Category Archives: Prayer

Writings and reflections on prayer. The prayers section at prayerscapes features over 100 original contemporary prayers.

Beautiful Tune

Sometimes I just stop and listen. I might be in a cafe, picking up children from school, or walking down the street. It is an extraordinary thing to dwell for a moment on the sounds that surround us – the chatter of voices, scrapes and scratches from chairs and cutlery, the hum of appliances or the buzz of traffic. I wonder how God must feel when from this collage of sounds he hears us address him?

“Father” – a silent prayer amidst a social gathering.

“God it’s me” from behind the desk in a classroom.

“Jesus I love you” – grace filled singing heard above the cacophony of city life.

“Help me” – a fleeting thought within a workplace.

The sound of beautiful heart cries rising from a fallen world.

At times when I find I’m once again bewildered, confused by all around me I will try to listen for birdsong. Sometimes I find I can tune into their songs, and I sit and wonder. How is it that they sing so sweetly? These thoughts lead me home. Home to a creative Father, home to love reigning, home to the beautiful music which resounds from creation. “Lord, may this birdsong in my life take centre stage. May I tune into the kingdom of heaven more and more each day.”

Prayer Darts

I have a simple way of praying when I feel overwhelmed by the amount of people I have a heart for, and find that I am “going under” trying to pray for so many different needs. It is this. I write all their names on a sheet of paper and for each one I pray one word, like “protection”, “freedom”, “finances”, “security”, “breakthrough” etc…. Sometimes by reducing my prayer into just one word it distils everything into one place, rather like hitting the centre of a dartboard. Here I discover what is needed!

As Christians, we live in family communities, fellowships of brotherhood and sisterhood. This is an amazing thing! And such a blessing to be part of. In all of this I have found that I am continually investing in new relationships, yet also retaining the friendships I have already made in church life. Sometimes these old friends have moved abroad, or life has pulled them away from church, or they have felt called to a different place or ministry. So I find myself accumulating more and more people! More people I have a heart for but no more time! I have not found an easy way around this dilemma. The only way I find though it is to allow God’s grace to surround me. In this place I remember that I am simply called to walk forwards in life and follow Christ (Matthew 11:28). So some very dear encounters with others will be just that and fall away, and others will involve years of investment. And the only way I can figure this all out is to be led by the Spirit of love, not driven by “shoulds” or “coulds”. I am also finding that I need to extend this same grace and flexibility with my fellow travellers, for at times they too may need to let go of my friendship in order to embrace new horizons.

God’s Kingdom

God’s Kingdom? We are taught to pray “Your Kingdom come” yet what does this look like, how is it built on the rubble of this fallen world? When praying for our city I once had a picture of golden threads, weaving their way through lives, criss-crossing areas and institutions, linking people and places. We perceive silver and gold as permanent because they were formed in the stars before the earth began! And I believe these Kingdom threads to be the same, they are permanent, seen and recorded in the heavenlies, sown into our lives and the lives of those around us. And yes, this means that God’s Kingdom can be built into a person or place – woven, sewn, interweaved and yet that person or place not acknowledge it to be Christ’s legacy at work. This Kingdom work is vital and ground changing, taking a school from ordinary to extraordinary, transforming patient care into care that connects, restores and goes beyond its perimeter. Kingdom work can keep safe the vulnerable, provide dignity for the confused or freedom for the disabled. Kingdom friendship can protect families, rebuild marriages and heal relationships! And little by little it changes the soil in the lives of God’s children, hardened ground gets softer, stony land is filtered. The weeds die back to create fertile conditions.

In the parable of the sower we learn that what counts is where the seed falls! Kingdom threads change the ground in the families, schools, hospitals, businesses or government. This can be hard work, to continue to sow in kindness, past exhaustion, to weave in vision and hope where there is apathy, or stand up for Kingdom values in a sea of selfishness. Yet, these threads are not insignificant. They are gold that stands the test of time, treasure that is recognised beyond this crumbling world. They are life riches that sustain and empower us through this world and into the next!

Thank you Kingdom weavers of past and present! We all join with a creative God, in the work of bringing His Kingdom to earth.

Rainbow Life

I love imagery. I have always delighted my heart with it. From a young age it became very important to my wellbeing to behold beauty and wonder. Given the choice of a gourmet meal in the corner of a restaurant or a sandwich with a view, the latter has always pulled at my heartstrings. So I suppose it is unsurprising that God has given me many pictures, occasionally for myself, but mostly for others.

One phenomenon I adore to behold is the rainbow. The sight of one is a beautiful, brilliant reminder of God’s hope and promises. It shouts out “miracle”! And makes me think of the many miracles that lay all around me – nature brimming with it’s many colours and textures, a world abundant with growth and renewal, overflowing with drama and intricate life forms. Yet more than this, I love the way that a rainbow covers the ground beneath it, arching over a physical space to protect and keep it. This is what happens when a child of God steps into the Father’s loving arms. Suddenly a great arch of kingdom life sweeps over the earth. Colour and light break out in the darkness, ground is taken for love, and hope breaks out across families, friends and workplaces. Great treasure is promised, as they take hold of redemptive love and run the race before them! I’m regularly praying for rainbows over those I meet. Next time you meet someone, look out for the rainbow.

Prayer Connects

The poem in this film just poured out of me one night like a continuous stream of ideas, so I am a little uncertain even about attributing it to myself.

Recently I have been involved in praying for a number of very serious situations, and coming alongside those who are suffering in desperate circumstances. I have been “lost for words” in these times. What do you say when a husband and wife both face cancer with two small boys in toe, when a beautiful woman of God is held captive by intense pain or a committed mother of a son with Autism is at the end of her emotional and physical resources? I am shaken and humbled, bewildered and almost scared to speak….

But each time I have prayed, connected into the eternal, into the love of a heavenly Father, into the promises and vision of God’s Kingdom, words come. Prayer connects. I have seen it over and over again and I rejoice in having this gem in my life. So please don’t think of me as eloquent (I’m not!) but rather see this poem as a gift from above, a heavenly poem, a poem to reveal and carry, a poem to hold, to engage and to transform. God really does speak afresh each day into our hearts.

You can read the words to this poem here (and also buy a copy of the film as a download to keep).