PRAISE, PONDER & PRAY
Welcome to Praise, Ponder & Pray, our Church’s online daily devotional—a place to draw closer to God through worship, reflection, and prayer. Join us each day as we seek His presence, deepen our faith, and intercede for others, experiencing the power of His Word and Spirit to transform our lives and the lives of those we love.
Welcome
Praise, Ponder & Pray is a simple time set apart to slow down and turn our attention to God. In praise, we lift our voices and hearts to honour the Lord, for who He is and for all He has done. In pondering, we take time to think carefully about God, His Word, and His ways, allowing truth to settle deeply rather than rushing past it. In prayer, we respond to God with honesty, bringing our thanks, our needs, and our concerns before Him. We desire to seek the face of God, not in haste, but with sincerity, listening as well as speaking.
Charles Spurgeon writes, “Praise is the rehearsal of our eternal song.” We therefore invite you to use the YouTube video provided to lead you in a special time of praise. Each morning we worship God through Metrical Psalms, hymns, gospel songs, and contemporary worship songs. You may wish to sing along, or you may prefer to listen quietly and let the praise refresh you.
You are invited to draw near with boldness, rejoicing in the presence of the LORD, to praise Him in His sanctuary, and seek to rest under His smile. In these precious moments together, we give Him our praise, our thoughts, and our prayers, and worship God together.
“Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care” (Psalm 95:6–7)
DAY 2 - Before The Throne Of God Above
We warmly invite you to make time each day to sit under God’s Word, because regular, unhurried reading of Scripture shapes our hearts, steadies our faith, and helps us walk closely with the Lord. Here you can choose between two reading plans. The One Year Bible guides you each day through the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs, offering a rich and balanced diet of Scripture that can be read in around 15 minutes. Alternatively, the Chronological Bible takes you through the whole Bible in a year in the order the events unfolded, helping you see God’s great story with clarity and depth.
If you are following our Praise, Ponder & Pray, you are also very welcome to use your own daily Bible reading plan at this point. Whichever readings you choose, our prayer is that you will stay rooted in God’s Word and grow daily in love for Christ.
2nd March
"But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his ax, and his mattock." — 1 Samuel 13:20
We are engaged in a great war with the Philistines of evil. Every weapon within our reach must be used. Preaching, teaching, praying, giving, all must be brought into action, and talents which have been thought too mean for service, must now be employed. Coulter, and axe, and mattock, may all be useful in slaying Philistines; rough tools may deal hard blows, and killing need not be elegantly done, so long as it is done effectually. Each moment of time, in season or out of season; each fragment of ability, educated or untutored; each opportunity, favourable or unfavourable, must be used, for our foes are many and our force but slender.
Most of our tools want sharpening; we need quickness of perception, tact, energy, promptness, in a word, complete adaptation for the Lord's work. Practical common sense is a very scarce thing among the conductors of Christian enterprises. We might learn from our enemies if we would, and so make the Philistines sharpen our weapons. This morning let us note enough to sharpen our zeal during this day by the aid of the Holy Spirit. See the energy of the Papists, how they compass sea and land to make one proselyte, are they to monopolize all the earnestness? Mark the heathen devotees, what tortures they endure in the service of their idols! are they alone to exhibit patience and self-sacrifice? Observe the prince of darkness, how persevering in his endeavours, how unabashed in his attempts, how daring in his plans, how thoughtful in his plots, how energetic in all! The devils are united as one man in their infamous rebellion, while we believers in Jesus are divided in our service of God, and scarcely ever work with unanimity. O that from Satan's infernal industry we may learn to go about like good Samaritans, seeking whom we may bless!
PRAY
After a moment of quietness, let the Spirit of God lead you as you pray for 5 people who you would love to see become followers of Jesus Christ, or people who you know have strayed from God. For those following “Engage 2026”, you may also wish to hold before the Lord your wider commitment to pray for 10. Name them before the Lord, asking God to reveal Himself to them, and that He would draw them in grace, mercy and love to trust and follow Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.
Close your prayer time with the Lord’s Prayer:
