Reading for today
Old Testament: Ecclesiastes 5, 6, 7
New Testament: James 5
Thoughts from today’s reading
Ecclesiastes 7:21-22. We should remember to treat others as we want to be treated. If you have spoken negatively about others, you should not be surprised that others are speaking negatively about you. The scripture encourages us to not pay attention to what others may be saying about us, but as Christians we should endeavour to speak the best of others.
James 5:1-18. The Christian has a great privilege to come before God in prayers to change the situations they face, be it suffering, sickness or sin which are internal, or they can pray that external environments be changed just like Elijah prayed for rain in the time of drought.
Prayer
1. Lord, you know the heart of man and you help us in our moments of weakness. In any way we have concerned ourselves with the opinions of others about us, we pray that you deliver us from such. In anyway we have consistently and systematically spoken against others, we ask that you purge us. May we remember to treat our neighbour as we would want to be treated. This we ask in Jesus’ name, amen.
2. Lord, we come before you boldly and confident that you are interested in hearing us and answering our prayers. You showed us from the life of Elijah that the Divine God would answer the petition of mortal man in spite of his flaws and weaknesses. Lord, we ask for a change in our internal environment, where there is suffering or sickness or sin, deliver us. We ask for a change in our external environment, that everything that threatens our well being will be subdued now, be it the economic landscape, the global pandemic, or other unfavourable conditions. We receive these answers from you in Jesus’ name, amen.