Prayer Booklet 81
Dear Reader, (Please see notes in Paragraphs 2 & 3)
Welcome to Booklet 81 of reflection and thoughts for prayer from the Presbytery Prayer Promoters’ Group. As usual, let me graciously remind you that we understand that for some of you, you will have your own prayer guides and ways of approaching God, but we hope that many readers will enjoy these reflections and use them to help guide their thoughts in prayer. Please share these notes as widely as possible, especially where you know someone who has expressed that they struggle with knowing how to pray.
I have decided to have a week or two presenting something different, but always with the focus on prayer. Let us learn from the lives of devotion to God from some of his faithful servants. This week I have taken some quotations from the wisdom of Mother Teresa – a wonderful human being who devoted her life to caring for the poor, the outcast and the sick. Prayer was her life-blood, and she learned of the true beauty of prayer in a hard school.
As usual, I will blend her profound comments on prayer with other reflections, and I trust you can find yourself with the time, place and inclination to pray this week as the Lord himself leads you.
We continue to pray for our churches (notes included again at the end), COP 26 (Notes at end) This is a lot of work, but I believe essential and worth it… Thank you if you manage all this.
If you would like to comment or have a story you would like to share then feel free to contact me:
Sunday, 31st October, 2021 : I suggest you pray for our churches using notes at the end of the week.
Monday 1st November, 2021
Words from Mother Teresa:
“We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature—trees, flowers, grass—grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.’
Jesus said: “But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.” (From Matthew chapter 6)
Reflect and Pray: When we really want to spend time in the presence of God, we need to prepare to be with Him, to shut out other distractions, to give Him honour and respect, and to do so humbly and privately. Then as we open our hearts and engage in prayer with ‘Our Father…’ we will find that we are not doing all the talking. This is true communication between friends who love and respect one another. When we stop talking and stay silent, still in his presence, He will speak to us, comforting, challenging, reassuring and filling us with his grace and a plan for the journey through each day. Never fear that God won’t be present in your room because when we trust our Saviour, Jesus, He promised never to leave us. Never. This is faith, and the beginning of real partnership. Jesus prayed in John 17:
“…I pray also for those who will believe in me through their (his disciples) message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” Amen
Tuesday 2nd November, 2021
Words from Mother Teresa:
“Faith is a gift of God. Without it there would be no life. And our work, to be fruitful, and to be all for God, and to be beautiful, has to be built on faith — faith in Christ, who has said, I was hungry, I was naked, I was sick, and I was homeless, and you ministered to me. On these words of His, our work is based.”
Jesus said: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4
Reflect and Pray: From earliest times when God interacted with His people, he encouraged them to always be caring for others, and to know that as they did so they were serving Him and His purposes. Jesus, when He came, came to fulfil the words He spoke which were originally recorded by the prophet Isaiah many hundreds of years before. Almost 2000 years later, Mother Teresa echoed them – not only in words, but by her life. Hers was a calling – a gift on her life by God.
But remember this, we are all called upon to live for Jesus. To serve the needs of others in love and in fulfilment of the mission he called us to do. He asked us to continue what He started during His time on earth. There is always something, no matter our circumstances that we can do. We only need to ask him to lead us to our task and trust He will grant us what we need to fulfil it. Amen
Wednesday 3rd November, 2021
Words from Mother Teresa:
“When facing God, results are not important. Faithfulness is what is important.”
Interviewer: You love people whom others regard as human debris. What is your secret? I
Mother Teresa: My secret is simple. I pray.
Jesus said: ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.” Mark 4:26 and 27
Reflect and pray:
I often hear people saying they are disappointed and disheartened because they see little return for their efforts. I have probably been heard to admit this myself on occasion. But how easily we miss some of the detail that is graciously given in the word of God. Out of a lifetime of experience, Mother Teresa grew to put absolute trust in the necessity of prayer before embarking on her course of action. She then was assured that she was being obedient to what God wanted her to do rather than what she might have felt was important. She could then leave the results of her efforts to God.
In the Parable about the Sower and the seed spoken by Jesus, we are simply asked to be faithful, and to leave the results to God. The harvest in God’s work is entirely a matter for Him, but we can be sure that his plan of redemption and salvation will yield a rich harvest in His time. We are simply called to be faithful in fulfilling His mission in our time and place. Amen
Thursday 4th November, 2021
Words from Mother Teresa:
“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”
Jesus said: Jesus replied: ‘“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”
‘All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’ Matthew 22:37-40
“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35
Reflect and pray: I would like to leave you to reflect on these verses and pray as the Lord leads you to pray for whatever is on your heart. Knowing Jesus should change us more and more to be like Him. Love is a small word with a huge meaning. How do we fulfil this command of Jesus? Our capacity to love and serve others is based first of all on the love we have for God, in Christ Jesus – who loved us first (1 John 4:10)
If we learned to pray and pause and invite God to show us what to do, answers come in surprising ways…
Friday 5th November, 2021
Words from Mother Teresa:
“The fruit of silence is prayer. The fruit of prayer is faith. The fruit of faith is love. The fruit of love is service. The fruit of service is peace.”
More words from Corrie Ten Boom:
“I prayed to dispel my fear, until suddenly, and I do not know how the idea came to me, I began to pray for others. I prayed for everyone who came into my thoughts – – people with whom I had travelled, those who had been in prison with me, my school friends of years ago. I do not know how long I continued my prayer, but this I do know – – my fear was gone! Interceding for others had released me!”
Reflect and Pray: There are many people who have lived in the truth of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and who have left us an amazing legacy of what it means to serve God – turning first and foremost to prayer. All their loving service is built on prayer because they believe they are doing God’s work and not their own. These are people whose lives have made a difference to many others. Let us try to make a difference in Jesus’ name to at least one life each day. We can do this without moving very far from where we are – a phone call, a letter, a kind word, a donation to a Food Bank – and so on. There is always peace in praying and serving in Jesus’ name.
“6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
Saturday 6th November, 2021
SOME CHURCH DETAILS FOR PRAYER PURPOSES (Repeated)
I have written the churches in their groupings mainly as assigned by plan A in the Mission Development Plan, simply for a way of assigning them to prayer. (Some are still linked as they are currently -as I used the yearbook. Also, I have no intention to pre-empt decisions still to be made). In each group I have named the Area Grouping Convener/Secretary. Please pray for them and everyone involved in discussions. I suggest we all pray the Lord’s Prayer over them plus other words of scripture. Take time and make your requests fervently and earnestly to God for His will to be done in these very difficult days for the church and the Testimony of Jesus our Lord and Saviour.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name;
Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done;
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation;
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
The power and the glory,
For ever and ever. AMEN
- Pray for the Convener and Secretary of each area group that they will find God’s grace to them sufficient for the task.
- Pray for all who attend any meetings that each will look on the other with understanding, and that anger and bitterness will have no place as people honestly strive to understand the issues and present their situation honestly and openly.
- Pray that all will seek God’s will to fulfil the commission given by Jesus to reach out to others in His name
- Pray that care will be taken to keep the light of Christ shining brightly and strongly across our Presbytery
- Pray God’s grace on all who serve on the Mission Committee
- Pray that ministers currently in service will not be driven from their calling by sheer physical exhaustion; that they will not be over-extended; that they will not be in a situation where they are forced to withdraw from mission activities already in place where these are successfully reaching and touching the lives of many and drawing them to Jesus.
- Pray that people will keep their eyes firmly focused on the Lord, and that congregations will still choose to worship even where there could be sadness about the effect on their area, and the ‘fate’ of church buildings
- Let no-one make decisions for the sake of man’s approval – only to fulfil God’s will.
- Pray for the Mission Development Committee – that they will be able to focus on helping churches to build Mission and Outreach with new initiatives; new additional posts and new funding ideas.
- PRAY FOR REVIVAL ACROSS OUR NATION.
North Area Grouping (Rev Dr S McKenna/Mrs L Rankin)
“Let all that you do be done in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:14
“As for you, be strong and courageous, for your work will be rewarded.” 2 Chronicles 15:7
Craigie Symington/Prestwick South
Minister: Rev Kenneth Elliott; OLM: Rev Tom McLeod; Session Clerk: Mrs Doreen Tait (CS); Alan Moir (PS)
Dundonald
Minister: Rev Lynsey Brennan; Session Clerk: Bob Stewart
Monkton & Prestwick North – Locum: Rev Stewart Birse; I.M. Rev Brian Hendrie; Session Clerk: Pending
Prestwick: Kingcase
Minister: Rev Ian Wiseman; Session Clerks: Alastair McIntyre & Libby Syme
Prestwick: St Nicholas
I.M. Rev David Gemmell; Locum: Rev Fraser Aitken; Session Clerk: Margaret McIntosh.
Troon: Old
Minister: Rev David Prentice-Hyers; Session Clerk: Andrew Fell
Troon: Portland
I.M. Bill Duncan; Locum: Rev Mary Elizabeth Prentice-Hyers; Session Clerk: John Reid
Troon: St Meddans
I.M. Rev James Hogg; Locum: Rev Andrew McGurk; Session Clerk: Elaine Rodger
May God sustain them and enable them to work in harmony to the glory of His name.
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you.” John 14:27
Central Area Grouping (Rev Mandy Ralph/Paula Lennox)
“Trust in the Lord forever…the Rock eternal.” Isaiah 26:4
Alloway: Minister: Rev Neil McNaught;
Session Clerk: Eric Ness;
Ayr: The Auld Kirk
Minister: Rev David Gemmell; Session Clerk: Kate Lockhart
Ayr: Castlehill
Minister: Rev Paul Russell; Session Clerk: Douglas Owens
Ayr: Newton Wallacetown
I.M. and Locum: Rev Rona Young; Session Clerk: John Bell
Ayr: St Andrews
Minister: Rev Stanley Okeke; Session Clerk: Ian Lamberton
Ayr: St James
Minister: Rev Barbara Suchanek-seitz; Session Clerk: Bill Mackie
Ayr: St Columba
Minister: Rev Dr Scott McKenna; Session Clerk: Robert Bartholomew
Ayr: St Quivox
Minister: Rev John McCutcheon; Session Clerk: David McMahon
Ayr: St Leonard’s/ Dalrymple
Minister: Rev Brian Hendrie; Session Clerk: David Murdoch (St L) David Cottrell (D)
May God sustain them and enable them to work in harmony to the glory of His name.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8
East Area Grouping (Rev Paul Russell/Dr David Lewis)
“… For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
Annbank/Tarbolton
Minister: Rev Mandy Ralph; Session Clerks: Mrs Audrey Brown (A) and Mrs Maureen McNae (T)
Auchinleck/Catrine
Minister: Rev Stephen Clipston; Session Clerk: Molly Sunter (A) Pending (C)
Coylton/Drongan
Minister: Rev Dr Alwyn Landman; Session Clerk: Anne Howat (C) Margaret Clarke/Anne Hope (D)
Mauchline/Sorn
Minister: Rev Allan Vint; Session Clerks: Mrs Kirsty Murray (M) and Mrs Christeen Dunlop (S)
New Cumnock
Minister: I.M. and Locum Rev Ken Yorke; Session Clerk: Morag Ferrans
Ochiltree/Stair
Locum and I.M. Rev George Fiddes; Session Clerk: Isabell Montgomerie (O); Mrs Ghislaine Kennerly (S)
Muirkirk/Old Cumnock Trinity
I.M. Rev Alwyn Landman; Locum: Rev Scott Daily; Session Clerk: Sylvia Gallacher (M) Kay Mitchell (OCT)
Old Cumnock: Old/Lugar
Minister: Rev John Paterson; Session Clerk: Ian Ronald (OC); Pending (L)
South Area Grouping (Rev Dr A Vint/Mr Gordon MacDonald)
“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21
Ballantrae/ St Colmon
Minister: Rev Theo Corney; Session Clerk: Claire Strain (B) Lynne McIlwraith (St C)
Barr/Dailly/Girvan South
I.M. and Locum: Rev Edgar Ogston; Session Clerk: Sharon Trotter (B) Ronald Turnbull (D) Ken Johnstone (GS)
Girvan North
I.M. James Anderson; Locum: Glenn Ronald; Session Clerk (acting): Ian Fitzsimmons
Crosshill/Maybole
Interim Moderator: Rev Paul Russell; Locum: Rev John Lochrie; Session Clerk: Pending (C) Lynne Rankin (M)
Fisherton/Kirkoswald
Locum and I.M. Rev David Hume; Session Clerk: Elspeth Carter (F); Elizabeth Veitch (K)
Dalmellington/Patna Waterside
Interim Moderator: Pending; Pastoral assistant: Barbara Jenkinson Session Clerk: Jean Barclay (D); Gordon McCrone (PW),
Kirkmichael/Straiton
Minister: Rev Gerald Jones; Session Clerk: Janet McFadzean (K); Margaret Logan (S)
“I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” Jeremiah 32:27 AMEN
Nothing is too great for His almighty power. Nothing is too small for His love.” Corrie Ten Boom
COP 26 from “Pray for Scotland” More details on their web-site and from Christian Aid…
“Pray for Scotland” is producing prayers for 21 days prior to the conference in Glasgow. I share from day 14 with you…
We lift our voices in praise, worship, prayer and intercession to the One whose ‘thoughts are not our thoughts’ and we wait expectantly for direction and instruction from the One who not only has the answer, but is the Answer to every challenge we face.
Please pray:
- that the people of Glasgow region would cope with the disruptions to normal life with patience, forbearance, compassion and even humour;
- for just solutions to be found for each industrial dispute during this week;
- for all involved in the final preparations – that every piece of this massive jigsaw will fall into place smoothly, for clear and effective communications, and for their peace and safety;
- that God would continue to shine His light on and uncover all plans for significant, dangerous disruption by forces whose aims have little to do with genuine concern for creation;
- for God to work through the most unlikely of ‘rulers’ to achieve the outcomes He has already purposed for COP26.
May we also pray for all delegates, that they will come to the conference with goodwill and determination to take care of God’s creation – whatever their spiritual or secular beliefs.
Prayer Ideas from Christian Aid: Join us at COP26
COP26 is a huge moment for the world to stand together against climate change. The church in the UK and around the world has a crucial role to play. We can influence political leaders to be ambitious and to take steps to end the climate crisis.
Churches can speak up with a strong moral voice. Together, we can mobilise members to challenge the abuse of creation and insist on the value and dignity of every human being. Churches can offer powerful witness, in words and actions, for a future where everyone can flourish.
The countdown is on to COP26. Now is the time for action. Find out how you and your church can join the movement of people around the world who are calling for climate justice.
There are many resources and prayer ideas on the Christian Aid website at www.christianaid.org.uk