Category: Prayer

Small steps to increase prayerfulness

Paraklesis

[‘encouragement’, ‘exhortation’, for life and ministry]

February 2024

Peter Adam

‘Devote yourselves to prayer …’ [Paul’s instructions to believers][1].

‘We will devote ourselves to prayer …’ [The apostles’ decision][2].

Habits save time and energy in decision-making. But unhelpful habits may mean that we don’t pray as we would like. We need to adopt helpful prayer habits to override the unhelpful habits [as in Ephes 4:28], and grow in prayerfulness.

Here are some small steps to adopt prayerful habits. Do so by gradually and persistently putting them into practice: imprint them in your muscle-memory!

  • Don’t be daunted by a long list! Chose the ones that suit you.
  • Make sure that one is in place before you tackle another one!
  • The order does not matter. Begin with the one which would help you best.
  • Tell others what small steps you are beginning to take, and encourage them to do the same. This will bless them, and increase your accountability!

The first step: Ask God to help you to pray, to draw you to pray, to make you a prayerful person. [And also ask several friends to pray this for you]. Keep praying this prayer!

And now!

  • Whenever you pray for someone, or for a church or a ministry, thank God for that person, church, or ministry before you ask [Paul does this, e.g. 1 Thess 1:2].
  • Whenever you contact someone, tell them that you are praying for them, also tell them that you thanking God for them [Paul does this! See above].
  • Whenever you meditate on the Bible on your own, or with a group, turn the message of the Bible passage into a prayer which expresses your desire to do what God has told you he wants you to do in the Bible passage. You may find it helpful to use words or phrases from the Bible passage in your prayer. [If you don’t know what to pray, then you won’t know what to do!]
  • To expand and enrich your prayers, use some of Paul’s prayers for his churches in his letters. You can use them to pray for churches, and, with a few changes you can use them to pray for yourself, or for other believers [e.g. Col 1:9-14].
  • If you find your mind has started worrying about something or someone, then turn that worry into a prayer. As Martin Luther said to his wife Katy, ‘Pray, and let God worry!’
  • Trust and entrust. Learn to say to God, ‘I trust you about this issue or person, and I entrust them to you.’
  • If you go for a walk, pray as you walk. Here are some possibilities for those prayers: people who are on your mind; your family or your friends; the people who live in the houses you walk past; missionaries you support; praise God for the beauty of the world, the sky, the clouds, the trees; pray that everyone you see will become a Christian, etc.
  • When you drive, don’t turn on the radio, pray as you drive.
  • When you drive with other people in the car, turn it into a mobile prayer meeting!
  • If you want to pray aloud in public without being ostentatious, use a mobile phone as a cover!
  • If you have lots of people and ministries to pray for, make a list of different people or ministries to pray for each day. Or if you don’t like lists, put names on pieces of paper into one pot, pull names out at random, and when you have prayed for them, put the piece of paper into another pot.
  • Use https://www.prayermate.net/ to help you pray.
  • When you are spending time praying, keep a ‘to do’ notebook near you, so that you can jot down the tasks that come into your mind, and then get back to prayer.
  • Put time to pray into your calendar and daily planner. If you are calendar-driven, you will not pray unless you plan it!
  • Put time to pray into your work calendar. Praying is part of your ministry!
  • Set aside a longer time to pray once a week, and/or once a month.
  • When you pray, don’t just ask. Include praise, thanks, lament, confession, meditation on God’s words and works, and promises to trust, love, hope, and wait for God.
  • Get into the habit of praying short prayers frequently during the day: for the phone call you are about to make; the message you are about to write or have written; the person you are about to talk with or have just talked with; the meeting you are about to take part in or which has just finished; the people who will hear your sermon or Bible study or who have just heard it; etc.
  • When you feel unwilling or unprepared to pray, ask the Holy Spirit to prompt your turning to your heavenly Father, and to make up for the deficiencies of your prayers [Romans 8:16, 26,27].
  • When you have a significant conversation with someone, ask at the end if you might pray out loud with them [and, if appropriate, invite that person to pray as well]. Do this in ministry situations, with members of your family, and with friends! Plan to do this, unless you think at the time that that it might not be appropriate.
  • When you sin, immediately repent and ask God to forgive you, claim his promise of forgiveness by the blood of Christ, and ask his help you to change the way you live.
  • At the end of each day, thank God for three gifts that he has given you this day, and ask him to make you aware of three gifts he will give you tomorrow!
  • Praise God that Christ died to enable you to pray! [Heb 10:19-22].
  • At the end of each day, remind yourself of who God is, and praise him.
  • At the end of each day, reflect on the significant acts of ministry you have done, thank God for the privilege of ministry, thank God for his enabling power at work in you and through you, and pray that he would use what you have done in the lives of the people you have served, and for his glory.
  • Each day, praise God for his generous creation gifts such as water, food, air, sight, hearing, words, people you meet, your digestion, the beating of your heart, shelter, electricity, an effective sewerage system, good pavements and roads, music, affordable transport, farmers, banks, stable government, etc [A couple of these a day is sufficient! But think widely each week!].
  • When you hear bad world news, praise and thank God for his providential care and rule of this world, and ask him to act.
  • When you doubt that your prayers are getting higher than the ceiling, remember that, in Calvin’s words, ‘God our Father hears our prayers from the lips of his Son’.[3]
  • As often as you can, stop and tell God that you trust him, love him, wait on him, hope in him, desire him, thank him, and praise him. You cannot do this too many times a day!
  • Start praying ‘whatever it takes’ prayers. ‘Gracious God, please do whatever it takes to conform me to the image of Christ’. ‘Dear God, do whatever it takes to raise up more gospel workers; to reform and revive this church; to bring the message of Christ to our nation.’
  • Our life and ministry are often directed towards our own satisfaction or the benefit of others, and not to God. If you live this way, prayer is more difficult. Offer yourself and your ministry to God every day. ‘Offer your body as a living sacrifice …’ ‘Offer yourself to God as a worker…’[4]. This will help you to pray, help you to depend on God, help you to see God’s work in you and through, and help you to serve God better! A God-ward life helps us in God-ward prayers!
  • When you are talking to fellow-workers about the ministry you share, when you are with them to plan the ministry, pray together. Pray and plan, don’t just plan!
  • On your own or with fellow-workers, pray systematically through the list of people you serve in your ministry: the members the youth-group; congregation members; the people in the Aged-Care facility; the current list of enquirers.
  • At meetings of a church council or committee, don’t just pray for the meeting, pray for the ministry, and pray for the people who do and receive the ministry! On a church council, pray for church members, Sunday services, youth and children, for those who serve in these ministries. [You could ask individuals to prepare to pray for each ministry.]
  • If some in a small group find spontaneous praying difficult, invite everyone to write a one-sentence prayer, and then ask each person around the circle to pray their prayer aloud. They then know what they will pray, and when they should pray it!
  • Praise God every day for Christ and for all the gospel blessings we have in him!
  • Learn to pray for ministry you feel confident about doing, not only ministry which feels a challenge. You need God’s help in both! Pray that God will work in you and through you in all your ministry, and all your life.
  • When preparing a sermon, also prepare a prayer in response to the Bible passage, using the words of the passage. Then put it on the screen, and ask people to pray it with you. Here is an example of a prayer after a sermon on Romans 6:

Jesus Christ, our saviour and Lord, we praise you and thank you, for you were delivered over to death for our sins, and raised to life for our justification

We also praise and thank you that we all died with you in your death, and we were all raised with you in your resurrection.

We reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in you.

We will not let sin reign in our bodies, or obey its desires.

We will not offer any part of our bodies to sin to serve unrighteousness.

We are alive from the dead in you: we offer ourselves, and every part of ourselves, to God, to serve him in righteousness. In your name, and for your glory. Amen.

You could put this prayer in your News-sheet or on your website, and encourage people to pray the prayer each day in the coming week.

You could get a Bible study group to do the same, and then pray the prayer together.

May our gracious heavenly Father help us all to devote ourselves to prayer, and to encourage others to devote themselves to prayer. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Yours,

  1. Col 4:2. ↑

  2. Acts 6:4. ↑

  3. Calvin’s Catechism, Q 252. ↑

  4. Rom 12:1, 2 Tim 2:15. ↑

    Image by Caroline Herhandez

Devoted to prayer?

Paraklesis [‘encouragement’, ‘exhortation’, for life and ministry] | November 2023

Peter Adam

Dear friends,

Are we devoted to prayer?

  • The first Christians ‘devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer’ [Acts 2:42].
  • Paul instructed all the believers in the church at Colossae, ‘devote yourselves to prayer with thanksgiving’ [Col 4:2].
  • In Acts 6, the apostles announced ‘we will devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word’ [notice that prayer comes first! Acts 6:3].

Do our habits, our evangelical culture, our churches, and our model of ministry show that we are ‘devoted to prayer’. Are we ‘devoted to prayer’ in our personal, married, and family life? Are we ‘devoted to prayer’ as part of our ministry?

Prayer is often sidelined in our services, Bible studies, and church life. It is hard to see that we are clearly followers of Jesus who was devoted to prayer:

‘Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed’ … ‘Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God’ [Lk 5:16, 6:12].

Here are some practical steps to help you to become a more prayerful person. Just pick out two or three to put into practice at any one time!

  • Whenever you do pray, ask your heavenly Father to make you more prayerful: when you ask other people to pray for you, ask them to pray that you will grow in prayerfulness.
  • See prayer as part of your ministry responsibility to people. Include it in your job description; put time to pray into your ministry calendar; start and finish each day of ministry with prayer. Don’t do any ministry without praying about it, and for the people to whom you will minister.
  • Whenever you have a serious conversation with someone, pray with that person, in private, and, if appropriate, in public. Make this your default [though you may decide it is not appropriate on some occasions].
  • If someone ask for you to pray something for them, do so immediately with them!
  • Organise your daily intercessions, so that each week you pray for all the people and ministries you should cover in prayer.
  • Whenever you read the Bible, pray in response to that reading, using words from the reading. If you don’t know what to pray, you won’t know what to do! If you do know what to do, you need to pray for God’s help in doing it!
  • When organising a meeting of leaders or staff or people in charge of a ministry, include time to pray for the ministry, not just for the meeting!
  • Organise things so that you/you and the staff team/you and the leadership/ pray systematically through the membership of the church or ministry, and of enquirers or people you are trying to serve.
  • Organise rich and wide intercessions in your Sunday services or public meetings: make sure the leader prays for the world, its leaders and its conflicts: and for the progress of the gospel around the world, through your church, and in your community [as well, of course for members of the church who are sick or in need]. [See 1 Timothy 2:1-6].
  • Plan your ministry prayers so that you include your ministry preparation; the people who will receive your ministry; the ministry you did last week; and the ministry you are planning to do next week.
  • Each night make time to reflect on the day that is past. Think of 3 sins of life or ministry of which you need to repent and receive God’s forgiveness; 3 things for which you can thank God; and 3 prayers to pray for your life and ministry next day.
  • Find one of Paul’s prayers [e.g. Ephes 1:15-23, 3:14-21, Col 1:9-14, 1 Thess 1:2-3; 3:12-13; 5:23-24], and pray it for your church or ministry, or adapt it to pray for yourself.
  • Write a pray for your church or ministry to pray together in 2024. Make sure it is prayed in every service, and encourage people to use it in their daily prayers.
  • Pray Jesus’ prayer for his disciples: ‘sanctify them by the truth: your word is truth’; ‘protect them from the evil one’. [John 17:15,17].

This is my last Paraklesis for this year, as I will be on holidays in December.

With warmest good wishes to you, and I pray that God would make us all prayerful in life and in ministry.

Yours,

P.S. I have just added this to my website https://peteradam.org/repentance-in-slow-motion/

The Devouring Lion

Paraklesis

[‘encouragement’, ‘exhortation’, for life and ministry]

June 2023

Peter Adam

Dear friends,

‘Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour’ [I Peter 5:8].

No wonder:

  • Jesus prayed for his disciples: ‘protect them from the evil one’ [John 17:15].
  • Jesus told us to pray: ‘deliver us from the evil one’, in the Lord’s Prayer [Matthew 6:13].[1]
  • Jesus warned Simon and the disciples: ‘Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat’ [Luke 22:31].

Though God is all-powerful, in this age we do not live in neutral territory. As we see constant signs of God’s goodness, glory, power, generosity, mercy, grace, and love, so we should also expect to see Satan’s grubby finger prints in our lives, church, ministry, and world as well. Here they are:

The devil, the evil one, Satan is:

  • The originator of sin. Gen. 3, 2 Cor. 11:3 … One who has power in this world: ‘the ruler of this world’, Jn. 12:31, ‘the prince of the power of the air, who is now at work …’ Eph. 2:2. ‘I know where you are living, where Satan’s throne is.’ Rev. 2:13 … The liar and the father of lies. Jn. 8:44 … The murderer. Jn. 8:44 … the accuser of believers. Zech., 3:1, Rev. 12:10
  • The one who has the power of death. Heb. 2:14 … who promotes false religions and idolatry, and who receives the worship of idolators. Deut. 32:16,17, Ps. 106:35-37, 1 Cor. 10:20 … One who brings temptation. 1 Chron. 21:1, Mt. 4:4-11 … who oppresses people. Mt. 11:18, Lk. 7:33, 13:11,16, Jn. 7:20.
  • The one who opposes God’s gospel plan. Mt.16:23 … who pecks God’s word out of our minds, our memories, and our lives. Matt 13:39, who causes disagreement and misunderstanding among believers. 2 Cor. 2:11 … who brings pressures on believers. 2 Cor. 12:7 … who blinds the minds of unbelievers. 2 Cor. 4:4 … who brings false doctrine. Gal. 1:8, 2 Cor. 11:14, 1 Tim. 4:1, 2 Tim. 2:26 … who uses the disguise of an angel of light. 2 Cor. 11:14 … who does miracles to deceive people. Rev. 13, and 16:13,14 … and who persecutes the church. Rev. 12,13.

Do you not see Satan at work in your life, in your church, in your ministry, in your world? Do you not see his fingerprints? Accusing saints, blinding unbelievers, opposing the gospel, spreading heresy and persecution, pecking God’s word out our minds and lives, causing disagreement and misunderstanding, tempting us, oppressing us, discouraging us?

In the words of John Howard, be alert, but not alarmed! Please don’t skim read the following Bible verses: read them out loud, slowly!

Satan, the devil, the evil one:

  • Is kept under God’s control.

‘Kept in eternal chains’. Jude 6. ‘For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord’. Rom. 8:38,39. God ‘will protect you from the evil one.’ 2 Thess 3:3. ‘The One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.’ 1 John 5:18. And see Job 1:12, 2:26.

  • Was defeated by God’s power through Christ, his death on the cross, and his resurrection and ascension.

‘Now the prince of this world is cast down.’ Jn. 12:31. ‘The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.’ 1 Jn. 3:8. ‘That through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who through fear of death were subject to life-long bondage.’ Heb. 2:14. ‘God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.’ Eph. 1: 20, 21.

  • Will be finally overpowered and judged at the return of Christ.

‘The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.’ Rom 16:20. ‘Christ must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.’1 Cor. 15:25. ‘And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of his mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of his coming.’ 2 Thess. 2:8-12. ‘Now have come the salvation and the power the kingdom of our God, and of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down … they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb.’ Rev. 12:10,11. ‘And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.’ Rev. 20:10.

Believers should be alert to him and his schemes, resist him, pray, and trust in the blood of the Lamb!

‘…in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.’ 2 Cor 2:11. ‘Resist the devil and he will flee from you.’ James 4:7. ‘Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, resist him, steadfast in faith’. 1 Pet. 5:9. ‘Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, and give no opportunity to the devil’. Eph. 4:26. ‘Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world.’ 1 Jn. 4:1-3.

‘Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.’ Eph. 6:10-20.

‘Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers’. Luke 22:30,31. ‘Deliver us from the evil one’. Matthew 6:13.

‘… they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb.’ Rev. 12:11.

If you are wary about these ideas, please remember they do come from the Bible, God’s inspired word, most from Jesus and his apostles. You may worry that some Christians focus too much on Satan and his works. That is possible. But ignoring him is not a satisfactory response! Reacting against someone else’s imbalance, is no way to find balance! Reaction against error is no way to find the truth.

May the Lord Jesus protect you, your family, your ministry, your church, from Satan’s tricks and attacks, by the power of his saving blood, his mighty resurrection and ascension, and by his constant intercession for us at his Father’s right hand. May you stand firm, and triumph in the blood of the Lamb.

Yours,

  1. The word can be translated ‘evil’ or ‘evil one’ in Matthew 6:13. It is also translated ‘evil one’ in John 17:15; as also in Matthew 13:18,19. ‘Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.’

    And in Matthew 13:37-39. ‘The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels’.

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Reimagining lament

We need to learn again how to lament. We need to lament our own sorrows, the sorrows of the church and the sorrows of the world. We are bombarded with bad news every day. No one gets through life unscarred, and every family has its sorrows.

We need to distinguish between repentance for sin and lament. A general response of sorrow and grief will cloud a vital distinction between the two. We should repent of our sins: but we should not feel guilty about everything that goes wrong in the world.

I recently led the Intercessions at St Jude’s my home church. I decided to lead in lament, and then in intercession.

Hannah,’ I was pouring out my soul to the LORD’ 1 Sam 1:15

Let us pour out our souls to the LORD as we pray together, praying in the name of the Lord Jesus, praying prompted by Holy Spirit, and praying to our loving heavenly Father.

We pour out our souls in grief and lament for this world. We grieve with all who are oppressed, all caught up in war, famine or drought, all suffering under totalitarian, corrupt or incompetent leaders, all who are homeless or hopeless, all who are lonely, all who are sick in body or in mind, all who are bereaved, and all who live without Christ. We grieve at these human tragedies, at the suffering of individuals, societies, nations, and the world. We lament that so often those in power do not act effectively to end war, end oppression and corruption, care for those who vulnerable and in need, and bring justice health and hope to all. We grieve too when your church in any place is corrupt, confused, sinful, selfish, self-satisfied, abusive, or alienated from the society in which you have placed it. We lament our own personal wasted opportunities, failed relationships, our sins, mistakes, and weaknesses.

We thank and praise you that in the midst of all this, you are a gracious and powerful God, and that we can turn to you, pray to you and hope in you. We pour out our souls to you in prayer, asking you to act in justice and mercy in this world. Bring down tyrants, oppressors, and corrupt leaders. Protect and rescue those in any kind of distress or need. Raise up wise and good leaders in every nation, and frustrate the plans of those who plot evil. Bring justice and peace to this world. Make the gospel of Jesus Christ known in every place, and bring many to trust and follow him. We pour out our hearts to you in prayer for your church, the body of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit, your people, redeemed by the blood of your Son. May your people in every place know your power, grace, forgiveness, compassion and kindness. May they serve you, serve each other, and serve their communities with wisdom, grace, and love, We pray especially for our own church, St Jude’s, that you would make us holy by your truth, and protect us from the evil one.

We pray for our Mission partners Andrew and Claire Livingstone, working with the Church Missionary Society and Ridley College here in Melbourne. Enrich their lives, bring them to maturity in Christ, and use their prayers and their ministry for your glory.

And gracious Father, we pour out our prayers for every member of St Jude’s, young and old, in all our congregations, that you would make us people of strong faith, persistent love, and constant hope. Help each of us, to follow Jesus, to rejoice in his death and resurrection, to be filled with Holy Spirit, to live for your glory, and to count all things as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus our Saviour and Lord. Enrich our fellowship, use our daily lives at home, at kinder, school or university or at work for your glory, and bring us safely home to you for eternity.

Lord’s Prayer

We will often have occasion to comfort people who need to lament, for many good reasons. Encourage them to bring their laments to God, and find his compassion and comfort. You will of course then assure them from the Bible of God’s compassion and comfort, and pray that they will know and experience God’s kindness.

In some cases, a more formal service may be useful. Here is one I made up for someone who needed it. I encouraged her to make a list of her major griefs to use in the service. And I gave her a copy of the service beforehand, and discussed it with her.

A service of personal lament

Minister:

In the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Hannah said, ‘I was pouring out my soul to the LORD … I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief’. 1 Samuel 1:15.16.

Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Psalm 62:8.

Listen to my words, LORD, consider my lament.
Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. Psalm 5:1,2.

Cast your burdens on the LORD, and he will sustain you. Psalm 55:22.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4.

Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’ Matt 11:28-30.

Together:

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God’?

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.

My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life.

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God. Psalm 42:1-3,5-7,11.

Minister:

I now encourage you to pour out your heart to God, to lament your sadnesses and sorrows, your frustrations and regrets, your agony, anger, exasperation, despair, grief and pain; confident in Christ’s constant love, acceptance, sympathy, and healing power, and God’s deep and endless compassion, comfort and consolation.

Person:

Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief.

Heavenly Father, I pour out my heart to you now, trusting your constant compassion and kindness. In particular, I unburden myself of these griefs and distresses before to you and before you…

Minister:

Lord Jesus, man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, our merciful high priest and faithful saviour, receive these laments, sorrows, and tears, and bring your comfort and strength to your friend who mourns.

Gracious father of mercy and God of all comfort and compassion, comfort you in your afflictions, relieve your distresses, heal your memories, and bring you consolation and hope.

Holy Spirit, pour the love God into your heart, heal your pain and injuries in his good time, restore the joy of your salvation, and constantly increase your faith, trust, hope, and love.

Gracious God, sustain us with constant hope of that day when Christ returns, and in the new heavens and new earth, where you live among your people, you will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Come, Lord Jesus.

Silence

Minister:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13.

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. 1 Thessalonians 4:23,24.[1]

Peter Adam

  1. See more resources on prayer and ministry at peteradam.org

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Reimagining repentance

Repentance

We often confuse repentance with feeling sorry because of our sin. Sorrow for sin is an appropriate emotion, but by itself, it is not repentance! Remorse is self-pity for our sins, it is not repentance! And the contemporary statement, ‘I am sorry that you are offended/feel hurt by what I have done’ is not repentance!

We should also remember to repent because of good things we have not done, as well as because of bad things we have done. The former are not so obvious to us. But sins of omission can be more damaging to others than sins of commission. Christ tells us to confess both in the Lord’s prayer: sins of omission [debts we owe to God and to others] in Matthew 6:12, and sins of commission [things we have done wrong to God and to others] in Luke 11:4.

I suspect that nowadays we are more likely to be aware of sins against others, and less likely to be away of sins against God.

Here is repentance in slow motion!

Note that repentance is not remorse. We repent to God when we acknowledge our sin, and turn from it. In remorse, we feel sorry for ourselves. Or, in modern public life, express sorrow that others have been hurt! See 2 Corinthians 7:10. ‘Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation, and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death’.

  • Remember that God loves you just as you are, but also loves you too much to leave you just as you are. Praise him for alerting you to your sins, for this act of his love, because you are already one of his saints, and he wants to sanctify you and make you more like the Lord Jesus, and transform you daily from one degree of glory to another. God welcomes you with joy, like the father welcomed his son in Luke 15. He loves you before you repent, and he loves it when you repent. And though we may grow tired of confessing our sins, especially when we confess the same sin again and again, God is never tired of forgiving us. And ‘please forgive me’ is a prayer that God always answer with a ‘yes’ immediately, absolutely, and cheerfully: ‘that why my Son went to the cross”.
  • Recognise the sin as a sin against God [and against others]. Feel and express sorrow for these sins Include sins you have done, and good that you have not done [commission and omission].
  • Renounce the sin, distance yourself from it, reject it, detest it, separate yourself from it. It is not who you want to be.
  • Repent of the sin, and of the pleasure and benefits that resulted from the sin.
  • Receive the forgiveness and the cleansing, freely given by God through Christ’s death on the cross [I John 1:7,9], and believe, rejoice, praise and thank him.
  • Resolve to die to the sin in the future, and to live to righteousness by the power of Christ’s death and resurrection, to crucify the flesh and reap the fruit of the Spirit [Romans 6, and Galatians 5:16-26]. Recognise that it will take a lot of time to remove habitual sins from your life, and that you will never be sin-less in this life. Remember that God is never tired of forgiving you the same sin, again and again, that he always delights in forgiving us our sins.
  • Resolve to do the opposite, or the replacement. Turn from the negative, by doing the positive. Apply this principle: ‘the thief must no longer steal, but rather labour with his hands and give to those in need’ [Ephesians 4:28].
  • Restore the damage, if possible and appropriate, to God and to others. Follow the example of Zacchaeus: ‘Here and now I give half my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone out of anything. I will pay back four times the amount’ [Luke 19:8].
  • Rejoice in God’s overwhelming grace, love, forgiveness, cleansing and restoration of us through the Lord Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection, and our hope of our future life with him without sin and sadness.

Personal repentance

I think that we should confess our sins as soon as we recognise them, and also take some time at the end of each day to confess our personal sins, and our sins of ministry. In doing ministry.

If you have a habitual sin that you are not able to kill, then it is wise to tell a trusted friend of your struggle, and make yourself accountable to that person, and ask for their prayers. Invite them to question you about your progress, and promise that every time you commit the sin, you will let that person know. It may take some months, but you will see progress! When I take on the role of ‘trusted friend’, then I commit to pray for the person every day, that God will transform them; that if they are tempted they will use the power of Christ’s death and resurrection to die to that sin, and offer themselves willingly to righteousness and to God. That they will not feel contaminated by the temptation. That if they do sin in this matter, that will quickly and confidently ask and receive God’s forgiveness and cleansing by the blood of Christ, and will continue to trust in God’s sanctifying power.

And that if they do commit sin, they will contact me, so that I can encourage them and assure them of God’s compassion, kindness, grace, comfort, and transforming power.[1]

Corporate repentance

We should include confession of sin and absolution in our Sunday services. However it is rare for us to confess the corporate sins of the church. We more usually use that confession to encourage people to acknowledge and confess their personal sins.

But the call for corporate confession for corporate sins is frequent in the Bible. Most of the prophets condemn the corporate sins of God’s people. Most of the New Testament letters critique the corporate sins of the churches. In Revelation 2 and 3, Jesus calls on churches to repent.

The corporate sins of churches are shared sins, sins of the institution as a body, structural sins, sins that are ignored by most people, sins which the leadership and the members do not notice, or they allow to happen. Corporate sins not only damage the church, they damage every member of the church. For example, in a generally prayerless church, when praying is not more than a formality, the minister and leaders do not lead in prayer, couples and families do not pray, friends do not pray, individuals do not pray, and the church’s activities are not prayed for. And in these churches, new Christians learn that prayerlessness is the norm, and the young people pick up the same idea. Any prayer warriors are discouraged. Whereas in a prayerful church, everyone is encouraged and challenged to pray!

It is up to ministers and leaders to identify corporate sins of churches or Christian organisations or ministries, and to lead the members to repentance, corporate as well as individual. People need to be trained to have a strong sense of corporate identity, involvement, and complicity for effective repentance. Ministers and leaders will need wisdom and time to bring congregations or organisations to repentance. But, after all, it is not our weakness or lack or resources which inhibit our usefulness to God, but our sin. Selfishness is unattractive in individuals, but ugly in churches. Gospel confusion is damaging for individuals, but dramatically disabling for churches. A nominal Christian is unproductive, but a church which is merely a Christian club for like-minded people, or a dating agency, is a public abomination.

See Daniel 9 for a prayer of corporate confession; for Jesus’ call on churches to repent see Revelation 2:4-6, 14-16, 20-23, 3:1-3, 14-20; and for Paul calling the Corinthians to repent see 2 Corinthians 5:11-6:2, 6:14-7:16.[2]

Peter Adam

  1. As a good mentor of mine used to say, ‘Let us go together to the cross of Christ, and find his forgiveness’. ↑

  2. See more resources on prayer and ministry at peteradam.org ↑

Reimagining your relationship with God

Peter Adam

Personal relational prayer with God in the Bible.

[You might like to reflect on whether you pray prayers like these! You may feel them, but do you pray them?]

Pause between each one, and say each one slowly, if possible, out loud, to allow you time to savour it.

TRUST

‘I trust in you LORD’ [Ps 31:14].[1]

‘I trust in your unfailing love’ [Ps 13:5].

‘I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits’ [Ps 130:5].

‘I life my eyes to you, to you who sit enthroned in heaven’ [Ps 123:1].

‘Into your hands I commit my spirit’ [Ps 31:5].

‘I waited patiently for the LORD: he turned to me and heard my cry’ [Ps 40:1].

‘My hope is in you all day long’ [Ps 25:5].

‘In you, LORD, have I taken refuge’ [Ps 71:1].

‘I cling to you; your right hand upholds me’ [Ps 63:8].

‘In peace I will lay down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety’ [Ps 4:8].

LOVE AND DESIRE[2]

‘I love you, LORD, my strength’ [Ps 18:1, see also Ps 116:1].

‘I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever’ [Ps 89:1].

‘As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God’ [Ps 42:1].

‘You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you’ [Ps 63:1].

‘Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you’ [Ps 73:25].

‘I long to dwell in your tent forever, and take refuge in the shadow of your wings’ [Ps 61:4].

‘On my bed I remember you, I think of you through the watches of the night’ [Ps 63:6].

GODS WORDS

‘My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises’ [Ps 119:148].

‘Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long’ [Ps 119:97].

‘My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end’ [Ps 119:112].

PRAISE AND THANKS

‘Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will sing of your righteousness’ [Ps 51:15].

‘I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart’ [Ps 9:1].

‘My heart, O God, is steadfast; I will sing and make music with my soul’ [Ps 108:1].

‘Because you are my God, I sing in the shadow of your wings’ [Ps 63:7].

‘My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you’ [Ps 71:23]. ‘I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done’ [Ps 143:5].

CONFESSION OF SIN

‘Have mercy on me, O God … blot out my transgressions … Wash away all my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin’ [Ps 51:1].

‘My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise’ [Ps 51:17].  

‘Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess
 my transgressions to the LORD.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin’ [Ps 32:5].

GREAT NEED

‘Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck’ [Ps 69:1].

‘My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word’ [Ps 119:28].

‘Out of the depths I call to you, LORD; Lord, hear my voice … I wait for the LORD, more than watchmen wait for the morning’ [Ps 130:1,6].

‘These things I remember as I pour out my soul…’ [Ps 42:4].

‘Listen to my words, LORD, consider my lament’ [Ps 5:1].

EXHORTING YOURSELF TO PRAY:

‘Praise the LORD my soul, and all my inmost being praise his holy name’ [Ps 103:1].

‘Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God’ [Ps 42:5, 43:5].

‘Truly my soul finds rest in God, my salvation comes from him … Yes, my soul, find rest in God’ [Ps 62:1,5].

[As you pray these prayers, you might also add phrases like ‘in Christ’, ‘through Christ’, ‘by Christ’, ‘through Holy Spirit’, ‘by Holy Spirit’, etc.][3]

Sometimes our prayers become ‘shopping-list’ praying, need-orientated praying, task-orientated praying. As married couples who only engage in task-list conversations with each other need to have relational conversations, so we all need to learn to have relational conversations with God.

Words are a natural expression of emotions, for by them we communicate our emotions to others. As CS Lewis wrote, ‘I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed…’[4] This applies to all emotions.

There is a connection between our emotional openness with other people and emotional openness with God. It is best to try to increase both at the same time. Tell people you love them, trust them, thank them, praise them, share your pain and laments and sins with them [appropriately, of course!]. This will help you do the same with God.[5]

  1. NIV11. ↑

  2. In the NT, see Jn 14:21,23, [24], and 21:15,16,17; and 1 Pet 1:8. ↑

  3. Yes, the Psalms are about Christ, but because they are about Christ, they are also about us. ↑

  4. CS Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms. New York, Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1958, 93. ↑

  5. See more resources on prayer and ministry at peteradam.org ↑

Using the Bible to reimagine your prayers

Peter Adam

Charles Spurgeon was once asked ‘Which is more important, to read the Bible, or to pray’? [Silly question]. Spurgeon replied, ‘Which is more important, to breathe in, or to breathe out?’

I don’t know if Spurgeon intended this point, but we breathe in the Scripture and breathe out our prayers. We can think God’s thought after him, and pray God’s words back to him. This does not mean that we cannot use our own words to pray to God. We can. But it is also good to use God’s words, because they include his words to us, his promised, his warnings, and his words which describe how we should live.

Here are some ways in which can use the Bible in our prayers, breathe out God’s words.[1]

  1. We can pray prayers included in the Bible.

Here are some New Testament prayers. What do you notice about them? How do they compare with the prayers we usually pray for Christian people, for churches? Try praying them now.

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones [1 Thess 3:12-13].

 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God [Phil 1:9-11].

2. We can adapt the New Testament, turning instructions into prayers.

Philippians. I pray that I may: Believe in Christ and serve him. Trust that you will bring your work to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Yearn for other believers with the affection of Christ Jesus. Be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to your glory and praise. Preach Christ, speaking the word without fear. Live for Christ that he may be honoured in my body, in life or in death. Desire to depart and be with Christ, and also be willing to work for him in this life. Live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Suffer for Christ and contend for his gospel. Have the mind of Christ in service, humility and obedience. Seek Christ’s interests, and the interests of others, not my own. Rejoice in the Lord always. Count everything as loss for the sake of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Gain Christ and be found in him, having the righteousness that comes through faith in him. Know Christ and the power of his resurrection, share his sufferings, and be like him in his death, that I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Press on towards the goal for the prize of our heavenly call in Christ Jesus. Eagerly await the coming of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body. Stand firm in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord always. Do all things through Christ who strengthens me, so that I can be content in any and every circumstance. Trust that you will fully satisfy my every need according to your riches in Christ Jesus. Know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in all of my life and ministry.

2 Timothy. Please help me to: Fan into flame the gift for ministry you have given me; Not be ashamed, and share in suffering for the gospel; Guard the truth, the pattern of sound words, with the help of the Holy Spirit; Be strong to raise up, train and teach faithful people who will be able to teach others also; Present myself to you as an unashamed worker, correctly handling the word of truth; Cleanse myself to be your instrument for special purposes, made holy, useful to my Master, and prepared to do any good work; Flee evil passions, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace; not be quarrelsome, but be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful, and able to gently instruct those who oppose me. Avoid evil and corrupt teachers; Follow Paul’s way of life, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance in persecutions and sufferings. Know the Scriptures which are able to make me wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus; Be equipped for every good work by the Bible; Preach the word, with all patience and teaching; Be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill my ministry; Fight the good fight, finish the race, keep the faith; Take my part in the gospel team, that the message may be fully proclaimed, and all the nations might hear it.

3. We can create prayers in response to our Bible reading.

If you don’t know what to pray after reading the Bible, then you won’t know what to do! And if you do know what to do in response to the reading, then you should pray that first, before you do it! I encourage young Christians to get into the habit of turning their Bible reading into a prayer.

Preachers can also turn the Bible passage they are preaching from into a prayer, using words from the passage, they pray it at the start of the sermon, and then get the people to pray it together at the end of the sermon.

Luther wrote a letter to his barber, in which he encouraged him in prayer.

‘Interestingly, he encourages each line of the Ten Commandments and the Creed to be fashioned into a garland of four strands: first the command or instruction, second a relevant thanksgiving, third a relevant confession, and fourth a relevant petitionary prayer.’[2]

Here is an example:
Mark 2

 1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”  6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”  8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” NIV11

Here are some possible prayers:

Thanksgiving: for this report of Jesus’ ministry, for the power of Christ’s words, for Christ’s power to heal, for Christ’s power to forgive, for the example and enterprise and faith in Christ of the friends of the paralyzed man, for the faith of the paralyzed man, for his complete healing and the complete forgiveness of his sins.

Praise: to Jesus the Son of Man, to Jesus the healer of our sickness, to Jesus the one with authority to forgive sins, and to Jesus who gave his life as a ransom for many, and shed his blood for our forgiveness.

Repentance: that faith in Christ is so rare in our community; that knowledge of Christ is so rare in our community, that cynicism about Christ and his church is so common in our community. May God forgive his church, and enable and empower us to trust in Christ to heal and to forgive, and to help others learn of him and trust in him.

Lament: that there is so much sickness in our world, resulting in poverty, exclusion, and death, that medical resources in needy nations and among refugees are so stretched. That there are so many people in the world who have not yet heard of the Son of Man who forgives sins.

Intercession: for those who are sick to turn to Jesus; for those who are sinners to receive forgiveness from Jesus, for God to provide us with good friends in our time of need, that God would help us to be good friends to others in their times of need, or all who are ill, and for those who care for them, for all who are damaged by sin, that they would forgiveness in Christ, for God to raise up gospel messengers for all nations.

  1. This is an Anglican tradition! Henry Ives Bailey, The Liturgy Compared with the Bible (London: SPCK, 1840), shows that the prayers in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer are largely comprised of quotations from the Bible. ↑

  2. Mark Earngey at https://moore.edu.au/resources/praying-with-peter-the-barber/, accessed 10/05/2023. ↑

    ↑

God is at work, when we pray! [3]

[Part Three]

Paraklesis

[‘encouragement’, ‘exhortation’, for life and ministry]

April 2023

Peter Adam

Dear friends,

In Part One of this series in February, I reminded you that God is constantly at work in our world and the universe.

God is constantly working, as he sustains the whole universe in Christ moment by moment, including all humanity; keeping us alive, and enabling us to live, function, and do all our daily tasks. If God in Christ stopped working for a moment, there would be no universe, no creation. ‘He sustains all things by his word of power’; ‘in Christ all things hold together’ [Heb 1:3, Col 1:17 NIV11].

His sovereign rule is marked by his providential care for his creation. He is intimately and immanently involved in every aspect of its existence. He sustains it and holds it together. Nothing exists or happens outside his care, his rule, his generosity, and his power.

Calvin describes God’s sovereign providence in these words ‘the universal activity of God whereby all creatures, as they are sustained, thus derive the energy to do anything at all’.[1]

In Part Two, in March I reminded you of the great power of God’s word, still spoken by him through his Spirit.

God is powerful, so his words are powerful! God is powerful, so his word, the Bible, is also powerful!

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God … And this is the word that was preached to you [1 Pet 1:23-25].

Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified [Acts 20:32].

There are few greater encouragements in ministry than that of knowing the power of God’s words to achieve God’s purposes in us, in God’s people, and in God’s world.

This month, our focus is on how God’s power is exercised in our prayers.

Remember these promises of the Lord Jesus:

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened [Matt 7:7-8].

‘Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered. ‘Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, “Go, throw yourself into the sea,” and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours’ [Mark 11:22-24].

Or think of his own example of prayer.

When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased’ [Luke 3:21,22] … But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed … Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God … [Luke 5:16, 6:12].

Or the commitment of Paul and his co-workers to constant prayer:

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you … For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you [Col 1:3,9] … We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers [1 Thess 1:2] … I thank God … as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers [2 Tim 1:3] … Epaphras … is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured [Col 4:12].

Or Paul’s instructions to pray:

Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests … Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful, and pray for us … [Ephes 6:18, Col 4:2,3].

Or his comments about the power of prayer:

He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favour granted us in answer to the prayers of many [2 Cor 1:10,11].

I suspect that one reason why we doubt that God uses our prayers is because we have the wrong idea of heaven and earth. Christ taught us to pray, ‘Our Father in heaven’, and we naturally think that if he is in heaven then he won’t be of much earthly use!

But God is present everywhere in his power, grace and compassion. God says, ‘Do I not fill heaven and earth?’ [Jer 23:24].

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast [Ps 139:7-10].

We are not asking a God who is remote from us to come into our world. He is already omnipresent!

We are not asking a God who is inactive in our world to intervene and do something. He is already omnipotently working in our world to sustain it, care for it, and achieve his good purposes in it. We are asking him to take note of our desires in the midst of his constant work in, among, and around us.

The omnipresence and omnipotence of God is the saint’s delight and the sinner’s terror!

God always uses our prayers, and rewards our praying, and sometimes he answers our prayers with a ‘yes’, sometimes with a ‘not yet’, and sometimes with a ‘no’.

I was recently asked by a woman whose husband had died, ‘What happened to all those prayers our church prayed for healing?’ I replied that God had used those prayers to sustain her husband in faith as he was dying [God did this], and will finally answer those prayers when he raises him on the last day, and gives him a glorious body, to replace his lowly body [Phil 3:21].

I often wonder whose prayers God used to convert me [there were no believers in my family]. I like to imagine that there was an elderly and arthritic Peruvian widow, who struggled down to her local church each day to pray the Lord’s Prayer, and God thought ‘I will use her prayer for my kingdom to come to convert Peter Adam’.

I have had the experience of seeing long-term prayers answered, with the conversion of my brother John 50 years after my conversion. I have also prayed fervently and constantly to God, with another request, and received the clear answer ‘no’.

Praying is so important for confident activists. It reminds us that if God does not act, we can do nothing.

Praying is so important of those who are well aware of their weakness, because it reminds us that we can trust in God’s power to work through our weakness, and despite our weakness.

Praying is so important for those in very difficult ministry situations, because it reminds us that it is God’s power that triumphs in this world, not our own.

God is loving, patient, attentive, forgiving, powerful, purposeful, forgiving, gracious, and rules the universe. God is our loving heavenly Father who loves to hear our prayers. His Son the Lord Jesus Christ prayed to his Father when he was on earth, and prays for us at God’s right hand. The Holy Spirit reminds us that we are children of God, prompts us to pray to our Father, and covers our ignorance in praying.

We have direct access to the presence of God through Christ our high priest and mediator, through his blood shed on the cross our sins are forgiven and we are cleansed. We pray ‘through Christ’ our high priest and mediator, and our prayers are enabled and carried by him. Jesus’ blood and Jesus’ presence at God’s right hand enable our direct personal access to our great God.

We have direct access to God because we are ‘in Christ’, and so we live and pray ‘in him’ as well as through him. God is ‘in Christ’, and we are ‘in Christ’ [Col 2:9.10]. God our Father hears our prayer ‘from the lips of his Son’ [John Calvin, Catechism].

Christ and the Holy Spirit intercede for us, so we attach our weak and spasmodic prayers to their powerful and perpetual prayers. So our prayers are not disabled by our weakness, our frailty, our sin, or our lack of knowledge.

Our prayers ascend to the presence of God. ‘The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand’ [Rev 8:4].

Remember: ‘Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD Almighty’ [Zech 4:6].

God is at work in your life. God was at work in the life of your church even before you became its minister. God has been at work in the life of everyone you meet. God is still at work in you and in your ministry! God is still at work in your church. Recognise what God is already doing, and don’t ignore it. And trust God’s daily and nightly grace-filled and almighty power.

With warmest good wishes and prayers for you. May you know and see God’s power at work within you and through you in the lives of others as you are constant in prayer.

Yours,

  1. Calvin, Institutes, 311. ↑

Facing trials of various kinds

Paraklesis

[‘encouragement’, ‘exhortation’, for life and ministry]

January 2023

Peter Adam

peteradam.org

Dear friends,

We all face ‘trials of various kinds’, and different trials at different times in our lives. These include personal trials, trials suffered by family and friends, the general trials of living in our place and time, the trials of being a believer in Christ, and the trials of our ministry.

We may face immediate and great trials. We may face the constant long-term trials which drain our energy, reduce our expectations, and remove our joy.

Our own lives are a test of faith: but so is all love, and ministry, evangelism, and prayer. Doing any ministry means a further test of faith, for in any ministry or prayer we have to trust that God is able to change people and situations, and that God wants to use us, our prayers, our lives and our words to achieve his good purposes.

We need a deeper faith to face deeper trials, when we face great adversity, when we suffer, when others we love and care for are in trouble, when Christians are sinful, when our church has lost its way, when believers fall away, when our society seems to be going from bad to worse, and when there are seemingly insurmountable sins and problems facing humanity and our world. The more responsibility we have, the greater our trials, and the more faith we need. The more we suffer, the more we love people, the more we need a deeper trust in God.

For Paul, ministry itself is hard work, hard labour, a constant struggle: ‘I want you to know how hard I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea …’ [Col 2:1 NIV11]. He suffers persecution from outsiders, and he suffers rejection, disloyalty, and hatred from those who are in the church, including those he has served. He suffers from incidental events in his ministry, including being without food, and shipwrecks! [2 Cor 6:3-10, 11:23-33, 2 Tim 1:15. 3:10-11].

The more we fill our minds, our prayers, and our ministries with hope that God will indeed fulfill his great global gospel plan, the deeper faith we need in the power of God.

God uses trials to test our faith for our growth and our good and for his glory.

… now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed [1 Pet 1:6,7].  

Or again,

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything [Jas 1:2-4].

Our trials show us that we need a deeper trust in God, and our trials are the means God uses to deepen our trust in him, to grow us in perseverance, and to prove the genuineness of our faith to others, to ourselves and to him.

What are some destructive responses to trials?

  • We panic when things go wrong, or when good things don’t happen.
  • We don’t pray.
  • We cut back our expectations about life, and people, and ministry, and evangelism, and God’s global gospel plan, and everything. Cynicism is how we protect ourselves from the pangs of disappointment.
  • We limit the range of what we pray for, so we are less likely to be disappointed.
  • We blame others: or we blame ourselves.
  • We may continue with formal faith in God, but lose our trust in him.

When we find our faith is tested, we may respond by deciding to trust God more, and asking God to help us to trust him more. Both these are worth doing, and it is better to do both than just one of them!

But if you need a deeper trust in God in every area of your life, or because of a particular trial or the long accumulation of trials, you may find it helpful to tackle the issue more deeply, by using a wider range of resources.

You could use this program every day in your prayers; or you could use it once a week; or you could use it for an intensive time of prayer at regular intervals, alone or with others. Use it as long as you need to!

1. Read the Bible!

Read Bible passages which remind you that God is a great and mighty king, that he rules his creation in power, glory, love, and compassion, that nothing in the universe happens outside his control, that he holds all things together in Christ; that he will achieve his great global gospel plan, that Christ will build his church, that the gospel is the power of God for salvation for all who believe, that God grows our faith by testing it, that he works all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose, and that he will bring all things together under Christ his Son. Read the accounts of faith in the midst of trial, including in the Old Testament, the Gospels, Acts, the life of Paul, Hebrews 11 and the book of Revelation.

2. Confess your sins!

Reflect on the possibility that you have been one of the causes of your trial, or that you have sinned in response to the trial, or that your sinful response has intensified the trial or contributed to its continuation. It may be that you have not sinned in this way, but it is wise to consider this possibility. Unconfessed sins, especially unconfessed habitual sins, weaken our resolve and success in changing our deepest reactions. Confess your sin of general unbelief, and also your habitual areas of unbelief, and your recent specific sins of unbelief and the bad effects of these in your life and ministry. Receive God’s forgiveness for general tendencies and specific sins.

3. Lament and pour out your heart to God in grief!

Lament the present sin, suffering, injustice, vulnerability, fragility, frustration and ineffectiveness of the world and the church, and in your own life and the lives of people you love. Express your deep sadness and sorrow about this, without taking on responsibility for all of it!

4. Remind yourself of the eternal rewards given by God to those who suffer now for his sake.

We need to grow our awareness of the Biblical contrast between our life in this age, and our life in the age to come, when Christ returns. Our neglect of our glorious future leads to despondency about our present sufferings and trials.

Paul writes,

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal [2 Cor 4:16-18].

5. Praise and thank God!

  • Praise and thank God for who he is, for the greatness of his power, glory, compassion, love, and care for his creation and especially for his people.
  • Praise and thank him that our trials of life and of faith are a sign of his love, and the means he uses to grow and strengthen our faith. [Meditate on Phil 1:29,30, 1 Thess 1:4-10, Heb 12:4-13, Jas 1:2-5].
  • Praise and thank him that suffering now in Christ’s service and for his sake brings future joy and glory. [Meditate on Mark 10:29-30, 2 Tim 2:11-13, 4:6-8, 1 Pet 1:6,7].
  • Praise him that he honours those who suffer for him [Meditate on 1 Pet 4:12-14, Rev 2:8-11].
  • Praise him that he uses suffering to achieve his gospel purposes in the church and in the world. [Meditate on John 12:23-26, Acts 9:15,16, 2 Cor 6:3-10,11:16-29, Col 1:24,25, 2 Tim 1:8].
  • Praise him that our weakness is made perfect in the power of Christ, so that we can boast in our weaknesses. Christ said to Paul, ‘”My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest upon me’ [2 Cor 12:9].
  • Praise him that all things work together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose, and that this includes using the malicious actions of others for good. [Meditate on Rom 8: 28-39, and Gen 50:20].
  • Praise him that his boast about his servant Job was justified: even if Job doubted God in the midst of his sufferings, God did not doubt Job! [God boasts about Job’s faithfulness in 1:8 and 2:3, and affirms Job in 42:7,8,10,12].
  • Praise and thank him that he loves to forgive us our sins, to cleanse us from them, and to protect us from Satan and his accusations and tricks. Praise him for the wonderful and powerful atoning death and resurrection and ascension of his Son, and for the promise of his return.
  • Praise and thank him that he is a trustworthy God, faithful to his covenant promises in Christ, and that all his promises find their ‘Yes’ in Christ [2 Cor 1:20].
  • Praise him that one day he will bring all things to unity under Christ [Ephes 1:10].

6. Tell God that you trust him and resolve to trust him.

All our negative responses in times of trial are fundamentally the result of our weakness in trusting God. Telling God that you do trust him affirms your good relationship with God, honours God, and strengthens you to trust him.

‘Into your hands I commit my Spirit’ … ‘I trust in you, O God, I say, “You are my God”. My times {circumstances} are in your hands’ [Psalm 31:5a,14,15a.]

Follow Jesus, who when he was suffering unjustly, ‘entrusted himself to [God] who judges justly’ [1 Pet 2:23′.

Resolve to trust him more and more, as a general habit of life, and also to trust him in the particular areas of life and love and ministry where you find it hard to do so. Tell him that you resolve to trust him.

7. Ask God to help you trust him!

Ask him to help you trust him more and more, to shape you so that trusting him becomes habitual, and to keep turning away from other ungodly and so unsatisfactory responses. Name those responses to God, and ask him to stop you doing them. ‘I believe, help my unbelief’ [Mark 9:24].

8. Ask others to pray for you!

We need to learn to trust others enough to ask for their help, and to trust God that he will use their prayers in strengthening our trust in him. Make yourself accountable to them, and encourage them by telling them how God is answering their prayers.

9. Fix your eyes on Jesus! Consider him!

For he is the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart [Heb 12:2-3].

10. Pray for the people causing your trials, and for those who are suffering greater trials that you are.

Pray for those who are persecuting you, or causing you trouble or distress, accidently or intentionally. Pray that God would have mercy on them, bring unbelievers to faith in Christ, and bring believers to repentance and/or changes in attitude and actions. Pray that God would bless them. [Meditate on Matt 5:43-48, Rom 14:14-21, Phil 1:29,30]

Pray for believers who are suffering in their daily lives more than you have ever suffered, for those who have lost family or jobs because they are Christians, and for those facing death for the sake of Christ.

You may also find these resources on this topic helpful.

With warmest good wishes and prayers for you amid the many complexities and demands of life and ministry,

Yours,