God can bring spiritual insights to our attention through everyday, ordinary circumstances. For me, this happened this week when I was walking past a Tim Hortons and heard someone placing an order at the drive through. It occurred to me that sometimes we as Christian believers may have a “drive through” kind of approach to prayer. We could tend to list off what we would like God to arrange and then expect to pick up our order and carry on with our day without any meaningful interaction with God. When this is our tendency, then we miss one of the intentions of prayer which is to build relationship with God. Consider with me this Scripture from Jude 20,21: “20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.” Instead of an order hastily placed, prayer can be for us a lingering in God’s Presence. We can be built up in our faith as we are guided in prayer by God’s Holy Spirit. And the outcome of these faithful prayers is that we keep ourselves in God’s love and our awareness of Him deepens our relationship with God. These weekly WEDNESDAY PRAYER TOGETHER times can be an opportunity to build ourselves up in our faith and to be keenly conscious of being kept in God’s love. Please plan to pause for this time of affirming our relationship with God and looking expectantly to Him as we pray together tomorrow November 3rd at 1 pm.
Praying for us to be built up in our faith as we commit ourselves to prayer, Pastor Lola
Our God of love and grace we are so grateful for the possibility of close relationship with You. We thank You today that You do want to meet with us in prayer. We recognize our God that it is not Your intention for us for our prayers to have a kind of “drive through” approach. We do want to linger with you and be built up in our most holy faith as Your Holy Spirit guides us in all of our prayers. In these moments, we choose to give thanks for answered prayers. We praise You God for the ways that You have personally given attention to our needs and have been moving to respond to our longings and heartaches. Loving God please continue to expand our view as we pray for others as well as ourselves. Our prayers persist as we steadily move through this Covid pandemic. We pray that we will find responsible and safe ways to be together and to share faith and friendship. We do not want our fears to impede expressing Your love and care for all. Thank You God that our prayers have a part in keeping us in Your love, keenly aware of Your grace. Lord, please guide the pattern of our lives as we wait for the mercy of Jesus, Your Son to bring us to eternal life. God we see a changing and chaotic world around us. We rest in the assurance that You remain the same and are steadfast and dependable. We know that if we rush through our prayers and move on to the next thing happening in our lives that we will miss the blessings of being built up in our faith and having awareness of being kept in Your love. So God where there are patterns in our lives that serve well to deepen our relationship with You please strengthen these. And where there are patterns in our lives that work against us growing in our faith, please challenge us and change us. We do not want to become casual about prayer and trusting You completely. We do not want to treat You without the reverence that You deserve. You are Almighty God. You hold this Universe and each of us in Your hands. The chance to broaden our commitment to You is what You call us to when we pray. Draw us nearer to You our Saviour and our God. When the many activities of our lives leave little room for dwelling in Your Presence, we want to choose to sit at Your feet and to receive what You want to teach us. As we experience through prayer the wonder of being kept in Your love, please shape us and refine our faith in You. And to You our God be all honour and glory now and forever. In the name of Jesus. AMEN.