Meaning out of Meaningless

Over the last few weeks I have been asking for God's help for clarity (mind), passion (heart) and capacity (strength) regarding family and work issues present and future.

In prayer I felt directed to Ecclesiastes. I found much answer despite the opener by the Teacher...."Everything is meaningless" and  laughed with the line, a miserable business!

Breathe reading 7/12/2012

I am presuming this is a mistake and should be 'Ezra 3 v1-13'?
It's a good passage and makes me think of our building project.
Verse 11 - Nice one.

Tim M

The poo, the fan and the naughty step

Hi all,

Do you know what, I am loving this whole Creation to Christ in 147 days thing. For the first time I am beginning to appreciate the different bits of the Bible actually in the context as it is written, rather than looking at the verses in isolation.

Transforming gaze

I have been listening to a song written by Ian White a lot recently and it has meant a lot to me.  Thought I would share it with you all.

A Word from Habakkuk - Breathe Reading 20/11/12

Yesterday, The Lord lead me to read the whole book of Habakkuk so that I would get a clearer understanding of what the Prophet was facing.

Although I have had teaching on the book, and have read it several times before, I found myself engaging with it in a new way.

God at work in the "Real World"

Hi all,

Just thought I would share something very encouraging.  I work as a dietitian for children who are pretty poorly which is a privilege but also very difficult at times.  During the 24/7 prayer week I was losing quite a bit of sleep over a couple of my young children who were struggling to tolerate their special diet through a tube.  It had felt I had tried everything and I was running out of ideas.

Wave's Creation Poem

The poem below was written by the children in Wave, as a creation psalm. They were each asked to write a line either praising God for an aspect of creation or stating how it displayed an attribute of God's nature. The following poem came from this each child writing one line which, Alex Scott has ordered to bring together common themes, it has a certain quality to it.

I thank God for the sea and all the fish, sharks, seals dolphins and other creatures swimming.
Thanks for the blob fish, for when I see it float I see your humour.
Thank God for the sea because of the waves.
Thank you God for the sea and the waves crashing on the rocks.
Praise you God for the wonders of the ocean; it’s so full of surprises, so weird, so amazing!
When the sun sets over the sea, when some trees blow in the wind, when I see the amazing sky I think of you.
When I see the snow I think of a beautiful white sheet.
When I see the snow I think of how creative you are.
When I see myself run, I know that you gave us legs to run with.
When I see the cheetah run I think WOW because it can run so fast.
When I see a cheetah it reminds me that you made everything in the world with different talents.
When I see a giraffe’s spots it reminds me of how creative you are.
When I see an elephant, it reminds me of your strength.
I see the lustrous green trees standing high, however you are taller.
The stars light up the night sky and show your beauty, you are the light of the world.
Lightning so amazing reminds me how wonderful you are.
When I hear the thunder rumble, so powerful and so angry it shows me your power.
You made guinea pigs so furry; they squeak their praise to God.
Thank you for making dogs because they are furry.
Thank you Lord for dogs, they are lovely friendly things.
Dogs, I like them because they are friendly and loyal to their owner.
You made me a dog who guards me and protects me.
If you get lost, God will search for you to come back, just like a wolf will hunt to get you for lunch, but God won’t have you for lunch!

God is doing new things

The wonderful Anna Farago asked me to share this with you all, so here goes:

"In the summer holidays I heard that someone I loved was going through a very bad time, and I felt sad about it. But, as I was shopping, I saw a lovely little Busy Lizzie plant, a very cheerful colour and covered with buds. I couldn't resist buying it - it seemed to me to speak of God's beauty and generosity and infinite possibilities. So, I bought it and kept it at home, but I used to bring it to church on Sundays to cheer people up. Each Sunday there were always new flowers coming out, even though the older flowers would fade and die; it was an emblem of hope.

But, Busy Lizzies get tired and this one died, and it also showed great signs of greenfly, which I knew I couldn't get rid of. So I put it outside and thought it would eventually die completely. The weather was, on the whole, not kind -  cool, wet., windy.

Then, a few weeks ago I had a look at it. I couldn't see greenfly on it anywhere. Moreover it had, during its time of neglect, got new buds which I hadn't expected. So I brought it into the house again and kept it warm, and slowly the buds have come out and it is lovely all over again.  So I have brought it into church.

It seemed like a parable to me. We think things are over, we think our lives are messed up and finished, but God doesn't let that happen. We need to look more carefully - God is doing new things - so don't give up. Life can be really hard - in fact, maybe if I hadn't put my plant outside the greenfly would have had a field day -  but that was not the end of the plant.  It's on the table in the entrance hall each Sunday morning, just for you all to enjoy...."

International Service 28/10/2012

Wasn't that amazing?
Many thanks to all who contributed and made it such a terrific success.

Tim M.

Saul and his Lexus

Morning!

I have just been reading about the interesting testosterone-fuelled dynamics between Saul and David in 1 Samuel 18:1-16. I felt a surge of blogging creativity come on so I thought I would share my thoughts.

Westminster Abbey prayer

On what is a precious day off work this week I went to London to see my daughter. I went first to Westminster Abbey, having felt a strong desire to pray and read the bible there. I did this, with a focus on journeying and blessing on all our family in the widest sense, including the church family, this being a persistent prayer.  As I finished a young woman Curate got up and spoke the prayer below. It felt very connected and encouraging to what I had prayed about silently and I asked her for a copy. We got talking, prayed together and the lady (called Marja) sent this onto me.

James 1:2-8

This morning at prayer we looked at James 1:2-8 and we had excellent teaching from Kimil. It's lovely to join with the International Church to Worship and Pray together.

Feel the fear and do it anyway, just like Joshua (or perhaps a little bit like Joshua)

Hello,

At risk of over blogging I thought I would share some more thoughts. We are now on the battle of Jericho. Now I know Joshua is heralded as a model leader in Christian circles, but in all honesty, he is a bit too "yeah, let's go and kill loads of people" for my liking....  but once again I decided to crop, cut and paste the grizzly bits onto my mental clip-board for further study at some point, and focus on the spiritual parallels which is what we are doing living in the tension between the "now" and the "not yet".  

Struggling with Deuteronomy 31.1-8

Hi all,

I really struggled with today's passage in Deuteronomy 31:1-8.  The reason being is that we are starting to get into the "let's all drive out all these people and conquer the land" territory and I find it difficult to come to terms with this happening, all these people being killed so the Israelites can get into the land of milk and honey. So my prayer initially was "Lord, this is really difficult for me to get my head round.  Sorry but that's the way it is." This is a big issue, that needs time for me to deal with, and so I decided to park this thought for now and come back to it at another point when I have more time to give to it.

Be healed

Tuesday 18th September 6.30am prayer meeting
We prayed for John McGinley. James 5 v14-15.
Please do likewise all you who read this. "And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well".

Tim M.

Be still

Thanks Hils for your latest comments on Exodus.

I haven't looked at the Breathe blog for several weeks but felt prompted to do so on Monday morning. The reading from Exodus 14:13-14 has been very much on my heart this week too....and, unknown to Hils, I went for a prayer ministry appointment later that day.

What now?

"What now?" said a headline in today's Times Newspaper following the Olympics and Paralympics. We might see "What now?" in Trinity News following the 24-7 Prayer and fasting week. Both were amazing, inspirational, encouraging events.

Singing Songs of Freedom

Hi chaps,

I was just thinking and reflecting about Exodus this week and thought "What an ungrateful bunch all those Israelites were!" All that complaining in the desert and telling Moses that at least when they were in Egypt they had food in their bellies etc etc.  Anyone else want to throw their Bible across the room when they read that?  I did. Poor Moses. Being the chosen one to bring the Israelites out of Egypt was no easy task was it?

Prayer room

What a wonderful atmosphere in the prayer room last night.  Could we not continue it one or two days a week?  It would be such a blessing to have a place you could go to to meet with God without any distractions.

The day God invited my dad to accept His gift of eternal life

31st August 2012

God has shown his faithfulness in answer to my prayer and fasting today. My dad has been listening to me speaking God's word to him every week since I was saved, he used to comment about every road leading to God with me, all my conversations lead upwards! I used to wonder why I always spoke with such conviction and now I realise it was the Holy Spirit working through me to prepare my dad's heart for the invitation.

Craving God

I decided to fast from coffee during the 24-7 prayer week.  My main drink is tea but over the past year I have got used to having a couple of coffees a day (a cappuccino from the coffee shop and a home-made coffee), and I have begun to anticipate my first coffee of the day more keenly – often as I drive to work.

Early morning prayer

What a wonderful early morning prayer session led by Kimil Park today - Mark 1 v 35. I must remember to set my alarm clock an hour or two earlier and do likewise.

Tim Meadows

Thoughts about Moses

Hi all,

I have been loving our times in the Bible with Moses. Now I love Moses. He happens to be one of my favourite people in the bible, I totally relate to him and every time I read about him I learn something new.

Photo for 24-7 Prayer

Leicester Prison is just 135 paces from Holy Trinity Church. On the photo you can see the church spire above the wall to the left of the picture.

Pray for Greenbelt

About forty of us from Holy Trinity will be at Greenbelt Festival, Cheltenham this weekend. It’s inspiring, wild at heart and easy to catch the spiritual wind there: please pray for fresh inspiration for us all and some ways to share it back home afterwards. 

Lat

Isaiah 40:28-29

"Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
The Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,

Rebuilding the temple

I am reading through Zechariah and was struck by Zechariah 4v7 this morning:

"What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground."

The Whole Bible in 750 Words

I liked John’s comment about the whole Bible in the next round of Breathe readings, and it reminded me of this – which we use in RE. I think it’s brilliant…

God's plan

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". Jeremiah 29:11

Worship

"There are only two times when we should worship, when we feel like it and when we don't feel like it". #NWNE12

Mandy

New Wine

Really enjoying the early morning Rise where we have been looking at God's ordinary heroes. Today we looked at Martha and I have completely changed my mind about her, she was a great woman of faith. "My Grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" 2 Cor 12 v 9.

Judges 6:36-40

I'm curious and slightly confused by today's passage, are we to put God to the test as Gideon did with the fleece, not once, but twice? Should we look for signs in this way? Answers please.

Mandy

Deepened call for mission after a trip to Iona

I spent last week on Iona, a tiny island off the coast of Scotland in the inner Hebrides. On this island, St Columba brought the gospel to Scotland and Northern England. This was an amazing experience for me where I found my faith deepened and renewed. One day was spent retracing the footsteps of St Columba by undertaking a prayer walk with non stop wind and rain! We were able to spend time reflecting on St Columba's own missionary zeal as he landed in his coracle on Iona from Ireland.

Keeping praying for others

My wife Sarah and I are praying for our wider family to come to faith, particularly mine as there are very few Christians in my immediate family. Recently, a female cousin who is getting married soon, called me to say she’d be in Leicester and wanted to see us. During the conversation, I mentioned that I’d come to faith in the last few years and told her my story. She was very interested but we left it there and prayed. We then went to see my sister for a birthday party and the same cousin was there. I spoke with her sister and her mum telling them my story but did not say a great deal more to her as we left it until she came up. 

One Of Those Little God Moments...

I set myself a task to walk for an hour and found a phone on the floor at the halfway point of my alloted time. I then received a phonecall from someone in the park calling on behalf of the woman who lost it. She was still in the park LOL!

Lateral thinking

One of our MSC members made an interesting point this week. She said that it was a big leap for enquirers from Questions events to the next stage, which is the Alpha Course.

Psalm 103

Today’s reading is my favourite Psalm; it just has everything in it. “Praise my soul and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all our sins and heals all your diseases". Wow how amazing is that, we have a God who redeems our life from the pit and crowns us with Love and Compassion. Who is compassionate and gracious and slow to anger, abounding in Love.

Thank you Lord for saving me and for all that you have done for me.

Mandy

Wind of the Spirit

I had the idea (with a smile) of putting a wind turbine on top of the church steeple. We could produce all our own power and sell what was left over - a bit like the widow's oil in 2 Kings 4 v1-7.  I realise of course that the structure would be too weak and the planning authorities would not allow it...

Intimacy

I have been challenged lately to remember that all we do needs to come from a place of knowing who we are and, perhaps more importantly, WHOSE we are, rather than in what we do. That's difficult for an activist!!

God at work in the everyday

Continuing on from the theme of testimonies from the previous Sunday, I shared at last Thursday’s lunchtime prayer time, thankfulness to God in honouring my prayers, that had started at the beginning of the week, regarding two work ‘issues’ (the kind of workaday problems we all face). What I didn’t know at the time, was that I was to be faced by an even larger ‘issue’ on Friday – the sort that seems to come from nowhere!

Fulfilment of a promise made to God

Today is a fulfilment of a promise I made to God 21 years ago. Before Libby was born we had a miscarriage and I had a difficult pregnancy. I told God that to the best of my ability I would do everything I could to bring her up to love him. Today is very special. Libby is go to be Baptised this evening. My prayer is that she and all those being Baptised this evening will bring many to know and love the Lord as they enjoy their walk with God.

Mandy

The cross-generational effect of prayer

Inspiring messages on Sunday from Dave Warren and James Gandon encouraging us to pray continually (without ceasing). Being Father’s Day I ‘phoned my dad in Norwich who is 91 next week and known the Lord for the last 46 years.

Peter

I had fun meditating on Acts 12 this this morning...I imagined myself as Peter in Prison. How must he have been feeling?

Prayer and incense

During the time of prayer this morning, I had a strong "smell" of incense and then had a picture of smoke rising from the congregation as if from an incense stick. Against the smoke, colours seemed to change until there appeared a background of purple which I believe represented heaven touching earth. Purple is often depicted as a royal colour but it is also a mix of blue (the heavens) and red (the earth).

Everyday armour

Thanks for Elaine's helpful reminder, teaching and correction from Sunday's sermon.

Thanks today for being able to be in London for Jubilee concert. For going to St Margaret's right by Westminster to the chapel of Christ the Intercessor, a historic, beautiful and spiritual place to pray for this day, for whatever the Lord is doing and blessings for all God's family.

Surrounded by all this unity, sights and sounds, all amazing.
Ann

Heavenly army

A week ago during the worship part of the morning service I saw an army of chariots and horses radiating out above the congregation in waves. At the peak of this army was a charioteer holding high a banner in one raised arm and controlling 4 galloping horses with the other. I felt this awesome sight was to do with the story in 2 Kings 6.

Clothed for battle

In the first days of holiday, if feeling battle weary, it is wonderful to have both the luxury and neccesity of being able to sit quiet for much longer in waiting spirit prayer, then stepping outside and running with it. It never dissapoints and I am so thankful for it.

Daily readings

I just wanted to encourage everyone to do the Breathe daily readings. I have found them to be so alive and relevant. For example, last night I was on healing prayer and the daily reading was exactly what someone needed to hear for their situation. This seems to happen time and time again, that the reading becomes significant and useful in my daily life. So, if you haven't already, give it a go!

Jenny Barrett

Treasures in Heaven

Richard and I have enjoyed a wonderful week in Spain, but in the early hours on Saturday morning we had a phone call from Libby to say that our house has been burgled and trashed, Richard and I prayed that Vicky and the dog would be ok, and the following bible passage came to mind from Matthew 6:19-21 :

Adoration

I felt I needed to share this from this morning’s service.

As we were singing ‘Receive our Adoration, Jesus Lamb of God. Receive our Adoration, how wonderful you are. ‘ I was amazed by a picture of Jesus sitting on a throne. The throne was set in front of the stained glass window at the front of church high up.

Wave Weekend

Here is a snippet from a poem the leaders wrote about the Wave weekend:

Blossom sculptures across a sports lawn;
Beautiful cross filled with blossom
bright symbols laced with friendship and memories
Dandelions picked, placed, arranged
Dandelion edged cross to make me smile

Driving and walking

Although I often pray as I drive and walk alone, careful not to be taken for the nutter I actually am and occasionally not managing it, as I find it difficult to think a prayer without verbalizing it (although I do manage that at work at my desk, especially with the noonday-ish Lord's Prayers), I find distraction all too easy and often run out of momentum, not that God minds.

The presence of God in the living room

After being challenged by the services yesterday to go deeper with God to surrender again to Him and get rid of any 'cling film' that was getting in the way. I decided that I couldn't really draw a circle of chalk on my living room carpet, but I do have a rug so used that as my circle to pray in and boy did the presence of God come in power.

Worship

I have been thinking increasingly that worship should take priority when we come before the Lord.  All too often we can skip this bit because we have to tell the Lord all about our needs and problems - or those of others, as if He didn't know already!  I read recently:  "Worship and intercession must go together, the one is impossible without the other"  (Oswald Chambers).  I also heard a song with says:

"Down at your feet, O Lord, is the most high place..........
There is no higher calling
No greater honour than to bow
And kneel before your throne..............."

Surrender to Spirit

I don't know if it is just me, or too little faith, but does asking for then surrendering to the Spirit in public feels more risky and humbling, especially when you may weep.
I do feel though if obedient to and accepting of it, trust, relationship, love and fruit seems to come.

During the service someone, a Christian said: "A bruised Reed I will not break".

My favourite prayer at work

Jacob Astley, 1st Baron Astley of Reading
Major-General of the Foot
The Battle of Edgehill
Southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642

"O Lord, Thou knowest how busy I must be this day. If I forget Thee, do not forget me."

which he followed promptly with the order "March on, boys!"

Martin Peter Clarke

Nothing can separate us from the Love of God

Prayer is what connects us to our Father; I was so touched by what Sam one of our Interns said in early morning Prayer yesterday. We have no trouble introducing people, so why do we make it so hard to introduce our best friend Jesus to all our friends; it should be the most natural thing. The first thing we do, "Hello I’m Mandy and this is my best friend Jesus". 

How badly do we want it?

This man was born in a gypsy tent, of humble origins, and yet ended up being invited to the White House by two presidents. Rodney 'Gypsy' Smith came into the world in 1860 in Epping Forest, just outside London. Forty five times he crossed the Atlantic to preach the gospel to millions of people on both sides. His passion was almost unparalleled, and there was great fruit in what he did. What was his secret? Private prayer. His praying was even more powerful than his preaching.

The River of God

In response to Carl's word on the river in Ezekiel 47, it may be worth remembering that the river starts off shallow, so you can "paddle" in it, but gradually gets deeper until you have to swim: you are literally "swept off your feet"

I take off my hat to you!

Great evening at Questions again.

Really challenging stuff.  It certainly provoked a lot of discussion in our group (and at school today!!) and it seems God is opening people's hearts up to the fact that we worship a God who, rather than standing in judgement of us, wants to engage with us and help us in becoming all He intended us to be, without the need for donning lots of masks.

What a relief and a joy!! Thanks for all who made it the best Questions evening I have yet been to.

Kerry

God is at work...let's pray for Him to complete what he has started.

I’ve got a friend who when we meet often asks me about my faith and why I believe in God. He always seems genuinely interested in what I tell him about Jesus and yet always finishes by saying how it’s not for him. I thought that the Questions theme of Integrity would be just great for my friend and so asked him if he would like to come along. It would be a perfect opportunity for him to meet our church family. Something which I know he will be touched by. So I asked him and he gave the answer that we all dread, “Well I’d really like to, but I’ll have to see what work is like next week. I’ll let you know.” My experience of this has always been that this is a gentle no.

Freedom

Jesus said that he was sent by God to proclaim freedom. So we are called to give a love that liberates. "Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" 2 Cor 3: 17. Listen to the MSC training podcasts from last weekend, they are brilliant.

Mandy

Outreach, not indrag!

Elaine and I were praying for all our MSCs this morning and it has left me filled with such hope and excitement about all that is happening here at HT. Our MSC Learning Community this weekend was a time of real breakthrough, strengthening and encouragement, and I remembered a section I read in ‘Breakout’ by Mark Stibbe and Andrew Williams (I really recommend it)…

Lord's Prayer in Arabic from Helen and Mike Parker

I’ve not been doing the Lord’s Prayer part of the Breathe blog every day, but today Mike and Helen Parker posted this truly amazing and inspiring vid of the Lord’s Prayer featuring what looks like about 10 000 Egyptian Christians.

We are all God's Favourite

Thank you Elaine for a brilliant sermon, I was fortunate enough to hear it twice. It brought home to me just how amazing our God is. The compassion & love that he showed Peter, is the same for us, and it's wonderful. I’m grateful to God that I along with everyone else can claim to be his favourite.

Mandy

Collect for Tuesday in Easter Week

Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everylasting life:

we humbly beseech you that,

as by your special grace going before us you put into our minds good desires

so by your continued help we may bring them to good effect

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

 

Lord, please put into our minds your good desires today and for the week to come.

And please help us to bring them to good effect.

 

Elizabeth.

The brilliance of Breathe

I really commend this Breathe initiative to all, over the past few weeks I have enjoyed praying early on a Tuesday morning at HT, (really excited that it will continue after the Easter break) the material has been excellent, so thank you to all those who have put such hard work into BREATHE.

Keep flapping!

Have you heard about the butterfly effect?  In Physics, it describes how tiny changes ininitial conditions (such as the flap of a butterfly's wings) can affect weather thousands of miles away.  Imagine, a fragile butterfly can alter weather patterns on another continent.  What can we learn from this?  You may feel insignificant at times...it may seem like you're just flapping your wings when you are standing alone for truth and honesty in the workplace or at home....Your faith, your words, your deeds, your prayers, your example, your kindness and persistence can release the power of God and activate the forces of heaven to go to work in that situation.

Gardens and angels, when the Kingdom Comes

A response this week from prayer, Breathe readings, reflections from the service on  Thursday… and being out.

The spring garden, how wondrous and lovely. All that seemed dead, decayed, hard and cold in the deep winter world now gone. In its place the new; the hidden seed taking root, beginning to sprout.
The expectancy of all that is getting ready to blossom and flourish.
An abundance of buds, nature’s world and word of  hope.

Maundy Thursday Service

What a wonderful service it was.  Many thanks to all who put it together.

May the Lord bless you richly as you continue to serve Him.

 

Tim M

Strength from heaven

I have just read today's reading in Luke 22: 39-43. Jesus is at a real low, to put it mildly.  He is just about to face death; a very humiliating one, and very humiliating awful prolonged questioning and mocking and all the rest of it. Even though it says elsewhere several times that Jesus is choosing this path, in order for the world to be restored, this is the one point where he says "please, Father..... is there any other way..... I don't want to do this, take this huge responsibility off me." He is at breaking point. But then there comes this surrender to the bigger picture:  "yet not my will but yours be done". I think at this point he gives God what little he has, even though he feels weak, overwhelmed and alone.

  

Silence is golden

I recently went to a concert with John and found myself reflecting on how every instrument and voice was harmonising perfectly.  Not a new idea.  Everyone playing their part...the conductor being like God ...
What struck me was that the silences mattered too.  There were times when some people were doing nothing but waiting for their turn and listening to others, yet if they had decided to "play" their part when it suited them, it would have been disastrous musically. Playing your part in the body of Christ is great...but the silences are just as important, the pauses, the rests, the listening....

Kerry

Moving in the right direction

Recently, my parents had an offer on their house and had put an offer on another property, which was substantially bigger than their offer.  Unknown to them at the time, another house arrived on the market, much cheaper...

Who needs hell ...

Be careful what you pray for !  I pray for illumination for myself and us all.  So in that spirit I posted below on hell as we'd had two Breathe readings on it and I was keen to explore what Jesus and His first century audience would have meant and understood by hell, i.e. from their end of the telescope.  Especially in the light of our understanding that they understood Ge-Hinnom, the Valley of Hinnom, Gehenna to be the city dump.  It was easy for me from that assumption to explore that regardless of the ultimate dread possibility of reprobation, of eternal damnation, hell is what we get for not living Kingdom lives now; that we may be better motivated to repent of pursuing our desires, not just from fear of ultimate damnation but also by realising that our lives and the lives of those we are complicit with in our desires can be redeemed now.

Signing on!

This week I prayed the Lord's Prayer whilst waiting to sign on at the Job Centre. I wasn't going to post this because it's not something I like to mention and to be honest, it's a little bit humiliating! But as I began to pray (in my head of course!) I looked into the faces of those around me and I was moved to tears. I realised it was actually a great privilege to be praying in that place and for those people. So, thank you God for the opportunity and the insight.

Jenny Barrett

The power of hot cross buns

Just wanted to share a little bit of mission in my workplace. We are a small group of Christians and today we served 100 free hot cross buns to colleagues in a bright yellow bag, with a napkin explaining why the cross
is on the bun and an eyecatching leaflet with some words of scripture from the Easter story.

Praying the Lord's prayer

I was having coffee with some friends from church when it was 12 o'clock.  We immediately thought:  "We can't pray the Lord's prayer here".  So we stopped talking and one of us just repeated the Lord's prayer very quietly.  Afterwards I thought;  " Why did we think we couldn't pray in the cafe?"  It isn't against the law, it wouldn't have disturbed anybody and it would have been a witness to the other people there.  I think maybe we all need to get out of the mindset that we can/should only pray out loud in church or in our own homes.  We read of Jesus praying in the open air and He probably did this many times.

Hazel

Strange place to pray

Richard and I went to Marwell wildlife park yesterday for our granddaughters 3rd birthday. At 12.00 we where outside the penguin enclosure. So we prayed the Lords prayer while the penguins looked on.

Who needs hell ?

On March 7th we had Matthew 5:27-29(-30) and today, the 26th, Matthew 18:8-9.

Getting prayerfully closer to Jesus in trying to imagine being in His Jewish audience on the Mount, with their extremely limited afterlife beliefs, I imagined hearing Him say, 'If you don't deny your lusts you might as well throw yourself down there.' indicating the Valley of Hinnom.  Jerusalem City Dump.  Ge-Hinnom.  Gehenna.  Denying our lusts may cramp our style, our view, our reach in this life but will also enable us to live in eternal life.  Now.  To experience purity, peace, recapture redeemed innocence, healing, a quiet life, relationships full of friendship, service, compassion.  Whereas pursuing the objects of our fleshy desire without restraint ALWAYS leads to hell.  To trashing your life and others'.  Now.  Immediately.  Do you know a happy adulterer ?  A happy betrayer ?  Being trapped in sex addiction - 'just' porn let alone serial affairs - is heavenly ?  It's hell.  Better a quiet, one-eyed, one-armed life than seizing a hollow fantasy with both hands and broken hearts and minds and bodies (STDs ? Abortions ? ) and lives.

Who needs hell when you can have heaven ?  Now.  Never mind the afterlife.  That'll take care of itself.

The Evidence!

What a fantastic night we had at Triangle on Friday night with a group of guys from Teen Challenge who have a background in drug and alcohol abuse and who came and shared their stories. They were powerful testimonies of lives transformed by an encounter with Jesus and many of our friends from Triangle related so well to them. The presentation was really well received and there was such a buzz in the church. Many stayed to talk to the guys after the presentation and many were prayed for. One of our friends who is new to Triangle came to church yesterday as a result. I was so encouraged last night as I counted nine of our friends from Triangle at the evening service. God truly is at work and I am utterly blessed and privileged to be a part of it. Thank you Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

Jenny Barrett

Every drop counts!

It has struck me again this week how everything we pray, say or do and every little encounter we have is important. Mother Teresa said, 'We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But if that drop was not in the ocean I think the ocean would be less because of that missing drop'. The truth is, our every drop counts! I am so encouraged by that as I go into my day and endeavour to be aware of the possibilities. Yesterday I prayed for a simple, honest conversation with someone I know well and I was blown away by the result. We were able to get deeper in our relationship in that short conversation than we had got in the past few years put together! I was so encouraged and grateful for the simple opportunity. So, be encouraged, every little drop really does make a difference.

Jenny Barrett
Homeless Outreach Coordinator

Prayer at 12 noon

An unusual place to pray is up a tree which is where I was at 12 noon today.  I was pruning my daughter's apple tree so prayed the Lord's prayer there.

Tim Meadows

Praise & Prayer

Enjoyed a fantastic time of praise and prayer with the other staff members today, how important is it to be always praising God for his provision!

Thank you God that we can see, hear and remember your provision in our lives, help us to always ask you for what we need.

Laura Cowley 
Engage Internship 

The Lord's Prayer

I have been trying to think of an unusual place to pray the Lords prayer and failed. Im usually in the office but what I will say is that it has given me great oppotunities to share with my new boss. He has noticed that my alarm goes of at 11.55 each morning to the tune of hossanna and it has lead to some very interesting conversations about faith. Praise God.

Mandy

Hope

I went to visit my Gran on Mothers Day with my parents, who are in their 70's and my nan is 93 years old this year.

Looking around the home was very depressing,very old frail people who are someone's parents just sitting around waiting to die. Some of the people there didn't even get visits from their family, which made me feel very sad.

Prayer of Thanks

Father in Heaven

Thank you for what you are doing among my precious friends at Triangle

Thank you for the increasing numbers staying to the 'God Slot'

Thank you for the growing hunger for you

Thank you for the evidence of your love being shown

Thank you for your provision

Thank you for for Lisa who raised £500 this week for Triangle!

Thank you for your open arms

Thank you for the opportunity

Thank you for the privilege

With deepest thanks and gratitude

Jenny

Lord's Prayer Competition

Where have you prayed the Lord's Prayer at midday?  We're looking for people to post the most interesting places they have prayed it and any stories of how you have connected with God or others through doing this on the blog.  The person who prays it in the most unusual place and posts this by the end of March will win a prize of their choice of a book on prayer from the Christian Resources Bookshop.

John McGinley

If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the church

Revelation 2 & 3

I think God gave me a vision in which I saw a large construction site, lots of ugly mess, lots of building work, lots of change. Amongst the construction site right in the middle was a tree, a beautiful tree that stood out contrasted against the concrete and building work. Underneath the tree was a community gathered, a thriving community that seemed to not be harmed by any of the change going on around them.

My understanding of what God is saying through this vision is: amongst the changes in the church whether in the structure of church life with MSCs  or in the structure of building work, stand firm in your faith and the community will strengthen.  Welcome change but through God's guidance and remaining united in him the community will thrive. And don't do it alone, face the changes or constructions as a community.

This vision brings together a number of themes God has been underlining to us as a church again and again:  community, new life, and the importance of waiting on God in prayer.

Our Father in Heaven

The daily readings have helped affirm the truth and open up new links in the word, both to be thankful for on our journey and give good encouragement to prayer.

The image created for BREATHE has also been encouraging and lovely to rest in. It will be personal for each one. For me it is also a daily reminder that,
Our Father is in Heaven .....

Your kingdom come

This week in BREATHE what has struck me is the line 'Your kingdom come' in the Lord's Prayer. I have been dwelling upon how we can bring God’s kingdom to Leicester in so many different ways.
Samuel

Praying for our person of peace...

I have been reminded again of how powerful prayer can be when we ask the Lord to help us witness well to the not-yet-Christians in our lives. On my way down to Winchester on Tuesday (my home-town, where parents and lots of old school friends live) I sat on the train and prayed that God would lead my conversations and that I would be able to speak to them about how Jesus has completely transformed my life!

On the move

Having just spent some time with my parents, I was thrilled when, half an hour after I arrived, they had an offer on their house (it has been on the market for 10 months)
The downside was that the offer was low and the difference between the offer and the price of the house they wanted was considerable.
I texted some "pray -ers" and asked them to pray.
The bungalow that they wanted has been reduced so that they don't even need to pay stamp duty!!

Thanks for your prayers....
Kerry

The right focus

I have been reflecting on Joshua 6 recently and was struck by the fact that as the Israelites marched round the walls of Jericho, they were told not to say anything (verse 10)

Why? So often, I rationalise how or even if God is going to do something. God commanded them not to discuss anything but to focus on Him.

Reasons why

I have been reflecting on the reasons why we pray:

a)      We pray to have a relationship with God

b)      We Pray to communicate with God

c)       We pray to draw closer to God

d)      We pray so that God can have a relationship with us

e)      We pray so that God can communicate with us

f)        We pray so that God can draw closer to us

 

If we rarely speak or listen to our husbands, wives, children or friends, our relationship with then will not be good, it’s the same with God.

The woman at the well

What a fantastic 'God Slot' we had at Triangle on Friday night. The room was packed and buzzing with people, hungry for more of God. We opened up the story of the woman at the well and prayed for an encounter with Jesus. I was so encouraged by the sense of hope that even if our circumstances may not change overnight, He accepts and loves us just as we are, and that makes a difference. We say every week that it doesn't matter what we are like, what we have done or how we feel about ourselves, we can always come to Him and start again. He will never give up on us. He has already done what needed to be done. As Julian of Norwich said, 'All will be well'. I am so grateful for Triangle, for the wonderful people God has bought into our lives. What a privilege to know them and to pray for them.

Jenny Barrett

A wonderful answer to prayer!

We have been praying for a friend from Triangle who found himself on the streets. We prayed that this week his situation would be resolved. He has just informed me that he will get the keys to his flat back on Friday and someone has offered him a bed until then. He is so grateful for the kindness of God’s people and for the prayers. What an encouragement to keep on praying and believing. Thank you God!

Jenny Barrett
Homeless Outreach Coordinator

Mother Teresa on Prayer

"There are some people who, in order not to pray, use an excuse the fact that life is so hectic that it prevents them from praying.  This cannot be…Prayer does not demand that we interrupt our work, but that we continue working as if it were a prayer…It is not necessary to always be meditating, nor to consciously experience the sensation that we are talking to God, no matter how nice this would be….What matters is being with Him, living in Him, in His will.  To love with a pure heart, to love everybody, especially to love the poor, is a twenty-four hour prayer."

Never once did we ever walk alone

I'm reminded of the Matt Redman song "Never once" from his album 10,000 reasons. Never once did we ever walk alone, every Victory is God's power in us. So when we feel distant it's not God who's moved but us. Prayer is the key to a relationship with our Father.

Gifts

Good Morning
Wow, the Sunday evening service was amazing, like, there seemed to be A LOT of people impacted by the word and a huge response, it was so cool to see! Yes please to more of that!
So, I have a favourite verse in the bible: James 1: 16-17 - Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

What a glorious God!

Isaiah 53:3-10

Despised, so that we might draw near to Him

Rejected, so that we might be forgiven and accepted

Pierced, so that our hearts would be pierced by His great affection for us

Crushed, so that we might be whole

Oppressed, so that we might soar on wings like eagles

Afflicted, so that we would not have to bear the weight of our guilt and shame

Slaughtered, so that we might live

Judged, so that we might go free

Cut off, so that we might be grafted into His family

Assigned a grave, so that we might take up our place of royal residence with our Heavenly Father

Suffered, so that we might enjoy God's abundant blessings

Guilt offering, so that we might be found innocent of all our offenses

What a glorious God!

Dave Smith

Staff Prayers

I love our weekly staff meetings! It's always so encouraging to meet up as a staff and praise God for all he's done. I was struck by how much God provides; how He resources; how He challenges us and moves us out of our comfort zones especially in mission; how He meets our physical needs; how He moves in peoples lives and how we can trust in His plans for the future!

Prayer is...

Prayer builds a deeper relationship with God

Prayer enables us to talk to Him

How can you have relationship with someone if you do not talk to them?

Answer to prayer

We have an amazing God, who answers prayers. Last November I was told that I was being made redundant in the New Year. Richard and I have over the years been in this situation many times and every time God has answered our prayers so I prayed that a job would fall in my lap. Rather flipant I know, anyway I was put on Garden leave last Tuesday my leaving date is 7th March. Today I went for an interview for a job that someone phoned me about. I start my new job in Oadby (so I can still visit my Ladies) next Monday and all the Glory belongs to God.
Mandy

29th February

Oh dear someone forgot it was a leap year and has missed out the 29th

I can really know you .... this is amazing!

My recommendation of the day! 

Yesterday I got away from it all and went for my Lord's Prayer moment in the cathedral during my lunch break. Perhaps if you work in the city like me, you wanna give it a go, I had a great time, proving that it is true that man does not live on 'Subway' alone!

Today's 1 John 5:20-21 leads me to reflect on the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:21-23 where He plainly warns us that many will say Lord Lord didn't we do this and this and this and He will plainly say 'away from me I never knew you' (my paraphrase). 

Giving Jesus credit

I often find it difficult to take a fresh perspective on a familiar story - my 'auto-pilot' takes over and my mind is already at the end of the story before my eyes have a chance to catch up. This Sunday morning we heard about Jesus' miracle at the wedding at Cana (John 2), and the powerful message it brings of change in our lives and in the world. I was struck, though, by the context of the miracle.

I really enjoyed meeting with Jesus last night during the evening service! It was great to hear all the testimonies about what God is doing and I'm excited about all that God is going to do as we Breathe together...Personally I felt God affirm again my calling to serve Him humbly and obediently. I also connected with the biblical character of Joshua and the promise that "God will give you every place where you set your foot." (Joshua 1.3)

Drawing Closer to God

Lord I thank you for all those involved in putting together this Breathe initiative, I pray this it will impact me personally, and all those who are seeking you through Breathe, I pray it will grow our church in a deeper understanding of you.

Amen.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I am really excited about all this.

Mandy

I am

John 8: 57-59

As I seek to follow the great 'I am', I pray to be like Christ today and say

I am willing to be 'crucified' with false allegations for the sake of the gospel (verse 48)

I am praying that I will be posessed with a single focus to honour God (verse 49)

I am going to point people to the Father who alone is the judge of all (verse 50)

I am going to live forever and not die (verse 51)

I am going to live by a superior realm to the natural order of things (verse 52-53)

I am going to be glorified and set apart as a Jesus man! (verse 54)

I am created to know God and keep his word (verse 55)

I am going to live for Jesus return (verse 56-57)

I am ready to be persecuted for my faith (verse 59)

Amen

Held by God

As I try to live with a knowledge of God’s presence with me an image that helps me is being held in God’s hands.  In prayer we give ourselves afresh to God and place ourselves in his hands: our hopes and fears, responsibilities and needs, our hearts and emotions, everything.  I love the sense of peace and joy that comes as I thank God that I am held by him and he is with me in all that I am facing.  As always better pray-ers and wiser people have explained this much better than I can -

God moving in our children

It has been great to hear from many sources how the children at HT are moving forward in prayer, and relationship with God.

Practicing Breathe with the family

For the last 3 days we have been using “take a deep breath” (p7 of the Breathe booklet, PDF) as a family after breakfast. The delight has been to see how this framework has helped our children to pray with more depth than ever before and to help them focus on God. Sam’s prayer around the John 1 passage this morning was beautiful. 

This might work for other families too.

Alex

John 1:1-14

John 1:1-14 Have you ever bore the pain of walking into a room and it being as though you were not even there present. It was like people neither recoginsed you or received you. How magnified that must have been and still is today for the maker of the universe. The difference between me and the maker of the universe is that my reaction is to say, 'stuff them', but God's reaction, isn't even a reaction, it's just who he is, to be 'full of grace and truth' to the point of crying out 'Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.' WOW! what amazing grace, the depth of his compassion is beyond me, I'd be calling down curses. How much greater for us then who recognise Jesus and receive his reign and rule into our lives. For us, it says, we will be blessed, with 'one blessing after another'. Oh how great are the benefits of being a 'child of God'. May I sing it out from the rooftops how great it is to recognise and receive the light of life. And as for the truth that the light of life, the maker of the universe wants to take up residence inside of me, I would have been happy to worship him, but greater still is the benefit, the reward, that 'the word who became flesh' wants to live inside of me. Surely today is going to be a good day!

Deeper life with God

So looking forward to getting deeper with God

Welcome

Welcome to the Breathe prayer blog from Holy Trinity, Leicester. We would love you to post stories of how God is leading you in prayer, answers to prayer and what you sense God saying to us as a church. We will be posting regular teaching articles about prayer and our life with God so keep coming back to be encouraged and see how God is leading us forward.