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Our current blog series: Through the year we’ll be inquiring of the Lord concerning His holiness, the holiness He expects of us as we stand as priests before Him, and the call to manifest His holiness to the world around us.
We begin our new series by inquiring of the Lord. We start with a question, not an answer… What is He like? To whom can we compare Him? How can we even begin to describe Him?
In our 2023-2024 blog series we explored the exciting convergence of worship, prayer and missions. How does our calling at the house of prayer fit into the bigger biblical story of the great commission and the end of the age?
How kind and considerate of the Lord to teach us how to pray with a short, simple prayer of incredible depth and new revelation every time we meditate on it.
Whatever is included in this prayer must be of the highest importance to His mission and of the closest proximity to His heart.
As both wholehearted Jesus-lover and longsuffering gospel-labourer, who better than Paul to instruct us on how to pray, and what to pray for in mission?
When we look for answers in the world, we never find something truly and eternally satisfying. It will always feel like a losing battle. But what is the response of Jesus to a lost people looking for hope and meaning?
Like the scattered Christians Peter originally wrote to, we are ‘living stones’ – not uniform ‘bricks’ with the same background, experiences, traditions and heritage; but individuals
Malachi 1:11 is one of those verses that we love to quote in the prayer and missions worlds. It’s not a goal or an aspiration, it is a statement , His name will be great among the nations.
In Isaiah 56, the verses for this month’s worship with the word series paints a beautiful picture of what happens when people choose to respond to God’s loving invitation to enter into relationship with Him.
As we draw near to Christmas, we are considering the convergence of worship, prayer and missions in the very person of Jesus Himself. This messianic psalm is a prayer for the coronation of the coming King…
James used this opportunity to emphasise to the leaders of the early church that God’s grace extends to all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, which is as true for us today as it was then.
While the poetic beauty and musicality of the Psalms accounts for their popularity and appeal, it is their enduring relevance and relatedness for all people and generations that is most remarkable.
Having brought up the Ark to Jerusalem, David pitched a tent for it and set singers and musicians to minister to God there, night & day. That is what we have happening here in 1 Chronicles 16:
In our 2022-2023 series, we looked at Jesus as a passionate bridegroom, a sovereign king & a righteous judge - three descriptions that are emphasised together in various places in the Scriptures, not least by Jesus Himself in the context of His return (Mt 24-25).
Jesus is making clear to His disciples, and to us, that at God’s appointed time He will return to swiftly bring judgement on wickedness and set up His Kingdom on earth.
Jesus is making clear to His disciples, and to us, that at God’s appointed time He will return to swiftly bring judgement on wickedness and set up His Kingdom on earth.
This time He is coming in all His righteousness and power to judge and wage war against His enemies and the kingdom of darkness so that He may take hold of His inheritance.
We have great hope as we intercede for all kinds of injustices in our city, nation and the nations because he will come as judge to set the prisoners free and open the eyes of the blind. Jesus our judge brings justice to the poor, the marginalised and the hurting.
But Paul doesn’t just lay the yoke on Timothy and leave him to work it out, he gives him the how! Paul focuses Timothy in on the nature of Jesus.
In this psalm Jesus is spoken of as a son as well as the king. While we know that He is God’s son, the term also reminds us that He is a son like us.
Jesus genuinely chose to give up His divine privileges and equality with God with no route to retreat back to the safety and glory of heaven when things got tough.
From on high there comes ‘the voice of a great multitude’, like a roar of many waters, a sound like thunder. Heaven is bursting open, erupting with praise and joy, heralding the coming bridegroom!
Poetic literature has many layers, and the relationship between ‘the Shulamite’ and her ‘beloved’ has often been seen as a depiction of the relationship between Christ and the Church.
In these verses, there are two ways that God is like a bridegroom, in the way He delights in His people and in the way he rejoices over His people.
By singing His word, we can grow together in our understanding of who God is, why worship and prayer are important to Him, and how He will use houses of prayer and praying churches across the earth to see the fullness of His plans come to fruition.
As we draw this series to a close, I’ve been challenged to see afresh the significance of our participation in singing this new song… To see with new eyes and fresh wonder the privilege of how we are invited to respond.
Worship is our response to the Lord. When we see Him and we begin to get a glimpse of who He is, our hearts respond in worship, in declarations of who He is and the way He has revealed himself to us.
The Lamb has just taken the scroll from the One who is seated on the throne. His worth and qualification to open the scroll and break its seals has been recognised by all but something even more astounding happens!
There is a question that should burn in our hearts: Who is worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals?
We see in the story of creation, in Genesis, that when God speaks it happens. God said ‘let there be light’ and there was light. It is the same when He says: “Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice!”
Let’s resist the urge to make ourselves the centre of attention and choose instead to point others toward His grace, mercy, goodness and power. Let’s choose to worship.
As I think upon this beautiful Psalm and David’s life, I can’t shake that praise can only come at a revelation of God's nature.
There is a prophetic invitation for us to sing a new song to the Lord. That is something we try to pursue in the house of prayer.
God didn’t need to address His Son through the prophet Isaiah. He chooses to give us this glimpse into his eternal relationship with the Son for our benefit.
The golden crown of Isaiah’s prophesies are the awesome insights into the coming Messiah, Jesus.
Welcome
Get to know us as we ask some basic questions: Why night & day worship and prayer? What is prayer all about? What is the value of corporate worship & prayer?
Psalm 45 is a great passage to help us follow on from focusing on Jesus as a Bridegroom. If we read the whole Psalm we will see that it speaks of Jesus as both a King and a Bridegroom.