Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

When you pray.

Matthew 6v5 “And when you pray. ”  (NIV)

Jesus makes the assumption that his disciples would pray regularly as well as give and fast (6v1-4 & 16-18). As his initial disciples were all Jewish by background, this was a reasonable assumption because it was common practice amongst the 1st century Jews to pray 3 times a day. The practice is not in Old Testament Law, but David refers to this practice in the Psalms, and so does Daniel in his life story.

Prayer is communication with God. Communication is best when it is open, honest, relevant, respectful and frequent.

It is impossible to become a Christian without prayer.

It is impossible to function as a Christian without prayer.

Yet most of us struggle with prayer in one way or another. For the next four Sundays and some other Sundays in the autumn we will focus on developing our communication with God with the help of the “Prayer Course” material. During August, some will be away, and so we provide links to the videos to catch up as possible with where  so that we might all grow together in this vital area.

In addition, at the end of the four Sundays, we will have a day of prayer on Wednesday 31st August. We encourage you to participate in this as far as is possible for you (see below “news”).

 

With love and blessing,

Roland