PrayerLink

PrayerLink is a prayer network within Churches of Christ in Vic/Tas. It is a way to share what God is up to in our churches and for Conference as a whole.

In the next few months we would like to focus the prayer theme more on our personal experience of the renewal of salvation, both initial and ongoing, or if you like our ‘shalom’ (our wholeness and completeness in Christ).We have been using this statement as a focus in recent months: Will you join us in praying for renewal in our churches and in our neighbourhoods, and for the willingness to get out of the way so that God can do that kind of renewal?

 As you pray, you are invited to join others in our Churches of Christ tribe as we gather around the central figure of Jesus, seeking opportunities to live his Way out in our worlds—in other words be praying that you would be allowing your heart to be broken by the things that break the heart of Jesus, and because of that, be inviting others to gather around Jesus, and so be renewed too. 

We may or may not have had dramatic experiences like those described in Acts 2 (although maybe they are just waiting to happen to us, if we are still long enough; if we are willing to breathe in the breath of God and allow him to refresh our soul…). Nevertheless, as all people are called into a relationship with God-the-Father, God-the-Son and God-the-Spirit in ways that enable us to live above the dominant culture’s temptations of personal human achievement and glory, can I simply invite you in your praying to consider (or re-consider) your relationship with this loving, generous, spacious God; to commit yourself to actively work on knowing him and knowing Jesus—the One who lived and died and rose again for all people, so that because of the full life and experiences (the ‘shalom’) you have now, others will know God and Jesus too, and through that knowledge will also begin to experience life in the Spirit now (and have hope for the future, shalom!)…and isn’t that what we are all looking for?

You may also choose to reflect on John 3:16.

MORNING PRAYER

O God, early in the morning I cry to you.

Help me to pray

And to concentrate my thoughts on you: I cannot do this alone.

In me there is darkness,

But with you there is light; I am lonely, but you do not leave me;

I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help; I am restless, but with you there is peace.

In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;

I do not understand your ways,

But you know the way for me...

Restore me to liberty,

And enable me to live now

That I may answer before you and before me.

Lord, whatever this day may bring,

Your name be praised.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s prayer before God reminds us what an isolating and dehumanizing experience prison can be.  As prisoners are ‘out of sight’, they and their families are ‘out of mind’.  The National Council of Churches in Australia has declared Sunday September 25 as Social Justice Sunday, and the theme this year is I was in prison and you visited me, based on the evocative parable Jesus prays in Matthew 25.

Do you have a prayer point to share? A prayer or inspirational piece that links with our focus? An answer to prayer received that impacts the life and work of Churches of Christ in Vic/Tas? Please tell us about them here and as appropriate we will share them with others.”

Prayer