Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

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

Last week we were thinking about how building quality relationships with others and sharing our spiritual lives helps us to become stronger in our faith. Today we’re going to be putting a little bit more flesh on the bones as we particularly think about how we can become confident to communicate with our heavenly Father in a group situation.

Meeting together is seen as an essential part of our growth but I’m sure most of you listening today will know that meetings set up specifically for prayer are the worst attended sessions in our church calendar. We all have different reasons for struggling with communal prayer. Maybe we struggle to be open or we feel shy to speak in front of others. Perhaps we feel uncomfortable with different personality types but don’t want to upset anyone.

I think it probably is the case that when we’re trying to provide for lots of different characters and styles we end up going for the least offensive route which can then end up being a bit bland. So if praying with others is so important to our spiritual health and our relationships what can we do to make it easier so that it’s something we look forward to eagerly?

I thought I’d share some of my top tips today and then if you’re so inclined you could add one of your own brilliant ideas in the comment section so we can all benefit.

First of all, I found learning to pray in a triplet or a small group first of all really useful, particularly with people that have developed a personal relationship with Jesus and are already used to communicating with Him. If you can make the times you meet regular then you’ll quickly get to know each other well and this helps to develop openness and trust. Combining this with eating breakfast, brunch or lunch together is another great way of relationship building.

Come spiritually prepared if you can and expect God to do something special amongst you. Be prepared to share a scripture or thought or word with others. Try to lay down your own agenda and trust God to speak to you all through the gifts he has given to the people in the group. You don’t have to have your eyes closed the whole time or even put your head in a praying pose unless that helps you.

Remember that prayer can be two-way communication even in a group setting, It’s okay to swap between speaking directly to God and then to each other just like with any other interaction. Become comfortable with pauses as a group and spend time listening as well as speaking, and let your personality shine through. God made us to be social beings and take huge joy in our interactions. It really is okay to have times of laughter during our prayer times and does wonders for our emotional wellness.

Once you’ve become experienced and confident to communicate with God in small groups then transfer this to wider settings. Perhaps add people to your group or set up others particularly for special events or situations where you know you share a heart concern with others.

I really believe that God wants to develop our shared prayer lives into something special. As a friend once said to me at the beginning of my journey in this area: “You’ve been eating cornflakes for a while and cornflakes are really good but God wants to lead you to a place where you can choose from a delicious banquet”. A great analogy for me, I love a bit of variety. The other thing about banquets is that I imagine them to be vibrant and full, a place where people want to be together.

Could that describe our group prayer times? Wouldn’t that be great?

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[1] YouTube link: Better Together
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.

~~~~~~~~~
Horley Baptist Church online
HBC main site
Confidential prayer link

Have another cuppa

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[Transcript of “A 5 minute cuppa” published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube^[1], April 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 have a think about our emotions and the importance of these in helping us in our relationship with God and in our two-way communication with him. We are made in God’s image, naturally built with the capacity to feel a whole range of emotions yet so often we do not allow ourselves to feel these or, if we do, we don’t allow ourselves to show these to others.

If we give ourselves time to think about this, it’s pretty easy to see where this comes from. Particularly in the UK, it is very much part of our culture to refrain from showing emotion; the stiff upper lip is seen as a strength and to show emotion a sign of weakness.

We can bring this into our church culture too where we are especially resistant to showing negative emotions. We can think that we should always be joyful because of what Jesus has done for us and that somehow showing we are down or miserable shows a lack of faith. We worry that people may think that having Christ in us doesn’t really make a difference to the way we manage life. The result of this is that we hide our feelings from ourselves and from others and from God.

This can lead to a lack of real honesty in our relationships and also disrupts our prayer life as often our motivation to bring people and situations before God comes from a deep-seated emotional place.

It’s always good to look at the life of Jesus when we’re trying to get to grips with something the Holy Spirit may be talking to us about. We don’t have to look far to see some amazing examples of Jesus showing deep, strong and heartfelt emotion. In the garden of Gethsemane just before Jesus was arrested and crucified he was plunged into agonizing sorrow, so much so that his sweat became as great drops of blood falling down to the ground. A few weeks earlier, just before he raised his friend Lazarus from the dead, he wept openly at the situation before him.

One thing we can be sure about is that Jesus fully understands deep anguish and sadness. That’s good to know because it’s part of our human condition that we will face deep sorrow at some time in our lives. The loss of a loved one, a parent, maybe even a child or there might be a breakdown of an important relationship, the effect on a person or family of a devastating illness, a disability or a mental health problem. We can’t escape at least some of these things. We can however prepare for them.

I found a way to do this is to be aware of how much God sees and knows and cares for us in our saddest times. In the Psalms it tells us that God keeps track of our sorrows, that he collects our tears in a bottle and records each one in a book. What an amazing picture to bring to mind whenever we find ourselves in an overwhelming situation. Even when those around us are unaware or do not understand the situation we are in, we can be sure that our heavenly Father knows the complete picture and is right with us in it.

You may be listening to this and find yourself facing such a situation. I would encourage you to open up your heart to the Holy Spirit. You may find that you have no words and you can’t even open your mouth to talk to the Father. That’s okay. In these times our feelings and the tears we shed act as our prayers; no explanation is needed, He knows. When I’ve been in this place I’ve found an amazing thing happens. In that place of openness the Father holds me and somehow I find I’m aware of his presence and I’m given a strength beyond my own resources.

I’m convinced that this is available for all of us and over and over again whenever we need it. Please don’t harden yourself as a survival mechanism, throw that stiff upper lip out of the window where it belongs and allow God to show you his Father heart.

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[1] YouTube link: Sit Well with Emotion
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.

~~~~~~~~~
Horley Baptist Church online
HBC main site
Confidential prayer link

Have another cuppa

Jump to Index of Bible Passages
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[Transcript of “A 5 minute cuppa” published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube^[1], March 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.

There have been a lot of difficult things for us to contend with over the last year and time for us to ask God questions about what and why this has all been happening. For many of us it feels like our former lives have been put on pause with time to reflect on what’s gone before and what is to come in a way that we have never had the opportunity to do so before. As I’ve been thinking about this recently my mind has been drawn to discerning why we need regular pauses in our lives.

We know that God has made us to have a weekly sabbath where we take a break from what constitutes the main bulk of our usual activity. Certainly, as a child Sunday was the day that was the different day from the others in the week. I must admit I felt the negatives of this day rather than the positives; it always seemed too quiet and there seemed to be an unwritten rule that you couldn’t do anything that was too much fun. Even when I came to know Jesus I fell in line with the church culture of attending services coupled with catch-up activities in the home with that slight sense of dread on a Sunday evening of not being quite ready for the week ahead.

Sometimes we can bring our past experiences from our family, church or society influence to play in our lives without thinking and totally miss the point of having a regular time in the week to refresh our souls. I know in the past I’ve been notoriously bad at this, fearing my long and never-ending to-do list and just feeling that there wasn’t time to take any kind of break.

As usual Jesus has had a way of changing my former thinking and helping me to see things in a completely different way. God certainly isn’t a killjoy, out to make one of our days as boring as possible, as I thought as a child. I’ve come to realize that God’s suggestions are full of wisdom, there to help us in a way that makes the deepest difference in our lives. Taking a sabbath rest is much more about refreshing our soul and celebrating the life and relationship we have with our creator and friend than it is about following a rule to keep God happy.

I find that when the Holy Spirit speaks to me about something important that He goes on to help me find a way to work out that thinking in a practical way. Asking questions and waiting for answers is becoming a pattern and a key to hearing His voice. I realized that for my situation my sabbath didn’t have to be on a Sunday and it didn’t have to be a whole day at a time; it didn’t have to be all about spending time quietly resting or about feeling guilty for all the busy things that I spent my time catching up with. I was delighted to discover that actually it was more about doing things that did me good; things that really did restore me, prepare me and give me strength for the full-on life that God has given me.

My sabbath now tends to take place over the weekend, some hours on a Saturday and some on a Sunday. I plan for it and make it purposeful. I like to have a time with God just to be quiet and still, to be aware of His presence, to think about His character and what I love about Him. Then I’ll build in time to speak to people I like to be with; listening, talking, chewing over a topic or dilemma and trying to find a solution, or not. I just love it. I make sure I do an activity I love too; reading and thinking about ideas in a book, writing in my prayer journal, putting my feet up with a cup of tea or going for a drive or walk somewhere with a great view.

The things that do you good will probably be different from mine. I would encourage you to discover the things that refresh your soul and give you strength. Plan for them and make them regular within your week. The Father is so wise and knows us to the core of our being. Regular restoration prepares us and helps us live our lives well, whether that’s in our work, our relationships or negotiating something that’s tough and unknown to us like a global pandemic. I for one am glad that in all of this I am constantly reminded through my regular sabbath times that we are never in this alone

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[1] YouTube link: Refresh Your Soul
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.

~~~~~~~~~
Horley Baptist Church online
HBC main site
Confidential prayer link

Have another cuppa

Jump to Index of Bible Passages
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[Transcript of “A 5 minute cuppa” published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube^[1], March 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.

Over the last couple of weeks in the five-minute cuppa we’ve been thinking about the way God communicates with us as a two-way communication rather than a monologue of ‘pleases’ and ‘thank you’s. We’ve tried pausing after asking questions, to see what God wants to say to us and have started to use simple practical tools like prayer diaries to help us pray for and respond to people and situations that are on our hearts.

Today we’re going to think a bit about how we can talk to God or use the information that he reveals to us in that closer relationship that we’re developing. You might remember that way back in the first session of a five minute cuppa I talked about how it’s okay to be dissatisfied with aspects of our spiritual life because that is often a catalyst for the Holy Spirit to come and do something new. I told you that I had been dissatisfied with my prayer life and that I had come to God honestly and asked him to teach me how to pray. Most of what I’ve been sharing in the five minute cuppas have come out of answers to that seemingly simple question.

Today I’m going to share one of the things I have come to understand about Jesus that has had the most impact on my prayer life and turned it completely around. Stories and texts in the Bible talk to us a lot about needing a mind change in order to receive a heart or an action change. For me this came by looking at things in the Bible that had become so familiar that they had become just meaningless words, and asking the Holy Spirit to show me what Jesus meant by them and how they could affect my life.

One of the things I’ve never really understood is is the scripture that talks about believers being ‘seated with Christ in heavenly places’. If you take that literally it doesn’t make sense. Jesus is in heaven with the Father and we’re still on earth – how can we be seated with him? I love the way that our Father gently helps us to make sense of things when we ask him. Over a few months the Holy Spirit showed me that because Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father he has been given all authority and power over everything on earth and in the spiritual realms. Because as believers the Holy Spirit lives within us we too share that same authority and power.

When Jesus lived on earth he carried authority from the Father – what did that look like? Basically, Jesus would speak and God showed up and intervened. He didn’t use complex words, he wasn’t even talking directly to the Father, he just spoke out the opposite to what he was seeing in front of him. For example, in the middle of the storm he told the storm to be still, when confronted with the demon possessed he would say ‘Come out!’ or with the sick ‘Be healed’ or ‘Take up your mat and walk’.

It was a revelation to me that if we too hold that same authority we can speak directly to a situation with the authority of Jesus and speak the opposite of what we see. For example, if we see that a person is being surrounded by lies that are affecting their mind and spirit we can speak out ‘Know the truth, the truth will set you free’ or if it has been revealed to us that a person is is being crushed by the negativity of someone that they live or work with we can speak out ‘Know in your spirit that you are important and completely loved’ or if a friend or colleague is is suffering physical pain we can speak out telling that part of the body to work as it was originally intended and designed to and for the pain to go.

How do we get to a place where we know the authority we have been given and believe this on a daily basis, so that we can speak to all kinds of issues even those big mountains that Jesus talks about and actually see them change?

Sometimes little practical things help. Something that helps me and reminds me of the authority I carry is to put my hand on my stomach each morning, to make myself aware of the Holy Spirit living in me. I thank him for being there and I say ‘Holy Spirit, let’s do this day together’, then I put my hand on my head and say ‘Jesus transform my mind today that I will see things as the Father sees them. Help me to walk in your authority so I can affect change where it is needed’. Through doing this daily my faith has increased and I see changes that I didn’t think were possible before.

If anything I’ve spoken about today resonates with you then the Holy Spirit is most likely speaking to you. Why not ask Jesus to show you how you can walk in his authority and see what changes that brings about for you?

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[1] YouTube link: Know Your Authority
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.

~~~~~~~~~
Horley Baptist Church online
HBC main site
Confidential prayer link

Have another cuppa

Jump to Index of Bible Passages
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[Transcript of “A 5 minute cuppa” published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube^[1], March 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.

In the last five minute cuppa we were thinking about how we develop two-way communication with our heavenly Father in our secret place; how we can talk to him, ask Him questions and then leave space to see what He has to say to us. I wonder how you’re getting on with that two-way conversation.

I’m sure some of you have been excited to find that you’ve heard His still small voice speaking through words images and scriptures in in a way that makes you realize how deeply he knows you and the situations you face. Equally, I’m sure others of you are struggling to hear Him; you feel your mind wandering when you try to spend time with Him alone and it feels like your prayers are just words that don’t really go anywhere. If that’s you don’t worry. I’ve been there and many others before you. It’s okay, there will be a way through for you and it might not be some super spiritual solution you were lacking. Remember that you can and have heard God speaking to you. If the Holy Spirit hadn’t have drawn you to Jesus you wouldn’t be in any kind of relationship with Him now and and wouldn’t be listening to this reflection even.

Sometimes though, to move on you just need to find some very practical ways forward that you just practice until they become second nature, almost like breathing. Today in our five-minute cuppa and next week I’m just going to share a couple of practical things that have really helped me develop that ongoing two-way communication with Jesus.

For a few years now I’ve been using a prayer diary; just a book with blank pages that I keep by my bed or prayer chair and where I record my thoughts and questions and the responses from God. As you get older, if you’re anything like me, you probably forget half the things that are said to you or that you’ve experienced, even those things that have affected you deeply at the time. One of the advantages of keeping a prayer journal is that you can look back at the communication you have had with God and remember what He has done and how He’s been working through your timeline; the times He has shown His light in dark places, where He’s answered prayers, how He answered prayers, the promises He has given you, the people who have walked alongside you and fed Godly wisdom into your life.

If you’re not used to journaling then I would encourage you to give it a go. If you’re not a great writer that’s okay. I don’t just write in my journal, sometimes I draw pictures or images, sometimes just the things that the Holy Spirit has spoken to me about in a book that I’ve read, sometimes just the name of a speaker or a website or podcast that I’ve come across where I’ve felt my spirit and and God’s spirit meet in agreement.

Something I did really early in my prayer journaling life is to draw prayer mind maps. You might like to have a go if you’re the kind of person who struggles to focus. Prayer mind maps help you to think about and pray into a situation that is on your mind and heart. In the middle of the page write the name of the person or the situation in a cloud bubble then moving out from the bubble draw a series of arrows leading to images or words or phrases that God gives you as you think about that person. Thinking is just a form of prayer. You might write down in one place what you are seeing in that situation or why you are worried, in another place you might ask God to shine His light on the situation and show you what’s really going on and in another place how God sees the situation and what He wants to do. Mind maps help you to pause and listen to God rather than launching straight into what you think is the solution. They help as a reminder to keep praying into the situation or the life of the person, they also act as a real encouragement as over time you see God’s strong all-knowing hand at work in situations all around you.

If you haven’t used a prayer journal before or for a while, why not buy one on your trip to the shop this week and and have a go at prayer mind mapping. Next week our practical communication tip will will take us a bit further and deeper as we think about what we can do with the information that God speaks to us about. I hope you can join me then for another five minute cup

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[1] YouTube link: Write It Down
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.

~~~~~~~~~
Horley Baptist Church online
HBC main site
Confidential prayer link

Have another cuppa

Jump to Index of Bible Passages
.