PRAYER

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful."

Colossians 4:3

May 2026

Thy Kingdom Come

During this season of Eastertide, the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost Sunday, we are reminded of Jesus’ victory over death through His many appearances to his followers and friends. At first, we read of Him appearing to Mary Magdalene at the tomb (John 20: 11-18), then later he appears to two followers travelling on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24). Another time it’s a private meeting with Simon Peter (Luke 24) then to seven of the disciples fishing in the Sea of Galilee (John 21), and one occasion he appears to more than 500 believers all at the same time (1 Corinthians 15:16)! These various appearances, and many more, were designed to not only prove that Jesus was physically alive and still with them, but also to encourage and instruct them, prior to His ascension.

It must have been such an exciting, confusing, and mysterious time for the disciples and early followers of Christ. I can imagine them thinking and asking: When might Jesus suddenly appear again? What might he say to us this time? How did he even rise from the dead? Will he stay with us forever?

For the disciples, friends and family of Jesus who had suffered such intense sadness, distress, and grief at his death, it must have been a huge comfort and an overwhelming joy to know that Jesus was once again with them. But as the bible reveals, we know that this time did not last forever and after 40 days Jesus ascended back to heaven (Acts 1). However, prior to this, Jesus was very clear to instruct the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promised gift of the Holy Spirit; the one who would be their help and reminder that God was always them, and the one who would empower them to be Christs witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1: 8).

So as we reflect on this Eastertide season, declaring Christs victory over death, His ascension to heaven, and the arrival of the promised gift of the Holy Spirit, can I encourage you to join up with the global ecumenical Prayer Movement called Thy Kingdom Come between the 14th-24th May. This prayer initiative, started in 2016, has grown right across the globe and invites Christians to pray during the 10 days between Ascension and Pentecost for more people to come to know Jesus. This year's theme is God with us and is all about the presence of God through his Holy Spirit. The God who is with us in the everyday – in the joys and sorrows of life (and everything in between) and the One who, through His spirit, longs to reveal Himself to those who do not yet know Him.

There are lots of fantastic resources on the website www.thykingdomcome.global/ and over the 11 days Thy Kingdom Come will explore a different Bible story each day, which demonstrates Gods transformative presence, power, and love at work in the lives of people and places. Alongside this, Thy Kingdom Come are encouraging us to pray for five people each, and the hope is that as we pray for our five people, they will also experience the life-changing love of God and choose to follow Him.

More locally, Turret House of Prayer will be hosting Breathe, their termly prayer and worship night on Friday 22nd May (7.30-9pm), using the theme and prayer aims from Thy Kingdom Come. There will also be lots of creative prayer stations available to use that night which will help you to reflect on the message of Pentecost and guide you as you pray for your friends. For updates on this event and for posts / updates during Thy Kingdom Come please sign up to the Turret House of Prayer Facebook and Instagram pages: www.facebook.com/turrethouseofprayer/ www.instagram.com/turrethouse247/

April 2026

Is the Revelation of Evil happening now?

Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. (Matthew, 24:7)

People are likening Matthew’s prophetic vision to what is happening now, the downward trajectory into a world we wouldn’t have recognised only a few years ago.

The first transatlantic telephone cable went live in 1956 but many people still thought the telephone would never overtake the letter as the preferred means of communication. Email and the Internet didn’t become widely used until the current millennium. The rise in digital communication has become meteoric since then and, with AI as a very recent addition, the capacity to communicate illusion and falsehood has become seriously problematic.

Some people see a link between the world of Revelation in John and our real world of environmental depredation, increased international tension, and spiritual decay where money rules and people reject the need for a loving and faithful master. Technological advancements that could have brought a prosperous world for all have been infected with social media that spawns the worst forms of pornography and spreads untruth with a frightening capacity to influence, manipulate, indoctrinate, and to gift evil with an additional tool to keep morals and ethics in the margins of an archaic and rigid legal system.

What does our sick world look like? Figures can only ever be estimates but Sources suggest that nearly 700 million people live in extreme poverty, 50 million are in slavery and 120 million are displaced from their homes. Approximately two billion people, or one-quarter of the world's population, live in conflict-affected areas.

It is easy to see how people are sucked into this world of hedonism and self-interest. Pope Francis called it the “globalisation of indifference”, and in a world of indifference the Devil reaps his reward easily, watching us as we do nothing to combat it. Doing nothing is the real evil of today; we are the Devil’s workforce. Churches still proclaim the ten commandments as the route map of a good life but each commandment has a tacit subset and all come under the overarching commands to love God and neighbour. Jesus also told us to go out and preach to the world to live as he did. How many of us can claim to truly follow his path, live His way, every day.

All this seems far away, even the evil on our doorsteps hidden in plain sight. When we listen to discussions on the effect of the war in Syria, we hear about the price of oil and the cost of living, little if anything on the humanitarian disaster for the ones profoundly affected. Few think that this “revelation of evil” bodes a biblical end to the world but Revelation is about more than that, it is also about Hope, a hope that comes through Jesus Christ if only we can acknowledge our complicity, repent our inaction and strive to turn our churches into communions of love and advocacy, reaching out and speaking out, sharing not just with those near and known to us, but to those we will never see and who need what we have much more than we do.

Together we can change this wicked world and put it back on the right path, the path that Jesus showed us. With that thought comes the Hope of Revelation.

Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. (Revelation 22.12)

Christ with us,

You made a revolutionary difference

You were the true Revelation

In the total chaos of a fallen world and our own sin of inherent indifference,

Touch our hearts to examine our souls so that we will Come Alive and engage and be changed

through the indwelling of your Holy Spirit released by the sacrificial gift of Your death and resurrection

AMEN

March 2026

Jesus commanded us to go into all the world and preach the gospel:

And He [Jesus] said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. [Mark 16:15] This month we are praying for various evangelistic initiatives that have, are or will be taking place in our town.

Explore Magazine distribution

Jesus said in a parable “A farmer went out to sow his seed…[Luke 8:5] He went on to explain the seed is the word of God (V11.) In February approximately 500 Explore magazines were distributed to households in Clitheroe. Explore magazine includes St Luke’s Gospel some testimonies and explanatory notes. The magazines have a sticker on the front which includes a link to the Love Clitheroe website which contains weblinks for the churches in our town. The word of God is transformational. We know of at least one lady, who was contemplating suicide but came to faith through reading a gospel magazine which had been posted through her letterbox.

Friendship First Course

The apostle Peter wrote …Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,….[1 Peter 3:15] The Muslim population in Clitheroe has grown in recent years. We need to be prepared to answer questions Muslims may ask us. The Friendship First Course helps Christians to gain confidence in making friends with Muslim people, in sharing the love of Christ with them, and “giving the reason for the hope we have.” This course began in February and is continuing through March.

Dramas

There are two Gospel drama presentations planned before Easter. On 20th March St Pauls are hosting a gospel play, The Passion, performed by the LAMPS Collective. It is particularly aimed at people who don’t normally go to church, and is especially suitable for secondary school students. As well as providing a clear re-telling of the Easter story, it is ideal as a stimulating starting point for discussion and debate. On 1st April another Easter play is being performed at Trinity - Romans at Easter. The play tells the Easter story from a Roman perspective. This will provide another opportunity to invite unchurched people to hear the gospel.

Walk of Witness 03-04

On Good Friday, Clitheroe United Reformed Church (URC) is hosting the annual Walk of Witness.

Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” [John 13:35] This event is a simple but powerful expression of our oneness in Christ. There will be Good Friday service at the URC, followed by a procession through Parsons lane, concluding at Clitheroe Castle where there will be a further time of worship. The procession provides an opportunity to speak with people and distribute gospels. It can be a clear public witness to the love, sacrifice, and hope revealed in Christ’s cross.

Below are some prayer initial points.

Please pray:

• The seed sown through the gospel distribution in this town will not be snatched away or choked but will land on fertile soil and produce a harvest of souls.

• That the Holy Spirit will bring conviction and repentance to those who receive gospels but do not yet know Jesus.

• That God will use the Friendship First course to equip people to be better witnesses for Christ to Muslims.

• That sharing the gospel with Muslims will be done with sensitivity and respect.

• That each of the two drama presentations will clearly communicate the gospel message.

• That the Holy Spirit will work his work in the hearts of those who need to respond to the gospel.

• That the Walk of Witness will be a clear witness to the people of this town of the oneness of the Church of Christ.

• That the Lord will provide “God appointments” and inspire conversations as we meet with people during the Walk of Witness procession.

February 2026

Love is the only thing we are commanded to do:

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 22:36-40)

The one word that holds everything together in Judaism and Christianity is love and the commandments to love the Lord and to love our neighbour. In fact, most civilisations sum up their moral systems through the Golden Rule: that you should treat others the way you wish to be treated, spreading kindness and refraining from actions that would harm others.

In Leviticus we read, “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 19.34). Leviticus is of course a key reminder of how we should behave towards refugees.

And when Jesus said, that the entirety of the law hung on loving God and neighbour he wasn’t the first to state the Golden Rule, but he added two important dimensions.

Firstly, he made a link between loving God and loving neighbour which Paul takes further by reducing loving God and loving neighbour to the same thing, “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: Love your neighbour as yourself” (Galatians 5.14). But what is “love” and who is my “neighbour”? In the Hebrew (Old Testament) and the Greek (New Testament) there are several words covered by our single words and the different usage of these words means that the different versions of the Golden Rule mean slightly different things. When Jesus used the word “love” it referred to a self-sacrificial, unconditional, active love that seeks the well-being of others, not just a feeling. There is an inclination when using the word to give it an emotional attachment which seems impossible. How can you have an emotional attachment to someone you dislike or someone you have never met. The answer is that, counterintuitive though it sounds, the nuances of words allow you to love someone you don’t like. Perhaps “compassion” illustrates the point, a word that occurs many times in both the Old and New Testaments.

And what about neighbour? This is easier. Although Jesus ’choice of the word “neighbour” implies proximity and closeness, through the story of the Good Samaritan, he expanded its meaning to include strangers and even enemies. We now understand it to include literally everyone.

Secondly, though the commandment to love neighbour is a challenge in itself, Jesus asked more, “Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:15-16). Worship isn’t enough. You cannot love God without loving neighbour, neighbour has to be the primary focus of our love and a demonstration of our love for God, “We are commanded to put our faith into action and to spread the Gospel by the way we live our lives” (often attributed to St Francis of Assisi). Living our lives through faith in action is frustrating when the target for action is people far away in situations of destitution or conflict.

Perhaps the reason that we see a lot of people in church but not a lot of “faith in action” is that it is too challenging, but take heart. In our world gone wrong it is impossible to come even close to living the live that Jesus asks of us but he understands the human condition and human experience testifies that we are not made perfect. We must grow in various ways over time and we must continue to struggle against sin.

The bible gives us the concept of gradualness, a principle in moral and pastoral theology, according to which people should be encouraged to grow closer to God and his plan for our lives in a step-by-step manner rather than expecting to jump from an initial conversion to perfection in a single step, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food; for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil [Heb. 5:12-14].

So let us pray that we increase our love for our neighbour and the whole of humanity, but in small steps, and is so doing approach the fulfilment of a perfect love of God.

Divine Father and teacher who has shown us true love in Christ Jesus,

Show your people how to love in practice with true compassion for others.

As we reflect on the many ways You show countless complexions of love,

May we embrace all whom we encounter, have Your insight enough to see them as neighbour

Whether stranger , enemy or just different and so share the light of that creative healing love that shines from Your very being.

January 2026

PRAYERS OF DEDICATION

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,…

As we enter a new year let us dedicate ourselves once more to persevere and run the race our God has set before us. Below are two prayers from the Puritan tradition, and a prayer of AW Tozer, an American Christian pastor and author.

A prayer of thanksgiving for the year just gone and for preparation for the future.

O LOVE BEYOND COMPARE,

Thou art good when thou givest, when thou takest away, when the sun shines upon me, when night gathers over me.

Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world,

and in love didst redeem my soul;

Thou dost love me still, in spite of my hard heart, ingratitude, distrust.

Thy goodness has been with me during another year,

leading me through a twisting wilderness, in retreat helping me to advance,

when beaten back making sure headway.

Thy goodness will be with me in the year ahead;

I hoist sail and draw up anchor,

with thee as the blessed Pilot of my future as of my past.

I bless thee that thou hast veiled my eyes to the waters ahead.

If thou hast appointed storms of tribulation,

thou wilt be with me in them;

If I have to pass through tempests of persecution and temptation,

I shall not drown; If I am to die,

I shall see thy face the sooner;

If a painful end is to be my lot,

grant me grace that my faith fail not;

If I am to be cast aside from the service I love,

I can make no stipulation;

Only glorify thyself in me whether in comfort or trial,

as a chosen vessel meet always for thy use.

A prayer for grace for the future

O LORD,

Length of days does not profit me except the days are passed in thy presence, in thy service, to thy glory.

Give me a grace that precedes, follows, guides, sustains, sanctifies, aids every hour,

that I may not be one moment apart from thee,

but may rely on thy Spirit to supply every thought, speak in every word, direct every step, prosper every work, build up every mote of faith,

and give me a desire to show forth thy praise; testify thy love, advance thy kingdom.

I launch my bark on the unknown waters of this year,

with thee, O Father, as my harbour,

thee, O Son, at my helm,

thee, O Holy Spirit, filling my sails. Guide me to heaven with my loins girt, my lamp burning, my ear open to thy calls, my heart full of love, my soul free.

Give me thy grace to sanctify me,

thy comforts to cheer,

thy wisdom to teach,

thy right hand to guide,

thy counsel to instruct,

thy law to judge,

thy presence to stabilise.

May thy fear be my awe,

thy triumphs my joy.

AW Tozer - A Prayer of Commitment

I come to you today, O Lord,

To give up my rights, to lay down my life,

To offer my future,

To give my devotion, my skills, my energies.

I shall not waste time deploring my weaknesses, nor my unfittedness for the work.

I acknowledge your choice with my life, to make Christ attractive and intelligible to those around me.

I come to you for spiritual preparation.

Put your hand upon me, anoint me with the oil of the One With Good News.

Save me from compromise,

Heal my soul from small ambitions,

Deliver me from the itch to always be right,

Save me from wasting time.

I accept hard work,

I ask for no easy place,

Help me not to judge others who walk a smoother path.

Show me those things that diminish spiritual power in a soul.

I now consecrate my days to you,

Make your will more precious than anybody or anything.

Fill me with your power,

And when at the end of life’s journey, I see you face to face,

May I hear those undeserving words:

“Well done my good and faithful servant”

I ask this not for myself,

But for the glory of the name of your Son. Amen!