In the Bible we have the ‘Letter to the Philippians’ written by Paul when he was in enforced isolation – he was in prison in Rome and yet despite these circumstances this letter is full of the joy that fills his life through his faith in our Lord Jesus.
One way in which we could summarise the letter, is - chapter1: Joy in suffering, chapter 2: Joy in serving, chapter 3: Joy in believing, chapter 4: Joy in giving. It doesn’t take very long to read the whole letter, but if that is too much to read just look at some words towards the end of the letter: Philippians 4: 6-7. In these verses Paul tells us that as we pray and allow ourselves to recognise God’s love for each of us, then ‘the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” He then goes on in verses 8 & 9 to give us ‘a mindfulness’ exercise to do to help us to know this peace.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has written a prayer which connects with these verses from Philippians: ‘May the God of all hope show us his face and his way within the darkness that enfolds us. In all things, God can work with us to transform and bring light, however desperate our present may be.’
I have received a newsletter from Neil and Jane – their news is unsurprising; they cannot return to the land where they teach dentistry, although the students say: “just come - We’re fine here. It’s the rest of the world that’s got problems” but no one knows the true situation in that land, and travel to their land is impossible at the moment. Pray for those students, that God’s light will transform their lives.
I have also just heard that Thailand is starting a month-long lockdown, so we also need to remember in prayer Judy and Hope Home – the children and the staff. All of the children with their existing health issues probably would not survive if they do become infected with Covid19 – imagine the burden this must place on Judy – pray for God’s peace to fill her heart and mind.
As I watched one of the ‘prayercourse’ videos on YouTube I was struck by the illustration Pete Greig gave about his very young son writing him a letter – in fact it was just a page of scribbles and squiggles, but his son wanted dad to ‘read it’ and because Pete knew his son, he was able to understand what his son wanted to say. Pete then goes on to remind us that our prayers might sometimes look like scribbles and squiggles but our heavenly Father knows each of us so well that he is able to decipher them and respond to the love which caused us to send them.
I am suffering from a lack of feedback as to whether anything I write is connecting with you, so please text, email or comment on facebook about what I’ve written, the Fuelcast talks, Opendoors website and the Prayercourse videos.
NEW!! Each Friday there will be an article by someone other than me. Anthony will be our first ‘Friday guest’ with an article based on the message he was due to bring to us last Sunday. I will write again on Sunday.