God's Love Over Weobley
God’s own presence with you stay,
Jesus to shield you in the fray,
Spirit to protect you from all ill,
Trinity there guiding you still.
On sea or land, in ebb or flow,
God be with you wherever you go.
In flow or ebb, on land or sea,
God great might your protecting be.
From Ray Simpson, Celtic Blessings
Numbers 6:22-27 NIV
The LORD said to Moses:“Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:”The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.” ‘
“So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”
Lord God, to know You is to know Your Your goodness and generosity to us – Your desire to bless. And so in humility we call down Your blessing on our community.
We pray Your blessing on our village,
its shops and businesses,
homes and gardens,
farms, crops and livestock,
workshops, suppliers and factory.
Bless them and prosper them together.
We remember before You hairdressers, dentists, doctors,
carers and all whose calling involves close contact with others.
Bless them and prosper them together.
We bring before you our returning schools and teachers,
children and parents,
Bless them and prosper them together.
We raise to You both those working to create a safe school experience,
and those who need a return to the discipline and work of learning.
Bless them and prosper them together.
We submit to You the spiritual lives and spiritual awareness of our wide and diverse community.
We ask for and participate in Your blessing on each one,
young and old, professing faith and not,
in the working in hearts of Your Holy Spirit.
May we all become more aware of Your love,
Your purpose – and Your Son.
May we as a community find ourselves turning to You
and coming to know You –
discovering the greatest blessing.
Amen
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Jeremiah 5:24 NIV
...Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives autumn and spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.
Lord, we praise You for Your goodness and Your faithfulness, and for Your promises to those who trust You, to give both rain for the growing season and sunshine for harvest.
And we have had early rain and been blessed with sun and warmth… but our grass needs sustaining and the growing crops are in danger of being checked. Send a measure of rain now, Lord, we ask, to supply the earth and cause the grass to keep on growing.
We bless our farming community with the encouragement of the varied weather they need at this time. Give us the “soft, refreshing rain” of the well-known hymn at night-times when it can do the most good, and not detract from people’s need to feel some warmth to offset their anxiety.
You delight in those who fear You, and so we pledge our trust and our confident hope in You alone.
We give You praise and thanks even now, as a record dry month ends, because of Your faithfulness in sending rain clouds that will open at just the right time. Amen.
Psalm 147:5-11 NIV
Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit.
The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.
Sing to the Lord with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp.
He covers the sky with clouds; He supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills.
He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call.
His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor His delight in the legs of the warrior; the Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love.
For the story that goes with this prayer, see this page on associated site www.believethegoodnews.com
If you are used to a minister leading a prayer, or simply asking God to meet your needs (supplication) or ‘standing in the gap’ for another (intercession), this is another, rather different, way to express words of faith.
This is not asking, but using the spiritual authority we have, as children of God* to bring change in the heavenlies which then filters down as change on earth. As those who have believed in Jesus as the sinless Saviour who has secured forgiveness for us by doing for us what we could never do for ourselves, and having trusted Him with our lives and chosen Him to be our Lord – we have spiritual authority. We are part of the royal priesthood* that belongs to the Great High Priest, Jesus Christ – and we know Him!
When you are friends with the ‘top person’, you can see things happen – and blessing is the best and safest way to go about this because “we bless” gives God plenty of scope to do it His way, and not ours.
We can do this, to great effect!
*See Bible study below
Lord, we thank You for new life in Jesus and the reassurance that in Him we are given righteousness through His sinless sacrifice. And authority in prayer: “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” 2 Cor. 5:21, James 5:16.
We bless our community with Your peace, awareness of Your love, and protection from illness. At this time of restriction and also anxiety, we bless families and children, those struggling to work in difficult circumstances, people at home and especially those on their own.
We bless doctors, nurses, paramedics and all ‘on the front line’ of health care, with wisdom, strength and protection for themselves and their families. We bless those who have developed Covid-19 symptoms with a healthy immune response and unusually rapid recovery.
We bless those who are giving national leadership with heaven’s guidance, and unity across the political landscape.
And we bless this country with a spiritual awakening, to rise up and pray in a new awareness of Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords. Amen.
Here’s a great Bible study on believers as children of God, and belonging to the royal priesthood of Jesus: John 1:12-13; Romans 8:14; Galatians 3:26; 1 John 3:1-2; 1 Peter 2:9-10.