The Daily Prayers this week seek to exalt Christ and declare His attributes as we head towards Christmas Day, and are written by Pastor Leslie.

Dec 20 – Father, thank You for Jesus’ pre-existence with You – He is eternal. We declare that He neither had beginning nor was there a time when He was not in His eternal glory with You (John 1:1-5; 8:58 et al.).

Before being born in this world, Jesus was the eternal Son of God; before the creation of this world the Son of God eternally was; and before there was the creation of any of the heavenly beings the eternal Son of God always was.

As we reflect upon Him as God – it encourages us to both think of Him reverently and with greater faith. Lord Jesus, You are awesome – You are great beyond our imagination can imagine – You are exalted higher than we can comprehend. We ascribe glory, honour and majesty to You. Grant us fresh revelation into who You are, and how we can worship, serve You, give to You, witness to You, and lives our lives to Your glory. Amen

Dec 21 – Father, thank You for the miracle of Jesus’ virgin birth (Luke 1:31). We declare that Mary did not have sexual intercourse with any man before she became pregnant with Him (Luke 1:34), she was a virgin. Neither did she and her new husband Joseph consummate the marriage until after Jesus’ birth (Matthew 1:25). 

The act of conception, when the power of the Highest, Your Holy Spirit overshadowed her (Luke 1:35), was a spiritual creative act which resulted in a physical conception of an actual foetus which developed into a baby. This creative act did not involve the Spirit in a sex act with Mary, she was impregnated supernaturally by Your Spirit.

We declare that this truth points to the ability of Your Spirit, as God, to impact the physical, even though He is Spirit. It also points to the true nature of Jesus – truly God. As such, creative acts are also ascribed to Your beloved Son.

Colossians 1:15-17, ‘Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through Him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see – such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through Him and for Him. He existed before anything else, and He holds all creation together.’

We declare our complete confidence in these words about who Jesus is and what He does. Amen

Dec 22 – Father, thank You for Jesus’ sinless life, He never sinned (1 Peter 2:22, ‘Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth’). He fulfilled the Law of Moses completely and absolutely (Matthew 5:17, ‘Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfil’); and yet, He faced the same temptations we do, but never fell into sin in any way during the temptation (Hebrews 4:15, ‘For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin’). We give You praise Lord Jesus – what a Perfect Saviour.

As we reflect on Your perfection and sinlessness – we pray for a clearer understanding of the terribleness of our sin. You never sinned, but You ministered to people who were sinners. Thank You that Your sinlessness didn’t prevent You reaching out in love, grace and mercy to us. Yet, You never excused sin always willing to confront it seeking to break its stranglehold on men, women, young adults, young people and children.

Today You still, through Your church, desire to break the stranglehold of sin in so many people’s lives. Use our church, in person and online, in this great mission. Amen

Dec 23 – Father, thank You that Jesus’ sacrificial death meant that He did not just die a natural death, nor a death by foul means, but He died with the specific purpose of purchasing for us the right to receive Your forgiveness (1 Corinthians 15:3, ‘For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures’).

Jesus’ death defeated the power of sin, death, Satan, self and of this world (Colossians 2:13-15, NLT, ‘You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for He forgave all our sins. 14He cancelled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15In this way, He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by His victory over them on the cross’).

The shedding of Christ’s blood satisfied fully the demand which You required in order to allow the guilty to be judicially set free from the demands of the law – that demand was the death of all who have sinned (Hebrews 9:12, 14, 22, 26, 28 et al.). 

Since we were all born in sin, and by nature sinners (Romans 3:10-23; 6:23 et al.), this means that the only way to receive Your forgiveness is through the One who paid the penalty for sin, our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 3:24-26). Praise His blessed name. May Telford Elim become filled with people who are forgiven, know the power in forgiveness, and are now living in the zoe life of Christ in relationship with You. Amen

Dec 24 – Father, on this Christmas Eve – we remember that the ultimate goal of the Incarnation was His victory over sin, Satan, the world, the power of self, and death. Your Son’s resurrection from the dead the ultimate triumph (Mark 16:6, ‘But he [the angel] said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him”’).

Jesus’ resurrection also has the benefit of guaranteeing our justification – right standing with You (Romans 4:22-25, ‘and therefore “it [faith] was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification’).

May we remember that for the early church throughout the year, not just at Easter, the resurrection was a central foundation in its preaching (Acts 2:24, 30-32 et al.). All honour and glory be to Jesus. Anoint and empower us to preach effectively the full Gospel message, including the truth of Christ’s resurrection, and the reality of the hope of resurrection for all who live in Him. Amen

Dec 25 – Father, on this Christmas Day when we rejoice and give thanks for the Incarnation – the coming of Your holy, Beloved Son – we also declare that Jesus gloriously ascended back to heaven to Your very throne (Mark 16:19 et al.), where He is seated at You right hand.

Almighty God, You have made Him Lord and Master of the universe (Hebrews 1:1-3, ‘God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high;’ et al.).

We bow before Him on this Christmas Day in humble adoration. As such, we also have great confidence to come to Your throne of grace in prayer. Thank You that our prayers are not anchored to our ability to move You to act, but are anchored in Christ who dwells alongside You on the throne of heaven. May Your Spirit inspire us to pray with renewed hope in Him leading us in our prayers in order to pray as You would have us – for the advancement of Your purposes in and through Christ, and in and through Telford Elim, in person and online, in our communities and nation. Amen

Dec 26 – Father, we declare that in heaven, Jesus is carrying on a priestly ministry which includes Him both acting as our representative before You, the One who guarantees our present forgiveness, and our future inheritance in Your presence (Hebrews 8:1-2, ‘Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man,’ verse 6, ‘But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises;’ et al.). Hallelujah.

As our Great High Priest forever living to aid us by His intercession – grant us the grace to partner with Him. Instead of trying to initiate ministry – may we instead learn to truly partner with the One who loves us more deeply than we can imagine, is kind, gentle, good and so full of love for us. And equip us by Your word and Spirit to fulfil Your good purposes in our days. In Jesus’ name and for His glory. Amen