The Daily Prayers this week finish the year leading us in gratitude and thankfulness, written by Pastor Leslie; then January’s prayers are those written for the church’s month of prayer and fasting.

Dec 27 – Psalm 107:1-7, ‘God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us. Selah That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations on earth. Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. Then the earth shall yield her increase; God, our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.’

Father, as we live with thankful hearts full of gratitude – true judgement is released – righteous government arises – production becomes honouring to Creation – Your blessing falls on Your people – Many turn to Christ around the world bringing honour, glory and praise to Christ Jesus the Saviour and Lord. Amen

Dec 28 – Father, by Your Spirit – enable us to show our full appreciation for what You have provided for us – may our words of appreciation flow. We do pray for anyone who does not yet know the blessing of living with an attitude of gratitude in our church; we make ourselves available to You so that we can teach, model and counsel people on the importance of gratitude and thankfulness.

May gratitude flow from deep within their spirit and pour out in praise and wonder causing them to say words of thanksgiving and praise to You.

Father, the benefits that You have provided for us are all spelled out in Genesis chapters 1-2. You knew that we would need light, earth, atmosphere, oceans, meat, fruit, nuts and vegetables, and provided them before creating humankind. That is a great reason to show gratitude and give You praise through Your Son, our Lord Jesus. Amen

Dec 29 – John Piper, ‘Thanksgiving is Personal,’ November 7, 2012, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/thanksgiving-is-personal wrote, ‘Almost all English translations miss a beautiful opportunity to preserve in English a play on words that occurs in Paul’s Greek. Paul says in 2 Cor 4:15, ‘It is all for your sake, so that as charis extends to more and more people it may increase eucharistian to the glory of God.’

The Greek word for thanks is built on the word for grace: charis becomes eucharistian. This could have been preserved in English by the use of ‘grace’ and ‘gratitude’ which show the same original root. So I would translate: ‘It is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase gratitude to the glory of God.’

The reason this is important is because when we try to define thanks or gratitude, what we find is that it has a very close relationship to grace. Unless we see this relationship, we really don’t know what gratitude is.’

Father, thank You for this relationship between thanksgiving, gratitude and grace. We pray that Your grace in Christ will flow in the lives of everyone in our church online and in person. I ask that Christ’s saving, keeping and sufficient grace will be one of the main hallmarks of Telford Elim. Amen

Dec 30 – Father, Gratitude is universally known as a feeling that comes in response to Your grace; expressions of gratitude have come to be used as expressions of humility and encouragement. When we say, ‘Thank You,’ to You, we humble ourselves as a person who has needs, and we exalt You as the One who can meet those needs. You are the Lord our Provider – Yahweh Jireh.

Teach us how to draw upon Your provision in Christ in every life setting, familiar circumstance, and ministry opportunity. It is Christ’s grace and the Spirit’s power aligned to Your word that change us into faith-filled disciples who make disciple-makers. In 2022, may we grow many mature disciple-makers whose lives are full of thanksgiving, gratitude and grace. In Jesus’ name and for His glory. Amen

Dec 31 – Father, on this final day of 2021 – gratitude is a felt determined attitude to be gracious and follow the example of our Lord Jesus. Thank You that You have modelled how this should be outworked in the earthly life of Your beloved Son.

Gratitude is a good human response to Your divine love, salvation and presence in our lives. When it rises in our hearts, we like it. It is part of happiness found through a wonderful relationship with Jesus – it is not misery.

Gratitude is a form of delight we have in Jesus. So gratitude is more than delighting in a gift. It is a feeling of happiness directed toward a person for giving us something good. It is a happiness that comes not merely from the gift, but from the act of giving.

As John Piper, ‘Thanksgiving is Personal,’ November 7, 2012, said, ‘Gratitude is a happy feeling you have about a giver because of his giving something good to you or doing something good for you.’ You have given something so good to us – Your Son who has done so much good for us. Praise Your name, Lord Jesus! Amen

Jan 1, 2022 – Pastor Leslie.  Father, as we prepare for this month of prayer and fasting, and as each person prays – we pray for the guidance of Your word, the sensitivity of a prophetic pray-er, and the intercessory zeal of a Spirit-filled prayer warrior.

We are coming to You to thank You, and to pray for our relationships – with You, our own selves and one another – for them to flourish and be all they can be when we are completely committed to the way of the Cross, humble and full of Your love.

Thank You for 2021, for life, for all those You took home to be with You and who are no longer with us, and the things we have learned through its challenges, opportunities and the daily duties of the lives we live. We are grateful for Your grace and favour – for Your discipline and training in righteousness – and for the fruit that has come from Your work in and through our church and each of our lives. We give You, Lord Jesus, all the thanks, honour and glory Amen

Jan 2 – Charlotte Adjepong.  1 Chronicles 16:34, ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His faithful love endures forever.’

Hallelujah! I give thanks and praise that You are the awesome God. I will rejoice and praise Jesus’ name forevermore. Your name will be on my lips forever.

Lord Jesus, I pray that we will be taken into a deeper and more meaningful relationship with You; one where we will grow in faith and hear Your Spirit’s still quiet voice within our soul. Help us to be attentive to Your call and will – cause us to walk in Your righteousness.

Open the eyes of our heart, Lord; allow us to see the small blessings that You have given us. Walk with us, Lord Jesus by the Holy Spirit, and take us to new levels where we can experience an outpouring of Your love and mercy which renews us spiritually, and leads to many putting their trust in You because of our church’s witness – in person and online. Amen