Prayer Meditation 3 - Authority

Daniel 7:13-14
"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

Authority?
No one tells me what to do!
Even if we don’t say it we think it.
We reject earthly authority if we don’t like it.

But all creation is meant to be under your authority
And that means us.
Every hidden little bit of us
Should be under your authority
To bring glory and honour to your name
And not ours.

Lord help us to submit to your authority
So that we may live in ways that glorify you and you alone.

Why Life Is Grey 2

One of the bugbears in my life is people, and particularly Christians, who try to see everything in terms of a rigid right and wrong morality instead of recognising that life is mainly about grey areas and not just black and white. To illustrate this here is a photo from which I have removed the grey shades to leave it only black and white:


Not very good is it?


Can you tell what it is?


Here is the same photo with the greys all added back in:



Now you can see it's a picture of my son with his wonderful fiancee (plus a woman in the background).

Life isn't black and white but it's mainly grey or, as I put it before, grey areas are where dogma and love clash and it is important to let love win. Alternatively 'My Karma just ran over my Dogma.'

For those who missed it here is a link to 'Why Life Is Grey'

http://brainatthedoor.blogspot.com/2010/06/why-life-is-grey.html

Prayer Mediation 2 - The Fellowship of the Believers

Acts 2:42-47
The Fellowship of the Believers
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

The disciples were together
How often are we together?
We meet on Sunday mornings
And some in the evening
But are we together?

They sold property to look after the needy.
Are we prepared to do that?
Give up our comfortable lifestyles
To help anyone in need?
Do we even know the needs within our own church?
Let alone those outside our fellowship.

Lord help us to fully enter into fellowship with each other
So that your name, and your name alone, may be glorified.

Prayer Meditations 1

As I mentioned in my previous blog there are some serious problems at the church I attend and while there has been a lot of destructive behaviour there has, so far, been one positive - the church has gathered for 2 prayer meetings to pray about the issues facing us. 'The church has gathered' may be over stating it as there weren't as many people present as I would have liked to see but it was a start.

My wife and I were asked to lead the first meeting and then led the second as well, recycling a lot of the material, using Bible passages followed by a short meditation / prayer. Rather than let the material sit on my hard drive I thought it would be a good idea to share them here on my blog.

Colossians 1:15-20

The Supremacy of the Son of God

¹⁵ The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Lord how often do I call this place my church?

How often do we call it our church?

We try to take ownership

To do things our way

Because this is our church!

But Lord it isn’t our church.

It’s your church.

Your body here on earth

And we should be doing your will

Not our own.

Lord help us in this time

To surrender our will and ideas

So that this may truly be your church

Your body here on earth.