Thank You for the rich continuity
that flows through all You do
as You guide and confide in our lives
as Your presence revives.

No words can express how much Your courtship means;
it constantly enriches our friendship
first with Your Son, and then with each other.
Use these friendships for Your glory,
and so write a whole new story
as we heed the hints Your Spirit grants,
and perceive the links in the way You lead.
 

We dare not waste our days
bewailing all we cannot do.
But if we give You our hearts
and we give You our hands,
You will find the means to do the rest.

And so we come as lovers to a tryst,
in the company of a thousand million souls.
Asking that you direct this flow of love
into each encounter you lead us to.
So that each one becomes a new and fulsome reality
enthused with Your love.

So with great persistence
break through the steep resistance.
Cry long, cry loud,
don't let your spirit be subdued
or your heart be cowed.

And if progress grinds to a halt,
and it is not primarily your fault,
remember that to win the prize,
even precious seeds must die,
for "What you sow comes not to life until it dies;"
for only thus do single seeds expand and multiply.
 

Jesus, Lover of my soul
I open wide my heart
to embrace this intense adoring passion,
for which Your blood was poured.
For You have loved me even as the Father has loved you.
Water the seeds I plant
and grow them for Your glory,
but let all You see in me
be a broken contrite heart
that beats in time with Yours.

For those whose giftings have been laid aside
and fallen out of use,
we ask You to restore their desire and courage
to serve in Your kingdom.

Where the heart has lost its heart
and is walking in defeat,
may the longing arise to sense
your companionable presence once more
and to enter that stillness of soul where they know
both the exaltation and the agony
of feeling as You feel,
and of seeing as You see.

Give us the discernment Lord
to distinguish truth from untruth
and those rather more complex half-truths.
Especially we ask You
to direct our reading and to guide our footsteps
the the bruised and bleeding. 

You love to speak, Lord,
beyond the need for words.
You listen to our inmost thoughts
and bring us to a place of inner quiet.
Guard our hearing
for listening is the gateway
to the intimate communion
that both we and You
are longing for.
 

You are indeed the God of the 2nd, 3rd and 30th chance.
But we cannot ask You to re-strand and re-launch our lives
unless we are willing to allow You
to apply Your lance
and resist all backward glance.
 

I ask you, Lord Jesus, to inspire within me, Your lover,
an affection that is unbounded,
a desire that is unrestrained,
and a yearning that throws discretion to the winds.

May reason not hold my love in check.
May fear not inhibit my devotion.
May decorum not temper my fervour.

The sweetness of Your love, my Beloved,
so vastly exceeds the pleasure of any earthly joys
that if those who lust after the things of this world
and who know nothing of the delights of Your love
had a single taste of Your sweetness,
they too would become Your lovers.

This is a prayer by Richard of Chichester

Thanks be to you, my Lord, Jesus Christ, For all the benefits that you have given me; For all the pains and insults you have borne for me.

O Holy Jesus, most merciful redeemer,
Friend and brother
Help me to see you more clearly,
love You more dearly
and follow You more nearly.
 

Gather together, gather together,
O shameful nation, before the appointed time arrives
and that day sweeps on like chaff,
before the fierce anger of the LORD comes upon you,
before the day of the Lord’s wrath comes upon you.

Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land,
you who do what he commands.
Seek righteousness, seek humility;
perhaps you will be sheltered
on the day of the Lord’s anger.

Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD is the Rock eternal.
You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for You;
Your name and Your renown are the desire of our hearts.
My soul yearns for You in the night;
in the morning my spirit longs for You.
Lord, You will grant us peace,
for all we have accomplished comes from You.
O Lord, other lords have ruled us,
but You alone are the one we worship.

The LORD within her is righteous;
He does no wrong.
Morning by morning He dispenses His justice,
and every new day He does not fail,
yet the unrighteous know no shame.
"Then will I purify the lips of the peoples,
that all of them may call on the name of the LORD
and serve Him shoulder to shoulder.

On that day you will not be put to shame
for all the wrongs you have done to me,
because I will remove from this city
those who rejoice in their pride.
Never again will you be haughty
on my holy hill.
But I will leave within you
the meek and humble,
who trust in the name of the LORD.

Sing, O Daughter of Zion;
shout aloud, O Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
O Daughter of Jerusalem!

"Do not fear, O Zion;
do not let your hands hang limp.
The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
And quiet you with his love,
As He rejoices over you with singing."
 

So often, Lord, when we are feeling insecure,
it is because we are using the wrong set of measuring tools.
Were we to see the weighing machines
that You use to value all we do,
we might not recognise them at all,
for You evaluate by entirely different criteria,
seeking less the outcomes the world considers good
than the love and devotion with which we carry out our tasks,
and the measure of obedience that lies within them.
 

Lord, we often feel let down by others in the course of our pilgrimage
and grieved by the way things work out.
But it is amazing how you bring good out of seeming catastrophes
and turn situations right round for your glory.
Help me not to be disappointed but to praise
and to trust that You can turn our disappointments
into Your appointments.
For this truly honours You.
 

Send men and women of faith
to touch them with the word of God.
Speak to them in dreams by night and in visions by day
May they know the love that never lets them down,
and may they feel Your presence once again

Make it easy for them to come back, Lord
may neither pride nor shame hold them at a distance,
but may the Love of God make the connection
that leads to eternal life,
In Jesus Name, Amen.
 

We give You now its immediate future,
its texture, soil and infrastructure.
The outreach of Your people there,
and the nation’s response to them,
Pour out upon these mountains
the longed for springs and fountains
that the prophet Jeremiah foresaw
concerning the promised Messiah,
and whatever direction and protection
will prove the key
to bring the nation to its knees.

Whatever You desire the enemy opposes,
and so we pray, let not those who gaze upon the land with envy
succeed against Your will,
but rather let Your full and perfect blessing
rest upon the people and the land,
and all the peoples of the Middle East
who are invited to Your feast.
 

Therefore since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
 

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,
which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is hidden from its heat.

The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever.
The ordinances of the LORD are sure
and altogether righteous.

They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the comb.
By them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
Who can discern his errors?
Forgive my hidden faults.
Keep your servant also from wilful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then will I be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.