A POWERFUL KEY TO PRAYER

“And I tell you more: whenever two of you on earth agree about anything you pray for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, I am there with them.” (Matthew 18:19-20 TEV)

If you look at the Lord’s Prayer, you’ll see that it reflects praying together: “Our Father … give us … our daily bread … forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors … lead us not into temptation … deliver us … (Matthew 6:9-13 NIV, italics mine).

Many people miss out on so much because they only pray by themselves. Yet, when Jesus gave us an outline for prayer, he spoke about praying together. There is power in group prayer. 

If you’re not praying with other believers, then you’re not getting the support you need. You’re missing out on one of the major benefits of being a Christian. Jesus says “whenever two of you on earth agree about anything you pray for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, I am there with them” (Matthew 18:19-20 TEV). That’s the power of praying with other people. 

Ask yourself, “Who am I praying with on a regular basis?” You may be saying you’ve never prayed with anybody before, and it scares you to death. Its OK to start slow. When you get together with five or six other friends, you don’t have to pray if you don’t want to; you can sit there and be quiet. 

Then, after several weeks, as you become more comfortable, you can begin to participate more in the group’s prayers. You’ll find a new level of stability in your life.

Talk About It

• If you’ve never prayed with other people, start by praying aloud when you’re alone. I do most of my praying on the freeway. I drive down the road and pray out loud: “Lord, here are some things I want to talk about with you today …” 

• Another suggestion is to pray at meals. Our family holds hands together; sometimes we pray sentence prayers — “thank you” prayers to God for what he has done for us.

LIVING A LIFE OF SERVICE

“God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing.” (Ephesians 2:10 (NCV)

There are three things you can do with your life: You can waste it, you can spend it, or you can invest it. The best use of your life is to invest your life in something that will outlast it. 

The worst thing you can do is to live simply for today and to live for yourself. God did not put you on Earth to live for yourself. He created you to be like Christ.

We know that, according to Mark 10:45, Christ came to Earth to do two things: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (NIV).

As we seek to grow and become more like Christ, we need to learn how to live a life of service. This will help us create a lasting spiritual legacy.

Talk About It

• Today I want you to take time to meditate on the following verses about God’s call to service in our lives. Pray over them, and ask God to reveal new ways you can give yourself in service to those around you.

• “Give yourselves completely to God — every part of you … you want to be tools in the hands of God, to be used for his good purposes.” (Romans 6:13b LB)

• “My life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus — the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” (Acts 20:24 NLT)

• “Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the good news will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35 LB)

SORRY

We apologise that this BLOG has not been updated too much lately. We are onto it and you can expect more activity from today.

Mothers Day 2012

Yesterday at Hope we had a great time celebrating not just Mums but we celebrated all the Women in Hope Church. Every Women received a red velvet cupcake made to look like an apple with the theme being that every women is the apple of Gods eye.

What is HOPE’d?

What is HOPE’d?

Inspiring people to practice kindness and pass it on to others!

It’s about Helping Other People Everywhere

• It’s about taking time out of your day to do something for someone else expecting nothing in return.  It’s about  doing “Random Kindness” to others.
• It’s about showing others, that there are people around that care.
• It’s about Listening, Seeing and Doing.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” - Philippians 2:3-4

When you are grateful and practicing random acts of kindness in your life, you end up feeling safe and connected to that which is good and true in this world and the result is inner calm, clarity of thinking and a heart full of love.

According to scientific studies, some of the physiological benefits to this experience include:

• Increased immune system
• Improved Cognitive Performance
• Increase in energy
• Lower heart rate
• Balanced cortisol levels which result in less internal stress
• More likely to live a longer and more satisfied life
• Laughter and inner joy resulting in decreased stress   hormones; lower blood pressure; diminished pain

REMEMBER - There’s only one “problem” with random acts of kindness. Once you start, a smile comes and stays with you. Your walk is lighter. The effects are contagious and you tend to repeat being kind.

Go out and make a difference in your life, someone else’s life, the WORLD!