Thoughts for the Week of Prayer and Fasting

We’re currently midway through our Week of Prayer and Fasting at Redeemer Church London, which began on Sunday and runs until this Friday.

There are meetings every evening at The Hub so we can pray for and with one another, while you can also get involved with virtual prayer meetings from home.

For a bit of inspiration from the past, take a look at these eight great quotes about prayer and fasting - which our pastor Pete Cornford mentioned in Sunday’s sermon.

• "If you want to humble a man, ask him about his prayer life" - Alexander Whyte

• "Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tyre?" - Corrie Ten Boom

• "Our ordinary views of prayer are not found in the New Testament. We look upon prayer as a means for getting something for ourselves; the Bible idea of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself" - Oswald Chambers

• "Fasting without prayer is hunger strike. Prayer without fasting lacks depth. But when both are combined, they create an altar of fire that the devil cannot resist." - Apostle E.H. Guti

• "God does nothing but in answer to prayer" - John Wesley

• "I have a very busy day today; must spend not two but three hours in prayer" - Martin Luther

• "Fasting confirms our utter dependence upon God by finding in Him a source of sustenance beyond food." - Dallas Willard

• "We can accomplish a lot with prayer and fasting" - Lailah Gifty Akita

Click here to read the full list of meetings for the Week of Prayer and Fasting this week, and how you can join us!

Easter Devotionals - Matthew 4:1-11

As we approach Easter Sunday, we will be hearing readings from members of the Redeemer family, which we hope will help to prepare our hearts.

Alongside these readings we’ll be publishing blogs which make use of a Lenten Devotional published by Redeemer Presbyterian Church. We hope these devotionals and readings will help to reveal the comfort, challenge and joy found within the passages of scripture.

Today’s passage is read by Shirley, and the passage is Matthew 4:1-11.

The Fast

Here, we learn about three specific ways that Satan sought to tempt Jesus, each one more significant, by challenging his desire for food, urging him to display power sensationally, and encouraging him to use political power to establish God’s kingdom. In this third instance, he was tempting Jesus to bypass the cross. The devil was more than willing to give us all back to Jesus, if only Jesus would worship him instead of God. Skip the suffering, save the people, deny God, do it the easy way. For each response, Jesus relied on Scripture, the “sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17), to resist.

These temptations occurred following Jesus’ baptism. Right after Jesus was anointed for ministry, the Spirit led him into the wilderness for 40 days and nights of fasting “to be tempted by the devil.” Jesus’ time in the desert reminds us of Moses fasting for the same period on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:28). After Moses’ 40 days and nights, God gave him the Ten Commandments for the Israelites. Thus, here we see that Jesus is the new Moses come to fulfill the law that Moses was given.

Prayer

Gracious God, we praise you that you know what it is like to be tempted in every way, as we are. Thank you for showing us how to resist temptation and thank you for enduring the cross and for fulfilling the law, for our sakes, on our behalf. In Christ’s Name, Amen.

Copyright (c) 2012 by Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

#RedeemerRecommends - Two Blogs to Help Us Fast Well

This Lent, we are encouraging you to join with others at Redeemer and dedicate yourself to fasting for a day! You might choose a one off day between now and Easter, or aim to fast one day a week for the next 6 weeks, either way you can sign up and let us know you’re joining us below…

On Tuesday we published a blog all about why we’re choosing to focus on Lent this year, but we also wanted to share two blogs with you from Tim Jones over at thinktheology.co.uk. These posts educate us on what Fasting is, why we should be doing it, and how to make the most of the fasting process.

Below is a link to the first post, which focuses on the Spiritual basis of fasting, and how it can benefit us as followers of Jesus (including why that isn’t really the point!)

Tim’s second blog speaks to the practical issues of fasting, and answers some FAQs, with some tips for fully engaging in fasting wisely.

We hope these blogs help to encourage you to join us as we fast this lent, and look forward to praying with you!

Lent 2021 with Redeemer - What and Why?

Lent begins tomorrow, as it does every year on Ash Wednesday, and continues for 40 days (46 if you include Sundays), until we reach Easter Sunday.

This year at Redeemer we are encouraging you to join us in observing lent in some way. But before we get on to how you can do that… What is lent, and why are we talking about it?

What is lent?

Lent has been a fixture in the traditional church calendar for many hundreds, if not thousands of years! People with much more knowledge than me are still unsure when exactly the tradition began, but it has certainly been around for a lot longer than Redeemer Church London, or any of our family members!

Traditionally, lent is a 40 day period leading up to Easter Sunday, which prepares believers for Easter through prayer, repentance and self-denial. Many Christians have used this time to commit to fasting, and give up luxuries, to reflect the 40 days which Jesus spent in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13). 

Some choose not to fast on the Sundays during Lent, marking these Sundays as a day of celebration, meeting with God and sharing fellowship with other believers.

Why give something up this year?

Reason No. 1 - Unity
By choosing to observe lent, however you choose to do so, you are joining with other Christians who are doing the same. Not only those at Redeemer, but believers all over the world! Even though we are all going through different stages in our lives, facing different challenges, and fasting from different things, we are united in this season, as we seek to fix our eyes on the same God.

The past year has been tough for many reasons, not least because we’ve been unable to join regularly with other believers to worship, take heart from knowing you are joining with a great number of your brothers and sisters in Christ this lent, even if you are physically separate.

Reason No. 2 - Discipline
As Christians we are called not just to live in freedom today, but to look to the promise of an eternal relationship with God. There are joys which we will experience in the new heavens and new earth that give us strength as we endure the challenges of life right now. This lent we are choosing to sacrifice something which brings us temporary satisfaction, in order to fix our eyes on a God who is the same yesterday, today and forever. By doing this we are cultivating the discipline of maintaining an eternal perspective whatever our current earthly situation. 

During the pandemic it has been so easy to focus entirely on what is happening right now, but we need to lift our eyes to a God who is greater, a God who is ultimately satisfying, a God who is eternal.

Reason No. 3 - Choosing to Trust God
We live in a city and a culture which teaches us to take responsibility for fulfilling our own deep spiritual needs, to put ourselves in charge of our financial stability, our happiness, our identity, our career path. Scripture says otherwise.

God is the source of all that we need, not us. All that is good in our lives is a gift from God! (James 1:17) But we can forget this, we can try and fill the gaps in our lives with other things, be that social media, television, relationships, money, the list goes on. We can aim to make ourselves feel better by complaining, by drinking too much, by hiding ourselves away from the world. Ultimately NONE of these things will satisfy. 

By choosing to fast from something this lent we transfer our faith and our trust off ourselves and back over to God, he is the one who will never let us down, who will never fall short, who will never fail to bring fulfilment and satisfaction.

Why not put your trust in God this lent.

How can I be part of lent at Redeemer?

You can join us as we fast from food for 40 days as a church! By clicking the link below you can add yourself to the list of those at Redeemer who are committing to fast for one or more days during lent. We hope to have someone at Redeemer fasting every day, from now up until Easter Sunday!

Choose to give something up! Check out our social media over the next few days to hear from some members of the Redeemer family about what they will be giving up this lent! You can do the same! I would encourage you to think first about how you would like to grow deeper in your relationship with God this term, and then think about what you might give up to make that happen!