LOOK TO THE LORD AND HIS STRENGTH, SEEK HIS FACE ALWAYS | 1 CHRONICLES 16.11

Today, to all of us who are reading this, I want simply to encourage us to pray. I want to urge us all to seek God’s face. It’s not uncommon for church leaders to do this. It’s familiar ground, so familiar in fact, that the call so often gains agreement but falls away. I’ve read those words myself many times and failed to follow through.

But here’s why I want us to pray – two reasons. The challenge of the times we are in and our need for clarity and direction.

There’s so much to bring before God about the times we are in. So much uncertainly and flux. Here in the UK, across Europe, Russia, Africa, Asia, China, the Americas. Like the swirling weather patterns that sweep across the world, it can feel that the change is overwhelmingly.

And all this is so destabilising, so unsettling that it can be hard to find our feet and the forces sweep through our families and individual lives, pulling us off balance.

So, let’s hear the call of David and Asaph once again – to look to the Lord (to YHWH) and his strength, to constantly seek his face. It’s a verse that comes as the start of a brilliant Psalm David wrote and you can read the whole of it here. It will encourage you.

So, pray now, as you read this bulletin, for the church, and for all that you read. Pray as you set it aside and move on to whatever you have next to go to, and for all that you are facing. Pray as you go, and pray as you rest. And then gather to pray on Sunday morning, and join with others on Monday evening in the church for our monthly prayer meeting.

All of us need this. Let’s join together to pray, seeking God’s strength and face always.

Richard