22nd July 2012.

Jane continues in the series on prayer and spirituality in pray using our anxieties, fear and anger speaking from Mark 2:1-12. It looked at the role of the carers, the faith of friends and how anger and desperation are strong emotions but not always wrong. Using Ephesians 4:26 and Psalm 4 as practical examples of how to deal with anger and allowing it to be means of encountering God in a deeper way.

Notes will usually be available on the downloads section of the website

15th July 2012.

Persevering in prayer for all the saints was the theme of this talk taken from Ephesians 6:10-18. In having set the scene for our relationship to the world last week, it was now the turn to think of our relationship with all God’s people. We are (all) saints because of our status in Christ, not in a stained glass window but in a moving kaleidoscope of broken pieces made into beautiful holy lives, separate from evil and available to God. Using the prayers of Paul in Ephesians Jane summarised how and what we can pray for all the saints, ending with a call to practical holiness and to persevere in prayer for all the saints.

Notes will usually be available on the downloads section of the website.

8th July 2012.

The reading is from John 17:1-19. Jane spoke on the Jesus prayer as he faced the greatest conflict with the evil one. Jane again stressed that prayer relationship we have with the triune God but also Jesus’ relationship to the world (cosmos). It is a world that God loves but is in rebellion and under the rule of the evil one. Jesus was sent to save the world and by the same token we are sent by Jesus as his ambassadors to be in the world. Nonetheless we may expect to be hated, just as the world hated Jesus. The talk then looks at how Jesus prays for us and teaches us to pray and as a consequence our relationship to evil.

Notes will usually be available on the downloads section of the website.

July 1st 2012.

Looking at Ezekiel 37:1-14, Psalm, 1; 1-3 and John 7:37-41 Jane looks at the intertwining of Word and Spirit on the second of this mini series on prayer and spirituality. The passage in Ezekiel is a prophecy of resurrection not just revival. The passages help us understand how prayer builds relationship with a triune God as body, mind, soul and spirit. So in Matthew 6:7-15 it forces us to ask the same request “Lord teach us how to pray.” That we learn from Jesus what it means to discover true prayer. We further uncover this as a community of prayer. Where in building the walls of prayer this comes together to form a house of prayer for all nations as a means of bringing about God’s will and purpose on earth.

Notes will usually be available on the downloads section of the website