laser praying

So, following last Sunday’s sermon looking at the times when God is silent (you can listen on our website if you are interested – if it’s not on the main page you can look at the whole list by clicking on the subtitle), this week we are looking at intercessory prayer on Sunday morning. The problem is that there are many questions than take up far less space than the answers. Why does God want us to pray? How do our prayers make a difference? and so on.

Here’s a metaphor that I came across in my reading that I find helpful. Lasers work by energising particles so that they resonate. And the more the particles resonate together at the same frequency the more powerful the laser.

In a similar way, praying enables us to resonate with God. The more we pray, the better we resonate and the mutual resonance makes a difference in this world that is tuned by the creator to respond to him.

As a church we are being challenged to engage with God more in prayer. That does not necessarily mean more people at the prayer meetings, although that would be wonderful, or even longer times of prayer in services. I think it means that we are readier to pray, more likely to pray, encouraging one another by praying and supporting God’s mission through prayer – and in doing so find that we are resonating more with God.

In a recent article by BUGB’s General Secretary, Jonathan Edwards, he was encouraging people (and churches) to pray. He encouraged churches to reflect more in prayer, recognise prayer encouragers (and release them to encourage us in prayer), and to create more opportunities and space for prayer. That’s good advice for us personally too. How do you reflect in prayer? Who encourages you in your praying? Are there more places and times when you can pray?

Be blessed, be a blessing

A young boy called the office of a local church to ask the pastor to come by to pray for his mother who had been very ill with the flu.

The pastor knew the family and was aware they had been attending another church down the road. So the pastor asked, “Shouldn’t you be asking Rev Simon from your church down the road to come by to pray with your mum?”

The young boy replied, “Yeah, but we didn’t want to take the chance that he might catch whatever this is that Mum has.”