And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. Romans 8:26

Pray is one of the essential Christian lifelines and yet it is so often neglected. This may be for a number of reasons but includes, laziness, time management, busy social lives and not knowing what to pray for.
The great thing is that God in his infinite wisdom already perceived this need with the believer and has given us help and instruction through his word. Leaving us with no excuses. This isn’t because God wants to come across as the great disciplinarian, but rather he knows the impact of a regular and powerful prayer time.
Jesus himself always made time to pray, no matter what kind of a day he had had or was going to have. As man incarnate he needed that connection with the Father to bless him, uplift him and empower him.
Here Paul through the inspiration of God reveals that all believers are weak, and clearly one of these weaknesses is in relation to pray.

Isn’t is reassuring that when we don’t know what to pray for the Holy Spirit prays for us so that we have an opportunity to hear the Holy Spirit working through us to teach us and motivate us to pray and overcome the problems we face.
The original word for the Holy Spirit “helps” is to aid or assist. God is not wanting to take over but to share the burden with us. Those of us who have children or grandchildren know that when a child comes for help, it is much better to work with them than to do it all for them, mainly so that they learn and grow up, knowing how. God our father works with us in a similar way.

Often we can pray, but we can pray inappropriately, outside of the will of God. This is why we need his leadings from within us to prompt us of the right kind of prayers to pray. We don’t know what God wants us to pray, but God does. We must be careful to come before the Almighty with prepared hearts full of the truth through the saturation of his word.
When we are weak, or we feel that we are burdened or that our prayers seem unanswered the Spirit of God speaks into our spirit the peace and strength of God, which may not be at that time all that we have prayed for, but gives us strength for another day. It lifts us and keeps us. Don’t try and explain it, you can’t express it, just be thankful that God is there.

Labels: Holy Spirit, Prayer, Strength

“How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony! For harmony is as precious as the anointing oil that was poured over Aaron’s head, that ran down his beard and onto the border of his robe. Harmony is as refreshing as the dew from Mount Hermon that falls on the mountains of Zion. And there the Lord has pronounced his blessing, even life everlasting.” Psalm 133

Unity is one of the most precious attributes that God wants his people to inherit. It is something that made Israel victorious and close to God and it is the prayer of the Lord Jesus that the church should be one. (John 17:21) When we are one we are stronger and love flows and the power of God falls.

In governments , sports, empires, at work, at home, when unity reigns, you achieve more, there is a common sense of purpose and the indifferences between us disappear, or become less noticeable.

Last week at Quinta was a great week where a large part of the church (53 in total) were able to come and share a holiday together. It rained, and it rained but it did not dampen out spirit, because unity is bigger than emotion, weather or circumstance.

The great thing about unity is that we can all still be ourselves, we all have different personalities and different ways of doing things, and unity works when this is in unison with each other.

The common factor of the church is the Lord Jesus, he is the glue that binds us, he is our example and our source of delight. His spirit within us is like the oil that is poured on the High Priest in this Psalm, he covers every part of the body ( the church) and he is the one who brings the refreshing. Everyday life often is exempt from unity, but when God’s people come together, unity is evident and it is this attribute that often speaks louder than any other form of evangelism.

Brothers and Sisters, let us be in the place where the refreshing oil of the Spirit of God can continue to bind us and strengthen us and keep us from looking through our own eyes at each other. The joy of unity is that it is here that God commands or pronounces the blessing. Put aside any divisions or disagreements and look to unity that comes from Christ through his Spirit. So that He may be satisfied and delight that his children abound in love and unity.

Labels: Holy Spirit, Oil, Strength, unity

And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:4-5

I was at an anniversary of a Christian colleague on Friday night and was challenged by many things that were said during the evening. One of the things that was said, was that when we are in Christian service (that includes all of us who confess to be a believer in the Lord Jesus) when we try something new or look at something in a fresh way, how quickly do we revert back to the way we have always done it in the past. This got me thinking about our attitudes towards God’s work.
We all have a certain default setting. On a computer when you buy it from the shop, it comes with standard operating and display settings. Many of us change these to suit our taste or preference, but at any time we can revert by the touch of a button to the original default settings.

In our Christian walk we often change back to the normal settings of our faith, how we have always shared our faith, or worshiped or preached or practically did something, because we get out of our own safe environment. Is it because we are too reliant on our own strength and not confident enough to trust the Holy Sprit to guide us in our service for him?

Paul naturally was a good speaker, he was a leader amongst the Pharisees, he knew how to win an argument in the synagogue, he knew how to be persuasive with his speeches. Once he met Christ on the Damascus Road, all that changed, his natural ability, however brilliant in the eyes of the world, were still second rate to what God was going to pour into him. I am not saying we shouldn’t use our natural talent, of course we should, but not in place of the abilities that the person of the Holy Spirit gives us. If Paul had preached in his own ability alone, he may have got a measure of success and seen a few responding to his message, but because he didn’t revert back to his own default setting, he with the guidance and power of the Spirit of God, changed the Gentile world, forever. Could Paul have achieved that on his own. With all the power he had at his disposal prior to his conversion, he still couldn’t prevent the gospel spreading in the way it did, so how much more with a harder task would Paul have found it, in his own strength alone.

Pray and ask God to fill you daily as you have your times of devotion and rely on him, first and he will use what you have to offer of yourself to achieve fruit for the kingdom

Labels: Default. change, Holy Spirit, New

Over the next few weeks, we are going to look at a few points on how to witness to certain groups about the love of Christ.

We live in an ever changing community which is becoming more and more multi-faith in its thinking and practice.
Before we look at witnessing in this way, a few questions needs to be asked.

Why do we?
Jesus said to the church

"you shall be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8)

“Go...make disciples of the nations” (Matt 28:19)

John Stott said, “we engage in evangelism today not because we want to or because we choose to or because we like to; but because we are told to.”

The idea of mission is not the elderships, but of Christ’s. It is as important as breathing.

Who should?
Some may say that witnessing for Christ is not their calling or their ministry; it is only for evangelists. At Pentecost the birth of the church the entire congregation of believers were filled with Holy Spirit, not just the Apostles. The Apostles may have been the leaders, but very quickly the ‘ordinary’ believers started to tell others about the Lord. The Holy Spirit brought a real boldness and authority to all the believers. He continues to do the same today.

If we do not witness, those close to us, (our neighbours, friends and even family members.) may never know of the life changing love of God.

How should we?

1. Pray and read the Word– Asking God for strength, protection and authority and let
the attitude of your heart be that of Jesus, compassionate and loving , seeing people
through his eyes.
2. Go together in twos– Companionship and unity will encourage and support you. In
our modern world safety is also a real need.
3. Use leaflets and booklets– We may not know all the answers to everyone’s questions,
don't make up answers, seek God or use literature.
4. Don’t be ashamed– What you are standing for is truth, people may mock you, insult
you or even belittle you. But God’s Word remains.
5. Actions as well as words– Especially when witnessing to people you know, be loving,
practical and genuine. Don’t preach at them.
6. Don’t belittle opposing beliefs and practises. This is their view, many with not have a
view as many in the UK are apathetic towards a Holy God

Labels: Boldness, Holy Spirit, Mission, Witnessing