Sue O’Donnell. 05.01.21
“Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever.” (Psalm 136 v 1 NLT)
God is with us, in Christ Jesus, in the Holy Spirit.
God has come down to us in this Child born to Mary.
God’s wisdom and truth are made evident to us
As we look to share in the Spirit of holiness filling Christ Jesus.
Our inner self becomes a new you, a new us,
Fully alive in Christ Jesus, by the blessing of grace.
Jesus comes to displace satan
To replace him by the Spirit of holiness within us.
“Give thanks to the God of gods, His faithful love endures forever.” (Psalm 136 v 2 NLT)
Jesus, our Saviour, is full of wisdom.
He speaks truth because He is truth.
“ ‘I, wisdom live together with good judgments, (Proverbs 8 v 12)
I know where to discover knowledge and discernment.
All who fear the LORD will hate evil... (v 13)
Common sense and success belong to me,
Insight and strength are mine” (v 14) to be shared with us,
In the life and teachings of the Lord Jesus.
“To those called by God to salvation, both Jew and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1 v 24 NLT)
“(S)he will find happiness and a crown of joy, (s)he will inherit an everlasting name.” (Ecclesiasticus 15 v 6 TNJB)
O Lord, what a lot we have to learn about You and Your will for us as shown by Christ Jesus’ wisdom. “Her resourceful ways, who knows them? One only is wise” (Sirach 1 v 8 TNJB) and that is our Brother.
“You spare all, since all is Yours, Lord, lover of life!” (Wisdom 11 v 26 TNJB) We praise Your goodness towards us.
“The root of wisdom is to fear the Lord, and her branches are long life,” (Sirach 1 v 20 TNJB) Jesus being the Vine, the Holy Spirit making us the branches able to blossom out of the Trinity’s faithful love for us. We thank You for His blessing.
We are blessed by the Nativity of the Lord Jesus, the faithfulness of Mary and Joseph, the inquisitiveness of the shepherds and the Magi, the hope, joy and peace of this Christmas season. We thank You.
We are blessed to be released from our slavery to sin, as the Lord Jesus comes to us as the Deliverer sent by You. We are blessed when we are humble enough to admit our faults and failings, looking for mercy. We
thank You for Your mercy.
We are blessed when we chose the better part in life, as led and inspired by the Holy Spirit of faith helping us to focus on Jesus as wisdom and truth, as Saviour, our forever Saviour. We praise You for our rescue.
Life is ever enriched when we heed the Holy Spirit, for although unworthy to come before the throne formerly, we come to realise according to the Holy Spirit’s impact, the fullness of all the Lord Jesus accomplishes as our Saviour Brother. We praise You our salvation.
Jesus is the Bread of Life to nourish our faith. He is the Light of Life, cutting across sin’s darkness. He is the door to heaven sending the Holy Spirit, so we can open the opportunity prayerfully. We thank You for prayer offered and answered.
Lamb of God, Christ Jesus, You take away the sins of the world, graciously hear us when we pray and accompany us into the throne room, lest we fear to enter. Thank You for love’s support and optimistic hope, Holy Spirit given and always a blessing.
O Holy Spirit of God, we come before You expectantly. Please help us to open the window of our soul so our Saviour Brother may enter and live within our heart. We offer all praise for this possibility, now being a certainty.
We are in the joyous season of Christmas, blissfully happy because we focus on the birth of Christ, the King of eternal Glory, the Prince of Peace, the Lord of lords. Thank You, dearest Father, for Your Son and Your Spirit.
Come, Holy Spirit, possess us by the love of the Lord Jesus to such an extent we will live in truth, reverently obedient and honestly self aware when we go wrong. Help us to repent instantly. Thank You that You will.
Help us please, to dethrone ourselves so our Brother who is the world’s Saviour, may reign. He in us and us in Him, empowered by You, Holy Spirit of love, let us love more and more, enabled by grace to live as Jesus lived, ever lovingly. We praise this power of love.
We are rediscovering in our midst, the living God. Make us able Holy Spirit, Lord, to radiate His love everywhere to everybody, no exceptions because we are all God’s children, and our world is in need of a
Saviour. Thank You dearest Father, that we have Christ Jesus amongst us.
Jesus as Lord, offers us a life of hope, of peace and joy, all grounded in love “These things will last forever – faith, hope and love – and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13 v 13 NLT) We thank and praise You for the life enriching power of holy love.
Our Brother, the King is the Holy One, Your Son, dearest Father, true God of true God, the God of love and compassion, our Saviour. Within Him, prompted by the Holy Spirit, we find a communal joy and reverence for life. Thank You for freely gifting this.
Now in this Christmas season is a time most appropriate for offering our thanks for the gift the Lord Jesus given us from the †. The offer of forgiveness is followed by the gift of Mary His mother, to belong to us. No
one is orphaned, no one abandoned. Oh how grateful, truly thankful we are.
“Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession was left unaided.” (Source not known) Thank You for this godly mercy.
“Inspired with this confidence, I fly to you. O Virgin of virgins, my Mother, to you I come, before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in your mercy, hear and answer me” (Cont) as I place my intentions before you. Thank You Father God, that I can.
I have needed to pray for the reverence and respect due to our Lord’s mother, to become evident and apparent to me. May this still continue to be so to develop a deep and abiding love which honours the life of one who enabled the Saviour of the world to be born. I praise and thank You for a time of prayer definitely answered.
It occurs to me that in helping another to come to faith in our entire process of salvation, this encouraged me to look much more closely at my own thoughts and faith’s understanding. I was helped to see the Virgin Mary in the Light of Christ Jesus. I receive a blessing and am so grateful, thank You.
You have sent me the Holy Spirit as Counsellor and Adviser. I asked “O God, send me Your Spirit to teach me what I am and what You are” (St John Vianney) and my faith was extended to encompass the Virgin Mary with all due respect. I ask that this grows into love. Thank You that I can ask.
What did I learn from this? How exceedingly powerful and beneficial prayer is, for it turns every situation to something good or better. I thank You, Christ Jesus, God’s truth, that Your presence, by the Holy Spirit of
revelation, always uplifts, upbuilds and encourages faith. Thank You.
Great are the benefits and too numerous are the blessings arising from coming before You earnest in our prayer, looking to understand what our Father is currently revealing, all He acts upon. Thank You for the gift of discernment.
May the blessings and benefits accrue and grow throughout this New Year, where so many remain terrified of the Covid 19 Pandemic and its catastrophic ability to be a deadly disease with long lasting serious
impairment. Thank You that we can and must turn to the Lord Jesus as our Divine Healer.
May we be willing attentive pupils who are wholehearted in our faith’s impact and influence because we are guided by the very same Spirit who gave birth to Christ Jesus, empowering every day of His holy life. Thank
You that we are called to share in His holiness and to put it into practice daily. We praise You for the blessings unfolding.
Let us not slip back into the errors of earlier days, former ways before we really knew of and trusted in the One born to rescue us from sinfulness. Jesus reveals all aspects of Your comforting, enfolding, life enriching
love to us, Father God. Thank You for this happiness as we respond to Your Spirit.
May we each prayerfully discern the direction for our life where the Holy Spirit is leading us, that we follow this with strict adherence to all guidance given, whether collectively to us as one family or initially to us
individually. For we are all loved, cherished and cared for, all thanks to the birth of Christ Jesus.
“Now to You, Lord God, who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” – thank You, we praise You for gifting us the Holy Spirit through Christ Jesus –“To You be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (based on Ephesians 3 v 20, 21)
Images by Artist Christine Garwood
http://www.christinegarwoodartist.co.uk/
Season
CHRISTMAS
Key Themes
BELIEF
WISDOM
