28/05/2026
DAY OF PRAYER AND FASTING
Friday 29th May 2026
As a church family, we have set aside this day as our monthly day of prayer and fasting. We will meet (DV) at 1pm on Friday in the church prayer room, and everyone is warmly invited to join with us for as long as they are able.
During the day, you may choose to skip even just one meal and allow the hunger pains to remind you to pray. But even if fasting is not possible for you, please do join with us in prayer, asking that God’s will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.
We live in unsettled days. Conflict rages across the world. Uncertainty presses in from every side. In our own congregation, many are carrying heavy burdens of bereavement, serious illness and anxiety for the future. Our young people face the pressure of examinations. Summer stretches ahead with all its opportunities and challenges. And yet the word of God does not call us to panic, to despair, or to frantic activity. It calls us to stillness.
“Be still, and know that I am God.” — Psalm 46:10
“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” — Exodus 14:14
These are not words of passivity. They are words of the deepest faith, the faith of a people who have seen the Red Sea part, who know that their God reigns, and who choose to wait, watch and pray. Today we come before that same God, asking Him to fight for us, to be our refuge, and to carry what we cannot. We ask too that He would send us out into the summer months with renewed purpose, still in heart, but sent in service.
Psalm 46:1–11
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea... “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Exodus 14:13–14
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today… The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Prayer Points
Please pray that:
For our congregation
• those who are bereaved would know the tenderness of the God of all comfort, and that our church family would surround them with patient, practical love
• those who are seriously ill would experience the Lord’s peace, presence and sustaining grace, and that their families would be upheld
• our young people sitting examinations would be calm, well-prepared, and confident that God holds their future
• the Lord would guard our congregation from anxiety and fear, and lead us into a summer of rest, refreshment and renewed faith
• we would be a church marked by stillness before God, prayerful, dependent, and quick to seek His face
For our summer church life
• families would use the summer to draw closer to God and to each other
• those who visit Coleraine or who have contact with our members during the summer months would be drawn towards Christ
• those serving in children’s and youth work would be refreshed and sustained, and that summer programmes would bear lasting fruit
• ministry students on summer assistantships across the denomination would be enriched and prove a blessing to the congregations they serve
For the Presbyterian Church in Ireland
• the General Assembly, meeting in the coming weeks, would be marked by a spirit of unity, wisdom and humble dependence on God
• the important discussions on safeguarding would be conducted with care, courage and compassion, and that all necessary steps to protect the vulnerable would be taken with urgency and thoroughness
• the incoming Moderator, Rev Dr Richard Kerr, would be equipped and sustained in his calling
• the wider denomination would be renewed in its commitment to prayer, mission and the faithful preaching of God’s Word
For our nation and the world
• the Lord would restrain the violence in Northern Ireland, and that those who seek to destabilise peace would be frustrated
• the war in Ukraine would be brought to a just and lasting end, and that those suffering under occupation and displacement would know God’s mercy
• the escalating conflict in Lebanon and the ongoing tensions between the United States and Iran would not spiral further, and that the Lord would overrule for peace
• world leaders would be given wisdom, and that the God who raises up and brings down kings would move in the affairs of nations for His purposes
• the Church of Christ worldwide would remain faithful, prayerful and courageous in troubled times
• many across our land and beyond would turn to Christ, the only true refuge, and find in Him forgiveness, peace and life
Prayer
Heavenly Father,
We come to You today with open and empty hands. We come not because we have ordered our circumstances, but because You are God, and we are not. We come because You are our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble, and we need You.
We praise You that You are not a distant God, unmoved by the fears and sorrows of Your people. You are the God who opened the Red Sea, who led Your people through the wilderness, who went before them in a pillar of fire and cloud. You are the God who spoke into chaos and brought order, who holds the nations in the hollow of Your hand, who numbers our days and knows our needs before we ask. We adore You as the God who is sovereign over every war room and every sickroom, every exam hall and every graveside.
And yet we confess, Father, how quickly we forget this. Forgive us for our anxious reaching after control. Forgive us for the frantic busyness that is sometimes a failure of trust. Forgive us when we act as though everything depends upon our effort, our wisdom, our strength. We have been a people of restless doing when You have called us to faithful being still before You, rooted in You, dependent upon You.
Lord, teach us to be still. Not the stillness of indifference, but the stillness of those who know that You are God. Not the quietness of the defeated, but the quietness of those who stand at the water’s edge and trust the One who parts the sea. Give us the courage to stand firm when the world around us trembles. Let our stillness itself be a testimony that we have a God who fights for us, who never sleeps and who will not let His people go.
We bring before You our church family. We think of those who grieve sitting in homes made quiet by loss, carrying the weight of an absence that does not lift. Draw near to them, Lord. Let them know that You are the God of all comfort, that grief is not the end of the story, and that the One who wept at Lazarus’ tomb has overcome death. Surround them with the gentle love of Your people.
We think of those who are seriously ill, who lie awake at night with fear, who face uncertainty about their bodies and their futures. Meet them in the night watches. Give them peace that passes understanding. Grant healing and grace sufficient for every day. Help us as a church family to carry one another’s burdens faithfully and without weariness.
We think of our young people sitting examinations. Lord, calm their nerves and steady their minds. Help them to do justice to their preparation. Remind them that You hold their futures with more care and wisdom than any results can measure. May this season deepen, not diminish, their trust in You.
We pray for our summer ministry, for all who plan and lead and give themselves in service. Bless every act of outreach. Bless the children’s work and the youth work. Send us out not as those who perform a programme, but as those who are genuinely sent, carrying the love of Christ into every corner of this town and beyond.
We pray for the General Assembly of our Church. We ask for a spirit of unity and of holy purpose. In the important discussions on safeguarding, grant wisdom, courage and compassion in equal measure. May the Church act with thoroughness and urgency to protect the vulnerable, and may all our proceedings bring glory to Christ, the Head of the Church.
And Lord, we lift our eyes to a troubled world. We grieve the wars that continue to rage in Ukraine, in Lebanon, across the Middle East. We grieve the instability, the displaced families, the children born into conflict. Restrain evil. Frustrate the purposes of those who seek destruction. Overrule in the councils of the powerful. Bring to nothing every plot that would add to the sum of human suffering. We ask that You would use even these dark days to advance Your kingdom and to bring many to faith.
We pray for our own land. We ask for mercy in days of moral confusion, for the protection of the vulnerable, for the safety of our peace, and for a fresh awakening to the truth of the gospel. Raise up voices of courage and of love. Give boldness to Your people to speak of Christ.
And in all of this, Lord, be exalted. Be exalted in our congregation. Be exalted in our land. Be exalted among the nations. Let the stillness to which You call us be, in the end, not the quiet of those who have given up, but the quiet of those who know that You are God, and that is more than enough.
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Saviour, our refuge, and our peace.
Amen.
