knows your healing power as she continues
to receive treatment. We give thanks
that she has been released from hospital.
Robert, 32 years old, illness.
For Susan & family.
For the staff and pupils of Anderston Primary School,
St Patricks Primary School, Sandyford Day Nursery & Cranstonhill Nursery
School.
Lord, there are many hurting people
across our city and the world. May you
fill them with you love, show compassion, give peace and bring comfort in their
time of need.
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