Prayer Calendar - June

(The Daily Calendar below is also on pages 36-37 of the May Newsletter - PDF file - 951Kb - 38 pages.)

June - Religion and Philosophy

(by Bjorn Schmid - adapted from a number of sources including the Common Book of Prayer.)

Broadly speaking; religion is man searching for the divine and philosophy is man seeking for answers to his existence, whereas Jesus is God's answer to all of the above as He came to Earth Himself to give us all that we seek:

'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.' (Jeremiah 33:3)

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7:7-11)

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1:20-24)

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6b)

Day in June
  1. "O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
  2. Repent for our lack of unity; the chief hindrance to the gospel and effectiveness of our mission in and to the world. Pray for the unity of the Church per 1 Corinthians 12 - many parts but one body.
  3. Repent for our lack of charity to our own brothers and sisters, either ignoring or choosing to be unaware of their needs and thereby demonstrating a lack of love for each other (in contradiction to Christ's command in John 13).
  4. "Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to thee, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly thine, utterly dedicated unto thee; and then use us, we pray thee, as thou wilt, and always to thy glory and the welfare of thy people; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen."
  5. Repent for our lack of dedication to Holy Scripture, for allowing materials which seek justification by intellectual and emotional analysis to become more important and consume our time rather than reading the scriptures and seeking God's opinion first.
  6. Repent for our discretionary use of scripture; favouring some parts of the Bible and either ignoring or even denigrating other parts. Pray for a hunger in all Christians to become familiar with the whole of canon scripture.
  7. "O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light riseth up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what thou wouldest have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in thy light we may see light, and in thy straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
  8. Repent for the lies that we have as a society accepted, rooted in man's original sin of questioning the sincerity of God's love for us in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3) and putting knowledge and power above our relationship with God.
  9. Repent for our habit of blaming everyone else for our sins (shifting blame), for accusing Christian leaders of weakness to justify our sins, and for encouraging others to join us in accusation so that we feel superior and do not have to be accountable for our errors.
  10. Repent for the jealousy and rivalry that humans are so reluctant to surrender even when they have chosen to follow Jesus; this attitude of unhealthy competition for God's favour that led Cain to kill his brother Able (Genesis 4)
  11. "Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen."
  12. Repent for our arrogant misuse of the earth and all it's resources in the name of 'dominion' (Genesis 2) instead of being the caretakers that you intended us to be.
  13. "O gracious Father, who openest thine hand and fillest all things living with plenteousness: Bless the lands and waters, and multiply the harvests of the world; let thy Spirit go forth, that it may renew the face of the earth; show thy loving-kindness, that our land may give her increase; and save us from selfish use of what thou givest, that men and women everywhere may give thee thanks; through Christ our Lord. Amen."
  14. "Almighty God, in giving us dominion over things on earth, you made us fellow workers in your creation: Give us wisdom and reverence so to use the resources of nature, that no one may suffer from our abuse of them, and that generations yet to come may continue to praise you for your bounty; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
  15. "O God our heavenly Father, you have blessed us and given us dominion over all the earth: Increase our reverence before the mystery of life; and give us new insight into your purposes for the human race, and new wisdom and determination in making provision for its future in accordance with your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
  16. Ask forgiveness for our nation for it's obsession with fame, fortune and material gain, and for leaders in the church who have espoused doctrines that encourage and recognise earthly prosperity in order to 'give back to God' whereas God wants us, not our money (Mat. 6:33).
  17. Ask forgiveness for our nation for venerating Tribal, Folk and Pagan beliefs of local and foreign indigenous peoples in favour of and whilst denigrating our Christian foundations. Pray also for the exposure of the New Age movement and the many deceptions within it, especially where it has penetrated into the church.
  18. Ask forgiveness for our nation for unbelief in the one true God and Christ Jesus; unbelief which erodes faith when catastrophes and human disasters arise causing many to become Atheists or worse Agnostics (Revelation 3:16). Pray for wisdom, spiritual gifts, abundant love, and faithfulness in Christians so they remain in total trust in God and are a witness to those whose faith is weak.
  19. Confront and ask Jesus to rebuke the spirits of The Enlightenment that arose to corrupt faith in God with relativism and pluralism, which has led to God-less schools of thought and produced Humanism, Modernism and Post-Modernism Ask God for forgiveness for the acceptance of these waves of lies and permissiveness, even in the church.
  20. Pray for those in our community who have been attracted to sources of power promised by Theosophy, witchcraft, sorcery, devil worship and other occult practices. Repent for the resistance of the church to encourage and demonstrate the power of the Spirit in our lives and in the miraculous.
  21. Pray for those in our community who have been deceived into believing that there are many gods and spirits that require their servitude (e.g. Polytheism, Hinduism). Pray that Jesus will show himself to them as the one true God, that His yoke is easy and his burden is light (Matthew 11:30).
  22. "O God our King, by the resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ on the first day of the week, you conquered sin, put death to flight, and gave us the hope of everlasting life: Redeem all our days by this victory; forgive our sins, banish our fears, make us bold to praise you and to do your will; and steel us to wait for the consummation of your kingdom on the last great Day; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
  23. Pray for members of our society that are bound (hand and foot) by Freemasonry and its derivatives. Ask for forgiveness for the curses accepted by participants on themselves and their families and pray for breakthrough repentance so that lodges become empty and vestments and regalia are burned, and families are healed. Ask also for forgiveness for churches that turned a blind eye to Freemasonry and allowed their members to become seduced and trapped by it.
  24. Repent for blind acceptance of Ecumenism in the church, which seeks to reduce Christianity to another "World Religion". Ask Christ to rebuke the religious spirit dwelling in this movement and pray for the Holy Spirit to empower Christians involved so they shine with God's wisdom and love to people of other faiths.
  25. Pray for people who believe in ancestral worship and other forms of elevating humans to god-hood (e.g. Buddhism). Pray for revelation that the only one who died that can help them defeated death with His own resurrection from the grave.
  26. Pray that Christ will continue to visit adherent of Islam in our society with dreams and visions so that they seek out Christians and the bible. Pray that our brothers and sisters in the church reach out in love and no condemnation when we encounter Muslims and have the wisdom of God to share of the Father's love to them.
  27. "Almighty and everlasting God, you made the universe with all its marvelous order, its atoms, worlds, and galaxies, and the infinite complexity of living creatures: Grant that, as we probe the mysteries of your creation, we may come to know you more truly, and more surely fulfill our role in your eternal purpose; in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
  28. "O God of peace, who hast taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be our strength: By the might of thy Spirit lift us, we pray thee, to thy presence, where we may be still and know that thou art God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
  29. "O Almighty God, who pourest out on all who desire it the spirit of grace and of supplication: Deliver us, when we draw near to thee, from coldness of heart and wanderings of mind, that with steadfast thoughts and kindled affections we may worship thee in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
  30. "I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. "You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.' My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:2-6)

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