Praying in the Spirit!

A look at how prayer in the Spirit is used to fight Satan.

Morning my friends, hope you are all well. 

I'm presently watching the following message from pastor  Yannick Christos-Wahab 

in Stockwell Baptist Church. 

I thought that I'd share it with you as it is a very important message.  

Midweek Bible Study

290 views Streamed live on Jul 27, 2022

The calling of Moses and more...

Sunday 13th September 2020

Canticle - We praise you, O God. Click to view and download
Luke 1:68-79
Mark 1:9-12
Exodus 3:1-4:17
Philippians 1:3-11 - before the prayers
Psalm 16:1-11 - at the end

Talk 

  

Representing God to bring Salvation - Exodus 3:1-4:17 & Mark 1:9-12 

  

Introduction 

 

This Old Testament passage is long and given that the flow and account is fairly self explanatory I am going to look at 4 things but not in the order as they appear in the text. The second point will be an attempt to highlight the whole passage with its almost ironic humour as well as its seriousness.

 

Last week the heading was - Saved to be Called, today:

  

Exodus 3:1-4:17 - Called to Speak 

  

1. Who is in the Bush? 3:2 & 5-7 

 

The angel of the Lord - v 2, or God and the Lord himself vv 3 & 5, and the rest of the passage?

 

Ask the simple question - who is the ultimate angel of the Lord given angel = messenger in both Hebrew and Greek? The son of God who we know since he was born as Jesus. I suggest, and I am going no further, we have another OT appearance of the eternal son of God, the true and ultimate messenger of the Lord.  

God is unchanging and here, in these verses, is a glimpse of that.

  

2. Arguing with God! 3:11-4:17 

 

Coleman's - the mustard people - once produced a little and amusing book of excuses. As we listen to Moses he really is mustard!  

In Isaiah when God is looking for someone to send to the people - Isaiah, effectively, puts his hand up to volunteer.

 

Moses puts his hands up and says - no way! What's more, he keeps it up until God is getting angry with him having answered it all and demonstrated his power, and given Moses, the authority to perform these signs and wonders.

 

The most hilarious bit is v [10]

 

Moses said to the LORD, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” What goes before suggests this isn't quite the case and certainly later on, with Pharaoh, it appears that he is the key spokesperson although Aaron seems to take that role earlier on. 

Who has he to go and speak to? Pharaoh. Who is Pharaoh? The King of Egypt and the most powerful man around, but, who else is he in all likelihood? Moses stepbrother who he sat next to having lessons with in the king's place and lived with until he fled aged 40, 40 years before.

 

They played scrabble as kids - ever tried that with tiles with hieroglyphics on - what he face is now is something that will end up as a master chess situation and certainly no game with high odds and thousands of lives and livelihoods at stake. For Moses all this may be deeply buried in his mind but maybe not!

 

Nope, says Moses, that's the wrong call. Yep, says the Lord, it's the call and off you go! 4:11-17. 

Do we argue with what God wants of us or even hide behind excuses? Do we try and neglect our God given gifts or fail to accept, which is part of what he says here to Moses in v 11, that he gives what is needed to do what he asks. When God truly calls he will always equip so we can do what he wants of us - not necessarily what others in a similar role may do.

 

As pride and arrogance about our abilities is no good so also is hiding them and being unduly modest!  Many are called to be evangelists but only one was called to the sort of ministry Billy Graham exercised.

 

Many are called to be bible teachers but few are called to be academics. We could go on. What does God want of you and your life be you younger or older? And I recall telling many an older saint who has worried about being physically inactive in service for the Lord that prayer is vital, use your time for prayer for the kingdom. Prayer against the darkness of evil in the world and the streets of it.

  

3. The name of the LORD 3:13-15 

 

What's in a name - nowadays not often a lot. Nicknames can carry significant meanings and descriptions but sadly may of those were unkind and destructive to the person concerned.

 

Abram = exalted father

Abraham = father of many

Isaac = he laughs

Malachi = my messenger ; Malach = angel = messenger

Jesus = Joshua = the Lord saves

 

Windrush victims

Windrush campaigners have criticised the “injustice and humiliation” of being deemed illegal immigrants in the country they have called home for more than half a decade, on the 72nd anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks.

The Home Secretary has announced a cross-government working group to address the challenges faced by the affected families.

Will you join me in prayers for the families who have been traumatised by this injustice. May the Lord heal them, protect them and pour abundant blessings on all of them in the mighty name of Jesus-Christ, our Saviour, in the power of the Holy Spirit, amen!

Jesus-Christ rebuked wind and waves!

My bible reading notes brought a new explanation to the passage in Matthew 8:23-27.

1- I just thought it was a normal storm, it wasn't because: 'the language used indicates that the lake was being stirred into a frenzy, threatening to overwhelm them totally' 

2 - I learnt a new cultural element, 'to the Jews, the sea represented primeval forces of chaos, the home of monsters, and it was only the saving power of God that could bring calm.'

3 - A new idea is offered, Jesus told his disciples off. 
How could they lose their faith in Him,  after all He has done (many healings and he'd just resurrected a widow's son in Nain)? 
Jesus could not have died in a storm in the middle of his messianic work. 

However it takes discipline to ban fear in my life and I don't think  that I have managed to get it right. 
I know that Jesus says 'Do not worry'... when I hear bad news or reports, I tend to worry first and then I'll give my worries to Jesus, on the foot of his cross. 

A prayer for this time of turmoil

Father God, You are Love. 

We know through your Word that you are in charge and we put our trust in  you. 

We thank you for Jesus, our Saviour who walked on the earth to let us know about your awesome plan of redemption for us, your creatures. 

Father, Jesus obeyed you and died an awful death on the cross for us even though He was sinless. 

Father, we repent of our sins and we declare that the body and blood of Jesus made a sacrifice that satisfied God once and for all. Thank you that our sins are forgiven and blotted out forever. Keep us on the right path, guided by the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Lord, help us in this time of turmoil! Save the lost sheep and the rebellious ones. We call on You, our King and we ask you to heal all those who are ill or wounded, and heal our Land and the nations. 

Give wisdom to all the leaders of the countries and open the eyes of their hearts that they may hear your voice and see your Glory.

 We ask You in the name of Jesus. 

Amen

I will extol the Lord at all times

Today, our bible reading is Psalm 34, and the author of  the Scriptures Union commentary stresses the importance of testimony. 

Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he left.
1 I will extol the Lord at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
2 I will glory in the Lord;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Glorify the Lord with me;
let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
9 Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
10 The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
11 Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
13 keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from telling lies.
14 Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are attentive to their cry;
16 but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to blot out their name from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
19 The righteous person may have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all;
20 he protects all his bones,
not one of them will be broken.
21 Evil will slay the wicked;
the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
22 The Lord will rescue his servants;
no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

Listening to other brothers or sisters in Christ is not only encouraging for everybody in the assembly but it also gives us strength to do the same. We may be led to share our testimony when we fellowship, prompted by the Holy Spirit. Also, we may witness to other people outside church, those who don't know yet about the love of God . Planting seeds. 

I find it a delight to remember those precious and numerous moments in my life. Testimonies are those heartfelt experiences when the Lord has touched our heart. 

Psalm 34 verse 8 says: 

Taste and see the the Lord is good; 

blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him

This verse is awesome! You may wonder why it says 'taste' here. We need to feed on the Word of God all the time otherwise we will wither. Thus, the Lord Jesus said,“Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God” (Matthew. 4:4). Jesus is quoting the Bible, Deuteronomy 8, the end of verse 3:

2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

Also, the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah spoke about this spiritual nourishment, he said, “Your words were found and I ate them, and Your word became to me the gladness and joy of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16).

A prayer tonight!

Thank you Lord for those precious moments when we know that your are by us, looking after us, caring for us. Thank you for what our Lord Jesus-Christ did for us on the cross, thank you for the promise of our salvation. Holy Spirit, help us witness to other as when you lead us. We ask you in the mighty name of our Saviour Jesus-Christ amen.

Little Alice fell...

“Little Alice fell
d
o
w
n
the hOle,
bumped her head
and bruised her soul”

an unusual Saturday.. I felt that I was falling down ...

...until my Saviour picked me up again....this morning ..

Praise the Lord for his mercy ...

Did you know that ....?

While a few critics may try to read allegories of doctrinal debates into the work of Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll was Dodgson’s pen name), no one would accuse him of writing Christian allegory, although that rabbit hole certainly lends itself to all kinds of fun possible interpretations. 

Perhaps such strangeness explains why neither literary specialists nor Christian readers pay much attention to the relationship of Dodgson’s faith to his work. Maybe they should ....another day....

The Welsh Revival

Evan Roberts (6/8/1878 – 9/29/1951) was a young coal miner and blacksmith apprentice. Some have called him the “silent evangelist” and God used Him in His dealings with the Welsh people. God gave him a vision of 100,000 souls to be won in his native land. His brief ministry only lasted a few months. His basic message consisted of four major principles.

1. Confess all known sin, receiving forgiveness through Jesus Christ.
2. Remove anything in your life that you are in doubt or feel unsure about.
3. Be ready to obey the Holy Spirit instantly.
4. Publicly confess the Lord Jesus Christ

Roberts entered Preparatory School in Newcastle Emlyn to study for the ministry. Shortly after his enrollment, in February, 1904, a little flock of believers in the village of New Quay met regularly to pray for a spiritual awakening. In one of these prayer times, Florrie Evans in a testimony time stood and stated, “I love the Lord Jesus Christ with all my heart.” The effect in the gathering was electric and many date the beginning of the revival in Wales to that meeting. Following this meeting several meetings were held in different places. In a meeting at Blaenanerch, Rev. Seth Joshua prayed, “O Lord, bend us.” That became the watchword of the revival. Others prayed, “Bend the church and save the world!”

The meetings spread into many different towns and cities. Shops would close early for the meetings and chapels were crowded. The road outside of the meeting places were lined with disappointed people who could not get into the meetings because of the crowds

The messages of Evan Roberts were simple and yet powerful, so much so that it was reported that even the bars (pubs) closed for lack of patrons. He told those who came that he had not come to frighten them with a discourse on the terrors of everlasting punishment. He believed that the love of Christ was powerful enough to draw the people and emphasized the joy of the Lord which was far beyond human expression.

There were more than a thousand people who were faithful church members, but recognized in the meetings that they had never truly become Christians. Even the crime rate dropped in the whole country. Denominationalism was set aside with an emphasis on God’s children in Christ becoming one to fight against Satan and to pray for the salvation of sinners.

This revival only lasted about nine months. It was stated: Why, there would be a perpetual revival if men would only keep their hearts open instead of closing them to every influence! It was not unusual for preachers to preach for more than an hour and at times the meetings lasted into the wee hours of the morning. It was not unusual for men and women to break forth into prayer and song. Many people could not explain what was taking place, but they all recognized that in some unexplainable way, the Holy Spirit was at work. So many people were being converted while others were getting right with God.

It is difficult for many Christians to even begin to imagine what genuine revival is like because for the most part, so few have ever experienced it. Have you ever felt the need to start praying for revival on a consistent basis? Have you ever shared that with another brother or sister in the Lord and gathered together to pray for such to take place in your life, your church and in your nation? Consider praying: “Oh Lord, bend me!” How about praying: “Lord, do it again! Start with me!” Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10).

Source

Page after page after page

Then!

Chris Bennett: The Dock project began back in 2009 and at that stage everything around here was still a building site, it was still scaffolding and big holes in the ground. But at that stage I was asked by Bishop Harold, I'm an ordained Church of Ireland Minister, and I'd been kind of looking for my next challenge and Harold suggested that the challenge might be trying to dream up and think up what might be an appropriate expression of church in the midst of the Titanic Quarter as it grew.

Now:

Chris Bennett: We have seen amazing growth in many ways but there's no doubt that The Tall Ships festival in Belfast in July certainly put us to the test. It was, in every way, a big event. Fifty ships, 50,000 visitors and, over four days, the Dock Café served 5,510 customers!

We've also just celebrated another milestone in that we have filled a complete Visitors' Book in Dock Café. It may not sound like much but, when we opened in 2012, we commissioned some lovely leather-bound visitors' - books though it seemed impossible that we would ever run out of space. Hundreds of pages, eight entries per page... there would never be that many customers through our doors, would there?

Page after page after page tells a story of visitors finding a welcome, wanderers finding a home, individuals finding friendship, busy people finding peace, stressed people finding space, sorrowful people finding a smile, sceptical people finding faith (or sometimes just some experience of God, or grace, or something divine that they can't quite put their finger on...)

The Dock charity is made up of a number of things: café, art gallery, museum and, of course, church – a church which continues to involve a team of dedicated volunteers and chaplains from across all church backgrounds, both Protestant and Catholic, who are committed to sharing every step of the journey of building community in this new part of Belfast.

We also have a prayer garden where people can rest and reflect, or talk to one of our Prayer Team. It's a little oasis of greenery and peace in the corner of The Dock Café and is open during Café hours; providing a space to reflect, read from our library of books, and maybe write a prayer and post it on the wall or in the prayer journal.

Find out more about this Fresh Expression project, read on, click here!

10 + things to do if you and your children are bored during the holidays

Why don't you...take the time to check who JESUS really was! Check out the truth of the gospels.  Take some steps of faith!

1.  Listen in to Jesus' Parables
2.   Begin a new life with God i.e. read this New Testament that you took back home (last hols in Devon)
3.    Ask a question i.e. find a vicar and ask him/her those questions about life that keep bothering you...
4.   Give to the homeless 
5. Pray for a friend
6. Light a light
7. Throw away a stone
8. Look at the cross
9.  Get with creation
10. Visit a church
11. Follow a prayer recipe What is praying? something complex? not at all
12. Don't worry Jesus himself gives us this advice!
13. Make a "why God ? " list
14. Join a local church course
15. Pray for an enemy
16. Give up something that matters 
17. Repent! I did and I felt so much better
18. Forgive someone and start anew 

Inspired by the rejesus website, click here and your life will be turned uspside down for the better! Don't forget to let us know how you got on! N.

A daily prayer.

Thanks be to you, our Lord Jesus Christ,

for all the benefits which you have given us,

for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us

O merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother,

may I know thee (you) more clearly,

love thee (you) more clearly

and follow thee (you) more nearly, day by day. 

In Jesus' name. Amen

This prayer is attributed to Richard of Chichester. 

Persevere in prayer

Frazzled? Don't despair!

Have you ever asked to the Lord something that you thought would be a bit of a miracle. Still you did not despair and keep asking and praying about it day after day. When things are moving unexpectedly, you are puzzled but keep asking. 

At the moment, after having experienced a period of trial, I was confused and running low for a time, even though I thought that everything was going fine (as we'd like to believe) As always, the Lord had mercy and poured his blessings on us and I am feeling more confident about the future. It's not that I did not before but I had days and nights where I was fraught and nothing seemed clear. 

Last week I had to admit that 'on my own' I cannot do anything! To be honest, I was deluded, thinking about future things, planning without 'the perfect architect, Jesus'!. Tonight, the reality is that I must wait for the Lord's guidance and help, His time not mine, His will not mine and above all be patient for everything is possible through the power of the Holy Spirit  in the name of Jesus!

Have a blessed evening.