As we are preparing our hearts for the season of Thanksgiving, we can pause to consider all that God has provided for us and all that He has done for us. We can give thanks to God that over and over He has met our needs and brought answers to our prayers. Sometimes we move very quickly from one urgent prayer directed towards God to another. Our relationship with God is weakened when all we ever do is ask Him for things and ask Him to help us. Of course God welcomes us to come to Him and to lay out before Him everything that is happening in our lives. We then look expectantly for the ways that God will respond. Yet, there is more to consider in our prayers than our own needs or the needs of others. As well as spending time praying to God for what we need Him to do for us, I wonder if we are willing to also pray seeking an answer to what God wants us to do for Him? This is a next step from thanksgiving and gratitude when we experience God’s generosity and blessing. Some relationships are very one-sided when one person does all the giving and another person does all the taking. A healthy relationship with God must involve both us receiving from God and giving to God. This giving to God takes on shape and substance when we come to God in prayer wanting to follow what Jesus describes as the greatest commandment, “Love the Lord Your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30) This speaks of an intensity of love for God that has to result in being available for whatever God wants us to do for Him. Our WEDNESDAY PRAYER TOGETHER tomorrow September 28th at 1 pm will find us turning to God with thankful hearts for the multitude of ways that He has answered our prayers. It will also be an opportunity for us to inquire what God is asking of us and from us.
Praying that we will be tuned to hear from God what we can do for Him, Pastor Lola
Please also remember in your prayers former Pastor of Springford Baptist Church Julie-Ann Morton whose mother has gone home to heaven.
Our LORD God You have created the beauty of this world and given it to us for our home. You have placed us in families with people to love and to be loved by. You have given us the gift of friends and companions who walk with us and care about us on this life journey. You have provided us with the certainty of salvation through Your only Son, Jesus our Saviour. You have also provided the satisfaction of worthwhile activities to give our time and attention toward. Every time we come to You in prayer, You turn toward us and listen carefully to what we say. Our hearts are full with all that You have done for us. Again and again You demonstrate Your love and compassion for us. We give You thanks for these and many more ways that You display Your love for us. Today we want to affirm our love for You in the words of our prayers. Our further prayer is that we will express our love for You with all of our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. God, we want to be inspired by the generosity of Your love for us in our expressions of love for You. What can we do for You? Admittedly anything we can consider doing for You pales in comparison to the measure of what You have done for us. Still, we come wanting to love You with a renewed intensity. We wonder together how You will use our availability and willingness to expand Your kingdom. Although what we offer may seem small, we are convinced that You can accomplish Your will in us and through us when we are willing. Our God we thank You for the transforming power of Your love. You have changed us with Your persistent love and grace and we are confident that You can change our wider world as people like us commit to Your purposes. We remind ourselves today that apart from You we can do nothing. We admit to You that the magnitude of complicated problems in our world is at times overwhelming. Like a single drop of fresh clean water we pray that You will use what we bring of ourselves to You to fill the cup of Your holy intentions. Where today might an act of loving care that we extend communicate Your love and hope? How will our love for You find expression in the way that we live for You today and every day. When people around us have lost hope for our world, we maintain hope in what You our God can do. We could not enter into this hope of what You can do through us if we were not convinced of how much You love us. Grace filled God we ask that day by day and moment by moment we will move at the impulse of Your love. Our desire is to find Your will for us and our world in loving You consistently with all of our hearts, souls, minds, and strength! And in all of this may You be praised and adored. In Jesus’ Name. AMEN.