Wednesday Prayer - November Lockdown

Over the past several months, we often met as a church community on a Wednesday to pray together. As meetups have started, and many of us are now meeting regularly to study Ephesians together, we are no longer meeting together as a church to pray. This doesn’t mean that we’re going to stop praying! So over here on the blog we’re starting a new series on Wednesdays, giving you a few ideas of what you could be praying for today and for the rest of this week.

Today we’re praying for…..

The Lockdown

I know! It’s an obvious choice, but it seems silly that something would be dominating our conversations with one another and yet not our conversations with God!

So let’s join together in prayer today, focusing on the next 4 weeks, and fixing our eyes on the one who will be unchanging through it all, and who has plans to continue to bless us and help us grow in our faith during this time.

Some key prayer points to help you are listed below.

1. Worship God! It is always crucial to begin times of prayer by reminding ourselves just who it is that we are coming to! We pray to a God who is mighty and more powerful than anything in the universe, he is our creator, our Father, our protector, our peace, our firm foundation. He is greatly to be praised! Before you start to present your requests to God, make sure you first and foremost give him the glory he is worthy of, and in the process stir your faith for what he might do over the coming weeks.

2. Pray for God to grow your personal faith during this time. Pray for the Holy Spirit to be at work in you, to help you establish disciplines of prayer and reading scripture over lockdown. Pray that God would continue to speak to you as you join us for our online services.

3. Pray for your fellow members of the Redeemer family. Pray that God would continue to sustain them during this difficult time. Pray especially for those who might be dealing with loneliness. Pray for opportunities to build community with others in the Redeemer family, be that through one on one outdoor exercise, or calling, texting and meeting together on Zoom. Pray that God continues to move powerfully in our midweek Ephesians meetups! Pray for protection for the vulnerable and healing and rapid recovery for those who contract the virus

4. Pray for those around you that don’t yet have a personal relationship with God. Pray that this time might stir them to ask questions and begin to seek God. Pray for opportunities for gospel conversations with your neighbours and colleagues over the coming weeks. We believe that Jesus will continue to build his church, regardless of the circumstance, so let’s be expecting him to include us in that process even during this time. Pray for healing for those who contract the virus, and for the NHS who are treating those who are critically ill.

There are of course many other things that we can be praying for over the next 4 weeks of lockdown, and I would encourage you to make prayer a priority in this time! I will leave you with a few verses which I feel are a great starting point for us all right now.

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:4-7

Wednesday Prayer - Peace

Over the past several months, we often met as a church community on a Wednesday to pray together. As meetups have started, and many of us are now meeting regularly to study Ephesians together, we are no longer meeting together as a church to pray. This doesn’t mean that we’re going to stop praying! So over here on the blog we’re starting a new series on Wednesdays, giving you a few ideas of what you could be praying for today and for the rest of this week.

Today we’re praying for…..

Peace

The last couple of Wednesday Prayer blogs have focused on a specific group of people, or area of church life. Today we are focusing on a broader concept, which though it may be more of an unorthodox focus for a blog like this, is still something which it is important to pray for.

I am sure it will not come as a surprise to hear that when we choose to follow Jesus, he gives us no guarantee that our lives will suddenly become easier! Even if you were thinking that going in, if you are someone who has been a follower of Jesus for any length of time, you will now have realised that it is not the case. Though Jesus does not promise us an easy life once we choose to follow him, he does promise that the way we deal with the situations of life will change.

He speaks to this directly in Matthew 11:28-30

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

That brings us to our topic of prayer for today, despite the fact that we may feel weary and burdened, we are called to come to Jesus, seeking peace. 


Below are some ways you can focus your prayers on peace today.

1. Pray for diplomatic peace, across the UK and the nations.
   We are in a time of global turmoil in many different ways, and this is putting pressure on political leaders and governments across the world. Please pray at this time for wisdom to prevail, for the Holy Spirit to be at work amongst our political leaders, and that we as the people of God might honour him in the way that we respond to the actions of politicians.
   

2. Pray for peace within our communities.
   London is a diverse city full of people of different nationalities, classes, and religions. These are some of the reasons it is such an incredible city in which to live, however in times of pressure these differences can result in tension within communities. Pray that during this time we would be ministers of peace in our local communities, and that those who live around us would take this opportunity to build bridges rather than walls, and embrace that which unites us rather than focus on what could divide us.

3. Pray for peace in our homes.
   As we experience tighter lockdown restrictions, we are spending more and more time at home, and therefore more and more time in close proximity with those we live with. However much we love spending time with those we love, we all know that concentrated time with others can lead to a less than peaceful environment! Pray for peace in your home, that the Holy Spirit would be present and obvious in the conversations we have and our interactions with one another, especially on the difficult days!

4. Pray for the peace of God to be present in YOU.
   For this final point, I’ll defer to the apostle Paul.

   Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
   Philippians 4:6-7

Amen.

Redeemer reads Philippians 4

Welcome! Here at Redeemer we believe that the Bible is the word of God, that it’s alive, and that its words can and should shape every aspect of our lives as Christians. But we also know it’s not easy to get into the habit of reading it every day! So we are following the CBR Bible Reading plan - which can be found below - to help us read the bible together.

We are currently reading the book of Philippians, and every week day we will be releasing a video on our social media & YouTube accounts, with a member of our Redeemer family explaining what they feel God is saying to them through the passage! 

Today we hear from Becca as she shares with us from Philippians 4

If you have time, and a desire to know more, you’ll find ideas for further study of todays passage below.

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Further Study

In the following article based on Philippians 4:8, Hannah Anderson helps us to learn to spot goodness wherever and whenever we encounter it.

Lockdown Peace

‘Lockdown’ – that sounds familiar

We’ve been spending time in the gospel of John - first looking at the account of the Passion and more recently looking at the ‘I am’ statements made by Jesus which give a mind-blowing insight into who He is.

But I keep going back to Easter and the aftermath of Jesus’ death.

The confusion of Easter Saturday resonates with me.  What was going on?  This wasn’t in the script as His disciples understood it.  

In John 20 (Sunday evening of the Easter weekend in the timeline) the disciples were still frightened, still confused – and staying behind locked doors!

Then it happened – as they were huddled together,

worried about the consequences of leaving their safe place, 

speculating about what would happen next (some of them had seen the empty tomb and the women said they had seen Jesus…), 

in the middle of their fear and confusion – 

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders…

JESUS CAME AND STOOD AMONG THEM AND HE SAID, “PEACE BE WITH YOU!
John 20:19

The peace of God and the God of peace

 In Philippians 4 Paul (who had more than his fair share of trauma) writes about this peace:

The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent and praiseworthy – think about such things…
And the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:5-9

Lord Jesus
in our restricted space
amongst the speculation and uncertainty,
with our emotions exhausted and our anxiety fuelled daily,
come, Lord Jesus, stand among us
and speak your peace into our households
and set it guard over our hearts and minds.

And the people of God said with one voice:
AMEN

Steve Page

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This blog was inspired by the movement of the Holy Spirit during one of our weekly Zoom Prayer Meetings which are happening on every Wednesday night! If you want to join us, then let us know by filling our an I’m New Here Form or by emailing hello@redeemerlondon.org