Sept 21 – This is Pastor Ben’s last week with us here in Telford. As we prepare to say good bye to Laura, Arabella, Ebony and Ben on Sunday – this week we are focussing on praying about God’s grace. His grace is sufficient for everything, including every time we feel weak, sad, or unsure about the future.

Father, thank You that there is nothing greater than Your grace in Christ. The New American Standard Bible Lexicon’s definition is helpful. It reveals that Your grace is revealed in the person of Your Son. It is His unmerited favour which affords us joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness. Wherever grace flourishes in the lives of Your people, it produces speech that blesses, actions that delight, and people who are both charming and not selfishly motivated.

I pray for my own life; grace does not automatically transform me – but I have to come boldly to Your throne of grace to obtain the mercy and ask for an outpouring of the grace I need for this day. Thank You that Your Son’s blood cleanses yesterday’s sin, faith leaves tomorrow in Your hands, but I call on You for the grace of Your Son which I need for this hour, the next hour, and for the rest of this day.

As we prepare to say goodbye to the Ryans – we pray for the grace they will need for the next stage of their lives as they follow Christ. We also pray for the grace we need to continue to minister to our Next Generations, and online, after Ben’s departure. We pray for the grace needed so that our Young Adult’s, Awaken Youth, Worship and Online ministries will continue, thrive and flourish. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Sept 22 – The Greek word translated as ‘grace’ is charis – it means God’s unmerited favour, His kindness, His supernatural enablement for salvation and day by day sanctification – it is God’s love in action. When God reaches out to us in love in Christ – grace is the means. God’s grace overcomes sin in people.

Father, the grace of Your Son means that I am standing as a recipient of Your good will, loving-kindness, and favour. This is the merciful kindness by which You exert Your holy influence upon my soul, turn me to Your Son, and then keep and strengthen me as I grow in the Christian faith. By submitting to Your Son, His grace brings to us the knowledge of the holy, an affection for righteousness, and the desire to exercise the Christian virtues.

Grant us as a church – and each church represented by those who pray these prayers – a revelation of the grandeur and wonder of Your grace in Christ. In this period of transition as Pastor Ben leaves and we await his successor, we will not take Your grace for granted nor dare to presume upon its blessings in our lives. As such we pray for the grace needed to follow Christ in these days of change and transition. Amen

Sept 23 – Father, Your Son is matchless and wonderful. His grace is not just an unseen, unknowable concept – its presence and effects are felt and seen in the spiritual condition of the one governed by the power of divine grace. The token or proof of grace includes its benefits of saving, transforming and keeping the recipient. It is the powerful outworking of Your power in our lives and on our behalf. Thank You for the gift of grace through our Lord Jesus Christ. His grace brings incalculable benefits, overcoming strength, and spiritual riches beyond our imagination.

Lord, without Your grace at work in the world, society would fall apart, the world would be a deathly place, and Christianity would stop being a real, vibrant and powerful manifestation of Your body. Thank You that until Your Son returns – the Parousia – You have promised, through the New Covenant, that His grace will be offered freely in all its forms.

As we pray for our government, including the Conservative governing party, opposition parties, Civil Service, advisors, lobbyists and media at this time of Covid-19 pandemic with the health and economic trauma it is bringing, Brexit, and the fight for racial equality – we pray for Your rich grace for each Christian who works in these settings. Bless CARE, and many other Christian organisations seeking to be a voice for Christ and biblical Christianity to the government. Your grace is the most wonderful blessing – may we always be thankful for it, and seek to co-operate with Your grace at work in our lives and in Telford Elim. In Jesus’ name.  Amen

Sept 24 – Father, thanksgiving and praise are the only proper responses to grace. God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense is a common acronym and reveals the cost of its provision. The benefits, services, and favours You bestow are of such value because of Christ’s grace.

The word charis/grace is used in many countries as their word for thank you: gracias – Spanish, grazie in Italian, euchacristo in Greek. This idea of thankfulness is based on the recognition that the things we are to be thankful for are ultimately blessings given by You. Goodness, kindnesses, wholesome love, truth, and the root of many other wholesome blessings flow directly from You, for which we give thanks. In Jesus’ name.

Lord, humanly speaking, we can think that humankind deserves such wonderful blessings; yet, we know that, as fallen sinners, we are completely undeserving and it is only by Your grace in Christ – Your underserved favour, mercy and love – that society is well ordered and functioning as it is.

There is coming a day when our society will be so sold unto sin and rebellion, before Christ’s return, that it will be a terrible time to be alive. We live in the Age of Grace, but the Age of Judgement is coming. Empower Telford Elim, online and in person, and the churches represented by those who pray these prayers, to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel while it is still day and we are still in the Age of Grace rescuing men, women, young people and children from the Judgement to come. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Sept 25 – Father, the theological concept of Common Grace: namely that You give gifts, talents, skills, beauty, wisdom, and nature’s bounty for the benefit of all without merit or partiality – evident in that some morally repugnant individuals are incredibly talented, gifted and wise, while other so-called morally upright people are deficient in these areas – demonstrates the truth of the Scripture which says ‘the sun rises on the righteous and wicked.’

The outworking of Common Grace around us means that, as we think of Mission and reaching out to the world with the Good News of Jesus, we have the hope of reaching areas where Your Common Grace is already blessing sinners. I know this does not mean they are saved, they are lost without receiving Your Saving Grace, but it does mean we can partner with Your Spirit in Christ’s mission to our communities – Mission Dei, The Mission of God.

Your Spirit is already at work in so many areas where we think He is not. Enable us to partner with Him in Your mission to the world. May we see Your goodness at work in and through our ministries, and because of our witness to Christ. Save, cleanse and heal our nation. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Sept 26 – Father, Saving Grace: the action whereby You save people through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ – saved me as I believed in Him and repented of my sin. Thank You for it.

Help us as in Telford Elim, online and in person along with every church represented by those who pray these prayers, to point people to Christ in such a way that their eyes are opened to see Your call, in the Gospel, to salvation. Spiritually, as a result, they will realise the enormous lengths You are willing to go to save them. May many, many men, women, young people and children surrender to Christ, repent and believe in the Gospel.

We acknowledge that without Saving Grace, a free gift given by Your divine election in response to faith, we would have no hope of salvation. As You call men, women, young people and children to salvation in Christ, and to walk in Your will, may many respond in faith and obedience across our nation leading to a Great Spiritual Awakening. We rededicate ourselves afresh to the proclamation of the Gospel of Grace. We ask that we may be effective, and fruitful in reaching out online and in person offering the hope of salvation in Christ. Amen

Sept 27 – Father, Sanctifying Grace: Your action which results in believers becoming holy, godly and more and more submitted to Your will; in other words, our character being transformed by Your word and Christ’s grace. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit’s work using Your word to grow our faith and obedience to the way of the Cross.

Sometimes life’s experiences are difficult and our suffering very real – we cannot even boast in our own achievements. We pray that Your grace will be mightily be at work in our midst – that the character of Christ will be progressively formed in our lives, in the lives of all in our church, and of all who read and pray these prayers. 

Sanctifying Grace creates an ever brighter reflection of Jesus through our lives, which in turn brings more Glory to Him, and through Him to You. May there be a great baptism of Sanctifying Grace in and through Telford Elim, and in each church represented by those praying these prayers.

As we pray today, grant Ben, Laura, Arabella and Ebony the grace they need as they move on from Telford Elim. We pray also for the grace we will need as we continue the ministry You have called us to here in Telford Elim. We pray that the person You have chosen to fill the Next Generations and Worship Leader ministry here in Telford Elim will soon be in post, and that their ministry will be fruitful, long lasting, and continue the development of that which Ben pioneered.

We pray for the grace and resources needed to continue and to thrive as a church in this period. We ultimately desire to grow and be key partners in the establishing of Christ’s Kingdom and His rule in more and more lives in Telford, Shropshire and our nation. In Jesus’ name & for His glory. Amen