Something from Nothing?

 

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 (NKJV)

In the beginning God created the sky and the earth. Genesis 1:1 (NIV)

In the beginning, when God created the universe. Genesis 1:1 (GNT)

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 (NASB)

In the beginning God made from nothing the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 (NLV)

 

There was nothing.

It was the beginning.

Not just the beginning of the Bible but the beginning of everything.

There was nothing.

There was no light, no sun, no water, no sky. There were no bricks to build houses, no seeds to plant trees; no dirt, no ground. The seasons didn’t exist. Absolute nothingness.

 

God existed.

And out of nothing, He created. From absolute desolation, He made our world, our galaxy, and our universe. He created, from scratch, the heaven we long for. With no tools and no materials, He created life.

 

The Good News translation tells it as if it was no big deal: “Oh, remember in the beginning when God created the universe?” – wait, what?! That statement is deserving of a little more ceremony and celebration! God started with nothing and yet He made everything. Poof! Right out of thin air!

 

The very first sentence in the Bible; the first thing ever recorded for all of humankind to read and know for eternity, is that God can take nothing, and turn it into something.

 

“Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground,

and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;

and man became a living being.”

– Genesis 2:7 (NASB)

 

God created human life, in all of its perfection and intricacy, and He created it from nothing. He didn’t have a manual. He created Adam using only Himself as the blueprint. Using nothing but the dust on the ground He had just created, God made Adam. He breathed His own breath into this mound of dirt and it became a living human being. If this were a movie, you’d turn it off here – it sounds ridiculous!

 

“So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon

the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs

and closed up the flesh at that place.”

– Genesis 2:21 (NASB)

 

God took from Adam that which He had just created from nothing. He took a rib. A rib that He had made from a speck of ground dust. Ground dust which He had just created from nothing. And from this rib, this tiny piece of bone, the LORD God created a woman. He created Eve, with all of her unique feminine differences, and He made her perfectly, from a piece of bone, made from dirt.

 

Our bodies, which are still medical mysteries, were created from absolutely nothing, and yet they are designed with such precision and perfection. Our hearts beat perfectly so that the blood can flow through our bodies. Blood! Where did that come from?! Our brains, which are still the most powerful and enigmatic computer known to man, are so amazingly complex that even the best brain surgeons in the world still don’t understand them completely. We still don’t know how to access and use our brains to their full potential, but God knew how to create them, all those years ago!

 

Can you imagine, tomorrow, someone creating the best computer or software in the world, that the universe has or will ever know, and creating it with no tools and no materials, other than some dust he just found right there on the floor? God did that!

 

If God can create everything that you see when you look around, and He can start with absolutely nothing, what can He do when He has something to start from? Imagine the possibilities! God can create a man from dust, and then create a woman from that man. He can look around an empty void and declare that there be light, and water, and earth. He can fill the planet with countless animals, each one unique.

 

If God can do this, with nothing to start with, imagine what He can do with a store room full of materials to choose from! Imagine what He could do with a room full of willing participants! Imagine what He could do with your body, your life, your brains!

 

If we can believe that God can do and has done these things, why then do we still struggle to accept that He can work in our lives? Why do we not believe that God can and does still perform miracles? Why do we not have faith in His power when we have seen the works He has made; we can see the beauty of the world He has created, right in front of our very eyes. When you stop and take a moment to notice and appreciate what it is that you’re actually seeing: that flower you just plucked from the meadow, with its petals so perfect; or that butterfly flitting around you with its impeccable symmetry; a labouring woman, her body dilating and contracting exactly where and when it needs to, in order to deliver a brand new human being into the world.

 

Everything you see has been designed to perfection. Everything you see started as nothing. Take a moment to notice and try to fathom just how great and powerful our God is.

 

“Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth

by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm!

Nothing is too difficult for You!”

-       Jeremiah 32:17 (NASB)

 

That same God that we call to in our need, our Father who loves us more than we could ever hope to imagine. If He can do all things and create all things, surely, He can deal with whatever our worries our problems are. Even though, to you, they might seem as big as the earth, God is bigger! He can handle it! What can our God not do?

 

Give your worries to the Lord and watch as He turns them into something amazing!

 

 - originally written in September 2012

 

 

 

Session 5 - Unanswered Prayer (The Prayer Course)

 The Prayer Course

Session 5: Unanswered Prayer

Key verse

“Your will be done” – Matthew 6:10

In this session we’ll be tackling the challenges and realities when our prayers aren’t answered.

 

Bible passages

Mark 14:32-36, Daniel 3, Romans 5:3-5

 

 

The Bible is honest about unanswered prayer – we are part of a faith that is all about wrestling.

God’s world, God’s war, God’s will.

God’s silence is not the same as his absence.

 

What did you find most helpful or most challenging in the video?

The suggestion that we expect God to come in on a white horse and save the day, or, using the analogy from the video, a helicopter ready to air lift us out, of our situation. This is not supported anywhere in scripture. In fact, looking at what God did in sending His Son to earth, more often He parachutes Himself right in to our situation instead.

Practical suggestions such as to ask “where”, rather than “why” give me a plan and a starting point, and I’m grateful for this kind of teaching. To ask God, “Where are you in this situation?” and to allow Him to draw nearer to me rather than accusing Him by asking why He’s not acting in the way I want, when I want Him to.

There were three suggested reasons as to why a prayer might be left unanswered: God’s World, God’s War, and God’s Will.

God’s World – Some prayers aren’t answered because of the way God made the world to work; laws of nature etc. God cannot break His own laws and statutes. They gave the analogy of a brick. I can pray as hard as I want but God will never make a brick float on water. It simply won’t happen because that’s not how it was designed.

God’s War – There is an enemy. Satan is actively opposing the will of God. More on this in Session 8.

God’s Will – Sometimes God just says no. God knows best. Choose to trust even though you don’t understand.

  

How has the reality of unanswered prayer affected your relationship with God?

Have you ever felt God’s silence/absence in seasons of your life and faith? How did you respond?

Pete shared about his friend’s death and how he questioned why God didn’t heal him, asking, “God, where were you?” I shared a few sessions ago that I had a similar struggle when my prayers went unanswered, both for Paula and for baby Blake. My faith in God never wavered but I did question His presence and desire to help us, as well as my own prayer “ability”.

It was interesting to note that our entire faith is centred on struggling. Jacob’s name was changed after he wrestled with God. “Israel” literally means “to strive, or to struggle”. To question is not to unbelieve. Even in our questioning, we still believe in God and, in reality, the very fact that we are questioning Him and wondering why He hasn’t answered shows that we do believe in Him and that we do have faith in His ability.

I found the notion that Jesus is living with unanswered prayer to be refreshing -it’s the first time I had ever considered this. In John 17:20-21, Jesus prays His final prayer before He is apprehended and crucified, and He sees fit to end His final prayer on earth in intercession for us, all of His followers for all time, that we would be in unity as one, "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” Look around you, you’ll see hundreds of different denominations all claiming to follow the same Jesus, and unfortunately, there is no unison to be found.

Jesus’ prayer isn’t even outside of God’s will – in Psalm 133:1, it states, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!” (If you’ve seen The Chosen series and you’re anything like me, you’ll have that little earworm in your head for weeks now, I’m sorry!) so there is no logical reason that it remains unanswered. Jesus knows in great detail what it is like to live with unanswered prayer.

The reminder that God’s silence doesn’t mean God’s absence was such an epiphany to me. I’ve read it and heard it more times than I can count, but there was something about hearing it in this context that just really drove it home for me. God will never leave us, nor forsake us. It tells us so explicitly in Hebrews 13:5. Even when He feels a million miles away, when He seems so far detached that we can never reach Him – Jesus bridges that gap. He is always present but, in these seasons, He may withdraw His presence and immerse us in a spiritual darkness, that we might grow into maturity and grow in faith.

  

How do you think we can get better, as communities, at dealing with the realities and challenges of unanswered prayer?

For me, I had a real challenge within myself, where I looked around at other people and concluded that I must not be as good, or as spiritual, or as worthy as them, because God wasn’t answering my prayer. The truth though, is that He might not have been answering theirs either. Nobody likes to share things that haven’t gone very well, but they’ll jump up and give a glorious testimony as soon as they do.

I believe that it is time we stopped putting on a show. Social media plays a huge role in the way we communicate, as well as the content of what we communicate and to whom. I see perfect snapshots of other people’s families and lives, with a sparkling home and not a hair out of place, and then I look at my own photo albums and it’s easy to feel like a lesser mother when my house is a mess and my kids have their dinner down their shirts. I’m not suggesting that all of those perfect snapshots are staged, but my snapshots are raw, and real, and absolutely brutally honest, and I love them just as they are. I’d much rather see truthful depictions of life which help me to feel more normal and encourage others to feel normal too.

That vulnerability is something which Jesus models Himself. Read in Mark 14:32-36 when Jesus is in the garden at Gethsemane. Notice how vulnerable He is with His friends. In verse 34, He says, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death”. Other versions use the phrases, “crushed with grief”, “consumed with sorrow”, “exceedingly sorrowful”, and “deeply grieved”. In direct opposition to what I would do, He pours out His heart and asks His friends for support in His hour of need. Yet even when He shared His anguish with His friends, He pursued the Father more.

In what I would consider to be one of the most important verses in the whole of the Bible, Jesus Christ throws Himself to the ground in complete submission and cries heart-wrenching sobs, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will." (verse 36). He anchored himself in God’s love by calling out for His Abba, His father. He first affirms God’s love and then His power, “you can do anything”. This radical honesty and vulnerability in asking God to take the cup, followed immediately by the knowledge that the Father’s will is the only thing that truly matters, in the phrase that I try to adopt in all of my prayers: “not my will, Lord, but Yours be done!”

This prayer of relinquishment is vital to many stories and events in the Bible. The biggest example coming to mind is in Mary’s obedience to the Lord. It doesn’t come easily to us, but trusting God and being open to His will allows Him to grace us with the strength we need so that we can choose to die to our own desires and say “yes” to His.

  

How can we encourage one another in “faithfulness” as well as “faith”?

Pete tells us that faith is god’s gift to us, and our faithfulness is our gift back to Him. Faithfulness is learning to trust God and declaring that we trust that He will do the thing we have asked Him to, but even if He doesn’t, we are still going to follow Him anyway. When our prayers don’t seem to working but we’re still true to God – that’s faithfulness.

Romans 5:3-5 reminds us that our tribulations bring about perseverance, which in turn brings character, which then brings about hope. As Pete says, “even when we don’t understand, we can still trust.”

I’m keen to break the stigma relating to mental health issues, and try to encourage everyone to share their bad as well as their good days. I model this myself by sharing my own struggles on my Facebook page, publicly for the world to see. Unfortunately, as much as there has been a shift in the way these issues are recognised, it is still very much a taboo subject. It is time that we stopped the charade and told the truth. Sometimes I’m not okay, and that’s okay.  It’s our responsibility, our duty as Christians, to support those around us who are struggling.

We must not tell a struggling brother or sister, directly or indirectly, that when things don’t go their way, they must not have enough faith, or that they must have some kind of sin or spirit or bondage within them. Our job is to support and love them even as Christ loves us, warts and all. Offer to pray with and for them. Help to carry their burden. Invite them to spill their hurting hearts and overactive minds over a coffee. Just be there for them and support them in whatever they need. Be the tangible force of love in a world where there is none.

Christ Able: Our journey from home school to school school

Did I ever share the story of how our eldest came to be at school?

I had been planning to home educate for years before Noah was ever born, for lots of reasons but mostly because I was worried about "worldly corruption" and navigating the Halloween season. As an Early Years Teacher myself, I had also experienced too many subpar settings and was worried that none of the schools in our catchment area were good enough.

I came up against a bit of resistance from our wider family and friends and so I often prayed for God to show me His will in this situation.

Suddenly, the day after Riki had a GP appointment to discuss a vasectomy, we found that we were pregnant with Bondling #3 and needed a bigger house. I prayed my socks off, enlisting Noah to partner in prayer with me for the perfect house. I made a sort-of deal that if the Lord would give us a forever home in the catchment area for the best school possible, I would take that as a sign that it was God's will for him to go to school, and as much as it would hurt my pride, I would support it fully.

We heard news of an estate being built in a good location. We didn't dare hope for it but we included it in our prayers as a possibility, only if it was God's will. As the weeks turned into months, my belly grew and so did the houses on the new estate. Arla Beth was born in January but we still hadn't found a new home.

We put in a bid for a house on the same street as my parents, it was between two "okay" schools and was a nice enough house, but we didn't get it. I carried on praying and outwardly put on a brave face, saying, "our perfect home is out there and we'll find it when it's the right time". Inwardly I was worried that we would be stuck in the two bedroomed cave that we hated.

In March we were in a small car accident and I felt so alienated from our family. Truthfully there was only a 5 minute car journey to my parents' house in the next town but I had developed a crippling post-partum anxiety and desperately needed to be closer. We were on the way to the hospital to be checked over the next day and we had a phonecall.

They were offering us one of the new houses. The street was called Christabel, and was directly next door to - literally shared a footpath with - a primary school which was not only the best in the area but also one of the best in the county. It was an accessible home with wide doors and hallways and a starlift port. Even when my joints succumb to the diseases laying in wait, I would be able to stay here. This could be our forever home.

It was available for us to move in at Easter and we were the first in! I was still reluctant but I made the phonecalls and followed through on my promise to enrol Noah into the nursery. On his first day we were walking to nursery and even though it wasn't raining, there was a complete rainbow in the sky just over the road. We entered his classroom and were welcomed by his teacher, Mrs Peace (I could not make this up if I tried!) When I got home I really had to stop myself calling to check on him. Instead, I looked out of his bedroom window toward his classroom to make sure he wasn't by the door waiting for me (he wasn't), and noticed that the rainbow I had seen was a double rainbow right over the school. I felt so at peace and for the first time I actually trusted that this was right. I don't understand why, but it's not my place to know why. Only to be obedient and trust.

Noah has absolutely thrived and even though I try to provide a rich learning environment for my children at home, I could never have provided the experiences and opportunities he's had at school. I'm so grateful for the teachers and support staff, especially during this time when life has been so difficult for everyone. His time at nursery was cut short in March and it was a long six months. I would be lying if I said I didn't falter in my faith for this particular situation, but a couple of weeks ago he started full time school and it's as if he was never away. We stopped by to say hello to his nursery teachers and they were overcome with emotion at seeing their tiny and shy children suddenly so grown up. My heart broke for them as they never had that chance to say goodbye; they didn't get their closure. Seeing the tears from his teachers strangely made my heart flutter. They loved my son and they missed him, they accepted him and they were proud of him. I can't describe how grateful I am for that.

Today I received a message from Noah's new class teacher who remembered, on her weekend, that I had mentioned that we don't celebrate Halloween. She wanted to make sure that any activities she would be planning would be suitable and not offend our beliefs. She not only understands our concerns but shares them and will uphold them in her classroom. She also happens to be the deputy headteacher and the Early Years lead. This, again, is yet another confirmation that I was absolutely right to trust in God and follow through on my promise to send Noah to this particular school. 

Not only that, but thanks to the experience of such a wonderful school, I've refound my passion for my calling (yes, you read that right; I'm finally accepting that this is my calling). I had worried that I was simply too passionate about my vocation and that after being so disheartened by the negative experiences I'd faced, I would never be able to work in my field. I'd convinced myself that there were too many setbacks and so it must not be God's will for me. In truth I was probably a little scared. I finally feel excited and hopeful for my own future and my career, and that's something I never thought I'd be able to say!

Even when all hope seems lost, when the world seems to be running away from us and time goes too quickly. Even when we've tried everything in our own strength and we just can't. Christabel comes up. "Christ Able" comes up. Because when we can't, Christ can.

Session 4 - Intercession (The Prayer Course)

The Prayer Course

Session 4: Intercession

Key verse

“Your kingdom come” – Matthew 6:10

In this session, we’ll explore the power and importance of praying on behalf of others.

 Other key verses include: 2 Chronicles 7:13-14, Exodus 17:8-13, Genesis 18:22-33

 

Summary points

• When God’s people intercede, God intervenes.
• There is power in our free will.
• 4 steps of intercession: get informed, get inspired, get indignant, get in synch. 

What did you find most helpful or most challenging in the video?

I have always had a sort of “what’s the point” attitude to praying in petition or intercession. I mentioned in Session 1 that this came to a head in August 2017. I just couldn’t understand why I should bother praying for something if God had already ordained our lives and “written” our stories anyway.  In the video, they touched upon this and I was encouraged by the knowledge that our choices can make a difference – look at when Abraham interceded for Sodom because his nephew Lot was there (Genesis 18:16-33). God heard Abraham’s intercession and agreed to withhold His wrath. This shows us that we can make choices in prayer and partner with God. God is not a tyrant; He is a delegator. He wants us to partner with Him.

I was also greatly encouraged by the notion that intercession is for everyone; not just “Spiritual Heavyweights”. Hebrews 7:25 says, “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” - If we are filled with God, we are filled with intercession. It is part of our identity and is an expectation for all of us, not just those who are right on the top of the pulpits or pedestals. Intercession shows that we care; it is a fruit of the Spirit.

I often felt, particularly in the previous church I attended, that I wasn’t “good enough”; that I wasn’t spiritual or mature enough and no matter how much I tried, my prayers would never quite make it as far as the prayers of those other people who were considered “prayer warriors” or “on fire for God”. The truth is that, although I may be seeking a simpler and more truth-based relationship with my Father, I have just as much access to Him as anyone else, because it is not awarded to me based on my ability to pray out loud, or how many bible verses I can recite, or how much I tithe. It is freely given to me by the completely, overwhelmingly, undeserved grace that He offers.

In the session notes, there was an “Up/In/Out” model for a prayer meeting:

Up -worship - We are told to bring our petitions before the Lord with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6) and to enter His courts with praise (Psalm 100:4) To lift our eyes from our own problems and instead look toward the possibilities of God. To use worship as warfare and combine spoken intercession with sung worship as a way to release faith in ourselves and others.

In -listen to the Holy Spirit’s leading

Out – pray for issues within your community

I found this helpful as I often just head straight in with my prayer, probably in some part a fear of forgetting what I wanted to say, but when I think about it, it’s incredibly rude. We’ve all had those friends who don’t stop to ask how you are or even offer the courteous pleasantries before heading straight into a spiel about their own personal dramas. I don’t want to be that person with anyone but especially not with God!

 

How do you feel about intercessory prayer – do you find it’s something that comes naturally or is it more of a challenge?

No. I have to be honest and say that intercessory prayer does not come naturally to me. It’s not that I don’t care about other people; quite the opposite as I’ve always considered my over-active empathy levels to be a burden, but I just don’t know how to pray for other people. I’ll generally say “I’ll pray for you”, and I mean it, but after the initial need has been prayed for, I’m stumped.

 

 

“Our free wills are powerful; they can release or restrict the purposes of God.”

How does this affect the way that we come to God in intercessory prayer?

I never want to do anything to restrict the purposes of God and, frankly, this statement worried me. I don’t think for a moment that I am important enough that I can restrict God – nobody is – but I suppose that if I am stubborn or hardened to something that God has willed for my life and I actively pray against it, God will not over-rule my free will. I often wonder, if Mary had refused to carry the Messiah, would He have chosen someone else or would history look very different now as a result of the promised Saviour never having been born?

In the same way, I often wonder if there is a need or a job that I have been called to, and if I never do it, what will happen? For many years I’ve been plagued with a desperate longing to know God’s calling on my life and, try as I might, I’ve never had a clear or distinct sign. I worry that I’m not walking in God’s will and that the longer I go, the farther away I’ll get, and then what will become of my role in the Kingdom, and the world, if I never fulfil the part that I alone was born to play?

There is such power in our obedience and in our intercession. The bended knee is possibly the most powerful position there is for a Christian.

I try to make a conscious effort to always pray, “Lord, if it is Your will” but of course, this is a difficult reality to accept at times, and often we can’t see it clearly in the moment. It’s not until a long time after the fact that we can see God’s hand over our situation, and many times it’s too late to do anything about it.

I found the “IF, WHEN, THEN” discussion interesting in the video: 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 says, “If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

IF we make prayer our first priority and don’t immediately try other things first, then WHEN things go wrong, because they inevitably do at some point or another, THEN God will hear our prayers and our cries and heal our land. Our land is in such desperate need of healing right now, and if we would all humble ourselves and take the knee before the Lord, only then will He reach out and help us. He’s not a dictator; He won’t force help on us. We have to ask for it. When God’s people intercede, God will intervene.

  

Have you ever had a feeling that you needed to pray for something or someone? What happened?

Several times, and I’m ashamed to say that I don’t always follow through, especially if it involves me going out of my comfort zone and laying hands or speaking directly to someone – I’m very much a private pray-er and I struggle to pray out loud or in a group setting. In church prayer meetings I freeze up if there seems to be an expectation for us to take our turn at praying out loud. I don’t know if I’m overwhelmed or intimidated by the more “spiritual” people who know all the fancy words and can pray long and loud prayers without even thinking, or maybe I still see myself as that young child sitting beside her mum, being offered a colouring book because “this is grown up stuff” and out of my league.

I used to attend the early morning Saturday prayer meeting at my church. 7am every Saturday. I enjoyed it because it was different than the Tuesday evening prayer meeting. There were only four or five of us and it was a very relaxed, almost meditative meeting where we were encouraged to spend time in quiet contemplation as much as spoken prayer.

We also had prayer and fasting weeks where the church would be open throughout the day for us to pop in and out and pray. Often there were “stations” set up around the sanctuary with prayer points for specific areas of need, within the church and community, and also further afield. I enjoyed these kinds of prayer events the most because I could go in, whenever I wanted to, and just go around the different zones in my own time and order, and just spend time seeking the Lord in each of the situations. It helped me to have those “headings” and suggested topics but still having the freedom to pray in my own way. I have several prayer journals from these kinds of days and, looking back on them, I find that I’m actually much more competent at praying than I give myself credit for – especially when I write them out.

I have always believed – and I still do – that prayer is such a personal thing. It’s my private conversation with my Father; the moments where I allow my mask to slip for a moment and I open myself up in complete vulnerability, crying out to my “Abba”. I never had a dad so I can’t say with any kind of authority, but I’d imagine that most girls talking with their dad would prefer not to broadcast their quiet, intimate conversations. That said, I do completely understand the need for and power in corporate and collective prayer and have been part of some larger scale prayer meetings which were very powerful.

 

“Prayer isn’t about trying to get God to say amen to what I want; prayer is about me saying amen to God’s will for my life”

 What would it look like for you to pray this week with this perspective?

It’s important for us to fully grasp the gravity of what we are doing when we pray. So often have I corrected myself from praying too formally, that I fear I may have overcorrected and gone slightly too far the other way. We must constantly remind ourselves of the greatness of our Almighty Father, and this can be done easily by the act of beginning our prayers with a time of worship and adoration, as discussed in previous sessions. In professing His indescribable greatness, His might, His majesty, His mercy, His all-consuming love, and all the wonderful virtues that He alone possesses, we come to His throne in complete awe, and honour Him with our minds as well as our spirits. Only then can we fully grasp the enormous privilege that we have been granted in being able to approach the King of the Universe directly and offer up our prayers of petition and intercession. At this point, when we are fully aware of just how awesome our God is, we can do nothing else but submit to His will. We would be foolish to think that our own worldly desires could stand a chance next to His! Here we are in the perfect place to wholly submit, prostrate at His feet, and say with absolute fervency, “Your will be done!” And that’s the place where God will pick us up and work with us.

When we pray “Let Your will be done” we are interceding. We are opening ourselves up as obedient servants and willing participants. We aren’t saying that we will do anything in our own strength, or that our desires are more important, we are simply providing a landing pad for God’s will to be done in our lives or situations.

This week my grandad has gone into a care home full-time. This man has been my rock. The only father I ever knew for the whole of my childhood and adolescence. His health has declined drastically and my family are heartbroken but I have found a peace in praying, “Lord, let Your will be done” and a comfort in trusting that He knows best. ““For I know the plans that I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”” (Jeremiah 29:11)

There is a strength that comes from those words, “Your will be done”, that I never truly appreciated until recently.

 

Session 3 - Petition (The Prayer Course)

  The Prayer Course

See my introduction to The Prayer Course here and my notes on Session 1 here, and Session 2 here.

The Prayer Course

Session 3: Petition

Key verse 

“Give us this day our daily bread” – Matthew 6:11 

 

Bible passages

Matthew 7:7-11, Matthew 18:19

 

Summary points

The Father loves to give good gifts.

Traffic lights: Yes, Wait, No.

Sometimes we need to “stack dominoes” and persevere in prayer

 What did you find most helpful or most challenging in the video? 

I’ve always been taught the power of the name of Jesus. I’ve mentioned in previous posts about ending prayer requests as a child with, “In Jesus’ mighty name”, but this was the first time I’d heard it likened to the “top dog” like asking for a manager when the sales assistant isn’t quite able to meet your need.

 To pray in the name of Jesus means to pray in line with His character – the power of going to the top. We do not need an intercessor or middle-man; we can go straight to God with our requests and petitions. What an honour! How many CEOs or Presidents of companies (or leaders of countries) do you know who will stand up and say, “don’t bother with my secretary, just come right into my office. In fact, here’s my home address and direct telephone number; I’m available to you whenever, come freely!” I’d venture that even amongst church leaders, there aren’t many who invite such open-door policies.

 I also found it interesting to note that when we pray for our daily bread, we don’t necessarily get it with all the bells and whistles. Sometimes it’s literally just enough to sustain us. As Pete said, it’s daily bread we’re asking for, we can’t expect Nutella on it every time! Of course, He is our father and He gives us good things, as stated in Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” but He doesn't spoil us or give us more than we are can handle at the time (look at the manna given to the Israelites in Exodus - He gave them just enough for each family's need; no more and no less, and they had to eat it that same day - it wouldn't keep. Literally giving them their daily bread).

The suggestion to pray incrementally was an eye-opener for me. Rather than praying all at once for the big things, break it down into actual, practical, steps. Being specific in our requests. It’s all well and good asking God to save my husband but how do I expect Him to do it?  Pray for a specific next step, rather than jumping to the top of the staircase. Instead of just praying the same old prayer of something along the lines of “Lord, let him come to know you”, I can pray specifically and incrementally. Today I might pray that a curiosity enters his mind and causes him to ponder for a moment. Increasing gradually until I can pray, “Lord, soften his heart so that he can accept all that he’s learned about You!” Baby steps! 

“Although God knows our need, he does still want us to articulate it to him”

  

Poppy pointed out that it’s often easier to believe God can change things in our hearts rather than believing in things can see in the world. Do you agree?

To an extent, yes, I agree. We are taught from a very early age that there are laws of nature and of science and that nothing can change them. We are taught to trust in these scientific and medical theories as hard facts, even above and beyond God’s capabilities. With this in mind, it’s hard for us to accept that God is able to make physical, tangible, changes in our world, almost as if we are placing restrictions on the God we otherwise proclaim to be “almighty”! Jesus Himself said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)

Changes within ourselves and our own hearts are perhaps more acceptable to our human minds. If we are praying that God will bless us with a particular skill or quality (patience, for example), there is always an element of us being able to work on this in our own strength, and therefore we are more willing to believe that if we can do it, God can too. We are always more willing to believe that something is possible if we have seen, witnessed, or experienced it before. I’ve seen some very patient and loving people in my life, but I’ve never witnessed a severed limb re-grow itself.  Jeremiah 32:27 tells us that there is nothing that is above God’s capabilities, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” – No, not even laws of science can restrict God!

  

How often do you ask God for what you want as well as what you need?

A lot! It’s easy to mix them up or merge them, sometimes. My children often say to me, “Mummy, I NEED this toy” or “I really really NEED a biscuit” – actually, son, you don’t need it; you want it! Obviously, they’re still very small children so it’s understandable that they don’t yet have a grasp of the urgency of “need” as opposed to the desires of “want”. Similarly, if they have a fever and I try to administer medicine to them, they’ll often say, “No, I don’t want it” – sorry, kid. You might not want it but you need it! In that same way, we can often be confused as to what we actually need, versus what we want. Sometimes our desires are so strong that we have an ache for them and they can masquerade as needs. I’m grateful for a God who knows my needs even when I don’t, as described in Matthew 6:8, “[…] for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” and that, thanks to the grace He freely gives to us, I can come to Him as a beloved daughter and ask for those "extra" things that I may not need but I want, and He loves me so much that He wants to give these great gifts!

  

Pete uses the traffic light analogy to describe different ways God responds to our prayers:
Green: Yes
Amber: Wait / Persevere
Red: No

Are you experiencing a “green”, “amber” or “red” response to any specific prayers at the moment?

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? Let me share a recent situation as an anecdote:

A couple of weeks ago, we went, with our three children, and my parents, to Chester Zoo. Our car had had some issues with the battery going flat but we thought that a good two-hour journey each way would give it a bit of a charge after being sat on the driveway, hardly used, during lockdown. As I was driving, I noticed that it seemed to be struggling up the inclines (anyone who has driven over the Snake Pass towards Manchester will know how nerve-wracking it can be, even in a healthy car!) I satisfied myself that it was probably just the weight of a full 7-seater, but after our track record of car issues over this last 12 months, I prayed before our journey and all the way there, that we would be safe in our car and it would survive the trip!

 We arrived and had a lovely day. In the car park, I mentioned to my husband that the back offside tyre was looking a bit bald and we’d need to replace it soon. We set off and pretty soon, Noah needed to use the bathroom so we pulled into the services at Chester, Noah went to the toilet and we stopped for a McDonalds since we wouldn’t be home in time for tea. Approaching the car with arms full of fast food, I noticed that the same back tyre could do with some air but we were keen to get home as close to our bedtime routine as possible, so we said, “It’s probably OK, we’ll fill it in the morning.”

 No sooner had we re-joined the motorway, than we heard a strange sound and pulled up on the hard shoulder. We saw that that same offside back tyre was completely flat. We had no spare. To cut a very long story a little bit shorter, our roadside assistance company were able to taxi us and tow our car back to the services where a tyre company was waiting to fit a new tyre for us. When he showed us the old tyre, he told us that we were very lucky as there was a massive hole on the inside wall and being on the motorway, it could have blown and had absolutely devastating consequences.

 

I suppose that my reason for sharing this story, other than just to have written it out somewhere, is to illustrate that sometimes, God answers our prayers in a very different way than we expect. When we were sitting on the hard shoulder waiting in fear, I remember thinking to myself, “what kind of protection is this, Lord? I asked You to have Your hand over us and protect us on this journey and now we’ve broken down on the busiest and most dangerous part of one of the biggest motorways in the country!” What I didn’t realise, though, was that only a couple of hundred yards down the road, there was no hard shoulder due to road works, and had we broken down there, we’d have been in a much more dangerous position. If we hadn’t come to a safe stop and realised that the tyre was flat, it might have blown at 70mph in the middle of a fast flow of traffic containing huge lorries and trucks.

 God did answer my prayer, and He did have His hand on us that day. I just couldn’t see it at that moment, with my blinders of fear and stress obstructing the view.

 

 It is so important to pray the promises of God: Is there a specific promise that relates to the situation? 

This is where an intimate knowledge of God’s word comes in useful! If you’re in a season of waiting or unanswered prayer, to hold on to God’s love and promises. Don’t doubt it. Persevere in prayer! It’s no secret that I’ve been in an “amber” season in waiting for my husband’s salvation. I’ve prayed so hard and for so long that it would be so easy to just give up and assume that God has given me a red light. This is not the case. I know that Riki’s salvation is in line with God’s will because as it tells us in 1 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” – The Lord will fulfil this prayer in His own timing and not before. In the meantime, I’ll persevere in petition and try to hand it over into His capable hands, because, “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” (1 John 5:14)

 

Pete gave me such hope when he shared the story of Queen Bertha of Kent from the 6^th century, who prayed every single day for SEVENTEEN years, for her husband, Ethelbert’s, salvation. I’m only on eleven years, so there’s time yet! Ethelbert’s salvation meant that the gospel spread across England and it later officially became a Christian country. What an amazing testimony, and it was imperative that it came into fruition in the right timing; frustrating as it must have been for old Bertha. I feel you, Bertha!

 

 

Reflections on Sarah - Faithful or Faithless?

I was invited to participate in the weekly email service for my Church - they had been working through the Old Testament and each choosing a character to reflect upon, using the headings of "Who", "Where", "When", "Why", and "What can we learn?"

I chose Sarai/Sarah as I had been studying her in my personal Bible study time recently. 

I've been honoured to have been asked to provide some children's craft activities to go along with the stories or characters each week throughout the Lockdown, and so my son and I also made a "touchy feely" textured picture to go with this story.  You can watch it here. 

Sarah - Faithful or Faithless?

WHO
Sarai was the wife of Abram (Abraham), ten years his junior and, sharing a father but not a mother (Genesis 20:12), was also his half-sister through Terah.
Sarai means “contentious” which speaks to her character – she was fierce, impassioned, argumentative, disagreeable – these attributes we will see in her as her story unfolds; both toward Hagar, and even to God Himself.

Sarai is described as being beautiful in Genesis 12:11. In fact, in the Jewish Talmud, legend states that, “all people compared to Sarah are like a monkey compared to a human” (Bava Batra 58a).
Abram’s name means “Father”, which is ironic, considering Sarai’s state of barrenness; however, in Genesis 17:15, Sarai’s name was changed to Sarah, implying a higher status, a healing of her infertility, and a confirmation of her role in the Covenantal Promise. The very fact that Sarah was given a new name is something of significance. God didn’t change names flippantly, and this is the only account in the Bible of a woman’s name being changed.

WHERE
Sarai was born in Ur of the Chaldees, thought to be in modern-day Iraq. The couple were described as being “tent-dwellers”; temporary residents, sojourning wherever they went but never making it their home – they knew that their goal destination was not of this world. Together they travelled through Haran, Canaan, and Egypt. Her final resting place was the Cave of Machpelah, now known as the Cave of the Patriarchs, in Hebron. This was a great demonstration of faith in God’s promise – she was buried in a land in which, at the time, they were still strangers.

WHEN
It is difficult to accurately estimate the timeline of Genesis and this is the topic of many heated debates amongst Bible scholars and theologians much more learned than myself. It is theorised that they lived around 2040 BC. Sarai’s first mention is in Genesis 11:29 and she lived to the age of 127 years (Genesis 23:1). Sarah is the only woman in the entire Bible whose age is recorded at the time of her death. This again is significant as it denotes how highly she was regarded in the Bible. Interestingly we don't have Biblical evidence of this information for Mary, mother of Jesus or any of the other women highly regarded by modern man.

WHAT
Sarah’s story is one of heartache and longing; of doubt and disbelief; but also, one of hope and faith in the Lord.
In Genesis 12:3 the Lord tells Abram, “in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed”. Ten years passed and Sarai still did not become pregnant. They became discouraged and looked for a way to fulfil God’s promise in their own effort. 

Invitation to pause and think. How have you tried to "help" God in the past? Does God ever need our help?

Sarai offered her handmaid, Hagar, to Abram in order for him to manufacture the promised progeny himself, apart from God. Just as Adam heeded the unwise persuasion of Eve, Abram accepted Sarai’s suggestion. In the same way that Adam’s sin caused untold damage for the future of mankind, Abram’s sinful act of unbelief also proved to be a great source of strife for generations to come. This is an illustration that one act of unbelief can have long-lasting ramifications, as can one act of believing faith. Sarai later realised her wrongdoing and in an act of defiance and remorse, sent away Hagar and Ishmael. In Genesis 21:12, Abraham had been struggling with guilt in sending them away but God spoke to Abraham and told him to heed Sarah’s voice, “in all that Sarah has said to you, do what she asks, for in Isaac shall your posterity be called”.

Sarah was the recipient of one of God’s first and most remarkable miracles of restoration. Not only did He open her womb in order for her to conceive Isaac, this in itself being remarkable as she had already surpassed childbearing age, presumably having already gone through the physical and hormonal effects of menopause, but God also rejuvenated her youth, giving her the physical strength to carry, birth, and nurse her promised infant. Even though they were “as good as dead”, Sarah and Abraham became parents, both physical and spiritual, to descendants as "numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore." (Genesis 22:17). 

Galatians 4:23 displays Sarah as a picture of the Covenant of Grace. She is the free woman, who brought forth a child of divine promise, as opposed to Hagar, a picture of the Covenant of Law, who brought forth the children of slaves. Indeed, through the grace of God, we too can be counted as descendants of the free woman, “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain” (Isaiah 51:2). 

Invitation to pause and think.  Consider what that means, to be a child of freedom and not slavery - to be released from an unobtainable standard or law and instead receive the gift of grace.

WHY
Sarai was twice taken into a king’s harem as a result of Abram’s lack of faith in God’s protection. However, so important was she in the Lord’s plan of redemption, that He intervened in order to protect her womb from defilement (Genesis 12:17, 20:3) – she was to bring forth the son of promise, Isaac, who would eventually bring forth the Son of God; the “greater Isaac”; the Messiah. 

Invitation to pause and think.  Looking back, has God ever intervened in your life or situation for a purpose greater than your understanding at the time?

In Genesis 17, some 25 years after the Covenant was promised, and 13 years of no recorded communication with God, the Lord appeared to Abraham once more, and specifically included Sarai in the Covenant promise. Her name was changed from Sarai to Sarah - where Sarai means “My Princess”, Sarah means “Princess”, signifying the princess of a multitude without restriction. God categorically stated “I will bless her and give you a son also by her” repeating it for clarity and emphasis, “Yes, I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall come from her” (Genesis 17:16). Yes, Sarah was blessed and would become a royal princess! God later echoed this to Isaac, saying in Genesis 26:4, “and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” This Seed is Jesus Christ our Messiah, Jesus Christ our Redeemer!

WHAT CAN WE LEARN?
Sarah is often thought of as the embodiment of fear and doubt, however I would venture that her legacy is one of courage, of hope, and of faith.
She left behind her wealthy family to follow Abram into a land that he did not possess or even know where it was! She showed both obedience and courageous, expectant faith.

We are told twice in the Bible to look to Sarah as an example of a godly woman. First, in Isaiah 51:1-2 and then in 1 Peter 3:3-6, which says “for this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.” (1 Peter 3:5-6)
She is also counted in the Hebrews Hall of Faith: “And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise.” (Hebrews 11:11)

In Genesis 18:12-13 Sarah laughed inwardly and very indelicately stated her disbelief that she would bear a child naturally. Of course, the Lord heard and chastised her accordingly. Even though her name had been changed and she was a new creation, Sarah backslid into the impassioned and disagreeable Sarai that she once was, and in doing so, showed us that it is all too easy to slip back into our old selves. This is something that Jacob would struggle with later, as he was given the new identity of Israel, but through his lack of faith, slipped back into Jacob all too often.

Invitation to pause and think.  We are new creations in Christ but how often do we fall back into our old ways? Is there a sin or a habit that you struggle to break? A memory or regret that the enemy uses against you? Do you fall into pridefulness, doubt, or gossip?

I am impatient. I try to “help God” and usually cause more of a hindrance. I can be blunt and lack control over my tongue. I am very similar to Sarai in many ways. Don’t worry though, the Lord still used these people mightily and He can use us too, even when we have slippery moments of our own!

The key to Sarah’s success was that she considered God faithful, even when she herself was not. Even when we are weak, we can put our hope in God who is faithful beyond comprehension, and when things seem impossible to us in the flesh, we can follow Sarah’s example and know that there is no obstacle too hard for God to overcome.

Invitation to pause and think about your own situation. Perhaps it seems impossible. Give it to God. There is nothing, no absolutely nothing, that is too difficult for Him! Give Him your burden and let Him give you rest (Matthew 11:28).

Session 2 - Adoration (The Prayer Course)

 The Prayer Course

See my introduction to The Prayer Course here and my notes on Session 1 here.

The Prayer Course

Session 2: Adoration

 

What did you find most helpful or most challenging in the video?

I was very convicted by the notion of using God as a slot machine; how often do I forget or not have it on my mind to pray for several days and then come to Him, cap in hand, asking for something or other?im, cap in hand, asking for something.

 I enjoyed the illustration of the microscope and the telescope. The idea that when we worship, we swap our microscope for a telescope; we no longer focus entirely on a tiny area in front of us but we look up into the vast expanse and notice that there is something greater than we are. Psalm 8:3 says, “When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place” – how would we ever know this if we never took our eyes away from the little microscope and spent a moment discovering and enjoying God’s vast creation all around us?!

 From the session notes, I particularly enjoyed the points on praying creatively. I never realised before that my poetry is my own offering of creative prayer, as, I suppose, are my drawings. Some of my poems are so raw, I consider them as having written themselves, however I would never make that claim legitimately in fear of it being misconstrued as meaning some kind of occultist “spirit-writing” practice. No, I simply mean that I’ve been in moments of absolute worship, or need, or whatever, and I’ve sat with my notebook and began writing. Words flowed through my pen, right from the very depths of my being, seeming to bypass my brain and conscious thoughts, and when I looked down, there was a complete poem before my eyes. Obviously, I wrote them, but I didn’t sit down “to” write it, nor did I try to write it in terms of searching for words or rhymes (most of my poetry doesn’t rhyme for this very reason). This is why I very rarely edit my poetry. They’re the words my lips can’t speak; the prayers my heart prays when my mind can’t find the words. They’re a direct offering from my soul to God’s.

 

Why do you think that we most often associate prayer with asking, rather than worship and adoration?

I think that in this modern day and generation, we humans have become much more self-absorbed than ever before. We are told in the media and society that we are important and that our own happiness and beliefs are more valid than anyone else’s. We are offended at the tiniest thing, and we are fighting amongst ourselves for superiority (oftentimes masked under the guise of equality). We are given permission to be selfish and proud, and our struggles are allowed to define us. Social media is littered with insincere “faceplant” and “ashamed” emojis (no judgement; I overuse them, myself!) and we joke about our #FirstWorldProblems when our hairdryer blows up or the local artisan deli doesn’t have the spelt rye bread we like.

We want what we want, and we want it now, with hardly a please or thankyou in sight, much less a display of adoration or worship.

 

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions

with all kinds of prayers and requests”

-Ephesians 6:18

 Whilst I believe that God is interested in the tiniest concerns that we have, and He enjoys our sharing of the inconsequential things as much as the earth-shattering things, I fear that we have started to lose sense of the reverence we owe to Him. As described in the accompanying video for this session, we risk treating the Almighty God as our Magic8 Ball or ethereal slot machine.

                              “In commanding us to glorify him, God is inviting us to enjoy him”

– C.S.Lewis

 

Do you enjoy spending time with God? When are the times that prayer feels most enjoyable?

I suppose that the times I actively enjoy my prayer time are when I’m thanking the Lord for something specific. I do struggle with prayers because I am so easily distracted or, as happens increasingly often in all aspects of my life lately, I struggle to find the right words and end up losing my train of thought. If I’m specifically coming to God with a prayer of thanksgiving, I know what I want to say and why, and I feel I can just gush about how awesome and wonderful He is without having to think too hard.

 Psalm 46:10 tells us to, “Be still, and know that I am God!” and Psalm 37:7 tells us to “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him”. Other translations of these verses use the words: ”Be silent”, “Cease striving”, “Be in awe”, “Be patient”, “Wait patiently”, “Surrender yourself”, and “Let go [of your concerns]”. Essentially, we are told to stop looking through the microscope of our own lives and instead, look through the telescope; focus our attention on God.

I struggle to “be still” and meditate on the Lord. Probably a causality of this modern, fast-paced, self-absorbed life we live in, but my mind is constantly racing. Scenarios, plans, memories, I even practice future conversations or replay old social encounters in my mind, analysing them for no apparent reason. Even when I do actively try to sit and empty my mind and focus on God and what He might be trying to share with me, distractions pop up and my imagination takes over. I don’t think I’ve ever been still enough to hear from God.

Pete had some good advice in the video for overcoming distraction in our prayer time: Use a short and simple “prayer phrase” and repeat it to displace any distractions that come up, and help you to become aware of the presence of God. He said that distractions happen to everyone, but the best way to overcome them is to wait it out: sit still and wait. Stay in that place of stillness. Wait for the distraction to pass you by like a speeding car passing you by on the motorway. It will pass, and then you’re free to continue on your way.

 I really enjoyed the session notes on Christian meditation, particularly the description of Ignatiius of Loyola’s spiritual exercise where we are encouraged to use our imagination to place ourselves in a scene in the bible and take note of all of our senses – what do we hear, see, taste, smell, feel? Follow this exercise by responding in worship and praying out our love for the Lord. Use our body as an offering; bow our heads, kneel, raise our hands, whatever we feel appropriate, and then reflect on anything the Lord may be revealing or unveiling to us about His character and how we are being changed by it.

(Side note: I have never really been able to imagine what life was like in Jesus’ time, because life was so vastly different. I never understood what life was like for the people of that time and culture – what was so bad about tax collectors? Why did the Roman oppression change anything? Why were fish so important? What was the deal with Pharisees and Sadducees? – If this is where you’re at, please let me encourage you to watch The Chosen series. It by no means replaces scripture, and there are creative liberties taken (all the while remaining true and sympathetic to biblical and cultural-historical truth) but it really helped me to place myself in that time and place. It suddenly brought those scriptures to life and I now have a much deeper understanding and the ability to imagine myself in that place. I can’t recommend it enough, and no, I’m not affiliated with the series in any way, I just love it!)

"Christian meditation" is the listening side of an interactive relationship between ourselves and God. It is the place where we allow our souls to gaze upon God and deepen our intimacy and grow in reverent awe as we contemplate the Lord’s glory. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” If meditating on the glory of Jesus will lead us to transform into His image, then shouldn’t we all, as Christians, be doing it?

  

 Pete says that prayer is primarily about relationship with God: “It’s relational, not transactional”. How does this change your perspective of coming to God in prayer?

In the video, Pete gave an example of his son coming and just wanting to love on him for a few minutes, in a state of “being”, rather than “doing”. This reminded me of my own children – my eldest will go out of his way to look for heart shaped things and give them to me. I’ve never asked him to. If he has a little bag of Haribo sweets, he will save one of the heart shaped jelly sweets for me – I’ve never told him that they’re my favourites – he just does it because he wants to; it’s a tangible display of his love and affection, even when that means that he’ll only be left with 4 or 5 of his own to eat.

Pete also brought forward the idea of a marriage – generally speaking, when a couple is married, they often have children and create a home and family together, but this is not the reason they get married. The primary aim is because they want to spend time together – they enjoy each other’s company and want to continue enjoying one another for the rest of their lives. The primary aim of entering into a relationship and/or a marriage is not to get something out of it but to enjoy and experience it.

 I’ll admit that there have been times where I’ve sat and worried about what my ulterior motive is for loving and worshipping God. Without going off on a tangent, because I feel that this is probably worthy of its own post, but this is something I’ve pondered many times over the years. I’ve found myself questioning my character and even the depth of my faith and salvation when I considered that my main aim in following Jesus was simply so that I don’t go to hell when I die. Of course, this is not true. Yes, salvation from judgement and damnation is a very real benefit of pledging myself to God but I can’t say with any kind of conviction that this is my only, or even my primary, motive.

 

In the Acts passage, the early church put their own crisis into perspective by worshipping. What are the practical things could you do this week to foster an attitude of worship in your daily routine?

Being more aware would be a good starting point! Just being more aware of my surroundings and what is happening in my life. I do try to “count my blessings” and I remember reading something many years ago along the lines of, “If you woke up tomorrow with only the things you thanked God for today, what would you be left with?” This really resonated with me and I do actively try to remain in a state of awareness and thankfulness for the many blessings in my life; from the specific and great blessings such as my children and my family, right down to the things we often take for granted, such as having a roof over my head and shoes on my feet, and the fact that I was born into a free and well-developed country. It’s so important to acknowledge our blessings and rejoice, even when it feels like a chore to do it.

 Psalm 8 is a wonderful prayer of worship and reflection of all that God has done and given to us, beginning and ending with the same, “O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth” – I think that I will try to use this phrase in my own worship. There’s a song by Kari Jobe called “How Majestic” where she sings over and over, “How majestic is Your name? How Majestic is Your name? Powerful. Wonderful. You’re the Lord of all. How majestic is Your name?” – I love this song because I find it so freeing. I don’t have to think about the next verse or the words. I don’t even join in with the words for the most part; instead I just use it as a vehicle for me to focus on His awesomeness.

 Of course, when we pray the Psalm 8 way, we run the risk of telling God what He already knows, but I think that’s okay. Reminding God of His works and in doing so, reminding ourselves of all He has done, is a wonderful act of worship and adoration – we are telling Him, “Lord, I remember that you did this. I remind myself of your majesty and your power regularly. I am in awe of You. I know You!” In Acts 4:24-30, as Pete shared in the video, the disciples prayed a prayer of boldness, attesting to the greatness of God; telling Him what He had done and what He already knew, and yet in verse 31, it is written, “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” – Wow! Telling God what He already knows is a powerful way to pray. I’m definitely going to start doing this!

 I'm ashamed to say that I’ve never actually read the Psalms all the way through – I’ve picked at them and may have read them all at some time or other but never consciously. I suppose you could say I use them as an occasional “picky” snack. But why?! This is the prayer book of Jesus! We should be devouring this and using the Psalms as valuable weapons in our prayer arsenal. The Psalms are written for us to read aloud, and not skim through. They are able to train us in a ‘conversion of language’ where instead of talking about God, we talk to Him. Indeed, Jesus considered them so valuable that He memorised and even recited them on the cross. I have a new-found reverence and admiration for the Psalms now and I’m going to start incorporating them into my daily reading and prayer time.