A Prayer For Every Day

Lord, help us to prepare for the future – Your future. Life without a future is no life at all. Often, we feel like we are stuck in the prison of the present. You lift up our eyes. You show us Your future. You fill our pathway with Your light. It is Your light that makes our future very bright – brighter than we can put into words, brighter than we can even imagine. Lead us, Lord, into Your future. Help us to walk with You on Your pathway to glory – Your eternal glory.

‘I know the plans I have for you... to give you a future and a hope.’ Lord, this was Your long-term purpose for Your people. It was important that they did not lose sight of this. There would be ‘seventy years’ of captivity in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:10-11). At times, they must have wondered, ‘Will this ever end? Is there really something better still to come?’ Our life on earth may sometimes seem like the ‘seventy years’ in Babylon: ‘The length of our days is seventy years... yet all they bring us is trouble and sorrow’! We wonder, Lord, ‘Is there a glorious future still to come?’ In our times of ‘suffering’ and ‘sorrow’, teach us to draw our ‘strength’ from Your Word. May we look forward to ‘the Day’ when Christ ‘comes to be glorified in His holy people and to be admired in all who believe’ (Psalms 90:10; 119:28; 2 Thessalonians 1:4-5,10).

‘I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before. I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against Me... Then this city will bring Me renown, joy, praise, and honour before all nations on earth...’ (Jeremiah 33:7-9). What great blessing lay ahead of Your people! Lord, You were pointing Your people to the place of blessing: Jesus Christ - ‘the righteous Branch from David’s line’ (Jeremiah 33:15-16). We thank you that 'in Christ’, we have ‘every spiritual blessing’: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him’ (Ephesians 1:3; 1 Corinthians 2:9). We thank You, Lord, that You have so much blessing to give to us. Help us to come to You and receive Your blessing: ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you; I will show you wonderful and marvellous things that you know nothing about’ (Jeremiah 33:3).

Lord, You speak Your Word to us. You call us to obedience. You say to us, ‘Obey My voice.’ Often, Lord, the story of our life is summed up in the words: ‘They did not listen or pay attention. They did not obey’ (Jeremiah 11:7-8). Your Word is not just ‘something to think about.’ When You call us to obedience, we’re not to say, ‘I’ll think about that later.’ ‘Now’ is the time for obedience to Your Word: ‘Obey now the voice of the Lord’ (Jeremiah 38:20). Help us, Lord, not to put this off until tomorrow. You’re looking for our obedience today: ‘Today, when you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts’ (Hebrews 4:7). When, Lord, we’re deeply involved in religious ritual – ‘burnt offerings and sacrifices’ – , You say to us, ‘To obey is better than sacrifice’ (1 Samuel 15:22). Help us, Lord, to see that obedience involves our whole life – not just ‘never missing a service’!

Lord, so often, we forget the things that matter most. So often, we forget You. The more we forget You, the more we miss out on the blessing which comes from knowing that You are the Lord our God. You are the God who is with us - even when we feel that You are far away.

“Immanuel… God is with us” (Isaiah 8:8,10). Lord, we read these words – and we thank You that Jesus has come to be with us so that we may go to be with Him. He has come from heaven to earth so that we might go from earth to heaven. He died for us so that we might live with Him. Thank You, Lord, for Jesus, our great Saviour.