If you are ever struggling to think of something to pray for 5:17 church, here’s a great 8-second prayer that we would love you to bring to God our Father:

“Lord, cause your Word to run and be glorified in the ministries of 5:17 and the missions we support. Amen!”

You can find the source of this prayer here, reflecting on 2 Thessalonians 3:1

So you may also know that Matt had a seizure on Nov 26 and tests revealed a tumour in his frontal lobe.  He underwent surgery soon after to have it removed and pathology results in the past week have shown that the tumour was malignant (cancerous).  Also, the surgeon was unable to remove it all given its nature. The Chandler family now face decisions about what treatment course/s to take.

As you can imagine this is a huge trial for Matt, his wife Lauren and their 3 young kids, as well as The Village Church family (which is several thousand strong). I’ve been so impressed and encouraged by Matt’s personal response as well as that of the VC’s Elders. As far as I can read from their blog updates, they’ve lead the church with enormous grace and wisdom at a very hard time.

You might like to read the Elders’ blog updates here, as well as the prayer points the Elders suggest (and do pray!).

I’ll close with a reflection point from Pastor Matt himself; be impacted and grown by his perspective -

I am grateful for the men of God in my life, namely John Piper who taught me to hold my life cheap and to join with Paul in saying “I don’t count my life of any value or as precious to myself if only I might finish my course and complete the work that He gave me to do to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God. I’m nothing, I just have a job. God keep me faithful on the job and then let me drop and go to the reward.” [...]

What does it mean to live out our faith in a world full of pain and suffering? How can we watch SBS news and not feel totally overwhelmed at all the injustice in this world? I’ve found that it’s so easy to get numb and distant from the plight of the helpless and hopeless. I find that it’s easy to ignore issues ‘out there’ when I have enough issues of my own. But that only works until I read stories like the following. Keiyeng mentioned Sara Groves in a recent post. Here is how she’s trying to live out her faith, and make a difference in the here and now. It’s challenged me to action. Hopefully it will challenge you too:

Sara explains, “I believe God invites us to add to the beauty of his plan, letting us participate in his redemptive work. But I found myself asking, ‘How have I applied this idea?’ I had groomed and groomed and groomed my personal faith, but to what end?”

Her answers came in a series of global conversations and experiences, from the flood-ravaged gulf of Louisiana, to the genocide memorials of Rwanda, to the testimonies of Southeast Asia sex trade survivors. These experiences showed the disparity between some of the American [and Australian] pursuits of comfort and wealth and the joy of joining the difficult work of social justice and engaging in the suffering of the afflicted.

“One of the main inspirations behind this album is a girl named Elisabeth,” Sara says. “I knew about human trafficking and modern day slavery at some sort of global level, but I didn’t truly understand the personal stories behind what was happening until I met Elisabeth in Washington, D.C.”

Elisabeth’s story is both heartbreaking and phenomenal. The oldest of seven children living in Southeast Asia, the teenager had just finished her sophomore year of high school and decided to take a job in a neighboring community to save money for Bible college. But, tragically, she was betrayed by a traveling companion, kidnapped and sold to a brothel owner. She found herself days later in a foreign country, unable to speak the language, forced into a life of prostitution.

Sara relates the rest of the story: “Elizabeth prayed every night for God to rescue her, even though the other girls in the brothel mocked her. After eight months, an International Justice Mission operative was able to secure her freedom. While retrieving her belongings, they saw Psalm 27 written on the wall above her mattress in her tiny room: ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?’

“The phrase ’social justice’ can be loaded. To some people it is a political or a liberal conversation, but to me, it is a Kingdom conversation. There are people behind these stories and statistics, and God’s heart for justice burns on their behalf. I wanted to write songs that drew attention to the people like Elizabeth who know God deeply because of their suffering. There is a commonality in all of these friends, and that is the perseverance of hope.”

Much of what Groves has learned has come through her new friends at International Justice Mission, an organization that stands in the gap for victims of violence, sexual exploitation, slavery and oppression when they are left without an advocate.  Her interactions with IJM, as well as recent mission trips to Rwanda and New Orleans, have brought a fresh sense of purpose and excitement to Sara’s life-long Christian faith.

“Much of what I had done before along the lines of service was guilt induced. When I would hear a horrific story, I would want to respond quickly, write a check, and be done with it. But I have met many incredible people who are responding with their lives, and that has exposed something in me. I have been given a lot of joy in life, but I’ve also missed something. All of my life I have been grooming my faith, but have missed something about the purpose of that grooming. If I understand scripture at all, I have to know that to enter into the suffering of the poor and the oppressed is to know Christ and his suffering.”

The Groves’ family look forward to learning more about how their lives will be useful in bringing hope to individuals like Elizabeth.

That night in Washington D.C., Elizabeth was asked to share the Psalm she had written on the wall as part of her testimony, but Elizabeth refused, stating that Psalm 27 was for the brothel. Instead, she said, she would read Psalm 34: ‘I sought the Lord, and He heard my cry. “When I met Elizabeth, I felt like I was in the presence of royalty,” says Sara. “She is a college graduate now, and with tremendous courage, has used her story to inspire action. I couldn’t get her out of my mind as I was writing these songs. She knows something about God that I will never know. Those verses are real to her in a way that I have never experienced. After meeting her, genocide survivors, and others who  suffered great oppression, I was humbled by my lack of understanding of life, of love, of courage, and of Christ, and was filled with a hunger to know more.”

Do you want to know more? Do you want to do something about it too? Then:

1. Come to church this Sunday as we learn about the Persecuted Church, and then pray for them (you’ll receive a 31-day prayer guide for North Korea – recently ranked #1 by Voice of the Martyrs for the 7th year running as the most persecuted people in the world).
2. Check out the International Justice Mission website and see what they do.
3. Also, Grace told us about the following organisation: The A21 Campaign. Check out their website – they have a list of 21 things you can do to help those caught in the horrifying slave trade. Last week, our challenge was to pray for the Persecuted Church in general. Next week we’ll focus on North Korea. This week, click on this following link and join me in praying for those in slavery.

Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering(Hebrews 13:3).

As I read through the prayer card, my heart was moved at what our brothers and sisters in Christ endure for the sake of His Name. I’ve never really experienced such injustice or persecution myself. Go to the Barnabas Fund link above to read some of their stories. The Bible tells us that the Church will be persecuted (John 15:20). So if the Lord will continue to allow persecution, what exactly should we ask Him for when we pray about these situations? I’ve found that the ten points below are helpful guidance in bringing our persecuted brothers and sisters before the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16).

1. God that He is all-knowing that in Christ He himself experienced shame, pain and agonising death, as well as the glorious resurrection. Thank Him for His promise: “I will never leave you nor forsake you”(Joshua 1:5, Matthew 28:20).

2. Pray that all governments will work for justice and righteousness. While Jesus says that in this world we will have trouble, (John 16.33) He does not say that it will always be present in every place.

3. Pray that leaders of liberal democracies will use their influence to find ways to reduce, if not end, persecution in countries where it occurs. Just as Paul appealed to Caesar to seek justice (Acts 25), so Christians can appeal to secular governments.

4. Pray for the growth of the Church where persecution flourishes, remembering that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church”.

5. Pray for strength and courage for those undergoing persecution, and for peace that only God can bring. Thank Him that His grace is sufficient for their needs (2 Cor 12:9). Pray that their faith will not fail, but that their suffering will draw them closer to Him and increase their faith.

6. Pray that the Holy Spirit will enable persecuted Christians to forgive and love their persecutors (Matt 5:44) and that their Christ-like reactions will have an impact on their persecutors.

7. Pray that the Lord will be at work in the hearts of those who currently persecute our sisters and brothers to bring them to a saving knowledge of Himself, as He did with Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9).

8. Thank the Lord for the privilege of entering into the sufferings of our sisters and brothers, remembering that “if one part [of the body] suffers, every part suffers with it” (1 Cor 12:26).

9. Pray that Christians who are experiencing persecution will not lose the ability to accept or trust genuine approaches from those who have formerly persecuted them, as when the believers in Jerusalem had to learn to accept the reality of Saul’s conversion (Acts 9). Pray that the Lord will give discernment, and relief from unnecessary fears.

10. Pray for yourself and for persecuted Christians to be spiritually ready for whatever tomorrow brings, be that persecution, respite from suffering or Christ’s return (Matt 24.42).

Recently I wrote posts on the important topics of what should we pray for? and what is prayer? Prayer should be one of the easiest and most natural things to do for Christians. In the end, prayer is simply communication with God.

Many of us  know how to pray and what to pray, but still, every Christian at some point in life finds it hard to pray. Below is a great quote from one wise older Christian man struggling with prayer and finding a way to reap the benefits of a healthy prayer life. The quote is an extract that Dr J.Sidlow Baxter shared from his pastoral diary. I found it in Kent Hughes’ Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome, p78-81. (warning: it’s quite long, but very easy to read and I think well worth the time spent!)

J. Sidlow Baxter began by telling how in 1928 he entered the ministry determined that he would be the “most Baptist-Methodist” of pastors, a real man of prayer. However, it was not long until his increasing pastoral responsibilities, administrative duties, and the subtle subterfuges of pastoral life began to crowd prayer out. He began to get used to it, making excuses for himself.

Then one morning came a crisis, as he stood over his work-strewn desk and looked at his watch. The voice of the Spirit was calling him to pray, but at the same time another velvety little voice told him to be practical and get his letters answered, that he ought to face up to the fact that he wasn’t the spiritual sort, that only a few people could be like that. That did it! “That last remark’, said Baxter, “hurt like a dagger blade. I could not bear to think it was true”. He was horrified by his ability to rationalise away the very ground of his ministerial vitality and power.

That morning Sidlow Baxter took a good look into his heart, and he found that there was a part of him that did not want to pray and yet a part that did. The part that didn’t was his emotions, and the part that did was his intellect and will. This analysis paved the way to victory. In Dr. Baxter’s own inimitable words:

As never before, my will and I stood face to face. I asked my will the straight question, “Will, are you ready for an hour of prayer?” Will answered, “Here I am, and am quite ready, if you are”. So Will and I linked arms and turned to go for our time of prayer, At once all the emotions began pulling the other way and protesting, “We’re not coming”. I saw Will stagger just a bit, so I asked, “Can you stick it out, Will?” and Will replied, “Yes, if you can”. So Will went, and we got down to prayer, dragging those wriggling, obstreperous emotions with us. It was a struggle all the way through. At one point, when Will and I were in the middle of an earnest intercession, I suddenly found one of those traitorous emotions had snared my imagination and had run off to the golf course; and it was all I could do to drag the wicked rascal back. A bit later I found another of the emotions had sneaked away with some off-guard thoughts and was in the pulpit, two days ahead of my schedule, preaching a sermon that I had not yet finished preparing!

At the end of that hour, if you had asked me, “Have you had a ‘good time’?” I would have had to reply, “No, it has been a wearying wrestle with contrary emotions and a truant imagination from beginning to end”. What is more, that battle with the emotions continued for between two and three weeks, and if you had asked me at the end of that period, “Have you had a ‘good time’ in your daily praying?” I would have had to confess, “No, at times it has seemed as though the heavens were brass, and God too distant to hear, and the Lord Jesus strangely aloof, and prayer accomplishing nothing”.

Yet something was happening. For one thing, Will and I really taught the emotions that we were completely independant of them. Also, one morning, about two weeks after the contest began, just when Will and I were going for another time of prayer, I overheard one of the emotions whisper to the other, “Come on, you guys,  it’s no use wasting any more time resisting: they’ll go just the same”. That morning, for the first time, even though the emotions were still suddenly un-cooperative, they were at least quiescent, which allowed Will and me to get on with prayer undistractedly.

Then, another couple of weeks later, what do you think happened? During one of our prayer times, when Will and I were no more thinking of the emotions than of the man on the moon, one of the most vigorous of the emotions unexpectantly sprang up and shouted, “Hallelujah!” at which all the other emotions exclaimed, “Amen!” And for the first time the whole of my being – intellect, will and emotions – was united in one, co-oordinated prayer-operation. All at once, God was real, heaven was open, the Holy Spirit was indeed moving through my longings, and prayer was surprisingly vital. Moreover, in that instant there came a sudden realisation that heaven had been watching and listening all the way through those days of struggle against the chilling moods and mutinous emotions; also that I had been undergoing necessary tutoring by my heavenly Teacher.

Because of Jesus, the one and only mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5), we can with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). We might find prayer hard at times, but it’s better to pray, drawing near to God, and receive mercy and grace than to go without. May we be like J. Sidlow Baxter to find ourselves ’struggling but winning’ in prayer, and thus in life.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 is a great memory verse. It simply says: pray without ceasing. That’s easy to remember, and while this is true, it’s a hard thing to do. I find prayer a challenge – it’s really easy to get caught up in lots of other things, and forget that God is there, and that prayer is a sign of our dependency on Him.

In my last post, I wrote on the topic: what is prayer? Following on from that, I think the next obvious question to think through is: what should I pray for?

I just read a really helpful article by Pastor John Piper on this exact topic. He begins the article this way:

One way to answer this question is to look at what the early church prayed for. Here is a list gathered from the New Testament. It can guide you in how you pray. I suggest that periodically you pray through this list just to test whether your prayers are leaving out anything the New Testament included. We don’t have to pray all of these each time we pray. But over time it would be good if our prayers had the breadth and depth of the New Testament prayers.

For the full article, click here.

May God’s Word guide our prayers, and in turn give us confidence that what we are praying for are indeed things that God loves to hear.

The first thing we need to grasp is that we have no right to pray to God, except through Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5 says: For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. We can only approach the perfect God if all of our sin, guilt and shame has been lifted off us. To understand this in more detail, have a read here. As Christians, we can pray to God. That’s a simple statement, but a profound truth.

Following on from this, we need to understand what prayer is? I think the Westminster Shorter Catechism gives us a wonderful answer when it says (in Q&A 98):

Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God,(1) for things agreeable to his will,(2) in the name of Christ,(3) with confession of our sins,(4) and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.(5)

(1) Ps. 62:8. (2) I John 5:14. (3) John 16:23. (4) Ps. 32:5-6; Dan. 9:4. (5) Phil. 4:6.

Have a read of the Bible verses referenced above. Prayer really is a multi-faceted act between fallen people and the glorious God. In line with this, I was recently reading an autobiography by an ex-American basketballer, Bill Reiser, and he made the following statements on prayer that I really like (p63ff):

Prayer tells your problems how big your God is instead of you telling God how big your problems are.

True prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance but laying hold of His willingness.

I think the above two points are really good distinctions to make, and give us some interesting things to think about in regards to prayer.

Prayer is one of our immense privileges – we can with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). So let’s keep praying – individually and as a church community – so that we and the people around us can receive mercy, grace and help in our time of need.

There were 3 categories to measure our growth by:

• Character (spiritual formation) – developing in personal godliness, and thus reflecting the heart of a Christian character
• Knowledge (theological formation) – developing a Christian mind based on a working understanding of the Bible
• Skills (ministry formation) – developing skills and an attitude of Christlike service

…and a common element of stunted character growth for our CG members was prayerfulness.  It was great to see lots of us wanting to grow in this.  I myself have been a bit of a silly duffer for many months – knowing that I pray best when prompted by a personal prayer schedule, but not having an updated one to work (or pray) from – because of my own tardiness in putting a fresh one together.  So last night at CG was the perfect opportunity to do so, and my prayer life has already benefitted!  I used it this afternoon to pray from and it helped my brain enormously to have something concrete to work from and concentrate on.  

Does that mean I’m left-brained?  I think it might.  So I thought if I shared my left-brained praying method with you, other left-brainers out there might similarly benefit.  Hope this works –  

It looks a bit clumsy here, but you get the idea.  Just fill it in for the week – all 7 columns and 4-5+ rows – and voila, a personalised, specific, other-person-centred prayer schedule.  

As for prayer points – what a great act of service to ask someone what you can pray for them, or make up some prayer points – based on the plethora in God’s word.  :)