Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[Transcript of “A 5 minute cuppa” published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube^[1], June 2021]

Hi everyone, welcome to ‘a five minute cuppa’. This is the place that you can come any time of day, just for five minutes, to relax, put your feet up, have a cuppa and listen to a few words to help you grow in your relationship with God.

I’m sure you’ve noticed that when we get together with friends we often eat together and this seems to build us up, not just physically but emotionally as our friendships deepen and develop. Personally I am amazed at all the different flavours, colours and textures God has provided for us, and I still get excited on the occasions when I arrive home from work and I can smell something delicious cooking in the kitchen made by my talented husband as I make my way to the house.

If food and eating together is enjoyable and important, what part should refraining from food for periods of time or fasting play in our lives? I must admit that for many years I ignored this discipline finding even the thought of it a little disconcerting. However, recently I’ve discovered that fasting adds a dimension to my spiritual life that draws me to see more clearly into the spiritual realms and causes significant breakthroughs in situations I had previously thought immovable.

In the Bible people like David fasted as a way of getting his spirit right before God. Some people fasted because they felt powerless and didn’t know what to do. The early church fasted when they needed to hear God’s voice. Even Jesus fasted and the result of this was victory over the enemy and an ability to walk in supernatural power in his ministry.

We have all recently had a time of pausing in our life as we have been forced to stop doing and living our lives in previous patterns because of the covid pandemic. Now we are preparing to return to physical face-to-face church. What an exciting time to be asking God about how he wants to reset our lives personally and together.

If you are used to fasting then please join us as we fast together. If you’ve never fasted before then why not give it a go? Look at what happened when people fasted in Bible times and talk to people about their experiences of fasting today. Through prayer and fasting we are more likely to see God come in power and fullness as he shows us his next steps.

A few practicalities are always useful if you are trying something new.

• Decide what you will fast from; it could be particular activities rather than just food. Perhaps if you haven’t done it before start with a partial fast for a period of time in a day rather than a full day or a few days.
• Plan your diary intentionally so you choose an appropriate time that won’t upset plans with family and friends.
• Keep going through the hunger pangs and keep worshipping inwardly whatever you are doing.
• Be wise; don’t do anything too strenuous when fasting and make sure you break fast with a light meal rather than overeating. Monitor what God says to you and write it down to reflect on with him or others.

 
Fasting is significant in spiritual warfare and corporate fasting effective at a critical time or life juncture. It is a key to releasing God’s power in our lives. As we prepare to come back to physical church and seek God’s heart this time, let’s pray and fast together, reading the scriptures and thoughts that have been prepared for us, answering the questions designed to help us reflect, and make notes on anything that we hear.

Let’s see how God builds our faith and make it our intention to partner with the Holy Spirit as he works out the Father’s plans for us personally and as a group of people that have promised to follow him with their all,

[1] YouTube link: Fasting In Spiritual Warfare
Bible references: ~

Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

[Transcript of “A 5 minute cuppa” published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube^[1], May 2021]

Hi everyone, welcome to ‘a five minute cuppa’. This is the place that you can come any time of day, just for five minutes, to relax, put your feet up, have a cuppa and listen to a few words to help you grow in your relationship with God.

Today we’re going to think about those situations in our lives that are difficult, those things that feel really big, that have been going on for a long time without any obvious change. This could be anything from a destructive habit to an important but poor relationship, to a physical or emotional long-term illness, to a negative work or family situation that seems to go round and round in cycles.

You may have prayed about these situations in the past without seeing a measurable difference. If you think honestly about how you feel now you might say you have lost faith for a different outcome. You may have accepted the status quo and given up praying or believing for change. The trouble with finding ourselves in this situation is that this can subtly get into our thinking in all areas of our life so that we become stunted, either not bringing difficult issues to God or praying for situations but not really believing he will act.

This may sound like a strong word to you, perhaps even offensive. It certainly hit me like a ton of bricks when I first came across it, but we become practical atheists. We say we believe in the power of God, but in practice our lives don’t reflect this at all so that we live our lives in a similar way to our friends and neighbours who profess no faith at all.

So how do we increase our faith so that we are able to bring God into the most challenging areas of our life and keep him there, constantly inviting him to be part of every aspect? These are some of the things that have really helped me in this area and I hope that something will resonate with you and be useful in your situation.

A first good step is to recognize the place you find yourself in and to be courageously honest. Planning time to speak to a trusted friend or small group of friends that will walk with you and pray with and for you is so important. We know Jesus says that our battles are not against flesh and blood but with those that influence in the spiritual realms so if you’ve been praying without thinking about this it’s probably time to look into the spiritual realms and ask what’s really going on in this situation.

What is lying behind the attitudes and actions of the people involved? Once you can see this more clearly then you can start to speak against and cut off the negative influences that have led to the situation you find yourself in. You can ask the Holy Spirit to bring the opposite positive influences into play. Then just wait and see what happens. Keep your spiritual ears and eyes open so that if the Holy Spirit prompts, you can play your part. Look out for small changes and the wisdom to know how to react to these.

Keep the process going. Walk and talk with a friend, ask the Holy Spirit to show you what’s going on now, pray against negative influences for the opposite to come in. Wait and respond with wisdom. You may need a lot of patience. It often takes a long time to get into a deep hole and the small positive steps that build bit by bit can take a long time too, to get out of it.

I have found that when I use this process, rather than losing faith, I begin to see God very much working in these situations again. I find too, that part of the journey is God showing me the attitudes and actions I have taken that have contributed to the situation and many of the small steps that are needed are mine to own and rectify. Far from these weighing me down though, I feel grateful that God would highlight them to me. I know he does this because he cares about me and so much wants me to be part of the change he is instigating. It still might not be easy but when the Holy Spirit is always invited on the journey, faith and hope increase and change becomes a real possibility.

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[1] YouTube link: Nothing Too Big!
Bible references: ~
 

Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

[Transcript of “A 5 minute cuppa” published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube^[1], May 2021]

Hi everyone, welcome to ‘a five minute cuppa’. This is the place that you can come any time of day, just for five minutes, to relax, put your feet up, have a cuppa and listen to a few words to help you grow in your relationship with God.

Recently we have been thinking about how to feel comfortable and enjoy praying with others as a way of growing our relationship with our heavenly Father. Today I thought it would be good to share a few thoughts about how to pray for others in our own one-on-one times with God.

Have you ever wondered why particular people or situations stay on your mind and affect your thoughts and emotions? I think it’s God’s way of asking us to bring the person before him and to ask for his influence to grow in their lives. The first step in sharing in God’s heart for people is to recognize when he’s speaking to you about them, then just start bringing them before the Father. Perhaps write your thoughts down using something like a prayer mind map that I talked about in an earlier session of ‘five minute cuppa’.

I’ve found that once I start to intentionally bring someone to the Father then he brings them to my mind often as he wants me to think about or pray for them. This might be in my regular time with Jesus when I’m asking the question “What are you doing today, Lord?” or it might be that I suddenly remember that person in the middle of doing something totally unrelated, as I’m going about my everyday life activities. Sometimes I even wake up in the morning with that person on my mind. When that happens I try to remember the principle of two-way communication. I ask God “What’s going on?” and listen to what he says. I may get a strong feeling or a scripture that gives me knowledge or wisdom for the person’s situation.

I would encourage you to listen out for the way God speaks with you as I suspect it’s slightly different for each of us. When he does speak to you about another person, take a moment to work out what the Father wants you to do. There can be a number of responses:

• does he want you to pray and bless that person in their situation today?
• does he want you to check in with that person?
• is there something he wants you to share with the person to support them or give them encouragement for something they’re facing that day?

Perhaps he wants you to get up and go and do something practical to help.

When you pray for someone regularly you may find you become spiritually sensitive to their needs. I’ve had the experience a few times where God has woken me in the night with the person’s face on my mind and a sense of urgency in my own spirit. I’ve then taken time to pray for them there and then, and either to send a phone message or to contact them the next day. This adds a deeper dimension to both your prayer life and to the spiritual relationships of those you were praying for. I find that the person is drawn closer to the Father. Just realizing that God knows about their situation and cares enough to respond through a friend at just the right time is enough to help them feel a sense of peace for the place they find themselves in. I know I have equally been on the receiving end of such encouragement and it always expands my awareness of the Father’s deep love for me.

I don’t know where you are in your journey of praying for others but, wherever you are, ask the Holy Spirit to show you the next step for you in this two-way relationship with him. As I sign off today the word that comes to my mind is ‘exciting’. May we feel a growing sense of excitement as we see God working out his purposes in the lives of those that we regularly bring before him.

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[1] YouTube link: Sharing God’s Heart
Bible references: ~
 

Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.