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Devoted to prayer

 

The six essentials to becoming a praying church

 Have you ever found your heart leaping with a big ‘YES!’ as you read “They devoted themselves to… prayer.” in Acts2:42?  Well then, this article is for you. I want to explore the question “What will it take for your congregation to become truly ‘devoted’ to prayer?” 

I believe there are often perceptions about prayer that need to change, obstacles to freedom and power in prayer that need to be cleared away, and a work of cultivating that needs to be done, so that the many facets of prayer begin to flourish among us. read more...

 

The Privilege of Prayer

In Genesis we see the picture of working in partnership with God during the day – being his agents in the world, and then fellowshipping with him as they walked and talked ‘in the cool of the evening’. Looks very simple, doesn’t it - partnership and fellowship. I think we have somehow made prayer complicated – and that it is much simpler than we imagine.

Prayer is an invitation with my name on it; an invitation to fellowship and to partnership.

Prayer is a privilege – as we daily walk and talk and work with our God.

How we do that is hugely varied – delightfully varied. read more...

Group Prayer and Worship

When we gather in small groups, be it 3 or 4, or 12-15, we can hesitate to do more than just offer a few prayers at the beginning or end of our time.  I think this is because our model of worship is Sunday morning… with a group of musicians, words on the screen and a sense of a big sound, and often eloquent pray-ers leading prayer times. 

 One of the keys for meaningful small group worship is to realize that different settings require different approaches. read more...

Mandate for Miracles by Bill Johnson

 It is tragic when the high water mark for the Church is our celebration of what is humanly possible...  Once the Spirit of the resurrected Christ took up residence in us, powerlessness became inexcusable. The power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us, longing for expression through the body of the one He rested upon two thousand years ago. He wants to do it all again: this time through millions, not just one. read more...

Abide in my love by Andrew Murray

 This love of God to his Son must serve, O my soul, as the glass through which you are to learn how Jesus loves you. As one of his redeemed ones, you are his delight, and all his desire is to you, with the longing of a love which is stronger than death and which many waters cannot quench. His heart yearns after you, seeking your fellowship and your love. Were it needed, he would die again to possess you. As the Father loves the Son and cannot live without him, cannot be ‘God the blessed’ without him, so Jesus loves you. His life is bound up in yours; you are to him inexpressibly more indispensable and precious than you ever can know. read more...

Finding living water in the Word again.

 Why does the Word become dry and empty to us? It seems a common experience that the Scriptures that once poured life into us, now seem boring and uninspiring. It is as if the well has dried up. In pondering on this lately, I have come to the following conclusions. The first is centred on our belief about the Word, and the second is in how we handle it, how we read it and pray it. read more...

Holy priests offering spiritual sacrifices

When an Old Testament priest went before God, sometimes he wore a garment with the names of all the tribes of Israel on it. He took them into the Holy presence – to plead with God on their behalf. We must do this also. All of us must do this, because we are all priests. Perhaps you feel you are not good with words. You cannot pray like the pastor can…or that person can. God does not need lots of words. He needs your compassion. He needs your heart to ache for the person you are bringing to him. Perhaps you will groan, or sigh, or weep before God and say only a few words. That is enough.   read more...

Boldness in prayer

The Bible teaches that boldness in the life of a believer is at once both a process of becoming and a state of being. See it in the lives of the early believers in Acts 4. "When the Sanhedrin saw the boldness of Peter and John ... they realized they had been with Jesus." read more....  

Cultivating the Presence of God together

Of course, God is everywhere present. There is no place we can go where he cannot be with us. (Psalm 139:7) But we all know from experience that some places have a real ‘presence’ of something, or someone. Perhaps you have walked into a home or a church building or maybe a garden and felt ‘the presence of God’ as a sense of peace. Probably that place had been soaked in prayer and worship for some time, and there is an unhindered access to God’s presence.  read more...

Faith progression

Faith is not just a commodity that we have more or less of. Faith is expressed in an activity. It does things.
• Faith ‘rests’ in the perfectly complete work of the Cross – which brings peace of heart and a certainty of acceptance.
• Faith ‘trusts’ the promptings of the Spirit and does what is laid on our heart to do.
• Faith ‘takes hold’ of the promises of God and prays until they are made real in our life.
• Faith ‘responds’ with obedience to another revelation of who God is or what he can do.     read more...

Hearing His voice

Shepherds in the East did not herd their sheep from behind, with dogs, like in New Zealand.  They called them to follow their voice, as they went ahead of them. read more...

Exploring different ways we hear and respond to God

The more we see of the ways of God, the more inspired and delighted we can become...  because we get a bigger and bigger picture of God  read more. . .

Hearing God's music

“Let he who has ears to hear, use them.” More than once Jesus said these words. Eight times in the Gospels and eight times in the Book of Revelation we are reminded that it’s not enough just to have ears—it’s necessary to use them. read more...

Imagine worship in which people actually come alive

Imagine the mystery and delight of not just hearing, but seeing the story of Jesus for the first time, almost as an eyewitness  read more...

The exchanged life

The last month or more has been, perhaps, the happiest of my life: and I long to tell you a little of what the Lord has done for my soul. I do not know how far I may be able to make myself intelligible about it, for there is nothing new or strange or wonderful - and yet, all is new! In a word: "Whereas I was blind, now I see".  read more...

How can your church help people in midlife

(An excerpt from 'Midlife Spiritual Doldrums' by Kath Wells)

Clearly there are four major things that people in midlife need. The first is to understand and work through the discomfort of the transition. The second is to find a ‘neutral place’ so they can reflect, unravel their confusions, and hear God afresh. The third is to explore their beliefs and theology in this place of change. And the fourth is to identify and take up the new challenges that God has for their lives in the season ahead.  read more...