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?