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!

Transforming Prayer Poetry - Week 5

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.

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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.

KEEP SNIFFING

Keep sniffing

And when you pray
Ask
And when you pray
Seek
And when you pray
Knock til He hears
And keep sniffing around
Through your tears
To find the doors
That He has prepared
To brand new frontiers
For His pioneers.

Matthew 7:7-8

HOW MY LOVE FOR ARSENAL HAS COST ME

I have been a fan of the greatest North London team since my older brother informed me at primary school that ‘they are our team’.

I'm talking about Arsenal.

As a child, I wanted to wear the kit, had posters all round my room of the players and loved anything with their badge attached. Pencil case, rubber and ruler all became more valuable if painted red and white.

I have been faithful to the Gunners throughout the years...

• Drinking tea out of an Arsenal mug as a student
• Wearing the scarf on playground duty when a primary school teacher
• Instructing my kids ‘they are our team’
• Even preaching about the club at church - they are the only team mentioned in the Bible (Jeremiah 50:25)

Despite all this I still struggle this season…

I thought after the FA Cup final last year, and the sudden drop of form of Manchester United and Chelsea, that this would be our year!

Yet here I am at the beginning of May, still hopeful that we can make fourth place in the Premier League to scrape into European football again next season.

This faithfulness to Arsenal costs me - in time, emotion and money.

What are you faithful to, and what is it costing you?

I encouraged us in a sermon recently that Christians should pray, serve and give. So let me make that challenge again.

Will you pray?

Will you serve?

Will you give?

HOW DELAYS AT EALING BROADWAY ARE A GIFT

"We are signing you in - Please wait."

"Your custom is important to us - Please wait while we attend to your request."

"There is a problem with the connection - Please hold."

"We are experiencing a higher than usual demand for this service - Please wait."

"There are two callers ahead of you - Please hold."

"We are being held at the platform for two minutes to regulate the service."

"65 Ealing Broadway: 6 minutes away."

(Take a breath, this may take a while.)

I have a question for my fellow commuters and other London travellers.

Why do we find delays so frustrating?

Is it because we can't spare the time? Or is it because we feel control is being taken from us?

Is it because we feel imposed upon? Or perhaps we value our time so highly?

Let me suggest a different perspective:

Perhaps a delay, such as waiting for a bus, is a gift of time.

Rather than let a delay cause me irritation or anxiety, perhaps I can use the unplanned pause to look and listen, to reconsider, to let those thoughts that have drifted to the dusty corners of my mind to reassert themselves.

I read that one of the 'secrets' of successful people is pausing, making space for latent thoughts to rise to the surface.

I've another suggestion:

Perhaps I can take more of those unasked-for pauses in the day to voice a prayer, in order to ask for God's perspective on my day and to submit it to Him.

I discovered prayersonthemove.com last week:

Short one liners in an app to focus the mind away from the immediate and onto more important things.

One of the prayers quoted Nicholas Sagovsky:

"So many voices all around tell me what to do. Help me to listen to the still small voice of truth." (1 Kings 19:11-12)

You can download the app here.

Unplanned pauses give us time to conspire with our Father in heaven, to seek his wisdom, his truth and guidance, to commit our agendas to Him afresh.

So next time you have some unexpected waiting time thrust upon you, don't fret, just pause.

WHAT EALING RESIDENTS CAN LEARN FROM ARGUING CYPRIOTS

I wonder if I could take you away from leafy Ealing for a moment - around 2,000 miles away to be exact, to Cyprus.

There's been some optimism in the news recently about Cyprus.

This Mediterranean island that's visited by many every year has been divided since 1974. The northern one-third of the land is inhabited by Turkish Cypriots and the rest of the country is inhabited by Greek Cypriots. This situation arose when Greece backed a coup to overthrow the island's leadership. Turkey responded by invading the island and occupying the northern third.

Over the years, several attempts have been made to achieve reconciliation, but none have succeeded.

But it was reported recently that the leaders of both Greek and Turkish Cyprus are making a go of it again, and there is optimism that a solution can be found within the year.

As you can imagine, there are a number of issues to be agreed upon and these issues are being worked through.

I was very impressed when I heard that between May 2015 and January 2016, the presidents of both sides had 20 rounds of talks!

Nobody has 20 rounds of talks if they are not committed to finding a solution.

This isn't the first separation Cyprus has seen

The Bible captures a story of another big separation that happened many centuries ago involving Cyprus.

Paul and Barnabas were great men who went together on a journey starting churches in a number of places - including Cyprus. They took a young man with them called John Mark, who was a relative of Barnabas.

Partway through the journey Mark dropped out, and the two men had to finish the mission without him.

After some time, they were considering another trip through Cyprus and other places, to visit the churches they had set up. Barnabas wanted to give Mark a second chance and bring him along, but Paul was totally against it.

He couldn't trust Mark after he'd left the team on the last journey.

The disagreement couldn't be resolved, and Paul and Barnabas eventually went their separate ways. Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus, while Paul recruited a man called Silas, and went on a journey through Syria.

Maybe this story resonates with you.

Can you recall a time in your life when you had a ‘Cyprus’ moment…a time of painful separation?

How did you manage it?

We live in a world where it's sometimes easier to walk away than find a way through conflict.

Not to dismiss how sensible walking away from conflict can sometimes be, how about when it's wiser to find a way through?

How about when everything suggests that staying and fighting is the better long-term solution, but the temptation to pull away is very strong?

Have you ever been in a situation like that? Have you ever walked away from a job or friendship or relationship where in hindsight, perhaps you should have stayed and resolved your differences with the other side instead of walking away?

And if you're given that same opportunity again, where will you find the strength to get through the rough patch?

Reconciling Turkish and Greek Cypriots is clearly a very difficult process to navigate - discussions on reunification are still ongoing after 20 rounds of talks. We will have to watch that space to see what the outcome will be.

But one man who has been through a very tough ‘Cyprus’ moment was Jesus.

After a night of unjustified arrest, interrogation, false accusations, severe physical chastisement and verbal abuse, he was sentenced to death, crucified on a cross, naked and in agony.

To add insult to injury, not only were the religious leaders and Roman soldiers taunting him as he hung apparently helpless on the cross, but one of the thieves who was crucified with him did the same.

In spite of all these provocations, Jesus stuck it out and stayed on the cross until the job was finished.

When I look closer into Jesus’ ordeal, I find that Jesus found strength to go through His ‘Cyprus’ moment by God’s strength.

The night before he was arrested, Jesus spent time praying, and was strengthened by God for the challenge he was about to face.

Are you facing a challenging period?

Do you feel that the right thing to do is to fight through rather than pull away?  You will do well to do what Jesus did in a similar situation…you will do well to pray.

And you don't have to pray alone

We love to pray at Redeemer.

Every Sunday we meet at 9:45am to pray before coffee at 10am.

Every Sunday our prayer team dedicate time to pray with anyone who wants it.

Three times a year we gather for a full evening devoted to prayer for the church and the Borough of Ealing.