Reading: Psalm 23:1-3

The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; He leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honour to his name.

This psalm is a great favorite for a lot of people and it sounds amazing doesn’t it? It’s such a beautiful picture of us as sheep being led by our Shepherd.

But God comparing us to sheep is hardly a compliment. Sorry to offend you if you’ve a high view of sheep, but sheep are generally very stupid. There are other animals that we might have preferred to be compared to, maybe a dolphin, a chimp or a dog? But the fact is God compared us to sheep.

Sheep are thick, they play a perpetual follow the leader and if one runs they all tend to follow, they can’t defend themselves, or even escape from any threat. Sheep are pretty much woolly jumpers and lamb chops waiting to happen, all that’s needed is a spinning wheel and some mint sauce. So then sheep need their shepherd. If the shepherd do his job properly… well then they are dead. God knows that we are like that too, and it would be good for us is we acknowledged it.

Those opening lines are good aren’t they, comforting and true, but equally true are the words that follow in verse 4: Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.

We love the green pastures and the still waters, but we don’t like dark and difficult valleys. Though as is clear here, it’s not if the valleys come, but when.  So let’s Thank God that the Shepherd who was with David is with us too.

Reflect: Am I staying close to my Shepherd, listening to His voice, accepting His guidance, and enjoying His protection?

Act: over the next week, use this Psalm as a lead into your prayer time, allowing The Lord space to speak and taking time to listen to His comfort, His words of correction and His perfect guidance.

Children’s Prayer Activity

Day 8 

Look in the mirror today and thank God for all the  things He helps you with and give Him a smile 🙂 in the mirror as you thank Him for making you such a special person.

What next? Remember to talk and listen to God every day, as He loves to get to know you better. You could learn this short bible verse about prayer

Never stop praying.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 NLT

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Reading: Mark 6: 6-12

Then Jesus went from village to village, teaching the people. ⁷ And he called his twelve disciples together and began sending them out two by two, giving them authority to cast out evil spirits. ⁸ He told them to take nothing for their journey except a walking stick—no food, no traveler’s bag, no money. ⁹ He allowed them to wear sandals but not to take a change of clothes.

¹⁰ “Wherever you go,” he said, “stay in the same house until you leave town. ¹¹ But if any place refuses to welcome you or listen to you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate.”

¹² So the disciples went out, telling everyone they met to repent of their sins and turn to God. ¹³ And they cast out many demons and healed many sick people, anointing them with olive oil.

Christians aren’t supposed to be ‘Lone Rangers’, we’re called to be joined together in a church family, witnessing together, living our lives, not independently but interdependently, sharing genuine love and care; in short we are called to disciple one another.

In our text today, Jesus sends His first ‘church group’ out and whilst there is material enough here for many sermons, let’s just consider the basic facts, that the disciples were:

• sent in pairs;
• sent by Jesus, and so they went in His authority;
• to take nothing;
• to walk away if the Gospel wasn’t welcomed;
• obedient – they preached the gospel, prayed and God healed and delivered people through them.

But how does this relate to you and me today? Again, in so many ways that we won’t have space to explore in depth here, but in essence I believe that this text is a incredible reminder that our tendency to live our lives in ‘little boxes’ is wrong. Christians are not called to specialise, yes some will be gifted in certain areas and we should use our gifts for the benefit of the whole church, for God’s glory, but…we are all called to be disciples, we are all called to disciple one another, we are all called to evangelise, we are all called to share what we have, we are all called to be praying people, we are all called to follow our Lord only, and to trust in Him only for our needs.

These disciples were called to live and love and serve together, in the big group of the church, in the smaller numbers as we read in the gospels at times, there a threes and fours, and here in pairs.

We need each other, I need you and you need me, and that can be uncomfortable at times, but the way of Christ is discipleship, not to lives life of lone rangers.

Reflect: Am I obediently following Jesus’ model for my life as an interdependent part of His church, am I letting others disciple me, and am I willing to give of myself to disciple others? Might I be too much of a lone ranger?

Act: take time today and over the coming weeks to take a stock take of things with God. Ensure that you are regularly praying with others within our church, meeting to study the Bible and share real fellowship with others within our church, and encourage and be encouraged, as you pray and work with others within our church to tell others that amazing Good News of Salvation.

Children’s Prayer Activity

Day 7 

Today use a ball inside or outside. Each time you catch or kick it think of anything you have done today that has made you and God sad. Talk to God about it as you play with the ball.

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Reading – 2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Those who know me will know that I have an eclectic taste in music from classical to punk, rock to soul, jazz to folk. And as I was thinking and praying through what to post this morning, I found myself thinking of the lyrics to a classic punk song (oh dear I can almost hear you groan…) they go like this:

“my daddy was a bankrobber
but he never hurt nobody
he just loved to live that way
and he loved to steal your money”

Now I’m not going to suggest that within this lyric there is some deep theological point, I don’t think Joe Strummer went in for much theology, but I do see parallels with the way some of us might think at stages in our Christian journey. You see there is such a danger of us living a life that is unchanged from the life we had before we were set free by Christ. Our text reminds us that a Christian is a new creation in Christ, and if we are new creations, we ought not to be using excuses from our old lives to stay in that rut that we were in before Christ redeemed us. Do you ever hear yourself saying, when you’ve acted in a less than Christian way, “well I can’t help it, that’s just the way I am”. The point is, for Christians that’s not true, we can’t say that, because our bad attitude is part of the way we were, not the way we are… we are new creations! Will we mess up, yes, but when we confess our sins Christ forgives us, restores us, and keeps on that miraculous work of recreating us in His image.

Reflect: today and everyday consider how profound a truth it is that: if you have accepted Christ as Lord and Saviour, you are being recreated in His image.  

Act: in your prayer time today: give thanks to Christ for that freedom won for us at immense cost to Him, and  take time to consider with Him which part of that old person you’ll take apart together, so that He can further that great exciting, fulfilling work of recreation in you.

Children’s Prayer Activity

Day 6

Praying for others and ourselves is an important part of our everyday prayers. It is great to talk to and listen to God.

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Reading – Mark 10:21

…Jesus, looking at him, loved him…

Nothing is hidden to God—He sees everything; He is omniscient, which means, of course, that God sees even the sins we have successfully hidden from everyone else. How do you feel about that? It is a bit awkward to say the least isn’t it? Yes, we might think that, but really, we should be delighted, because our all-seeing God is also the one who loves us more than any other. Yes, He sees our sin and it hurts Him, so we need to come to Him, repentant and asking for forgiveness, but in seeing everything, He is pleased when He sees signs of obedience and responses to His love in us.

Today’s reading gives us a great picture of this in practice. As the rich young man reels off his long list of the good things he does, Jesus looks at him only the He can, He looks with amazing love. He tells the man that he is on the right track doing a good job, that spiritually, he’s getting there. Then his searching gaze rests on the one thing that is holding this man back: his love for all the things he has, and he has a lot… Jesus tells him a difficult truth, that only by giving away the thing he loves more than Jesus will he find true freedom.

It seems this rich young man sees the truth of Jesus’ diagnosis but gives the impression that he is unwilling to do anything about it. So he turns away sad.

Does he ever respond? That we do not know, but we do know that Jesus’ words hit the mark and so it’s possible that he after all became one of the first believers.

We can do nothing to make others respond to the truth, but when it comes to ourselves, we can do everything that is needed to respond to Jesus.

Reflect: As you spend a quiet time with Jesus in prayer today, thank Him that He looks on you with love.

Act: First Ask Jesus to show you all that is obedient and good in you. He knows how hard you try to follow His way; He hears, remembers and answers every prayer that you have ever prayed to Him. He feels everything that hurts in your body and your spirit. Now let him show you how precious you are to Him.

Next take another step. Ask Jesus put his finger on one thing you may love more than Him—one thing that may be holding you back. Perhaps its money or belongings like the rich young man. Perhaps you are trapped in a persistent sin, or perhaps you are holding a grudge that you are having a hard time letting go of. Ask Jesus, as He shows you these things, to take your hand, stay close and help you beat them in His power, in His strength; let go of them, take hold of Jesus and let Him, who loves you, encourage you and show you the way of healing and moving forward that He is providing for you.

Children’s Prayer Activity

Sometimes we need to say sorry in our prayer time –

Be quiet for a few moments today and think if you have made someone sad or angry.

Ask God to help you not to do it again.

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