By David Dent

I’ve been encouraged myself to pray of late and been encouraged by 2 scriptures in particular.

1. “Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.” Deut. 26v7

2. “Incline your ear, O LORD…” Ps.86v1

The Israelites cried out to God, the cries reached his ears (I like to think that they “got His attention”) and God delivered them. David prays with such boldness, “Incline your ear to me O LORD”. This boldness to cry out to God to ask Him to “give attention to my voice” as I like to think of it is challenging and encouraging. I think of Jesus teaching about the persistent widow in Luke 18 and am encouraged to pray with the same kind of boldness and determination.
When I think about being so bold as to cry out to God and ask Him to have His attention and incline His ear to my situation, I think to myself “what makes me worthy of such an honor” or “how can I say to God, ‘incline your ear to me’”. And then I am reminded of the gospel and the righteous standing I have been given in Christ. I think of the words in Hebrews “Therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean form an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” and again, “therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward”. And so I see the manner in which the Israelites cried out, I here the boldness of the Psalmist, I see the example and teaching of Jesus and I take faith, I reach out and draw near with what I pray is increasing confidence and boldness to our God, who is kind and merciful and has removed my sin and made me and my prayers acceptable before Him. God “Incline your ear to me!”

solidarity |ˌsäləˈde(ə)ritē|
noun
1 unity or agreement of feeling or action, esp. among individuals with a common interest; mutual support within a group.

Prayer saturated advance as a community on mission with Jesus. This is a point we cannot belabour enough. If you are committed to Jesus, His Kingdom, and His mission, the primary visible embodiment of that commitment will be displayed through a united mutual commitment to gather (hear) and pray together, period. There is no alternative, and if that’s not on your radar you can be sure that your heart’s allegiance rests somewhere else, and that’s not a good sign. This is not some legalistic assertion either. Is making sure you’re breathing legalistic? The primary visible and tangible display that someone is alive is they have a pulse and they’re breathing regularly. The pulse in a Christian community is revealed in their gathering (hearing the words of Jesus), and their regular breathing is displayed through praying. This is not legalistic, its just being real about life. If you ran in to someone who looked half dead, had a weak pulse, with shallow breathing, no one in their right mind would label you as a cold hearted legalist for doing all you could to boost their vitals. That’s just humane isn’t it?

I love my community. I want to see us thrive under King Jesus living in His kingdom of light, righteousness, peace, and joy. I want to see us bring havoc upon the domain of darkness with Jesus. That’s why I cannot say this too earnestly or emphatically enough : We must be committed in solidarity to prayer as we gather and advance with Jesus. We must be whole heartedly with solidarity committed to the Kingdom of Jesus through our gathering and our praying. We must, or we will die. There is no alternative.

I love you guys,
M

Part 2 of “sharing the gospel with friends and colleagues”

Here’s the other points as promised, praying you are blessed by them.

1. It’s Jesus ministry not ours (Acts 1v1). Ultimately God is saving the lost not us. He is using us to accomplish his mission (2 cor. 5v20). It’s not about us initiating and twisting God’s arm to get involved in what we’re doing, it’s about us asking God what He is already doing and what those works are which He has already planned in advance that we should walk in them. Eph 2v10. Don’t forget that the power belongs to God and is from God. We get nowhere without the power of the Holy Spirit, and spiritually dead people can’t hear spiritual things, it is only by the power of God that the dead are raised. Proverbs 20v12 And John 3v1-15.

2. Don’t be afraid. Even the most intimidating person is still just a person. Their knowledge is finite, their wisdom is finite, their power is finite, and their glory is fleeting (1 Peter 1v24-25). You don’t have to be ashamed of the gospel, it may be foolishness to the world but the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. Jesus is neither impressed nor intimidated by the wisdom or the glory of this world. It gets nowhere without his provision in the first place. If the wisdom of the world is not the gospel then it is foolishness. It is the gospel that is the power of God, you don’t need to add to it or doll it up in any way, it is perfect just as it is, and it is the only power of God unto salvation (Romans 1v16-17). The fear of man is a snare and a trap, don’t be afraid, you’ve got God on your side, and He is for you and He has promised that He will never leave you! So be courageous.

3. If you don’t know, it’s fine to say you don’t know. Just because you’re a Christian doesn’t mean you have to know all the answers right away. Tell them “I don’t know but give me a bit of time and I’ll find out the answer for you”. Nothing wrong with that at all.

4. Keep pointing back to Jesus. Don’t get caught up in peripheral arguments. It’s ok and good to talk about other elements of the Christian faith but don’t get caught up arguing about ethical matters if you haven’t come to an agreement about Jesus. Ethical discussions will go nowhere if there isn’t a correct understanding of the gospel first, and they can actually feed moralistic thinking which is one of the big battles we face in sharing the gospel. So try not to get caught arguing about the authority of the scriptures, or whether or not we should vote conservative. In answering all the questions that people ask, understand that they probably don’t understand the gospel so always explain your answers in relation to the gospel. And if the discussion moves away from Jesus; bring it back. Encourage them to read the scriptures for themselves and discover the man who is God. Always bring it back to Jesus, it’s all about him. What do we believe about Jesus?!

If you have any tips for me, or anything else to add, let me know, this list is by no means exhaustive ☺

Sharing the Gospel with our friends and colleagues

I love talking to people about Jesus, I love talking about God and sharing the gospel with them. So I’ve written my top 5 points on how it all works. I feel like I could write a book, but I’ll try keep it to five. I’m hoping and praying that you will feel encouraged to share the gospel with your friends and colleagues and that you will feel more confident and prepared as you do so. To God be the glory.

1. Be prepared. Books. Bibles. Questions. Prayer.

Books: I’ve found this very helpful lately and God has been blessing the book ministry. Often at work we don’t have the time for a big long discussion and so books give us a lot more time and they get to listen to a great message by a great communicator, how good is that! It may feel a bit foreign giving a book to someone but it’s ok you can do it. You can just say to your colleague “do you read much?” and if they say yes say “if I give you a book would you read it?” they might say “depends what the book is?” then say “It’s a book about Christianity ☺” If they say yes, then great, you’re already prepared and you can bring it in within the next couple of days. And if they say no, don’t worry, it’s not about you, lots of people don’t like Jesus and also it may not be the right time for them. Keep praying for them and loving them and asking God for more opportunities to love them. So get a couple of good books that you can give to people, I can recommend “The reason for God” or “Counterfeit Gods” or “Kings Cross” all by Tim Keller, “The God who is there” by D.A. Carson (which is a walk through the whole bible in 14 chapters to give the reader a good overview of the storyline of God’s plan of redemption throughout history. It is also catered for people who know little or nothing about the bible and so starts with the basics) or “Doctrine” by Mark Driscoll, (I don’t think it’s too heavy for people, I think it’s good for them, it’s better to know the truth as it is). Also, “Finally alive” by John Piper would also probably be good I’m sure. If you want any of these to read for yourself first let me know and I’ll lend one to you, I’ve got some copies. The important thing with the books however is that you follow up with the person once they’ve read it. Take them out for a drink or for a bite to eat so that you can talk together about it, find out what they thought.

Bibles: Secondly have an extra couple of bibles, if people aren’t following Jesus it’s likely that they also don’t have bibles. They’ll need one eventually so who better to give it to them than you ☺. Also, if people are at all interested in God, they should read the bible, so you can encourage people to do that as well. You may not have anyone to give them to yet, but it doesn’t matter, get the books and bibles so that when the occasion does arise you’ll be prepared.

Pray: Pray for opportunities. Colossians 4v3

Questions: Ask yourself all the questions about the gospel and try to piece together how it all works. Eg. Why did Jesus have to die? What did we do that is so bad it’s punishable by death? What does it mean to be a Christian, how do I become one? Does it matter that Jesus rose from the dead? Etc… It’ll help you explain it to people and it’ll be more real because you’ll have thought it through for yourself first. (not only that but it becomes incredibly rewarding because as you press into the detailed questions you become forced to seek answers and God is faithful and reveals Himself and His plan to you and it’s a beautiful thing)

Ok so I’ve gone on long enough and I’ve done a cheeky thing and put four points under the first point ☺ So I’m changing it now and making this “Part 1”, if you want to read the other 4 points check out “Part 2”.

When most of us think about slavery, we don’t think about today. In fact, slavery is at it’s worst today and is quickly sweeping the globe. Europe, particularly Eastern Europe, is the ring leader for human trafficking of young children and women who are sold to men for sexual intercourse.  London is no stranger to the human trafficking ring.  Shockingly, there have been cases of men who were caught selling & buying women in midday on Oxford Street — on Oxford Street. Women & children being sold into sex slavery is real in London, and we must do something about this injustice.  We must pray against human trafficking, the spirit of darkness behind it, for the men who sell/buy, & for the women & children who suffer under this reign of slavery.

There are many ways to pray against this real darkness.  Here is a glimpse of what a young woman would endure while bound in this slavery: “After a trafficking journey that typically involves deception, rape, beatings, and constant threats, victims are often forced to live in confining and unsanitary conditions. Once formally put to work, human trafficking victims can be forced to service from 40 to 110 customers in one day. Malnutrition, sleep deprivation, as well as emotional and physical abuse become day-to-day normalities. In addition, forced abortions and the contraction of STI’s, Hepatitis B & C, and AIDS are ever looming probabilities. Life for a victim of sex trafficking is hell on earth” (theA21campaign.org). Or how about a more specific example: “Officers cite the example of a 16-year-old Albanian girl who thought she was coming to London for a romantic weekend with her boyfriend. When they arrived, he handed her over to pimps” (Daily Mail article: Human traffickers sell sex on Britain’s busiest street). These women are expected to make well over £100,000 a year (which they don’t keep) by having sex 25 times a day – that’s 25 men a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks out of the year. And that’s only the average day…   This evil cannot stand. We must intercede for these women. We must.

At the moment, London is estimated to have around 4,000 women sold into prostitution a year, but this number is both inaccurate by police standards because the slave trade is so underground, & is certain to increase with the Olympics coming in 2012. “Police warn that the numbers of Eastern Europeans being trafficked into the UK will grow significantly in the run up to the London 2012 Olympic Games.  A rise in so-called ‘vice activity’ has already been detected in the five Olympic boroughs of Newham, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest and Greenwich, to cater for demand from 25,000 construction workers” (Daily Mail article).  We must rise & stand against this disgusting reality, & watch it bow to our King Jesus as we do!

Pray, we must battle against the slave trade.  We should not be naive and think that this is just fallen man acting as sinful man does (though it is indeed a large part), but we must pray against the demonic driving Human Trafficking.  Please, may we pray applying the victory that Jesus Christ won over the slave trade, for He is King over all!  May we pray that the Holy Spirit rains down on this trade network and that Jesus saves everyone involved — men, pimps, women, children, sufferer and “owner” alike.  (Lord, give us your heart for both the men selling and buying these women.  Show us that You love them the same as You love us.  May You pierce through their darkness and renew them as Your sons.)  Pray that the slave trade would end, completely dismantled because everyone involved got wrecked by the love of God, repented, & worship Him with everything they have!  As we pray, let’s worship Jesus for how He’s going to do this!  Let us stand in the gap for the women trapped within the trade: that they would be rescued, never to be tormented like this again, redeemed by our King Jesus, healed, & that they would go into brothels, to street corners, and even to pimps to share the love of Christ & His Kingdom! Lift up the children who are tricked, kidnapped, and sold into this horrible slavery.  May God show Himself as their Father & Redeemer, as well as lifting many Josephs out of this bondage! (Check it)

As we pray: listen for and to the Lord. Ask Him for open doors to get involved in any way possible, whether it be making the city aware, storming brothels & rescuing girls, or partnering with organizations that are stopping slavery.  We must pray. We must act. God’s love will pierce this darkness & He will use us, His Beloved, to redeem these lives!

If we’re honest, we very rarely think about them.  You know, unless we were one of them.  Living in the western world, the only time we really see orphans is when we see the adverts on the television asking us to support those in Africa. But the truth is we were all an orphan once, separated from our Father.  The truth is that over 57,000 children in the United Kingdom live in foster care and their average age is ten-years-old.  Another sobering truth for the UK is that 30,000 orphans go uncared for by foster homes and have no family to love on them. The truth is that thousands of children within the UK do not have homes, they have no one to provide for them, and more importantly, they do not have people to love on them in the tangible love of Christ.

Unbelievably, having a mother and father is a minor part of being an orphan, though this is no small thing.  Most orphans do not have a home, a place to call their own where they can unwind and relax, but even this is minor.  The greatest hurt for an orphan comes as they live their lives under the identity of being rejected, unwanted, not loved, and optional.  The real wounds of living life under this rejection undoubtedly shapes these children well into adulthood and most orphans deeply struggle with self-worth issues.  Most of these struggles are shown as only 5% of children in foster care go onto higher education at universities, which is astonishing in an age where one degree from university is the average, and few start families of their own upon adulthood. Thus, these children become trapped in a spiral of rejection, where it seeps into their souls, and affects them for the rest of their lives.

So what can we do? The most effective response for these children is for us to love on them.  We love on them by standing in the gap for them and praying to our Father on their behalf.  James 1:27 says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”  The world rejects these children but that is not God’s heart for his children.  His heart for them is for each orphan to know that He loves them so greatly that He sent His only Son for them, so that He could have them, and be their Father.  The truth is that they were fearfully and wonderfully made.  The truth for them is that Jesus knows every hair upon their head and they are worth His very life, which He chose to give for them to be loved.  Jesus’ action on the cross is the gate for the flood of love He has for them.  May we pray against the lies and the affects they have on these children, and for the love of Truth to replace where the influence of the lies once stowed away.

May we pray for each orphan to know Jesus Christ & may we act in love.  May we act in prayer for these children and the adults who grew up in this dark childhood.  May we act by visiting foster homes and loving on these children.  May we start to ask the Lord if we should adopt and be His physical representation to these children.

Walk through a park and you’ll see them enjoying a walk pushing a pram.  While you’re shopping, look around and you’ll find a single mother being a mum while paying for the food she is going to cook that evening for supper.  Or, take the tube this afternoon and stand near the stairs for 5 minutes, and you’ll find a single mother hauling her child filled pram up the stairwell (give her a hand).

Did you know that there are 1.9 million single mothers in the United Kingdom? How about that out of those precious 1.9 million, 52% of them are “below the government-defined poverty line,” and 43% of them are without jobs (Office for National Statistics).  On average, single mothers have poorer health than those mothers within a relationship or marriage (ONS).  Clearly the stress of being placed into a single parenting roll, takes it’s toll on the mothers’ health.  There are also the struggles of making the sole income, raising a child (or children) alone, becoming lonely, and performing everyday tasks on her own.  What about the children? There are mixed reviews whether or not the children of single mothers grow up any different, but one out-right truth is that these children grow up without a present father.  Mothers do their best and an absolutely amazing job at being a parent, but these children are still missing the touch, love, embrace, fun, and correction of a father.

The bottom line is that we live in a sinful world where being a single mother is difficult and where they have to do alone what God designed to be a team effort between a man and a woman.

But there is hope, and His name is Jesus.  Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 12:28-30). Single mothers, among others in this city, are weary and heavy laden.  Let us pray that each and every single mother would take Jesus at His word, stand on His promise, and receive His glorious rest.  In so doing, may He become Lord of their lives and His joy be in them (John 15:11b).

Along the same thought, we should soak these mothers in prayer over their minds, bodies, & hearts.  Some single mothers are single because of abuse or harsh ends to relationships, which leaves deep hurts within the hearts of some of these women.  May we pray against all the sickness that plagues these beautiful women and do so from the promise of Who Jesus is for each of them (Matthew 8:14-17; 27:32-56).  Jesus is the Great Healer and Restorer! He will bring peace and rest.

Let us pray that the Holy Spirit comforts, guides, fills, and pours out the knowledge and love of God the Father, on each single mother.  May He be their strength. May the Holy Spirit teach them as they read Scripture and as they grow in deep intimacy with God.  Our Father will destroy all loneliness and replace it with an abundant joy found in Him!  Our prayer should be that each single mother falls more and more in love with Jesus!  May we pray the same for their children as these amazing women show them the character, love, & share in the presence of God.

May these greatly desired women know that God has grace upon grace for them and their children.

As we pray, may we also act. If you see a single mother out and about, pray for her.  Either walk up, ask for her name, and if you can pray for her on the spot, or pray for her as you walk by.  Both are equally awesome and heard by our Father.  If you see a single mother needing a hand, be the first to give it and “go the extra mile.”  Love on these women as Christ loves on us.  Be His hands, feet, words, kindness, hugs, and love.

The term hipster is a slang term that originated in the 1930s referring to men & women who typically live in urban areas (such as London) & who are usually in their 20s to mid 30s.  Since then, the term has been revived & the meaning has shifted a bit.  Society has labeled people who have interests in non-mainstream culture, fashion, & music as hipsters.  Let us look at how to identify hipsters so that we can all pray more specifically for them.

The current move of hipsters rejects mainstream consumerism because of the thought that it’s culturally ignorant & not authentic to individuality.  This thought is expressed often in their wearing vintage & thrift store fashions, tight-fitting jeans, thick-rimmed glasses, & old-school shoes, however their image is forever changing.  Their hairstyles are usually something mainstream society wouldn’t deem “acceptable,” and usually expresses their own creativity.  The bohemian look of a hipster is more easily seen in any Urban Outfitters and American Apparel ad or shop.  There are many misconceptions about hipsters and one of them is that they are uneducated, which simply isn’t true.  Many of them have liberal arts degrees leading to a job in the music, art, & fashion industries, or degrees in maths and sciences.  Hipsters tend to be into underground or eclectic music, reads independent books & magazines, & watches independent & foreign films.  Ironically enough, many hipsters would never call themselves hipsters because the term it’s self has become a mainstream labeling.

How we can pray: First & foremost we can pray that the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus Christ & that He softens the hearts of every hipster in London.  Pray that their taste for partying, materialism, & pride in being different would crumble in comparison to the glory of Christ.  There is also a strong spirit of independence among hipsters, which leads into the lie that they don’t need a Saviour or anyone else.  It breaks God’s heart to see people He is jealous for, go after everything else but Him,  so let’s pray that the Holy Spirit shows them how much our Father loves them, desires to be in communion with them, & how awesome it is to worship the almighty God instead of what He creates.   Honestly, the only thing that will break into the hipster world is the pure love of God.  May we pray that the love of God pierces the lives of those who are consumed with rebelling against mainstream society.  May we pray for hipsters to get saved & share the true coolness of sins forgiven, and a life hanging out with Christ.  Finally, let’s pray as the Spirit leads us, banking on His promises for those caught up in their own image, & be genuine with how we love as Christ loves them.  Most hipsters rebel against mainstream anything because it’s fake or robotic so we should express the authenticity of people in love with our Saviour.  With Christ as our example & Saviour, may we pray & show the world the realness of His love.

On earth, Christ was real: in love, grace, & truth.  He’s the same in us today.

Hey all! We had a wonderful time last Wednesday as we met in the Dyrud’s flat to feast on Czech food, learn about the country’s history; secular and sacred, fellowship and pray together. As we are continuing to encourage everyone to intercede and make supplication for this wonderful country over the next few weeks, we thought it would be helpful to post some prayer requests to help fuel prayer and understanding in our hearts. If you want more info on Czech as a country, Wikipedia and Operation World are great resources. You can also ask Mark or Lizzie for basic info as well.

Major spiritual statistic. Polls taken in 2010 show that atheism has grown from 40% in 1991 to 71% in 2010! They are the second most atheistic country in the world! Let’s pray that God would change that around mightily!

1) Pray against spiritual blindness and that God would remove the blanket/ veil over the vast majority of Czech’s that do not believe or know God.

2) Fear was a big word during the night. There was a great sense that fear was driving people still, even after finding political and religious freedom from Communism in 1989.

3) We prayed that people would not see God through the eyes of their past experiences with oppressive government leaders and even corrupt church leadership. But that God would give them new eyes to see the truth clearly and throw away wrong perceptions about Christ and His bride.

4) Please lift up the youth and the elderly.

5) Believers would be purified by the word.

6) God would continue to provide better Czech resources for Christians in books, media and such.

7) That the Intellectual minds in Universities and at the forefront of liberal movements would be struck with and humbled by the awesomeness of God’s creation and His profound intelligence through creation.

Bravery and boldness when sharing their faith.

9) Forgiveness would flow from the people towards church leadership.

10) Multiply healthy, mature disciples in the faith. Equip Czech believers and bring great reform to the churches.

11) Unity among churches

12) Give the people a great hunger and thirst during this spiritual famine and that God would weaken the desire and passionate pursuit for earthly things.

13) Protect people from New Age philosophies and self-help methods.

14) For the Kennings. (Lizzie’s brother Jared, his wife Dana and their two little girls Hana and Lydie. They currently live in Czech as missionaries). Please pray for them to continue to have a strong marriage and partnership in the ministry together. And that God would open up a miraculous door for them to buy a discipleship home. Also that God would send steady provision for them to do the work of the Lord there.

15) Lastly, please pray that all of us in London would divinely meet Czech people living here and that we would be able to share with them and help further the mission in that way!

Thanks everyone for your desire and heart to plow this field with prayer. God searches for those who would seek Him diligently for the people’s of the world. By faith we know that He hears and answers our cries for help in every time of need. Let’s join together, knees and hearts bowed as we make supplication for this beloved place.