Skip to main content

Prayer Column - January 2020

Did you get what you wanted?

Not just for Christmas, but in response to your heartfelt prayers? Did God answer? Did he cause things to happen the way you felt he should, or thought he had promised?
  • Yes – then give him thanks (and ask for more!)
  • No – praise him for his greater plan, yet to be revealed
  • Don’t know – keep praying: patient, alert, watchful, trusting
Consider: what was written in former days was written for our instruction (Ro 15:4), and the prophecies of the coming Messiah (eg, Unto us a child is born – Is 9:6), which we have just celebrated, were given 700+ years before the event. And all that time people like Simeon and Anna (Lk 2:22ff) had been praying all their lives for his coming. Let that give us confidence for our own praying. God’s promises are rock-solid sure, but they take time to come to fruition. And not only time but prayer: long, devoted, faithful prayer; from the prominent and the hidden, from the likes of you and me, together and alone. Wasn’t Jesus worth all the wait?

So what do you want? What do you long for? What blessings do you feel would be right, which God should confer on the world (or yourself), which he has indeed promised, and for which you feel called to pray? Then pray for them, alone and with others – neither take rest nor give God any rest until he brings those promised blessings into being. And remain alert to the Spirit’s guidance, watchful for God’s answers in unexpected and unimaginable ways, and perhaps through unlikely people.

Roy Lorrain-Smith

A prayer for each week

Beneficent Lord, blessing us all, richly and lavishly, thank you for all we have received, and please may we have more of what you plan for us. Amen.

Sovereign Lord, who knows best and always does best, thank you for calling us to faith in you, and please lead us in the best way we can go. Amen.

Long-term Lord, unhurried in your great plans, yet attentive to each of our prayers, please give us faith to ask for what you show us to be right. Amen.

Eternal Lord, please show us how to pray, and what for, and to persevere, watchfully, able see and welcome your answers, whenever they come. Amen.

Your own prayers

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Holy Saturday

Read John 19.31-42 Near to the place of crucifixion is a garden, where the body of Jesus is taken to be buried. Gardens play a significant role in the telling of scripture. In Genesis, the garden is celebration of God’s creation and a place of harmony between God and humanity. It is also the place of broken relationships, showing human limitations and failure.  In the New Testament, the garden of Gethsemane is a place where burdens are brought, and tears are shed. And the garden of Jesus’ burial is, of course, also the setting for resurrection, where the risen Christ is himself mistaken for a gardener.  At this time of year, many of us will be venturing out into our gardens once more. In the strange circumstances of our current crisis, the garden may be one of the few places where we can enjoy being outside and exercise. The garden in springtime is a place of new life – with buds showing and plants growing. This picture of new life can illustrate for us the truth ...

Virtual Worship - Easter Sunday 12 April 2020

Today’s the day - everything is changed. Death’s cave is empty, save linen cloth as calling card for Love. That life has won, and hope’s made whole, thank God! Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed, Alleluia! Holy and risen Lord, we come to worship you on this special Easter Day. We thank you for all you have done for us. We lift our eyes to honour you, living Lord Jesus. You have overcome death; fill us with your joy and new life. Amen You might like to read, sing or listen to an Easter hymn. Perhaps  Christ the Lord is risen today, or Low in the grave he lay (H&P 193/202, StF 298/305). This is perhaps the strangest Easter Sunday we have experienced in most of our lifetimes. Not able to gather as God’s people on this holiest of days. Not able to spend time with family and friends. Not able to visit dale or coast. Yet even as restrictions bite, we affirm God’s love in Christ Jesus, and seek to help each other hear the Easter message. We gather in ...

Rock Solid

Rock Solid is the new youth club for 9-13 year olds at Wilsden Trinity Church . It aims to provide a group for older children to follow on from Wilsden Trinity’s other youth club, Friends and Heroes. Every Tuesday we meet for games, Bible stories, sweets, crafts and chats. Highlights so far include wrapping people up as mummies, making ice cream sundaes, playing Zip Zap Boing (which is as confusing as it sounds), building Easter gardens and making lava lamps. We set aside a good amount of time just for chatting, and each week we have a “Millstone, Milestone” section – each person can say if they’ve had a difficult week (millstone) or a brilliant week (milestone) and why. This has been a platform for many entertaining anecdotes and tales that the group has shared together. Rock Solid started in March 2017, and so far numbers are low. Our small group has fun, but we would love to welcome some new members! All children and young people between the ages of 9-13 can join. It is £2 on the ...