Revised Common Lectionary

1 Samuel 16:1-23 "Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Break me, melt me, mould me, fill me" (Daniel Iverson). Lord, it's Your Spirit who makes the difference. He changes us. We lose heart. He gives us new strength. We feel like giving up. He keeps us going on. Thank You, Lord, for Your Holy Spirit. Lead us out of our emptiness and into Your fullness.

1 Samuel 9:11-10:16 "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation! O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health  and salvation!" When, Lord, we say that You are the great King, may we not think only of the greatness of Your power. May we think also of the greatness of Your love.

1 Samuel 29:1-30:15 When, Lord, things are going badly, we start feeling sorry for ourselves - when we should be getting strengthened by You. You are "our strength and our shield." You give us Your "strength" and Your "peace" (Psalm 28:7-8; Psalm 29:10-11). Give to us the peace that comes to us from knowing that we are not alone. May we not fall down in our weakness. May we stand up in Your victory.

1 Samuel 28:3-25 Help us, Lord, to take sin seriously - "Be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23). Help us to take Your salvation even more seriously. Help us to believe that the story of our life is more than the story of our sin. It's also the story of Your salvation. When we are deeply aware of our sin, may we become even more deeply appreciative of Your promise of salvation: "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31).

1 Samuel 27:1-28:2 What a difference there is between fear - "I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul" - and faith - "The Lord will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine" (1 Samuel 27:1; 1 Samuel 17:37). Sometimes, fear, sometimes faith - this was the story of David's life. It's the story of our life. How, Lord, are we to overcome fear? How are we to grow strong in faith? It's Your "perfect love that casts out fear." It's Your love that makes us strong in faith and gives us the victory (1 John 4:18-19; 1 John 5:4-5). Lord, fill our hearts with Your love. May there be, in us, more faith and less fear.

1 Samuel 23:1-29 Help us, Lord, to be honest with You - Do we want to get our own way or to do Your will? Set us free from the self-centred illusion that You will always support us  in everything that we decide to do. Help us to see that there's a great difference between 'what I want' and 'what You want.' Teach us to choose Your will rather than our own will.

1 Samuel 21:1-22:23 Deliver us, O Lord, from religion without compassion. We don't want to be Pharisees. we want to be followers of Jesus. Give us compassion - but may it always be compassion without compromise. Help us not to sacrifice truth and righteousness for the sake of relevance. Help us "to be the best that we can be for truth and righteousness and Thee." Help us to see what relevance really is. Help us to see where relevance really comes from. It doesn't just emerge out of our own minds, our own creativity. It's based on truth. We didn't create truth - and we don't create relevance. "Your Word is truth" (John 17:17). Your Word is relevant - because it is truth: truth unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable. Lord, help us to be faithful to Your truth - and help us to care for people who need to be set free by Your truth, set free

1 Samuel 17:1-58 Often, Lord, we feel like David - facing Goliath (1 Samuel 17). Everything seems too much for us. Was Goliath too much for David? He wasn't too much for You - and You were on David's side. We're not alone. Help us to remember this. When we feel weak, help us to remember that You are strong - and Your strength has been given to us. Thank You, Lord.

1 Samuel 10:17-11:15 "Praise, my soul, the King of heaven; To His feet thy tribute bring. Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven, who like thee His praise should sing?" No earthly king could ever bless us the way You, Lord, have blessed us. What a great Saviour You have given to us! Jesus is greater than any earthly king. He does for us what no earthly king could ever do for us. He brings us into Your everlasting Kingdom.

1 Samuel 8:1-9:10 Lord, You are the King. There is no king like You. No human king can even begin to compare with You - the divine King, the "King of kings" (Revelation 19:16). We lift to You our song of praise: "O worship the King, all glorious above. O gratefully sing, His power and His love."

The name, “Samuel”, tells the story, leading up to his birth. His name means “God hears”. Samuel was given this name to indicate that he was God’s answer to Hannah’s prayer: “I asked the Lord for him” (1 Samuel 1:20). She gave her son back to the Lord - “I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted my request. In return, I am giving him to the Lord. He will be dedicated to the Lord for his whole life” (1 Samuel 1:11,28). Hannah’s prayer begins with the words, “”My heart finds joy in the Lord” (1 Samuel 2:1). Her son, Samuel, was going the Lord’s way. This was something which made Hannah rejoice in the Lord. We read about Samuel’s spiritual growth (1 Samuel 2:18,21). “The boy Samuel grew up in front of the Lord” (1 Samuel 2:18,21). “The boy Samuel continued to grow and gained the favour of the Lord and the people” (1 Samuel 2:26). For Samuel, this was just the beginning. There were greater things to come: “And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of...

The Power – “the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power” (1 Samuel 16:13). The Victory – “I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty … the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands” (1 Samuel 17:45, 47). The Thanksgiving – “I will exalt you, O Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me” (Psalm 30:1).

1 Samuel 3:1-4:22 "Here I am, Lord ... I have heard You calling in the night. I will go, Lord ... I will hold Your people in my heart" (Daniel L. Schutte). Lord, You come to us. You come with Your Word. It is a Word for ourselves. It is a Word for others. We receive Your Word. We share Your Word. Glorify Your Name, Lord- in us and through us.

1 Samuel 5:1-6:16 Lord, You are the true God, the living God, the everlasting God (Jeremiah 10:10). You are our Saviour (Isaiah 43:11). Speak to us Your truth. Breathe into us Your life. As Jesus draws near to us, help us to trust Him and be led by Him on the pathway to Your eternal glory.

1 Samuel 6:17-7:17 "Holiness, holiness, the only life that the Lord will bless" (Don Francisco). Lord, You are the holy God. You call us to be holy. The way of holiness is the way of blessing. Help us, Lord, to walk with You in Your way - the way of holiness, the way of blessing.

1 Samuel 24:1-22 Help us, Lord, never to imagine that we can ever hope to be fruitful for You if we are not committed to being faithful to You. Help us, Lord, to be more than people who serve You. Help us to be people who love You. May we serve You because we love You. May we love You because "You first loved us" (1 John 4:19).

1 Samuel 26:1-25 Lead us, Lord, in the way of true wisdom - "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Psalm 111:10). How foolish we are when we choose to go our own way rather than walking in Your way. Help us, Lord, to choose Christ every day - "O happy day, that fixed my choice on Thee, my Saviour and my God ... That vow renewed shall daily hear."

1 Samuel 1:1-28 We come to You, Lord, with sadness. You give us gladness. How does this gladness come to us? It comes to us when we stand upon Your Word, when we believe Your promises. Our life is not controlled by our feelings – the feelings that drag us down, the feelings that pull us away from You. Your promises lift us out of these feelings. They lift us into Your presence. They assure us of Your love. They lead us into Your blessing. Thank You, Lord, for Your promises and Your presence, Your love and Your blessing. 1 Samuel 2:1-36 Lord, there are two ways of living. There’s the way of holiness and joy, the way of living in the strength of Your Spirit. There’s the way of living to please ourselves, living without the joy that comes from You, living in the weakness of the flesh. Help us, Lord, to keep on choosing Your way, and not to persist in going our own way and doing our own thing. 1 Samuel 3:1-4:22 “Here I am, Lord … I have heard You calling in...

1 Samuel 18:1-20 What a difference there is between the love of power and the power of love. The world is all about the love of power. You, Lord, are all about the power of love. Your power is never power without love. Your love is powerful love. Fill us with Your power - and help us to give glory to You, the God of loving power and powerful love.

1 Samuel 30:16-31:13 Far too easily, Lord, we accept defeat - when You're leading us on into Your victory. What's wrong with us? It's sin. That's our problem. It never goes away, this problem of ours - but we don't have to fight against it in our own strength. Our sin may seem to be inevitable - "That's the way I am. That's the way I've always been. That's the way I'll always be." Our sin isn't invincible. Jesus triumphed over sin. That's what He did when He died for us and rose again. Jesus won the victory for us. He gives His victory to us. Help us, Lord, to receive His strength, to walk in His victory, and to say. "This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes" (Psalm 118:23).