Tag Archives: reflection

Prayer for Fasting During Lent

Jesus teaches us to begin with ourselves, not to become weary by judging others but to create rivers of truth, hope, peace, joy and love that flow through our own beings (John 7:38). During Lent we seek to pull aside from the tides of work, family, community and the world that push and pull us and kick away the props that merely get us through each day. We come just as we are – fully human – and encounter the divinity of the living God. This is where transformation begins, where we receive from and follow the example of Jesus. From his very holistic teaching, and outworking of grace, we learn to spend time alone with the Father, engage in Spirit led giving, sleep, rest and social time with friends. It is from this place that we use our gifts to bring God’s kingdom to earth. All these things flow from the centre…our centre filled with the Holy Spirit, alive in us and through us.

As you draw aside during this time of Lent, may renewal, healing, growth and peace be yours. Here is a new prayer I have recently written that hopefully will inspire and lead you as you seek God and turn from the props that this world offers us:-

Prayer for Fasting During Lent

I shall lay aside the pressure I feel, and retreat into your space,
Away from distractions, I’ll seek you face to face.
I shall lean into you Lord, where the weight of the world
Falls away from my shoulders, let your freedom unfold.

I shall burrow so deeply, in you I’m covered and safe,
Lift my eyes up to linger on the love in you gaze.
I shall shelter, encircled by the depth of your care,
Where your majesty leads me, I await you in prayer.

I shall whisper my worries, here I’ll open my fears
And lay here unfolded, in a river of tears.
I shall rest my soul gently and nestle into your hope,
Seeking only to dwell here, in your peace I will soak.

I am a miracle

I am a miracle. A living, breathing, thinking feeling creation. A masterpiece of intricate biology, a perfect balance of chemicals, an extensive network of connections and systems. We are the work of the Creator, the potter, the master craftsman! Life is miraculous, and it’s all around us – growing, bearing fruit, reproducing! Yet as God’s children, made in his likeness, created to walk in the garden with him, we also have great intellectual depth, strong feelings and emotions. And more than these, the promise that our souls carry the very spirit that Christ carried, to guide us and help us. Wow!

Yet to tell the truth I often feel the antithesis of this wonder, especially at this time of year. I become lethargic with routine, uncertain of my direction, burdened with anxieties or heavy with fatigue. It’s time to “refresh”, like the page on a search engine, to reboot, rethink, remember…to remember that I the clay could never fathom, perceive or understand fully the mind of the potter. That I the clay must trust, retrace my steps back to find the beauty, love and wonder that signpost the way to the Creator. And allow faith to arise in God, my Lord, Almighty one, Father, Shepherd, Prince of Peace, King and Saviour, merciful Redeemer.

We are unique, precious, known and loved by a God who yearns to be with us. So as the New Year begins, the most important thing on our “to do” list should be to begin to value ourselves the way that God values us. He loved us so much, enough to pay all our debts, to take the most dreadful acts of man upon himself, and by doing so to transform heaven and earth. We “the clay” can trust that death is defeated and look forward to the eternal wonder and expanse of God’s creation. We are sons and daughters that inherit the Kingdom of God, forever.

When Everything Lines Up…

As a “prayer woman””, I am instinctively led to study, practice and mentor in prayer. In my experience, there seems to be a combination of things that can connect together and can lead to my prayers being answered in miraculous and transformational ways. The first factor is “who” is praying.

Who

Intimacy with the Holy Spirit comes from the foundation of grace and acceptance of Christ’s death and resurrection lived out in the believer. The “who” can be undermined by so many things…anger, fear, bitterness, failure, regret, disappointment, sin, sorrow, hopelessness….I could go on! Yet we are all endlessly cleaned and made worthy. May we grasp the depth of forgiveness and love that Christ brings us! In this place we can stand and ask with complete confidence.

Asking

Here we lay our hopes and dreams at the foot of the cross. Our prayers will be bold and filled with the faith. Remember that our prayers only need faith the size of a mustard seed for the mountains to move!

Atmosphere

Timing can be essential in prayer. This comes from being Spirit led. What is the condition of the spiritual atmosphere? Worship can be key in leading us metaphorically from the noise, speed and commotion of a “motorway” to become a people, united in journey with Heaven, experiencing the “country lane” of God’s presence – bathing in the safety, the quiet and the space we need.

I truly believe in prayer as a way of life, as prayer in action, in thought, in place and promise. Yet I also believe that sometimes it all lines up! The “who”, the “ask” and the “atmosphere”. This is why my prayer life is such a mix! Prayer in petition, prayer in gifts, prayer in action, and prayer in worship – seizing the moment in that sacred place.

I Missed the Moment

One of the things through prayerscapes we are continually seeking to give out in is words. So often we are lost for words when it comes to the really deep things in life. Hopefully the resources we create will fill in those spaces, and help you communion with your heavenly Father, communicate to your church family or minister to a loved one in need.

So often, I miss the moment. I come away from an encounter or conversation with someone only to feel that I didn’t say what I felt in my heart needed to be said. I guess it is easier to talk about the weather, the children, the local news stories as these things are light weight! Yet when I am aware and brave and engaged, and I do say something significant then I find amazing things can happen. Even with simple words of encouragement like “I think you are a really patient mum” or “I really appreciate your smile each morning, thank you!” or “Do you realise how much I adore you, you light up my life with your funny ways!”. Anything but “Tea’s on the table”, “Is the baby waking at night?” or “Put your shoes on!”

It is so hard to weave these significant things into each day. However, I’m hoping not to waste my words too many times. Why not join me in resolving to be more led by the Spirit, to make words count, and to say something meaningful to somebody today?

Living Stones

I love the metaphor that the Apostle Peter uses in his first letter, that each of us are “like living stones”. I have been thinking about this passage a lot recently. For the believer, we can place our lives on the foundation of Christ, and we are blessed by the intimate and secure relationship we have with him “the living Stone”. God the master builder places his living stones just where he wants us. Each of us are important, unique parts of the whole church, the bride, the beloved! Each of us is in contact with one another, taking the strain together, building something of kingdom beauty:-

^“As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:4-5, NIV)

Our job description is to “declare the praises” – we are speakers of praise (v9), declarers of truth, and of love and light. We are alive because Christ is within us, in truth, grace, love, hope and peace. Just like plants we flourish, we grow, we adapt, we bloom, we bear fruit as out roots go deep into the “living Stone”.

I am often humbled by wonderful neighbours, work colleagues, family and friends I have around me. I see them faithfully loving, giving and caring. I notice their integrity, passion and commitment and I am often blessed by their kindness and compassion. They sense Christ and bless others yet do not know him as Saviour. How do I a “living stone” help them to join the community of followers of Jesus? I think the key is this….to notice when I have ceased to be “alive”. So many things can steal life from me – failure and guilt, confusion, the suffering of others, etc. Sometimes I just harden up, or I cut my myself off or I allow a cloud of despair to cover and quell the life in me. I see this in others too! Yet I know the way out, the way back to life. It can take a little while, but I fully understand the grace and love of Christ’s legacy. So, I would like to spur you on to be real, especially with those who are still searching in life. I want those around me to feel safe to reveal their hardships, struggles and anxieties. Only then will they relate to my journey and ultimately to the one I walk with. I need to be a “living stone” so that I drip with grace, pour out the hope of eternity and ooze love and encouragement. Being alive to the Holy Spirit is a daily need and it is what those around me need me to be!

I’d like to invite you to pray with me this simple prayer:-

Lord,

Help me to be a living stone as I faithfully take my place in the building of your Kingdom here on earth.

May I come alive with love and grace, be ever singing your praises

And supporting others in their own walk of faith.

May I drip with grace, pour out the hope of eternity,

And ooze divine love and encouragement. Amen.

Leaning into God this Lent

Lent is an opportunity to lean in, to abandon yourself to intimacy with a living God, and to taste the refreshing water of God’s love and grace. When Jesus went into the desert for forty days he learnt what it meant to lean into his Father and remind himself of God’s promises. It was in that dry, hot, barren place that the enemy attacked him when he was physically most vulnerable.

in a slightly different way we as humans all have “desert” areas, places that are dry and harsh, places where we choose to shut God out of. Sometimes we can do many things to cover our own arid lands. We distract ourselves with purchasing things, chase achievements, hide in a fictional tale, mask our feelings with comfort eating, find a media fast fix or drink away our sorrow with a latte or beer! All these things are not wrong in themselves, but they can become like a plaster on a wound, preventing the air of God’s Spirit from circulating, they can stop the rain of God’s love touching us, or just cover the hurt so well that others do not realize our pain.

Sometimes it is important to strip these things back a little and see what lies underneath. Leaning into God is an active thing. It requires trust that a strong arm will hold you, courage that you won’t be rejected, it requires forgiveness when you have been hurt and hope to push through disappointments and engage with life again. God really cares about the desert areas of our lives! His heart breaks for the lost possibility of softness and healing, the intense pain of midday sun moments, and the sadness of the barren land holding no new nurture or growth. The good news is this – leaning into God is not as complex as it may seem. In the rivers of grace opened by Jesus’s death, small things can create huge restoration! It’s true – so just choosing once to leave the chocolate bar in the cupboard and remain before God can bring light into a dark place of disillusionment. This light is not only an opening for confession, it can become a peephole for deep renewal.

Leaning into God this Lent can also be an active choice for something. Deciding on a Saturday afternoon to go for a walk out onto the hills instead of the browsing the usual shops could be the beginning of a new wave of hope that breaks across the desolation of grief, or the rejection of a broken relationship, or a complex health issue. Seize the moments you have in Lent to lean in. Give everything to God, hold nothing back. And in those times, read the word of God, engage with the beauty of the earth, listen to inspiring music, phone a trusted friend, stop to pray, or just curl up and rest! Push away the props. Allow the light of Christ to illuminate your path, the rain of God’s spirit to soften your way, and you will discover new seeds of hope have taken root in your life.

I wrote a short prayer this month which carries these thoughts to God. You may like to pray it now as you lean into Him during this time:

I Will Turn

Lord, I will turn,
Turn my face towards you.
I will lay before you the desert areas I hide
And turn to soak in your refreshing words of life.
I will cast aside the barren, selfish pursuits
And turn to rest in the tranquil warmth of your love.
I will draw back from the harsh pull of media
And turn to bathe in the gentle power of your Spirit.
Lord, today I turn my face towards you.

I will turn
To soak in your words of life,
To rest in the warmth of your love,
And to bathe in the power of your Spirit.

Here is a short film meditation we have created featuring the words of this prayer: –

It’s possible to download this film in HD for a small sum by visiting this page.

Grace

One thing Jesus must have been very aware of as he walked with his twelve disciples, teaching and ministering to them, was the importance of grace! It was essential that these men understood what was about to be released – the blessing that would follow from the death of their leader, their mentor and friend. They had to grasp that the Kingdom of God would come within them, and that they really could be bold and free before God. Why? because he needed them to have faith and he knew that if they were trapped in their humanity, their sin, their fear, their resentment, their desires, they would never amount to anything.

Yet they were not perfect – they were fallen – yet saved – human – yet born again of the Holy Spirit. Grace needed to be a supporting structure beneath them, inspiring acts of miraculous faith, underpinning each letter, each preach and drawing the lost like a magnet to the Father heart of God! Grace makes us whole, it makes us free, it makes us humble, it makes us giving, it makes us ask – safe in the knowledge that we do not earn our way into God’s kingdom but receive our way by inviting Jesus into our hearts. And it worked!! Think now – if the Holy Spirit wasn’t a real tangible intimacy with an eternal God – how – how on earth would just twelve men have carried the message in the transformational way they did? It’s a message that is still bright and clear today. Grace is real. Invite Jesus into your life today.

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me”. (Rev 3:20, NIV)

Time for physio!

I love being part of a church, mixing with people of different ages, backgrounds, gifts and temperaments. We are the body of Christ, each playing a part, life-giving and unique!

But what happens when a part of the body becomes so broken that it can no longer function? This is something that we need to be aware of in our church families.

If we are physically injured, several different types of cells work together in the human body to restore the broken part back to life, rather like a house being rebuilt with all the different trades (plumbers, electricians etc) working together as a team. We as church, the body of Christ can mirror this restorative work amongst ourselves! Life is complicated, and just as our physical bodies go through trauma, strain and illness, so do we suffer in our emotional, mental and spiritual lives. There are times when it is clear why a person may be broken, and I love the way in which church families re-arrange themselves to care for, protect and minister to the vulnerable. However sometimes wounds are not so obvious, so it is essential that the love of God reigns supreme, that the grace of God is flowing bountifully amongst us. It must flow before understanding, before judgement and before resentment. We may need to allow people to step back from a role without knowing why they have left it, forgive others abundantly when they seem troubled and release and support each other without questioning.

As we gather together, we release the Holy Spirit to move amongst us as comforter, healer and friend. I am always aware of the need to be guided by the spirit as I minister to others in a church service. To watch out for those whom need rest, to be aware of the wounded, sensitive to the weary, soft to those who feel hurt, and to be shelter to the broken. And I also believe God is into physiotherapy! He is into seeing our restoration right through to his children being strong, fit and released once again! That’s where the beauty of new hope needs to be proclaimed like a balm, where a message of understanding and truth can release the captive, and when a word of encouragement can breathe new vision into our hearts! Just like our physical bodies, there comes a time when we are strong enough to begin to re-exercise a gifting or re-activate giving. Sometimes we need to re-train ourselves to trust, care and love again, or to reclaim the power of forgiveness in our lives.

I have found myself on ‘the benches’ recently. I have not been able to be a major team player as I have been navigating family troubles. I am so thankful for others who have stepped in to take the strain, blessed by those who allow me to cry and see my hurt, and very grateful for the living body of Christ around me. So there is before us all a wonderful opportunity to be a part of this body! Could it be that you are needing rest, healing or ministry? Or possibly the rehabilitation of encouragement or in need of support to move into freedom again?

When the body of Christ moves as one, wrapped up in the grace of God, there lies a truly wonderful testimony and an amazing witness! Let’s be alive as a body! Who needs rest? Who needs a massage of hope? Who needs to start exercising those love, forgiveness or skill muscles again? Who needs some gentle support to do so? Who has recovered and is ready to go back into the team again? Who needs vision for the next step?

Let’s be active in caring for the body of Christ. And let’s be honest when we are the ones who are in need of physio for our hearts, minds or bodies. Let’s be real, wonderfully imperfect, yet amazing united as we join together to be the body of Christ.

Landing Space

Living in a fallen world can be a lonely experience. I have come to see this isolation, this separation is in opposition to the connectedness that Creator God intended for us all. I can only imagine that somehow in heaven we will enjoy a unity and intimacy with God and each other that we only experience as tiny fragments in our lives here on earth. So what is unity? A friend of mine who is not a Christian once described a “moment” he experienced at the end of a folk festival. “We all joined hands and agreed in that moment that love would overcome” Yes!! says the Spirit of God. In that moment his isolation was surpassed by connection. How much more connection is there for those who follow in the footsteps of Christ? When we as the family of God physically join hands and respond in our hearts in unison to our sovereign Lord, the Holy Spirit has a perfect landing space! Suddenly the skies clear, there is a runway for the grace of God and truth is in our midst.

Let’s not allow anything to prevent this space from happening in our families, in our churches, or in our wider world. Christ’s prayer for us is that we might be one. May we not be frightened of rejection, but rather be open to connection, confident in the redeeming power of the resurrected Christ!

Treasure Chest

God’s love is a like a treasure chest in the centre of our lives. It is at the very core of our families, and is the powerhouse of our callings in the world. In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians there lies an explanation of love that explores the nature of this treasure trove. We can draw from this “love stash” at any time and it never fails to deliver. Why? Because God is love! As followers of Christ we don’t have a monopoly on it. God has poured love into his creation. It seeps out of every pore! This heavenly love has touched us, no matter who we are, what our background is or what world view we happen to hold. Most of us would site loving and being loved as the most important thing in life.

So I wonder why I have not cracked it? Why do I fail so many times to get this right in my own life? I just forget the treasure that is already there. Sometimes I am too tired to open the lid and take a look, or too hurt to receive forgiveness, too rushed to be kind, too needy to be giving, or too insecure to roll out humility. Yet! If I take a moment to dust it off, and open the lid again on the treasure trove of love I have been given, something remarkable begins to happen. Grace begins to flow again in my friendships! Differences fade away under the weight of God’s acceptance, and my heart is free to give and to live.

Note to self: visit the treasure chest! x