Praying for Family.

Apr 1 – Father, on this Easter Monday, thank You for the families that we have come from. The idea of heritage, and being part of a wider family circle are important biblical principles. Whether it was Isaac, His mother’s only child, or Joseph coming from a large family – there was something more than simply human DNA or reproduction at work.

Isaac was a son of promise, the promise You made with his father and mother, Abraham and Sarah. That promise continued through Jacob’s twelve sons, part of the same promised dynasty.

May the truth of being part of Your family of promise, Christ’s brothers and sisters, fill us with joy. We ask also that this sense of being part of Your family draw us closer to our brothers and sisters in Christ in fellowship together in Telford Elim.

May the truth and wonder of the Easter story, the resurrection life of Christ be released in great power by the Holy Spirit in and through Telford Elim, its people and ministries. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Apr 2 – Father, we give You thanks for the family of the wider community – our locality, and the setting wherein You have planted us. We live in Telford, originally a New Town, which some see as a place of dislocation and without a true identity; and yet, You love this town and call it to be saved in Christ.

Some argue that the concept of Telford was imposed on the long-established and settled local towns and villages of this area. This imposition led to many of the original inhabitants losing their sense of belonging to where they live. That the original inhabitant’s identity is still their old local areas, not Telford.

May You heal this sense of dislocation, and bring about a new allegiance to something bigger which overcomes parochialism with its limited and narrow outlook. May we, as Christians, be able to present the possibility of having a common identity which brings positive change and a true sense of belonging here in Telford & Wrekin.

May we worship and work together to bring Your Gospel to the centre of Telford, and thus be planted in a place of burgeoning spiritual life and vitality in Christ. May Your Kingdom come and Your will be done in our town, Telford. In Jesus’ name and for His glory.  Amen

Apr 3 – Father, thank You for our local church. We pray for those being considered for membership, that over the next few weeks You will guide and direct through the membership classes, the time with the Eldership, and in the actual Membership Sunday on 21 April.

As part of a local church, we appreciate that we also are part of Your great Universal Church, the worldwide Church. It was Your beloved Son who established the New Covenant upon which the worldwide Church is built.

As well as having a faith rooted in biblical Christianity, we are part of both the Old Testament and New Testament Church, the people of God. We have that universal identity which stretches back to Abraham and the Abrahamic covenant.

As we worship, pray, witness, disciple, fellowship, seek to live Spirit-filled lives, make new disciples, and give our talents, time and treasure to You – we are following in the footsteps of Your people through the ages.

May You empower, equip and encourage the people of Telford Elim, in person and online, to be a centre of spiritual renewal in Telford presenting the Gospel in all its power and authority. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Apr 4 – Father, thank You for the blessing of friends. Lord Jesus, You called Your disciples friends – what a wonderful privilege for them. No longer new disciples, by John15, they had spent three years with You.

Although they had walked with You seeing You do amazing things, hearing You teach life transforming things, felt the power of Your ministry, touched the very grace of God in You – they were about to face a time of great trial, grief and a baptism of suffering.

What they had to endure in the next few days as they watched You suffer, and Your death, they were Your friends, but couldn’t alter what was happening.

As we think about those we call friends, may our friendship not be offered on the basis of our need, but on the basis of maturity, love and genuine human warmth of character.

May our souls truly mature in Christ; and thereby, our relationships and friendships be founded on the bedrock of Your love, grace, mercy and truth. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Apr 5 – Father, we pray for sons and daughters, and sons in law and daughters in law. You call us not to speak ill of one another, not to criticise, to be each other’s greatest supporter/advocate, and to regularly pray for them.

May fathers and mothers, fathers in law and mothers in law understand the unique privilege and responsibility which is theirs. May they be able to rejoice, support and aid the marriages, and relationships of their children – when appropriate.

May they be empowered and equipped to model the biblical principles involved in ‘Leaving and Cleaving.’ For this reason a man will leave his own parents, their authority and control, and be joined, cleave to his wife in a one flesh union.

Together a married couple forges a new identity, creates a new family, and becomes responsible, under You, to establish Christ at the Head and Heart of their marriage and home. May our marriages be such biblically founded marriages. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Apr 6 – Father, as we further consider the wider family of Christ, and our role within it – we pray that we may be able to support and help each other when it is appropriate.

If there are any strongholds of control, pride or envy – may these not only be addressed, but overcome and broken. May the breaking of these lead to a deeper experience of grace, and a more fully developed godliness in each of our lives.

May support and help be offered, with no strings attached – strings such as co-dependency or from an anti-Christ mother or father spirit that seeks to rescue at the cost of the spiritual growth and development of the one to whom it is directed.

May we love, support and encourage one another in the Holy Spirit, and with Your Word as our foundation. May biblical submission replace ungodly control – Christ-like humility replace pride – and genuine rejoicing in the good and success of others replace envy. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Apr 7 – Father, as we pray today, we return to the Biblical Principle of ‘Leaving and Cleaving.’ We pray for its godly outworking in all the marriages in our church.

We pray for wisdom and spiritual insight and understanding as to its implications as we seek to teach and model it in our church, to our families, and in the wider communities.

So many marriages and relationships are undermined by outside interference, by the imposition of those who no longer should be at the heart of the lives of those in the marriage.

Lord, again we pray, may the beauty and soundness of the biblical principle of ‘Leaving and Cleaving’ be clearly revealed because of the lives of those of us in Telford Elim, in person and online.

May Your Holy Spirit equip us to be successful in developing coherent and Christ-honouring values which truly reflect Your nature and the biblical blueprint for life, love and marriage. In Jesus’ name. Amen