Praying Through God's Word: Mark's Gospel

Mark 1:1-20

Lord, we thank You that Your Son, Jesus, has triumphed over Your enemy, Satan. To us, Satan can seem so strong. Help us to remember that Jesus is stronger than Satan. With Jesus as our Saviour, we shall triumph over Satan, our enemy.

Mark 1:21-2:12

Lord, help us never to think that prayer time is wasted time. Jesus prayed. Jesus received Your blessing. Jesus brought Your blessing to others. Help us to be like Jesus - praying, receiving Your blessing, bringing Your blessing to others.

Mark 2:13-3:12

Lord, there are some changes that are good changes - but not all change is good change. We live in an ever-changing world. We look at some of the changes. We wonder, "Where are these changes coming from?" Is it because so many people have stopped listening to what Your Word is saying to them? What about good change, Lord? Where does good change come from? It comes from You, Lord. Real change, true and lasting change, comes to us when we put our trust in You, when we say, "Not my will, but Your will be done, Lord."

Mark 3:13-35

Sometimes, Lord, when we think about our many sins, we wonder, "How can we possibly be forgiven?" - and, then, we remember Jesus. We remember that He died for our sins. We look at ourselves, and everything seems to be so hopeless. We look at Jesus, and we say, "Thank You, Lord, for Your wonderful love. Your love is greater than all of our sin. Thank You, Lord.

Mark 4:1-34

Lord, what does Your Spirit have to say to us? He speaks to us of our sin. He shows us our Saviour. It's a good thing to be aware of our sin. It's an even better thing to know that Jesus "receives sinners" (Luke 15:2). We come to Him - and He welcomes us. He is our Savour. He forgives our sins. Our sin gets us down. Our Saviour lifts us up. No wonder we sing, "Hallelujah! What a Saviour!"

Mark 4:35-5:20

"No-one ever cared for me like Jesus": Lord, help us to remember this - when our heads start to go down, and everything seems to be getting on top of us. Help us to remember this: "Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:38-39).

Mark 5:21-6:13

Lord, when we feel like there's no hope, show us that You are "the God of hope" (Romans 15:130. This is why we believe that "there is hope" (Jeremiah 31:17). Our hope is in You - the God of great faithfulness (Lamentations 3:23). With You as our God, how can we ever feel that we're hopeless? - To ask this quesion is to answer it! You are our God. You are our hope. Thank You, Lord.

Mark 6:14-44

Lord, we look for happiness. Where will we find it? "Happiness is to know thew Saviour, living a life within His favour." How does happiness come our way? It comes when we're learning to see that pleasing You is more important than pleasing ourselves: Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."

Mark 6:45-7:23

Where, Lord, will we find peace - when our emotions are tearing us apart? We feel like we're being pulled this way and that way. Sometimes, we feel like we're all over the place. We don't know whether we're coming or going. Lord, give us Your peace. Give us Your Son, Jesus. He is our Saviour. He is our Peace.

Mark 7:24-8:26

How much, Lord, do we want to be blessed by You? Is this something that we can take or leave? Do we say, "It would be nice to have more of the Lord's blessing - but we're doing OK, as things are? Are we doing OK? or Are we too easily satisfied? Create in us, Lord, a greater hunger and thirst for Your righteousness. Give us a greater desire that You will be glorified in us and through us. Help us not to settle for less than You want to give to us.

Mark 8:27-9:13

Where does our faith come from? - It comes from You, Lord. You put it into our hearts. You brought us to Jesus, Your Son - Jesus, our Saviour. You brought us out of unbelief and into faith. We came to You in our sin. You gave to us Your salvation. Thank You, Lord.

Mark 9:14-50

Lord, we come to You in weakness. You come to us in power. Our faith is weak. your power is great. What is our faith? It is faith in Your power - the power of Your love. It's not faith in ourselves. It's faith in You. You are our God. We put our trust in You. May we know, in our hearts, that You are absolutely trustworthy - the God who will never fail us.

Mark 10:1-31

When problems come our way, help us, Lord, to see that You have given us the answer - Your Answer: Jesus. What are we to do when we have problems? - We take them to Jesus. We see nothing but our problems - He sees something else: His opportunities. Our big problems can be turned into His great opportunities! Our problems bring us down. Your grace lifts us up. When our faith is put to the test, help us to remember Your precious promise: "My grace is sifficient for you. My strength is amade perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Mark 10:32-52

Lord, You gave Your Son for us. We give all the glory to You. Our salvation does not begin with ourselves. It begins with You - Your gift to us, the gift of Your love: "God so loved the world that he gave His only Son" (John 3:16). Thank You, Lord, for Your love. Thank You for Your gift. Thank You for Your Son.

Mark 11:1-33

Lord, You call us to be fruitful for You. You call us to pray to You. Lead us in the way of fruitfulness. Lead us in the way of prayer. Help us to see that real fruitfulness comes from You. It comes to us - when we seek blessing from You and give glory to You.

Mark 12:1-44

Lord, give us wisdom. Give us Jesus. Give us faith - faith that is grounded in Your Holy Word, faith that is empowered by Your Holy Spirit. This is wisdom - living in the light of Your Word, living in the power of Your Spirit, living for Jesus. Lord, give us wisdom.

Mark 13:1-27

Lead us on, Lord - from our past, to Your future. Whatever our past has been, show us Your future. Show us that You haven't given up on us. Show us that You have a great future planned for us.

Mark 14:1-25

We thank You, Lord, for Your love. It's the greatest love of all. Your love for us is so much greater than our love for You. Help us, Lord, to think less about our love for You, and more about Your love for us.

Mark 14:26-52

Lord, we praise You. We pray to You. We preach Your Word. Help us, Lord, as we praise, pray and preach, to remember that this is only part of our life. You call us to belong to You - and to serve You in the whole of life. This is not only about the things that we do - even the 'holy' things! It's about being the kind of people You've called us to be. We're called by Your holiness - called to be holy. We're called by Your love - called to be loving. We're called by Jesus - called to become more like Him. Help us, Lord, to hear Your call. Help us to say, 'Yes' to Your call - the call to live in holiness and love, the call to follow Jesus.

Mark 14:53-15:5

We thank You, Lord, that Jesus went to the Cross for us. He didn't stop halfway. He didn't opt out at 'the eleventh hour.' He didn't give up. He kept on going. What was it that kept Him going? - It was His love for us. Thank You, Lord, for His love - real love, wonderful love, perfect love, complete love, eternal love.

Mark 15:6-41

Thank You, Lord, that Jesus gave Himself for us. He took our place. He died for us. We are the sinners. He is the Saviour. He made the complete sacrifice. We receive the full salvation.This is Good News. It's the best news we could ever hear.

Mark 15:42-16:20

We thank You that Jesus has risen from the dead. He died. He was buried. Was that the end of Him? No! There was a wonderful new beginning - for Jesus, for us. He has been raised to life - a glorious resurrection. We will be raised to life - a glorious future. Here-and-now, Lord, may our life be shaped by Your future - filled with the glory of the risen Lord.