Dear Lord,

Prepare our hearts for this week of mission.  

Let all we do be for your honour.

Deepen our love for you.

Draw many around us to Jesus Christ.

In Christ’s name.

Amen.

Out of the Blue takes place February 10-17, 2008, Please Pray

1. For the Bishop of Penrith as he plans to lead our Furness Deanery Mission.  Ask God to bless him.
2. That all our congregations will grasp this special opportunity.
3. For courage to ask family and friends to the various events planned.
4. Praise God for the wonder and relevance of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Heavenly Father,

We lift up to You Coniston, our village – the mountains, the lake, the inhabitants, the tourists, the holiday homes, the families, the children, the businesses and all the good folks who want to make it better.  Your plans are bigger and better than any one of us can envisage.

Take off our blinders.  Let us see clearly and anew with Your eyes.  Show us the way to move forward for the future.  Bless the meeting of the Parish Council this evening.  Everyone there will have an idea of how to make Coniston better.  Everyone there will be thinking they know the best way.  Help us to learn to work together in Your love and light.  Together, we can accomplish anything.  Light our path and set a lamp on our feet.  Revive us with Your vision.  In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Venetian Glamour

It’s the time of year when many of God’s children are feeling at the end of their ropes.  Gifted with talents and blessings and a call to serve, they’ve been working on overdrive for far too long.  We may be saved by grace but armed with the incredible joy of salvation and the love of Christ, we are off to the races.

So………this is for God’s children. Back to square one. In Genesis 1 we read that after every act of creation, ‘God saw that it was good.’  There is a lesson here for God’s children.  God sees that what you do is very good and you should take pleasure in this knowledge. It may be that no-one else in the world seems to acknowledge the wonderful work you are doing but God does and God says that it is good.

The next lesson is another one that we have completely lost.  On the seventh day God rested.  Here we go again, having totally lost all sense of balance and harmony, we have pretended that we can keep going until that holiday.  Christ took time out regularly for communion with his Father and we need to do likewise.  Holidays are wonderful but if we are so burnt out by not paying attention to the plan that God had for us from the beginning, that holiday will not be nearly as refreshing as it could be.

This is a prayer for refreshment for all God’s children but particularly for those we know and love who are on or preparing to go on holiday.

• Mark, our Priest in Charge and his family, Elaine, Naomi, Nathaniel and Caleb who having spent a week of ‘holiday’ at home are now fleeing for their ‘refreshment’.
• Smileangel who is off to China to visit her son and capture true life scenes on camera.
• Mike, Melanie, Ben and Stepanie from Ohio who are in Europe at this very minute celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary with the trip of a lifetime.

These are but a few of the souls we would like to bless at this time.  Please pray for all your loved ones, family and friends and brothers and sisters in Christ for holiday blessings and refreshment.  If you would like to add others to this list, please write your comments below.  Last updated 12 August 2007

Hands at prayer

1 John 5:14-15

‘This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of him.’
(from The Holy Bible: New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, by International Bible Society)

So God hears our prayers, but to see prayers answered we need to know a few truths.

1) We must pray according to His will i.e. keep focussed on what He wants, understand His word (the Bible) and humbly ask that He make His will known to us.

2) Realise that He can answer in several ways – YES, NO, NOT YET, or IN ANOTHER WAY i.e. your request may not be what you really need at this moment, and God truly knows what needs to happen in your life and His world.

KEEP PRAYING!

At St. Andrew’s church we have a prayer chain and encourage those in our congregation, local community and beyond to support one another through prayer.  If you wish to be added to our prayer chain, please add your request to our list. God always answers prayer and we encourage our members to share their experiences with others.