Category: Daily Prayer

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

(2 Corinthians 5:17)

Christ came to make us all new, washed clean from sin and called to a life of faith and love in Him. Through His sacrifice our past deeds are forgotten; our rescue is undeserved but He reaches out to us just the same.

This was the basis of His lesson to Nicodemus, the Pharisee in John 3:3 – “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” Being a new creation in Christ means a new way of seeing and reacting to the world, being both the messenger of the Good News and the body of Christ to all we meet.

Loving Lord, thank You for coming after us with grace and power to save us. Bless our work here in Your name to reach others for You, that they may know Your love as we do. Amen.

In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.
(2 Corinthians 5:19)

God forgives our sins through the sacrifice Christ made for us, and calls us to be part of His saving work. What an amazing thing! How can we ever hope to carry on the ministry that Jesus began on earth? That’s the confidence He has in us – teaching us the lessons, showing us how to live and expecting us to share that knowledge and love with all the world.

We know we can’t do it alone. Only through His abiding presence, the Holy Spirit to inspire us are we capable. Only through being in fellowship with our brothers and sisters to praise and worship Him do we find strength for the task. God calls us, weak and error-prone, to be His witnesses and His tools for saving a broken world.

Heavenly Father, it is an unbelievable and wonderful thing that You include us in Your work on earth. Make us worthy servants, carrying Your truth and love to everyone. Amen.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18)

God could have separated from us long ago citing “irreconcilable differences” due to our sinful nature. Instead, as Paul writes, He “reconciled us to himself through Christ”, taking action to bring us back into His love and to return as productive members of His family. He loved us so much He was willing to go to extraordinary lengths to redeem us from the evil into which we had fallen.

More than this, Paul says we are not just retrieved, we are re-purposed for the work of the kingdom, given the “ministry of reconciliation” to go share with others the joy of God’s gift and Christ’s sacrifice for us. We have been tasked to go to all the world to ensure that no one is left unreached by the Good News.

Let us take our responsibility seriously, learning and passing on the gospel we have received – Jesus is Lord and He has saved us from our sin!

Amazing God, You searched for us when we hid in our sin, and washed us clean to be part of Your continuing redemption of the world. Make us bold to go those who are in need, to serve them as Christ first loved and served us. Amen.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. (2 Corinthians 5:16)

God wants us to see His love for creation in each one of us. Everyone we meet is a unique reflection of Father, Son and Holy Spirit; with gifts given specifically for God’s purpose. Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth encourages the believers there to see everyone as God does.

Christian author C. S. Lewis says in his book The Weight of Glory “you have never talked to a mere mortal”. If we relate to everyone the way we would if Christ himself were in front of us, how much better and loving would our conversations be?

See the image of God in everyone and act accordingly – live as part of His kingdom every day!

Loving Lord, help us to be caring, active members of Your family, at work for You in all we do. Amen.

And all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:3-4)

Paul teaches that Christ was with the children of Israel in the desert, providing for them. God has been constant in His love and care for us since the very beginning. However, God is also constant in His commandments to obey Him.

Sometimes we think there is an Old Testament God and a New Testament God because it seems the relationship between God and people changed. While our understanding may change, God never does – “He was and is and is to be, and still the same” the old hymn tells us.

Constant and consistent God, help us to understand the plans You have for us and to follow the commandments You have given from the beginning – to love You and each other with all our hearts. May we be Your representatives to all the world. Amen.

We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.

(1 Corinthians 10:8-10)

This is another hard passage to hear, recounting the disobedience of the people after the escape from Egypt and the punishment that followed (Numbers 21, Numbers 25). We are apparently slow learners and continue our disobedience to this day.

God is a loving father, but He wants what is right for us, and wants us to learn this. In Genesis 3 we hear of Adam and Eve being driven out of the garden due to their sin. God loves us all dearly, but He won’t let sin stand unpunished.

We must learn that even though we sin, God will accept our confession and repentance to restore our connection with Him. Through the sacrifice Jesus made for us, we can be made new and return to our loving Father.

Gracious God, we come to You in sorrow for our behavior. Forgive us and bring us back into a right relationship with You. Amen.

Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.”
(1 Corinthians 10:7)

Paul tells the Corinthians they are in danger, as were the children Moses led – they are putting things other than God first in their lives. We are often guilty of the same failing, being more concerned about our lives and livelihoods than than the eternal life God calls us to with Him.

We may not be doing this intentionally, but the effect is the same. Anything that distracts us from our relationship with God can be an idol. We must ensure that our desires are not placed higher than His desires for us.

Gracious God, help us to focus on loving You and our brothers and sisters more than anything else we do. May our lives reflect Your love for all things. Amen.

Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness. (1 Corinthians 10:5)

This is a difficult verse to read by itself, and I encourage you to read the entire lectionary passage for this week – 1 Corinthians 10:1-13. However, Paul faithfully and painfully recounts the sin of the people after the escape from Egypt, a warning to all of us that while God is a loving God, there is judgement and justice for our actions.

God doesn’t want us lost to sin, and through Jesus has saved us from its evil. We must recognize our failure and turn to Him for forgiveness. We must also forgive those who sin against us, just as God does.

The focus here is not on sin itself, but restoring the relationship that has been marred by sin. God wants us back as part of His family, active workers in His kingdom.

Loving Lord, Jesus taught us to pray “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”. May we be ready for a renewed relationship with You and our brothers and sisters through Christ’s sacrifice for us. Amen.

So those who think they are standing need to watch out or else they may fall. (1 Corinthians 10:12)

Paul writes a lot of straight talk to the church, but this verse is a warning we all need to heed – even those of us who consider ourselves upright need to watch out. As humans, we are vulnerable to temptation, often when we least expect it.

Paul says that we can be caught unaware if we focus on ourselves rather than God. The church in Corinth he wrote this to had become proud of how well (they thought) they were living. He reminds them (and us) that we can’t accomplish anything spiritual on our own and to think we have is to ignore God’s goodness to us.

Even when we feel our lives are going well and that we’re following the plan laid out for us, we must give God the glory, claiming none for ourselves. Only by His blessings do we grow in grace.

Heavenly Father, thank for for Your loving care that leads us to a relationship with You. Help us remember it is You who has made us and we can do nothing without You. Amen.

These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come.
(1 Corinthians 10:11)

It’s a sad fact that we learn from our mistakes. It’s a sadder fact that we sometimes don’t learn from our mistakes! We often commit the same errors time and again, either not seeing the failure, or willfully ignoring it. Why are we so hardheaded?

Psalm 32:9 tells us “Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.” Why must we be compelled to do what is right? It would be so much easier if things just worked the way God intended and we didn’t mess them up!

But that’s not what God intended! His plan was for us to be His special creation, “a little lower than the angels”, endowed with reason and free will to make our own choices. God was sad when we fell into sin, but He sent us Jesus as a savior and model, and gave us the scriptures for guidance. If we put our trust in Him and not the things of the world, we may always choose the right.

Gracious God, we are sorry when we stray from Your plan for us. Help us to see the wonderful blessings You intend and live in the light of Your Word. Amen.