Praying for Unity together

Prepare: One of the things which confuses people most about the church is why it’s in so many different pieces. Jesus prayed that we would ‘be one’. Think about the wider church; Methodist, Assemblies of God, Independent, Baptist, Catholic, Church of England. Use your own words to pray for unity or pray:

Lord Jesus, we pray for all churches in this area, for unity in spirit and truth, within churches and between churches. Forgive us for the times when we have allowed our prejudices or preferences to divide us. Help us all to speak well of one another, and to work together for your Kingdom. May your people always look for the best in others, just as you did, and demonstrate your kingdom by loving one another. May the Christians in this area work and pray together for the good of our neighbourhood. Amen. 

Read: Matthew 18:19-20

Reflect: Jesus taught his disciples that there is power in agreement. Matthew 18:19-20 is about authority, and Jesus says that we use our God-given authority best and most effectively when we’re praying in agreement. Praying in agreement involves getting together with others and turning our hearts and our prayers to one another and to God. When what I am praying for lines up with what you are praying for and when that lines up with what God wants to do, then we’re all in agreement and something very powerful is released. When that agreement is also between people of different churches, different generations or different races, wow! 

God loves to hear his people praying together with one heart in accordance with God's heart. 

Respond: If you are able this week join in praying for a specific issue in your area. If you can, meet with others to do this. Here are some suggestions to pray for, where our heart and God's heart can be in agreement: 

• For crime rates to fall 
• For a family with a particular problem/crisis would find release 
• For an area nearby where there have been a lot of problems lately
• For a specific area of vandalism

A deeper Love for our Communities

Prepare: "This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins." (1 John 4:10) Thank God that he loved us even before we knew him.

Reflect: Take time to read these verses from the Bible slowly:

‘Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. ‘Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.’ (1 Corinthians 13:1-7) ‘

"You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”’ (Matthew 5:43-48)

Respond: What occurs to you as you read these verses? What stands out? For me it is that love is both an attitude and an action. When we love in our actions and through our heart, something powerful is released, and our families, our homes, and our neighbourhoods can be totally changed.

• Spend time in silence and ask God to show each of you where your attitude towards people in your neighbourhood or family is less than loving. Ask his forgiveness and invite the Holy Spirit to change your heart.
• Make a special commitment to pray for those you find it hardest to love. (Praying for someone can be the quickest way to start loving them)
• Pray for situations in your neighbourhood where relationships are strained, where people are excluded or where people are treated with hostility.

God is doing new things

Prepare: Look forward not back – this is a new moment, a new day, a month, a new start. What would you like God to do with it?

Read: Isaiah 43:16-19 Click here

Reflection: So often the new is simply a replacement or updated version of the old (new clothes, a new car, a new house), with no substantial change. These words that God speaks here turn our attention to God who is doing what is genuinely new. The people Isaiah is speaking to can remember former times (v 18) when God had done great things – the escape from Egypt and slavery, travelling and arriving in the land God had promised, but these times were past and they were in exile. Difficult times.

In situations of decline or loss it is easy to ‘dwell on the past’ (v 18), to look nostalgically, often with regret or anger, at what seems to be irretrievably lost, or to seek ways to bring it all back. God, however, moves forward seeking to bring about new things in each generation.

God speaks these words to the Israelite's but also to us today "See I am doing a new thing". God was about to do something. To get it ready, to set it in motion for the Israelite's. God goes out before us and we are to watch out for his new thing and then join in with what he has planned for us.

Prayer Ideas

Pray that God would show you:

• What good things are happening where you live? Things being done by people of faith or those with no faith. 
• As you look on the internet read the papers and see what is there going on in your area. Ask God what He is celebrating.
• Ask God if He is calling you or your church into one of these areas?

Greater Things!

Lynne Green President of the Baptist Union has called us to be beacons of prayer (Click here). If you would like to join me in with praying for the church and the surrounding community over the summer then please visit this blog where I'll be posting what I will be praying for each week. Together we can become a 'beacon of prayer'

Prepare: Jesus knows that we will go through tough times and times of change, . Share those times with God now.

Read:  John 14: 1-14 Click here

Reflection: The disciples are troubled, understandably since Jesus is going away and they are going to be left ‘minding the shop’. They are not worried about how they will get to heaven but how they will live on earth in the absence of Jesus. Jesus assures them that because of what he is about to do they will be able to enjoy the same relationship with God while on earth as he himself has enjoyed while on earth. As a result, they will be able to do what Jesus has been doing and continue his work. In particular, they will be able to pray with confidence and find that Jesus continues to live and work through their prayers (v 13). These words of Jesus state that God wants to do great things through us. That what we ask in line with Gods will will be done. This should revolutionise our praying. What does it mean for you to pray in the name of Jesus (v 13)?

‘You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it’ (v 14).

What’s on your heart and mind? Family? Friends? Ambitious ideas for ministry? Our world and its problems? Are these on God’s heart too? Talk with God – take him up on his promise today, praying ‘in the name’ of Jesus

Prayer Ideas

• Be still and be prepared to let God share what is on his heart for you.  Some of your requests may change – and maybe you will be the answer to some of them yourself (v 13)!

• As you walk or drive through your part of town this week pray that God would open your eyes to what he wants to see happening there.

• Listen to the worship song 'God of this city' by Chris Tomlin: Click here

Once upon a time there was a rich man...

On Sunday we talked about this parable from the Middle East (Adapted for Remembrance Sunday).

Read the story and see what wisdom you think it might offer into situations of Conflict both at home and abroad.

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time there was a rich man who lived in the deserts of the Middle East. You could tell how rich he was because of what he owned and especially how many camels belonged to him.  In fact he was so rich that he owned not 1, not 2, not 4, not 6, but 17 camels.

He had led a peaceful and prosperous life and so when he was very old and near to death he wrote his will, explaining how he intended to leave his wealth to his only son, his grandson and to his one nephew. The terms of the will were these: one half of his riches should go to his own son; one third should go to his grandchild and one ninth of his wealth should go to his nephew. This seemed fair. 

A problem dividing the inheritance

Soon after this the rich man died. Now when it came time to dividing up the camels according to the will, the three beneficiaries ran into a problem!

• If half the camels were given to the son, then he should get eight-and-a-half camels, which would mean killing a camel!
• If a third of the camels were given to the grandson, that would mean again killing a camel so he could get five and two thirds!
• And when it came to the nephew, there was no way he could get his share unless another camel was killed.

The three of them became frustrated and soon got very angry with each other. They shouted and quarrelled and argued and even threatened to go to war with one another over the camels. Secretly they began stockpiling their weapons and plotting their battle campaigns.

Nearby there lived a very poor man. You could tell he was very poor because he only had one camel. Although he was so poor and seemed to have no influence, he still felt he should do something to help. He wanted to stop war breaking out. He knew what damage it would cause not only others but him too. He wanted to be a peacemaker. But what could he do? he had so little? So little influence

A Sacrifice

He decided to offer his one and only camel into the rich man's inheritance to help sort out the problem. It was a huge sacrifice. The inheritance now consisted of 18 camels. The three sat down and did the sums.

• Half of 18 would go to the son, so he took 9 camels.
• One third of 18 would go to the grandson so he took 6 camels.
• And one ninth of 18 would go to the nephew, so he took two camels. 
• After each had taken his allotted number, to their great surprise there was one camel left over!

The poor man received his camel back! He had made peace by his willingness to give up all he had and it had made all the difference.

Some questions to think about…

• What is it that people fight over in war if not Land, Riches, Power! Similar things to those things in this story
• What are your thoughts about those preparing for battle? 
• Who would you like to be in the story?
• Who would Jesus be if he were a character in the story?
• What could this story saying to us about making peace? Can peace can only be achieved through great acts of sacrifice? (e.g.The man giving up his camel?)
• What could our country sacrifice to bring peace? 
• What about us? What would we be willing to give to bring peace? 
• What did Jesus sacrifice to bring peace? 

(Story adapted from http://www.barnabasinchurches.org.uk/remembrance-sunday-making-peace/)

I WILL STAND!

I will stand,
I will stand and say,
My God is with me,
Each and every day,
I will shout,
In-spite of doubt,
And fear and shame,
I know the Lord,
The lord who knows my name,

I cannot see where to go now,
I will be faithful, to God this I vow,
And even Though I cannot feel him close,
I shall proclaim loud and clear,
Through the tears,
For all to hear,
Jesus is Lord,
JESUS IS LORD over all,

I will cling on,
To all that God has done,
And as I cry out,
I know once more,
That as I do,
I open up the door,
To my God who reaches in,
Despite my doubt and sin,

So I stand, I stand,
I take a breath, breathe in and out,
Jesus is Lord I WILL shout.

(By Ian Ley)

Why wait?

I have spent a long time waiting recently. Waiting, is utterly annoying and frustrating. Standing waiting to get where I want to go, waiting in traffic, in bank queues, the list goes on. The estimate is that we spend six months of our life queuing.

But the fact that we do wait shows something. It shows that what we are waiting for is worth standing in a queue for, or stuck in a traffic jam for. 

Maybe there is something in this waiting that we should take hold of and make our own. That we should not necessarily enjoy the wait but we should appreciate the opportunity it gives to recognise that we are waiting because it is worth it. Whether it is waiting for a train that is delayed to go home to a loved one, whether it is waiting in a queue to get some money to go out for the night. 

Waiting give us a chance to give thanks for what we are waiting for and as a result renew our joy in life?

Waiting plays an significant part in the life of those who follow Jesus. We wait in the short term maybe for answers to prayer, or in the long term, we wait for God to put this broken world to right. Maybe God has us wait so often because it helps us realise that God is the one who is in control and not us. But as we wait we can be renewed:

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:31)