Starting a journey can be exciting, but it’s continuing the journey that gets us to our destination. Today we take our second step on our catching the wave journey and take a step closer to our destination.
Where do you catch the wave? Do you have a special place where you always go? You may even have a specific time when you stop? It may depend upon the day of the week, your weekly routine or whether you work shifts? I have a specific seat at home that I like to sit in, but sometimes my routine, or for another reason, I find myself somewhere else. Today it was in the car park at work, in my car. It doesn’t matter to God where we are, what matters is that we stop and we take time, God can meet us anywhere.
Our thoughts today focus on returning to God our Father, moving closer to Him. I was particularly struck by this though coming out of Jesus’ parable that we know as The Prodigal Son in Luke 15:
“So we are invited to make a move, to return. If we fail in this then we live uncomfortably with distance – and like the prodigal – we’re deprived of the good that God would do. Drawing close to God is what we do as Christians.”
There’s an invitation out there for each of us; like all invitations we need to accept it, we need to RSVP which is what these 40 days are all about.
Let’s continue to ask God for our “three friends”, our “big issue” and for “a new wave of revival”.
There’s still time to get involved in catching the wave, it’s not to late to get started. If you want a book there’s still some available from Fulwood Free Methodist Church. There’s also an option to get the daily prayer thoughts delivered to your email via our friends at trypraying via this link. Enter your name and email address and you’ll be subscribed to the list once you’ve verified who you are by clicking on a link in the email they send you.
These 40 days of prayer are part of our Focus on 40 as we look forward to celebrating our 40th Anniversary as a community nearer the end of February 2018. We don’t want to just be looking back on the 40 years that have already been, we want to be looking forward to the next generation and all that God has planned.
Beginnings can be exciting, sometimes they come with anticipation, at other times they come with dread or even intrigue. However you viewed the opening of the first page of catching the wave today I pray that as we progress along this journey your emotions will be turned to amazement and wonder as you see what God is doing as you pray.
We start our journey by thinking about three things:
My three friends – praying for people to become Christians.
My big issue – that situation, person or trial into which you want to ask God to intervene.
Catching the wave – praying for revival for “communities saturated with the presence of God.”
If you are new to prayer, or even if you aren’t, those might seem like strange things for you to pray. The reality is, these are all things that God cares about. He cares about you three friends more than you do. He cares about your big issue and knows about it. He cares about the people in your area.
How does He care? He cares as a Father, and that’s where we are starting our journey, thinking about God as “Our Father”. Here on the very first day we are thinking about God as a protecting father; a father who is looking out for us and a father who wants good things for us. Our Bible reading for today are some words of Jesus:
9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:9-11
There’s a promise for you in those words: “how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” I’m not sure I need to say anymore.
There’s still time to get involved in catching the wave, it’s not to late to get started. If you want a book there’s still some available from Fulwood Free Methodist Church. There’s also an option to get the daily prayer thoughts delivered to your email via our friends at trypraying via this link. Enter your name and email address and you’ll be subscribed to the list once you’ve verified who you are by clicking on a link in the email they send you.
These 40 days of prayer are part of our Focus on 40 as we look forward to celebrating our 40th Anniversary as a community nearer the end of this month We don’t want to just be looking back on the 40 years that have already been, we want to be looking forward to the next generation and all that God has planned. Let’s continue to ask God for our “three friends”, our “big issue” and for “a new wave of revival”:
As one singer song writer once put it, “Sad songs say so much!”
We somehow find a way to sing, or at least have a song for all seasons of our lives. Happy or sad, in love or struggling with life, somehow, we sing!
Psalms is the song book of the Bible. 150 songs expressing an incredible range of thoughts, feelings, hopes, beliefs and experiences. We will share a short series from some favourite Psalms to help us sing when we are winning and, yes when we feel like we are losing it!
WHEN THE DEVIL KNOCKS
Evenings – 14th January to 4th February 2018
In this 4 week series we look at who the Devil is, and how he attempts to attack our lives in various ways. We will find that as people of faith in Jesus we can have the strength and confidence to resist him.
1 Peter 5 v 9 “Be alert! Your enemy the Devil prowls around…resist him, standing firm in the faith”.
PRAYER THROUGH LENT
Mornings and Evenings – 11th March to 25th March 2018
Many Christians will readily admit that prayer is one of the most difficult things we attempt. The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. Sounds very spiritual, but they then fell asleep praying at one of the most important times in Jesus’ life. At least they asked Jesus to teach and they did learn to prioritise prayer!
We believe that prayer is the privilege of communion with God. As we celebrate our 40th anniversary, we honour our founder members who prayed for this church before it was ever built.
So how do we inherit their legacy? How do we pray?
What I really, really want to know is…
Mornings – 8th April to 22nd April 2018
The questions most non-church folk ask are simple and direct – but so profound that many find them difficult to answer. They reflect the age in which we live, where everyone’s opinion of truth is valid, as long as it doesn’t give offence.
This is an occasional series to answer some of these questions. It is designed both for enquirers and to help those who’ve been asked those questions, but didn’t know how to respond.
We continue our Advent journey with a new song from Josh Gauton who is based in Birmingham where he is the Worship Central Creative Director as well as undertaking his solo projects.
In the still and calm Through the hallowed night Underneath a winter sky Came the promised King Not in palace courts But a filthy stable floor
Holy night when worlds collided Love eternal chose a form Flesh and blood with heaven united In a humble manger born Oh the wonder of that moment Human birth met the divine The squalor and the saviour The baby that was God
This Christmas I’ve been particularly struck by thinking about the very wild fact that at this time of year we are remembering the historical event when the creator of the universe, all powerful and incomprehensibly vast, was literally birthed by an impoverished teenage girl in rural modern-day-Palestine. Just take a little second to let that sink in – this is not just an ordinary heart-warming ‘festive’ story! More…
