Daily Share-a-Prayer w/e 13/04/2025
Derek Mill
Worship Leader, All Saints Church, Belton
Saturday 12th April
Heavenly Father, thank You for this day. May I find some Way to glorify You. May it be in the things I say and do. May my hands be Your hands to do Your will and my voice be Yours to speak as You desire
Thank You for the skills You have given me, may I use them well. Help me to take every opportunity to make Jesus known. May Your Light shine through me as Your goodness, mercy, and love follow me, and may that same goodness, mercy and love flow out from me to others
Prune me of anything which may turn others away from You. Rid me of any arrogance or self-righteousness that would be off-putting to anyone. Instead give me grace and peace that reflects Your compassion and love
Use me today as You will, so that all You have planned for my life accomplishes all You desire. Guide my steps to the places You want me to be so I am able to meet those people You want me to meet. It may be You just want a smile, or a "hello" but it will accomplish something for You. And if You want me to speak further then open my mouth and speak through me the Word You want to be spoken
In my time alone fill my mind with Your thoughts so I may write them down in poems, psalms, and songs of adoration. May Your Spirit sing within me! I can imagine You singing all day long as You plan another life and continue Your acts of creation
May I walk this day with You. When doubts or fears challenge me, may I cling on to You, trusting that You will strengthen me for anything that confronts me. Thank You for Your great love and kindness
Amen
Songs for today:
Good Shepherd of my soul
Before You I kneel (A worker's prayer)
The Father's Song
Friday 11th April
Heavenly Father, it occurred to me the other day that large parts of my prayers are telling You about my life. There is often a preamble where I tell you about something that has happened or something somebody said. Just the other day I talked about places I lived. Sometimes I chat on about a TV programme or film, or an advert, or a song I have heard
Nearly every day I mention something You have said that I find interesting, be it from the Bible or something I think I heard You say to me in my head. And of course a lot of it is about Jesus. I could talk all day about Him all day long; and I do know He is right there, next to You, enthroned in splendour, and listening to this conversation
Sometimes my prayers are full of requests, for myself, for others, especially those who don't know Jesus, and sometimes I pray for the whole world. As much as anything I ask You to help me. It isn't always easy being Your child in this hostile world
In many ways, my prayers are similar to King David's Psalms! He spoke a lot about his life, about enemies surrounding him and so on, then asking You for help, for guidance, for forgiveness. He doesn't hide how he feels, even saying when You feel far off. I guess this is what I was thinking about when I started chatting to You here. Quite often my request to You is in the last few lines
The thing is, I was told recently, and have been told a number of times previously, that some people say they can't pray like me. Lord, talking to You is simply talking to my best friend. I know You love me, and that You want the very best for me. Some of what I say is probably quite trivial; Jane said yesterday that we often talk a load of nonsense, 'squit' she calls it, but often we talk about deep stuff too
Holy Spirit, help us all to talk to our Father, or Jesus, or You, about anything and everything, the 'squit' and the deep stuff, knowing that You are listening and that You care about it all. I love our heart to hearts. Thank You for sharing Your heart too. "Hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us"
Amen
Songs for today:
We are blessed
Prince of peace (Our Song in the Night)
Talking to God
Thursday 10th April
Heavenly Father, if people were to ask me, "What kind of man are you?" I wonder what I would say about myself? I also wonder what others would say if they were asked the same question about me?
Perhaps I might say something about the things I like and the things I don't like, or the things I am good at and not so good at. Others might say I am a musician or that I go to church. But that doesn't say what kind of man I am. I can be a musician or go to church, like chocolate and football but at the same time I might be nice and kind, or nasty and selfish, cool and calm and or hot tempered and aggressive. My actions and my attitudes show the kind of man I am
The things I say and do tell more about me because they are prompted from what is inside of me, and that is what You say is important. "Do not consider his appearance or his height... The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart"
Jesus said something similar: "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognised by its fruit... For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him". How do I know what You are like? I look at Jesus
Lord Jesus, You said You wanted to be remembered and used a visual aid. You took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and said to the disciples, "This is my body given for you, do this in remembrance of me". In the same way, after supper You took the cup, saying, "This is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for You". You are remembered because You gave Your body as a sacrifice on the cross
Help me to remember who You are and what You are like every time I eat and drink. Your fruit is Salvation. May my fruit be all about You
Amen
Songs for today:
Remember me
Jesus lover of my soul (It's all about You)
Saviour of the world
Wednesday 9th April
Heavenly Father, there are a few places I lived. When I was younger, two houses in Sunderland. When I went off to teacher training college, four different rooms in Matlock. When I got my first job, two rooms in Wicklewood, a bedroom and a sitting room. Then my first house in Gorleston, and lastly, two houses in Belton
I shared the house in Sunderland with my Mam and Dad, my brother, and two sisters. At college I shared rooms with three different people, one of whom was best man at my wedding. And lastly I share my home with my wife and my family; my children and grandchildren, who come to stay regularly. I have lived and loved people in all of these places, thank You for them all; the places, yes, but much more, for the people
But there is something that happened that has made everything different, I have become a dwelling place. One day, years ago, I stood on a line in a cattle shed at the Norfolk Showground and someone, I don't know, prayed for me. As they prayed, without touching me at all, I felt a bubbling inside me, like a kettle boiling, but not hot
You came to live in me!! Your Holy Spirit came to live in me; as He has done in millions of people. I am now a dwelling place for Your Spirit. This is why You ask in Your Word: "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst?" You are in Heaven, but at one time You lived in Eden, then You lived in Tabernacles, and then in the Temple in Jerusalem, then You, in a human body, Jesus, came and lived among us, but now You live in Your people by Your Spirit
What a wonderful thing this is! You live in us and love us, just like I love the people I have lived with. Thank You for making me a dwelling place. Help me to live my life, speaking of Your love, so others can become dwelling places for You too. Thank You
Amen
Songs for today:
Dwelling place
I speak Jesus
Holy Spirit You are welcome here
Tuesday 8th April
Heavenly Father, thank You for anyone who prays with me. Thank You for everyone who keeps an eye out for me, who watches my back, who tells me the truth
Lord Jesus, I need You to keep an eye on me, and I need You to watch my back, and I need You to keep telling me the Truth; and I need others around me to do this too, because You often speak through other people. I know my hearing from You is not perfect, my own thoughts get in the way so much. It is not always easy to tell the difference between my own voice and Yours
Usually my voice is louder and harsher, less loving. Your voice is gentler, quieter, more loving. My thoughts can change from black to white, from right to wrong, from caring to selfish. Your thoughts are consistent, always right and true, always selfless and caring. It is far too easy for a person to get too big for their boots, thinking their way is the right way, even if it is not Your Way
The Gospel shoes should fit right! If I am on the wrong path make me feel uncomfortable, make the Gospel shoes pinch! If I am way off beam, or even a little off beam, make me feel a thorn in my side. St Paul said he needed a "thorn in the flesh" which kept him on track. You said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness"
Lord, if I go off track use Your Shepherds crook to haul me back; prompt others to tell me. I need all the help I can get to stay on the straight and narrow path, going Your Way, not mine. You are the Good Shepherd. Thank You for loving me so much that You came to find me when I was lost and You now keep me safe in the flock
Amen
Songs for today:
Take my hand Jesus
Who You are to me
Power of the Cross
Monday 7th April
Heavenly Father, yesterday at church, I asked the people at the Bible Study table this question: "What are you passionate about and what is the evidence?" It was a really good discussion and everyone had something they were passionate about and gave evidence that illustrated that passion
We had looked at the passage in Your Word about Mary, Lazarus' sister washing Your feet with her tears and expensive perfume, showing her love for You as she dried Your feet with her hair. It came across that Judas' passion was for money, although he claimed the money could have been given to the poor, but we are told: "He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it". Later, Judas betrayed You for thirty pieces of silver
I later asked the question: "What is God passionate about?" And offered the answer: "His creation". The evidence from Your Word: "God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life". Given that the earth may not have beliefs, although with You nothing is impossible, it seems likely. You are passionate about us, people. You love us enough to die for us
You told Your people centuries before: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness". In Your love for us, Your passion, You gave up Heaven for us, lived among us, suffered for us and died for us
Lord, may my greatest passion be for You and may there be plenty of evidence to show it
Amen
Songs for today:
God so Loved the World
You're the God who loves me so
Lord I lift Your name on high
As the deer pants for the water
I have loved you with an everlasting love
all songs (usually with lyrics) and talks courtesy of YouTube
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