Week of Prayer

This week is set aside for many churches and people as a time to seek the Lord for the coming year.  As a believer in Jesus Christ I have committed my life to Him as my Lord and Savior.  Therefore it is important to listen to Jesus and to receive His strength that I can live a life pleasing to the Lord.  We live in a culture that does not encourage a contemplative life but unless we quiet our hearts before the Lord we will find it difficult to hear the sweet voice of our Savior.  There are many reasons to set aside time of prayer.  First, every year brings about unexpected events.  We need wisdom and guidance so that we handled these events in a God honoring manner.  Some of these events will be unexpected blessings and others will challenge our trust in the Lord.  Praying helps us to be able to navigate these unexpected events.  Second, Jesus said in John 15 that we can do nothing unless we are abiding in Him.  Obviously we can to whatever we want without the Lord but the context is clearly teaching that we can do nothing of spiritual value that will produce spiritual fruit unless we abide in the presence and power of Jesus Christ.  Humility says that I need the help of God in good times and in not so good times.  I want my life to shine forth the light of Jesus and the only way for that to happen is to spend time with Jesus and allow His light to affect every area of my life.  Third, I desire to see breakthrough in many lives through the ministry of the church.  Prayer moves the hand of God on behalf of His people.  I have read much on prayer and the best thing that anyone can understand about prayer is that prayer works.  God promised to respond to the prayers of His children.  Thank You Jesus that You love us and are interested in our daily lives.  I could say more about the need to set time aside to pray but it is more important to pray then to talk about prayer.
May the Creator of the heavens and earth be attentive to your prayers.

Pastor John