Prayer – Page 11 – New Connexions Church

Week of Prayer – Day 1 Faith or Emotions

Keith Waters Prayer 26th February 201725th February 2017 3 Comments

Reading – Isaiah 59:16

He saw… …and wondered that there was no one to intercede;

Why is it that sometimes we find we’ve stopped praying, that we’ve cooled off when it comes to a real relationship with God? Could it be that our interest in prayer and our relationship with God is so often nothing to do with faith, but a lot to do with our emotions? We might talk about prayer; maybe make an effort to get to a prayer meeting once in a while, perhaps read a book on prayer which tells us how valuable prayer is, we might have heard it said in a sermon or two or read in the bible that when we pray our whole being is enriched and built up – we can have peace. We might read hear and remember that, but there will be times when we find we’ve wandered away, maybe a little or maybe a lot, but wandered we have. So what is God’s take on this?

Well from our text we can see that God wonders, He is astounded… You see prayer and worship were what we created for, God created us to “glorify Him and enjoy Him forever,¹” that is to worship Him and enjoy Him. If in our daily lives we don’t put God first, if in our daily lives we don’t chat with Him, have long conversations with Him, ask His opinion and follow it or in other words if in our daily lives we’re not communicating with God, but are going our own way… well then, God will look and He will wonder.

Reflect: Does my life honour God, am I enjoying His grace and mercy, or might I be causing God to wonder.

Act: make a regular time to spend with God, to be thanking, asking, listening and submitting.

Children’s Prayer Activity

DAY 1 adoring God –tell God you love Him in your prayers today

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Feasts of Israel – Study 1

Keith Waters Bible Studies, Prayer 16th January 201717th January 2017bible, feasts, hope, law, love, mercy, new connexions, redemption, scripture, truth 0 Comment

Study based on the sermon: Jewish Feasts part 1

Reading: Leviticus 23:1-14

What does it mean to keep the Sabbath? How might we either be too legalistic or too liberal in this?
Are these feasts in Leviticus 23 really relevant to us today? If so how, and why don’t we celebrate them within the modern church?
As a group discuss each of the first three feasts; how are they a reminder of past things and in which ways do they speak of things that were to come.
In the sermon we looked at the dates of Passover, preparation, selecting the sacrifice etc. and how the prophecies of Daniel 9, Psalm 118 and Zechariah 9, Luke 11:29 form part of the picture. Discuss how all of this fits together in God’s plan, how tradition has confused things and what this might teach us about the importance of studying the whole of scripture.
Please use the points below to guide you in a time of prayer.

This term’s prayer pointers:

Give regular thanks for answered prayer;
Pray that The Lord will build His Church at New Connexions: spiritually, physically and numerically;
Seek the Lord for direction as to outreach in the year ahead.

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Building, Watching and Walking

Keith Waters Bible Studies, Prayer 10th January 201710th January 2017bible, cross, discipline, Holy Spirit, humility, life, morals, new connexions, power, scripture, sin, truth, unfaithfulness, walk, walking 0 Comment

This week’s study picks up on these two sermons:

Which Way? Jeremiah 6:16

Unless The Lord… Psalm 127

Read Psalm 127 and Jeremiah :6:16 – 21
Who are these verses aimed at, believers or non-believers? Why is it important that God’s people (The Church), put their own house in order [try to look at this from every possible angle]?
If God is the builder and the watchmen why do we need to do anything?
what is meant, in Jeremiah 6:16, by “the old godly way“, and how do we find it?
For Christian’s the message in these few verses is ‘blindingly obvious’, so why do we often find ourselves doing the wrong thing and continuing to think we know best when it comes to certain, if not every, aspects of our lives?
As a House group talk through how you might encourage, guide, and support each other in the year ahead as you seek to let the Lord build and watch and walk in the ‘old ways’ with Him

This term’s prayer pointers:

Give regular thanks for answered prayer;
Pray that The Lord will build His Church at New Connexions: spiritually, physically and numerically;
Seek the Lord for direction as to outreach in the year ahead.

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A Committed Christian?

Keith Waters Bible Studies, Christian Comment, Prayer 10th October 201613th October 2016bible, communication, discipline, faithfulness, forgiveness, Holy Spirit, hope, Jesus, love, mercy, morals, new connexions, prayer, redemption, repentance, resurrection, second chance, Trinity, truth, unfaithfulness 0 Comment

So often in our Christian lives we spend inordinate amounts of time talking about prayer, wanting to seek the Lord and do His will; which I believe are great sentiments, but as we approach the end of the year I’m drawn back to some words we used at the start of our year in our covenant service, words which were borrowed from a great puritan called Richard Alleine:

I am no longer my own but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for you or laid aside for you, exalted for you or brought low for you; let me be full, let me be empty, let me have all things, let me have nothing; I freely and wholeheartedly give all things to you. Glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are mine and I am yours. So be it. This my covenant with you my God, made here on earth, let it be confirmed in heaven. Amen

Why not take that prayer again, study it, meditate on it, discuss it and consider: as individuals, and as Christ’s Church, have we yet made this prayer our own? How can we encourage one another, and what is the Lord asking of us as individuals walking in covenant with Him? If studying in a group: spend a good time in prayer seeking the Lord for each other and the wider Church. When studying alone: also, of course, pray through the issues that arise in your heart.

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