November 2015 Prayer Column

Greater works (John 14:12)

I read a really good book on holiday. It argued that we should seek more healing in our churches with the aid of the Holy Spirit. Healing and deliverance was what Jesus did all the time, and what the early church continued to do (as Jesus had promised they should), as in the book of Acts, and for the next few hundred years. But then from the time of Constantine such good works were discouraged and declined. Some said that only the holiest saints were fit to do it; others that is was presump-tuous to try and copy Jesus. Later, some claimed that miracles such as healing has ceased with the apostles; and nearer our own time many have declared that today we should know better than to believe that such supernatural things ever happened at all.

Thus, by one means or another, acts of healing and wholeness, once the lifeblood of the Christian faith, have been all but throttled – despite the occasional outbreaks of Pentecostal-style spiritual blessings at various times and in different parts of the church. This includes the ‘enthusiasm’ of the early Methodists and, in the last hundred years, diverse Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. The writer of this book urges that we open ourselves more widely to the movement of God’s Holy Spirit; and urgently seek the fruit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control); and also all the blessings of healing and wholeness he longs to give to the church for the glory of God in the world. Worth a prayer? With His power?

The Healing Reawakening: Reclaiming our lost inheritance.
By Francis MacNutt, Chosen Books, 2005.

Roy LS

A prayer for each week

Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son, and leaving your Spirit till the work on earth is done. Please Lord, help us to sing this with our lives. Amen.

Holy Spirit, Teacher, please come and make your home in our hearts and minds, leading us into all your truth, through Jesus, our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

Holy Spirit, Helper, please show us the vastness of your resources for living, and the depths of our daily need, and fill us with your presence. Amen.

Holy Spirit, Counsellor, indwelling and ever present, please open our inner ears to your advice, and give us the sense to heed what you say. Amen.

Holy Spirit, Guide, knowing us better than we do ourselves – our past, our problems, and our potential in Jesus, please keep us on your chosen path. Amen.

Your own prayers

Comments

Christmas Day Worship 2021

Today is the day - Christmas! The central candle is lit. The waiting is over. The child is born. As we celebrate the Feast and Holy-Day of Christmas, with the Psalmist (Ps. 98:4-6) we proclaim: Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn – shout for joy before the LORD, the King. Prayer Let us pray: Generous God, even as we praise you for the good news of today, and seek to shout for joy at the coming of the Christ-child, we acknowledge Mary’s mix of pain and joy, both today and in the days to come. As we do so, we face our own emotions on this difficult and delightful day, and ask your help to live it well. Amen. Carol You might like to sing, or reflect on the words of Geoffrey Ainger’s hymn at StF 193/H&P 95, Born in the night, Mary’s child, a long way from your home; coming in need, Mary’s child, born in a borro...

Prayer Column - January 2022

The turn of the year As a new year approaches we tend to wonder what lies ahead, hoping always to shake off the past’s bad record and for something better to come, as if hoping could make it so. We wonder about next year because of course we don’t know what lies around the corner (however great the store of human knowledge, and however thorough our Googling). Search as we may, and it’s a royal honour to do so (Prov 25:2), some things are known only to God: times and seasons fixed by his authority are not for us to know (Acts 1:7), for the future is his. This is a time to remind ourselves of God’s omniscience: he does know (Rom 11:33). He knows the plans he has for us – plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future (Jer 29:11). And it’s time to remember also that God is not far-off and aloof, but a loving, heavenly Father who wants a close living relationship with each of us, day by day and breath by breath – he sent Jesus to bring us back to him. So ...

Virtual worship - 19 December 2021

Advent 4: Thinking about BLESSING Service sheet (pdf) Hymn: STF 187 The Angel Gabriel From Heaven Came Introduction Christmas is only days away now. How will you welcome Jesus into your home this year? After last year’s loss and longing, will the blessings of this year’s Christmas celebrations have any extra special meaning for you? Today’s worship is focussed on signs of greeting and blessing. Call to worship Come, greet one another in the name of the Lord. Come, bring all you have and be blessed. Come, and worship the God of the great and the lowly, and share your hopes and fears. Come, young and old – for God is calling you. Collect for today As we light this Advent candle, may its flame be for us a sign of blessing. As Mary and Elizabeth greeted each other, and Mary praised God for the blessings received, may we know God’s blessing in our lives and community, as we offer prayers and praises in Jesus’ name. Amen Hymn: STF166 Christmas Is Coming The Church Is Glad To Sing How do you ...

Bradford North Circuit

Search This Blog