Thy Kingdom Come Prayer Journal Day 1
Day 1 - Ascension Day
I am convinced that society’s greatest
plague is isolation and loneliness. Even in
the middle of a crowd we feel alone, and
our social media obsessions are attempts
to bring us company.
Matthew begins his gospel with the good
news that God hasn’t left us on our own,
but has come as ‘Emmanuel’ – God with
us. What is astonishing then, is that
Ascension Day – the day Jesus physically
leaves this world and is taken into heaven
– isn’t a day of mourning.
If God has taken flesh in Christ, why do
we not grieve that He is not with us in
bodily form? Luke shows us in his telling
of the Ascension. Notice Jesus’ actions as
He is taken from them – ‘He lifted up his
hands and blessed them.’ Think of these
hands. They are scarred from nails. The
hands that bless us are hands that bear
wounds of love. And this blessing doesn’t
end, for as Jesus is taken from them, Luke
tells us He continues to bless them.
Ascension isn’t a day of grieving because
Jesus continues to bless – the blessing
doesn’t stop just because He isn’t physically
present. After all Jesus said it was good for
the disciples that He was going.
We are continually blessed because He
sends us the promised Holy Spirit – His
presence once again in the world. And He
blesses us that we might bless Him and
pass that blessing onto others. Especially
those five you have named before Him.
God desires to bless them most probably
through you.
We begin the journey through Thy
Kingdom Come by receiving God’s
blessing – so we might bless Him and in
turn bless others.
‘… lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 51 While he was
blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried
up into heaven.’
Luke 24:50-51 (NRSV)
Reflection
Take time to pray for your
five people – whether
they be family, friends or
neighbours – that they may
encounter God’s love and
experience His blessings.
Pause and pray
'Living the
Kingdom' Action
How can your hands bring
God’s blessing to another
person today?
One of the first Bible verses that I learnt
by memory as a young girl growing up in
Jamaica at Sunday school was John 3:16 –
'For God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish but
have everlasting life' (KJV). I was given
I recall a little star for having learnt it, but little
did I realise how much these words would
become truly life-giving for me. In being
taught the faith, I learnt about a great big
God. And I even sang the songs that acted
as a reminder: 'My God is so big so strong
and so mighty, there’s nothing my God
cannot do…'
Growing up, it was this God that I turned
to in difficult circumstances.