Volume 2024: Edition 30
Food for thought: Why Should We Pray?
Hello everyone. We would like to thank you for your love and support during this difficult time in our Church and in our family. It has been very hard, but it is also a time of growth in our church and the strengthening of our faith. We strive to bring encouragement and connection through this newsletter that we will be continuing to post every 1st of the month (sorry it was a day late this month), so we hope you will continue to learn and grow in God's word with us.
As a child who grew up in the church I was taught how to pray as soon as I could talk. It always seemed like a natural thing to do before meals and before bed, but when I started school, I was told off by a cafeteria lady for praying for my lunch and told that I couldn't be doing that in a school setting. I was shocked and went home in tears that day to tell my mom that I wasn't allowed to pray in school. While I know now that that wasn't right, and that prayer is a personal right protected by our constitution, prayer is something many people may not often discuss or practice outside of a church setting and many may have never learned about why and when we should pray.
Prayer, in the simplest of definitions, is a personal and intimate practice of communication between you and God. It is a one-on-one conversation like the kind you would have with a friend, or a family member, and it is essential to practice in our daily lives as God's children. We are called by God to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonian 5:17) and to be "praying at all times in the spirit..." (Ephesians 6:18). Prayer is not meant to be a nightly habit or a dinner "Grace" every now and then it's meant to be used daily for all occasions and activities: when you wake up, when you eat, when you sit in traffic, when you're at work, when you're at school, when you're at the gym, when you're planning, when you're taking a rest, when you're going to bed, when you're restless, when you're frustrated, when you're tired, when you're anxious, when you're depressed, when you're sad, when you're happy, when you're thankful, when you're at peace, when you're excited and so forth. In the bad and the good of our days you should pray because prayer isn't just about asking for what you want or need from God. Prayer helps us in all aspects.
Prayer helps us to grow closer to God and to increase our Faith in Him. When you make a new friend, and you want to get to know them more you spend more and more time talking with them and being around them. You share things about yourself with them and learn to trust them, and soon you begin to do the same kind of things together. This is what prayer does for our relationship with God. When we spend more time in His presence through prayer, He will reveal more of Himself to us and the plans He has for us. We will grow to know Him more and more and learn to trust in His word and His promises to us. And the more time we spend with Him the more we will align ourselves to His will as we surrender ourselves to Him.
"The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth."
(Psalm 145:18)
Prayer strengthens us in the hope of having a heavenly Father who watches over us and who is mighty in power to protect us and lift us from the depths of despair. It provides us with the wisdom to lean on God in all circumstances and to seek out His guidance for the troubles of life. And thus, it provides us with peace in knowing that God can handle all things and brings comfort to us amidst sorrow because He is a God who knows us completely and who has declared victory over sin and the pains of this world.
"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world"
(John 16:33)
Prayer gives us the opportunity to ask for forgiveness and to help us resist temptations when we lay down our burdens of guilt and shame. It is important that we use the opportunity of prayer to ask for forgiveness daily because our days are not promised, and the world is full of sin. It is easy for us to be caught up in the storms of sin, but it is just as easy to cast it aside and ask for God to change us, to heal the holes we have tried to fill with sin, and to forgive us of our pride and show us a better way.
In the same way, Prayer gives us the opportunity to give thanks and praise to the Lord who provides us with good gifts and showers us in blessings daily. It helps us to remember all the good God does in our lives, big and small, and to see the miracles He has done for us and those we love. It reminds us that everything we have is because of our God who loves us and in whom we should reciprocate love toward.
" Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."
(James 1:17)
Finally, prayer help us to realize that life isn't about us. When we come to align ourselves with Christ, we come to understand that God is in control of everything in our world and that He cares for all of us equally and calls for us to love one another just as He loved us. This love isn't in toleration of each other or based on conditions and standards we have to meet for each other, it is an unconditional and caring love that suffers and bears with one another in and through all things.
"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
(1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
So, we must learn to pray genuinely for one another. To pray for our pastors, our church, our spouses, our families, our friends, our enemies, our teachers, our schools, our governments (local and national), our president, those running for roles of leadership in our nation, the churches of our nation, the leadership and churches of other nations, and our world.
I pray this week, and the days God gives to you and to me that we can learn to pray without ceasing for all things and for each other in love and thanksgiving. That we are able to lay down our burdens and sins and ask God to change us; to do His will in us and in others and to take control over our lives and guide us through this world so we may one day enter His Heavenly Kingdom. Amen.
As this newsletter continues to grow and expand, please don’t be afraid to let us know if you are in need of prayer or support. And feel free to share your stories, your testimony, or just a quick question in the comments section below any of our links. We truly want to hear from you and do what we can to help because we are meant to be here to love, encourage, and support one another.
We are grateful to have you with us as readers, church members, and interested guests and we are always open to any suggestions and volunteers for our website, newsletter, and future activities. We hope to see you at our Sunday service and stay tuned for our coming newsletters and updates at church, at bible study, on Facebook, on our YouTube Channel, on the Wix App, and the website.
Upcoming Events:
Special Prayers:
Pray for the Salazar family and the congregation during this difficult transition.
Pray for our Pastor that the Lord may continue to bless him with guidance, patience, wisdom, knowledge, and strength
Pray for the Little Free Library that the Lord uses it for His good and glory.
Pray for our Newsletter that we can continue to write through the Holy Spirit
Pray for our Pastor and our church that we may be blessed to continue to grow and share the word of God.
Weekly Devotional: Kingdom-Shaped Prayer
"Pray without ceasing"
(1 Thessalonians 5:17)
We have no good apart from God. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father for lights," James tells us (James 1:17). Similarly, Paul asks, "What do you have that you did not receive?"(1 Corinthians 4:7). The resounding response, of course, is nothing whatsoever. All that we have, we have from God.
If that is all true and we can do nothing of lasting value apart from Christ (John 15:5), then what makes us think we could make it through any day without praying to the one whose strength and sustenance we so desperately need? This doesn't mean we need to host prayer meetings 24/7 (although perhaps more times of extended corporate prayer would benefit us all!). But it does mean that we should never attempt to make it through a single day without expressing our dependence on our heavenly Father in prayer.
The reality is that it's easy to get stale in our praying. But that happens most often when our prayer times turn into personal shopping lists, focused more on things that we want than what we and the world around us really need. We ought to "let [our] requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4:6) - whatever those requests may be, great or small. But we ought also to pray for grand things. The greatest cries of the people of God should be the greatest concerns of the kingdom.
For Example, we can pray for:
World missions, praying for those sent out of their congregations and around the world
the teaching of the bible in places near and far
the cause of Christ to be established in the world
God to hold back His hand of judgement and shower us with blessing and mercy
the faithfulness and growth of the church and our witness around the globe
our government and its leader, from the local level upwards
the homeless, downtrodden, and hungry
points of light to spring up around your city as testimonies to the gospel of Jesus Christ
This is just a sample, of course. A kingdom-focused list could continue far further! Whatever you end up praying for specifically today and in the coming days, though, ask God for His kingdom to come. Ask Him for His will to be done. What a joy that He calls you to keep on praying, and then answers your prayers to build His kingdom!
"Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
(Matthew 6:9-13)
Begg, Alistair. Truth for Life - Volume 2. The Good Book Company, 1 Oct. 2022.
Verse of the Week:
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Announcements:
October is Pastor Appreciation Month! In Honor of Pastor Stevie, we will be handing out index cards during service for our members to write any words of encouragement, appreciation, testimony, prayer, etc. to be returned before or on October 13th for the official Pastor Appreciation Day. If any of our online members and guests would like to participate, please send in your message through our email under the heading: Pastor Appreciation.
This is your reminder that we will have our annual Church Thanksgiving Luncheon on November 3rd, the first Sunday of the month. If you would like to help with the food preparation or volunteer to bring a dessert or appetizer, please let us know, we would greatly appreciate any help.
We are drawing near to winter so our Burrito Sales will be at the Church at 9:00 AM on select Saturdays depending on the weather. Come out and help us in our sale by making a dozen burritos to sell or buying burritos and donating to help us fund the repairs needed to keep our church standing and up to code. For sales dates, look at our event's page or watch for the announcement on our Facebook.
We would love to send out the newsletter personally to every member as well as pray for and celebrate birthdays and anniversaries together as a church family. We are asking for all of our members to send their birth date, anniversary date, and email to 303-916-3950 or to the church email. You could also write it down on our paper before or after services.
The little free library is about to be put out for use! A special thank you to Isaac Salazar for his craftsmanship and time spent building this Library and thank you to our members for their patience and donation of books to the library. If anyone would still like to donate children's books, young adult books, any appropriate adult novels, or even some coloring books we would love the assistance in filling up the little library.
Questions?
For any questions or suggestions regarding our newsletter please email berthoudfoursquarechurch@gmail.com or call (720)466-0951
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