For Your Prayers
0 comments | Posted by Steven Layson on 31 Jul 2011 in From Steve's Study ::
Sometimes it’s hard to find time to pray in the midst of our busy lives. That’s why it was so encouraging that 32 people made the time to come together for our two prayer meetings last Tuesday. Quite apart from the encouragement of seeing people from across the congregations getting to know each other and praying for each other, we were also encouraged to think about how we pray.
One of the crucial elements of prayer is that of praise (“Upward”). From Psalm 19 we were reminded that God was the all-powerful creator of all things… “the heavens declare the glory of God” (Ps 19:1). However, this powerful God does not sit aloof from his creation, instead he deigns to speak to us through the Scripture. These Scriptures are “more precious than gold” & “sweeter than honey” (Ps 19:10).
But even more amazing is the fact that God actually became one of us. “God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell” in the person of Jesus (Col 1:19). And it was through this Jesus that God has “reconciled all things to himself… through his blood, shed on the cross” (Col 1:20).
It is these facts that should drive us to praise God & to fill us with wonder that we are able to talk to him at all. This is the attitude with which we should approach prayer.
In this context, we were able to bring our requests to God; to pray for our church community (“Inward”), & for our world (“Outward”).
Let me encourage you to grab the latest copy of the St Peters Prayer Calendar (for August), as well as our latest Missionary news, and to use them to guide your prayers. I look forward to even more people coming to join us to pray at our Term 3 prayer day.
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