This week, until 6 December, you can purchase Daily Prayer 2 from Kevin Mayhew Ltd at a 10 per cent discount, using the code DAILYPRAYER10 when ordering the title from the company’s website. With the book normally retailing at £19.99, that’s a saving of £2. Just type the code into the relevant box at the online checkout between the dates given.
Meanwhile, here’s the sixth of the sessions I’ll be posting this week from the book, to run alongside this promotion.
From fear to love
Read
Afterwards his father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and uttered these prophetic words: ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel . . . he has dealt mercifully as he pledged to our forebears and has honoured his holy covenant, the promise he made to our predecessor Abraham, granting that, having been saved from the clutches of our enemies, we might serve him without fear, and be made holy and righteous before him for the rest of our days.’ Luke 1:67, 68a, 72-75
Ponder
Children, it used to be said, should be seen and not heard. Thankfully, that stern Victorian dictum is very much a thing of the past, but for many years it was rigorously applied. In the presence of adults, children were expected to speak only when spoken to and to do as they were told. Stepping out of line was typically met with a cuff round the ear or an impromptu thrashing. Unsurprisingly, fear was the result.
Certain strands of the Old Testament suggest that our relationship with God should be similar. Alongside descriptions of him as compassionate, merciful and slow to anger there are passages that portray him as harsh and cold, more likely to punish than pardon should we ever step out of line. And that’s a picture of God that many still subconsciously hold. They see him as remote, aloof, an uncompromising judgemental God to be feared and approached with caution. Love rarely enters the frame. Yet, as the jubilant song of Zechariah above reminds us, any such picture was swept away with the coming of Christ. His birth ushered in a long-promised era and made possible a new relationship with God. No more trembling before God, no more approaching him with dread; love not only found a place but occupied the whole canvas, expressed in bold brushstrokes of trust, confidence, peace, gratitude and joy. That’s the relationship God wants us to enjoy with him: one in which we worship him on high yet serve him without fear; in which, as his children, we are seen, heard and loved beyond measure.
Ask yourself
Why are some people afraid of God? How would you put their minds at rest? Do you need to put your own mind at rest as well?
Pray
Sovereign God, give me a proper sense of awe before you, of reverence, respect and humility as I worship you as the beginning and end of all, the creator of the ends of the earth and the giver of life and meaning. But help me to remember also that you took flesh, coming into the world through Christ and identifying yourself with humankind, and that you did so not to condemn and punish but to express the immensity of your love. Gratefully, I celebrate your grace, through which I worship and serve you, assured of your unfailing goodness and mercy. Amen.
Remember
True love knows nothing of fear, for, when it is made perfect, love casts fear out. Fear is associated with punishment; whoever is afraid has not yet been perfected in love. We love because he loved us first. 1 John 4:18, 19
Close
Whatever else I fear, Lord, teach me never to fear you but to rest secure in your love. Amen.