Transforming Prayer Poetry - Week 5
Prayer isn’t just a solo adventure….
We have passed the half way mark of our Transforming Prayer meetups, and it’s been incredible to hear stories of growing communities of passionate individuals coming together to pray!
We are called not just to pray as individuals, but to join together and pray, as a team, just as the early church did in Acts 2:42.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Steve Page’s latest poem, inspired by the recent six nations rugby tournament, paints an inspiring picture of what a praying community looks like.
A TEAM SPORT
[In the voice of your favourite over-excited rugby commentator.]
We're inside the final quarter. We've seen a bone-cruncher of a contest today and there's no sign of a let up, the prayers gather for the next engagement, positioning themselves with practiced confidence, skillfully supporting each other, ready for the push. You can see every knee and each hand bears the marks from this long muddied pray, red and brown staining every inch of their entwined limbs; - arms and hands holding fast.
Front row.
Second row.
Back row.
Digging in for the big push.
The opposition has played an intelligent game, taking advantage of any lapse in concentration, any sign of tiredness, looking for any weakness to exploit. The prayers know they can't afford any slips now, they need to keep up the pressure, maintain their advance deep in the opposition's half. Every yard of gained ground needs to be defended.
The prayers' Coach looks on - look at his smile! You can see the pride he has for his team, he's schooled them on every tactic of the opposition and now that training, that practice has paid dividends. This is a team of prayers that so clearly know each other well, supporting each other every step of the way. You can see their co-ordinated pray, their sustained effort and the sheer pleasure they feel when they are praying together.
The prayers drive on. The sound of their groans and deep breaths merge into one. There's a rhythm to it, a cadence as together they push and PUSH.
The opposition's footing is slipping, the prayers' momentum gains pace and, YES! the resistance collapses. Oh, that must have hurt!
But there's no time for complacency, the prayers re-form their line looking for the next opening, the next opportunity to push forward.
This is a joy to see. The Coach shouts his encouragement - this was never going to be an easy struggle; you can't dismiss the opposition - they are a seasoned though sometimes disorganised team and they can take you by surprise. But as we've seen here today, the Coach knows that if his team of prayers keep to the plan and pray to their strengths, the opposition are surely in for a hiding. The prayers will triumph and they will take the winners' crown.
- Back to you in the studio.
Remembering Answered Prayer
Have you had an answer to prayer recently? Read more about how your testimony could encourage others….
This weekend marked our third Sunday morning of Transforming Prayer, and I don’t know about you, I am absolutely loving it! I’ve begun meeting on a Tuesday morning and building community with those in my meet-up, we’ve had some great times of prayer and honest conversation together, sharing our dreams with one another for what we hope God will do in and through us during this time of Transforming Prayer!
Last week we were talking about answered prayer, and how we seem to have new requests to bring to God each morning! Because there are so many new things to ask for, we can often forget that God is answering our prayers daily, often in amazing ways! Together we have made the decision to keep a record of all the ways God is answering our prayers during our time meeting together, and to regularly look back at this list to renew and stir our faith!
But why limit that list to just our own group?! Recently God has been answering prayers, big and small, all across the Redeemer family, and we think that’s something which needs to be celebrated as we continue the Transforming Prayer series! So here’s your chance, if you’ve had a prayer answered, whether it be in the last couple of weeks since we started the series, or whether you have a powerful testimony of answered prayer from earlier in your life, we want to hear from you!
The power of testimony is huge! It stirs up faith in others, and encourages them to persevere in their prayers, it focuses people’s eyes back on God rather than themselves, and it motivates people to worship the God who answers their prayers.
If you’ve got an example of answered prayer that you would love to share with us, you can let us know by sending your testimony to prayer@redeemerlondon.org. It can be a big testimony or a small testimony, no-one is discounted, all answered prayer is worth celebrating! All we would ask that you try and keep it around 350 words maximum (as a point of reference this blog is 364 words long).
We look forward to hearing your stories…
Transforming Prayer Poetry - Week 3
Praying confidently changes our posture…
This week in our Transforming Prayer meet-ups we are talking about how we pray with confidence! This comes from a greater understanding of our Father in heaven and our relationship with him. In this week’s poem, Steve Page thinks about how our posture during prayer reflects our confidence that our prayers will be heard and answered by a CARING, CONSISTENT, CLOSE, COMPETENT Father.
Strong knees and open eyes
Straight back and open ears
Strong voice and open hands
Straight through to the throne of grace
Transforming Prayer Poetry - Week 2
Steve Page’s latest poem on prayer reminds us that prayer is all about conversation and relationship…
This week is our first week of Transforming Prayer! As we look together at the purpose of prayer, Steve’s poem this week reminds us that prayer is always about relationship…
Prayer
How many times a day do you pray?
As many as needed.
Some days only once.
But it might take all day.
#RedeemerRecommends - 24/7 Prayer
This week’s #RedeemerRecommends invites us to learn more about an inspirational, global prayer organisation which started in just one room in the south of England….
As we continue to look forward to Transforming Prayer, which kicks off this Sunday, this week’s #RedeemerRecommends focuses on the blog of a prayer organisation which is seeing transformation in prayer lives and transformed communities as a result of prayer all across the world.
The 24-7 prayer movement began in 1999 with a single prayer room on the south coast of England, and their prayer room model has since expanded across the globe. 24-7 International now reaches over half the countries on earth. Their story is told in the books Red Moon Rising & Dirty Glory.
To discover more about the movement you can also visit the website by following the link below, where you will also find helpful blogs on prayer, along with inspiring testimonies of the transformational power of prayer!
Let’s be inspired by what God is doing in the global church and believe that he can do incredible things in and through US as we enter into this season of Transforming Prayer! I hope to see you on Sunday as we begin this new, exciting, life changing journey of prayer as a church. Everyone is welcome to join us!
Transforming Prayer Poetry - Week 1
Our series of poems which will run alongside the season of Transforming Prayer at Redeemer begins today.
As part of our Transforming Prayer series here at Redeemer we will be posting weekly poems based around the topic of prayer.
The incredibly gifted Steve Page has written a series of poems for us to use, you can check out more of his work by seeking out his posts on this blog or by following this link at the bottom of this page.
We hope you enjoy the posts, and are prepared for the start of our Transforming Prayer meetups and preaching series this Sunday!
Over to Steve…
Prayer #1
You walk
You sit
You kneel
You ask
You wait
You weep
I listen
I speak
I weep
I hear
I stand
I act