…
Next Grace Prayers: Sunday 12 January
Graceprayers December 8th 2019
Christmas – the celebration of Christ
….
Christmas is a wonderful time of celebrating Jesus Christ and meditating on His purpose for us all. Yet many M.E. sufferers find this time of year difficult as it can heighten the isolation they are already suffering. Jesus Himself was rejected even before He was born, when His heavily pregnant mother was turned away from the inn along with Joseph. The King of Kings, our Saviour, was born amongst animals, placed in a feeding trough (manger) and not a luxurious palace. The young Jesus then went on to be hunted down by the jealous King Herod forcing the holy family to flee as refugees to Egypt for a while. Jesus certainly understood right from the start what it felt like to be unwanted. Let’s give thanks to God for the gift of His Son who is our advocate.
….
Open in prayer Lord Jesus, we remember that you were born into this world on the first Christmas Day. Help us to remember, that you were born in a stable and cradled in a manger, and so keep us from coveting a wealth and a comfort and ease and a luxury which you never enjoyed. Help us to remember that there was no room for you in the inn and grant that our lives may never become so crowded that there is no room for you. Help us to remember that to you there came the Shepherds and the Wise Men, and grant that learned and simple, high and humble, great and small may be joined together in worshipping and in loving you. Help us to remember that you grew up in an ordinary home and went to school and worked in a carpenter’s shop, And so grant that we may think no task too humble and too common for our hands to touch, when you, the Lord of Glory, lived amidst the common things. This we ask this Christmas for your love’s sake. (William Barclay Abridged version.)
….
Hymn O little town of Bethlehem
…
Reading Luke 2 v.1-20 The birth of Christ
…..
Prayer for those who persecute M.E. sufferers If you feel able to, please pray for people in the medical profession, government and individual people known to you who are negatively affecting M.E. sufferers. There are many ways to pray for them: one way might be to hold a cross in your hand and say specific names or just to generalise.
…
Recent prayer requests Our charity will now pray for several M.E. sufferers who have contacted us in the last month, often globally. We add Keren and Rowan to our prayers: for energy to deal with moving and a decent place to move into – somewhere flat and accessible, ideally an adapted bungalow. Keren has severe M.E.; please pray for her healing. Likewise, please pray for Sharon
who would also like a detached, adapted bungalow in a non-polluted area; that her neighbours are quieter and that she gets a good PA and personal care. Also, please pray that she is protected from going to hospital and ultimately that Sharon and Keren are healed from M.E.
Please also continue to pray for Linda and Greg, that jets would stop their flying practice over their home. This has eased a bit but is still happening. They are also enduring other environmental noise. Linda is ultra noise sensitive from the M.E. Please pray that the Lord will heal her from this distressing symptom; also from severe chemical sensitivity, paralysis and disabling catarrhal problems. Thank you.
We pray for Jacqui, asking God for a positive breakthrough for her this year, including her symptoms of POTS and general severe pain. She has had long-term severe M.E. Please pray that a good quiet neighbour moves in above her and for peace, strength and healing in Jacqui’s life.
….
Hymn While Shepherds watch
…
Reading Micah 5 v.1-5 God chose little Bethlehem to be the place for the Messiah’s birth
….
Persistent prayers This is when we pray for a number of M.E. sufferers on an ongoing basis who seem to need a deeper level of persistent prayer for the circumstances in their lives.
…
Prayer for M.E. researchers and doctors Please pray for all M.E. researchers and doctors who bravely work towards the truth of biomedical M.E.: for their safety, protection and continuing of their valuable work without hindrance. Please also pray that the World Health Organisation’s entry of M.E. is kept as neurological and not transferred to mental health in the forthcoming reprint (due this year or next.)
…
Pray for the revision of the NICE guideline for CFS/ME, due to be published in 2020. Pray that Graded Exercise and CBT are no longer recommended and that helpful biomedical treatments are offered. Also, that the selected panel is not prejudiced towards psychiatric/psychological treatments.
…
Prayer for each other and anyone else who comes to mind Please pray for the trustees of the Grace Charity for M.E. : for David and Monica; also for John ‘s health especially wisdom for decisions regarding his heart and for Catherine’s colitis which has gone on for 14 years now. We give thanks for God’s strength through it all. Please continue to pray that the press will report her mother’s case for the benefit of the vulnerable www.thegracecharityforme.org/hazel-and-the-lcp Please also pray for quiet neighbours around us. Thank you. Please pray that John sells more art work which he is fundraising for the Grace Charity for M.E.
….
Hymn Hark the herald
…
Christmas Blessing ‘The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.’ Isaiah 9 v.2