Here we go again!
I have had a complete break from blogging for the whole of December. Life was just too busy with all that being a Salvation Army officer at Christmas means. We were able to take a break with family after all the activity which was lovely.
And so it's 2010 and here we go again. Corps life is geared up again, with meetings, hospital visits, toddlers, school ministry, events to organise and a prayer room to prepare for Pray for a Day on Friday.
I also personally feel, it's here we go again with my personal Bible Study, which I have to admit had to go on a back burner whilst I immersed myself in preparation and study for Christmas messages. Now I am back to reading through the Bible chronologlically.
I am always amazed by the fact that after a life-time of reading the word of God I still manage to come across passages that have completely passed me by.
So come on all you Bible scholars! Here is your starter for ten. Who was Hobab?
Well Hobab was the brother-in-law of Moses and he was invited by him to accompany God's people as they journeyed towards Canaan. We find the incident in Numbers 10:29-33. As we get going again after a break after Christmas I think this little story has a lot to say to us would be evangelists. So here is advanced notice that this is the passage we are going to look at next Sunday night at Pill Corps. All I'll say for now is that an invitation was given, was eventually accepted and Hobab ended up in the Promised Land. Now that's a result.
It's good to be back
God bless
Carol
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Prevailing Prayer
Our prayers need to have more weight if we are to prevail and see breakthrough. Today I picked up my 24-7/SA Prayer Networdk newsletter and read again an extract from an article by Major David Taylor about the conditions for prevailing prayer.
God bless
On Sunday night in our meeting we spent some time praying for breakthrough in the lives of people who we are breaking our hearts over.
Sometimes our prayers are not more effective than trying to knock a wall down with an inflatable hammer.
Our prayers need to have more weight if we are to prevail and see breakthrough. Today I picked up my 24-7/SA Prayer Networdk newsletter and read again an extract from an article by Major David Taylor about the conditions for prevailing prayer. He writes:
1. The conditions for prevailing prayer.
Catherine Booth fervently taught that there were God given conditions that we have to fulfill in order to see our prayers prevailing. This would sound rather mechanical if it were not for the deep spirituality of those conditions. The conditions she saw in Scripture included such primary truths as "abiding" in Christ, obeidence to what God has reveale, being sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading and holding on to God in faith. They are conditions of relationship with God. When a revival that swept across Ireland and America missed England and raised ridicule in the National Press for the way Christians had been praying and expecting God to move mightily, Catherine was angry and exclaimed, "I knew it was not because our God was asleep; not because his arm was shortened; not because his bowels of compassion did not yearn over sinners: not because he could not have poured out his Spirit and have given us the same glorious tiems of refreshing they had in other places. THAT WAS NOT THE REASON. There was only one reason and that was the people asked amiss. They did not understand the conditions of prevailing prayer.... The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." For Catherine Booth, prayer and holiness were inseperable."
God bless
Carol
Friday, 27 November 2009
Reflection
As usual my life has been incredibly busy. That's not a complaint. I am an activist and I will always find something to do, even if no one else makes demands upon me. As it is, knowing that I am quite a motviated person, I do get asked by others to get involved in a variety of things, some of which I should probably say no to. I am much more disciplined over this than I used to be and the important things usually to do get done, including Sabbath Rest.
However if you are at all like me, you will understand what it is to always have a longer list of things you want to do, explore, have a go at and read about that you can ever hope to do. Physical stamina and the fact that there are only 24 hours in a day mean I never get to the end of a list.
I am not really frustrated by this, just thankful to God that he has made the world such an interesting place. Sometimes people mistake my work ethic for duty, or being driven to prove something. There was a time when that was true. The Holy Spirit gloriously delivered me from that. I am however still as busy but it's because most of the time I relish life and the opportunities for service which come my way. I do not understand what it is to be bored or not to be bothered. What is that like? It must be awful, not to find prayer, the Bible, the world, people, and life fascinating.
Anyway, just so you know, sometimes the reason why there are long gaps between blogs, it's because I'm doing something else and blogging was the next thing on the list to do but didn't quite make it before the time ran out!
Bye for now. I'm off to get stuck into prep for Sunday and ..........................................
God bless
Carol
As usual my life has been incredibly busy. That's not a complaint. I am an activist and I will always find something to do, even if no one else makes demands upon me. As it is, knowing that I am quite a motviated person, I do get asked by others to get involved in a variety of things, some of which I should probably say no to. I am much more disciplined over this than I used to be and the important things usually to do get done, including Sabbath Rest.
However if you are at all like me, you will understand what it is to always have a longer list of things you want to do, explore, have a go at and read about that you can ever hope to do. Physical stamina and the fact that there are only 24 hours in a day mean I never get to the end of a list.
I am not really frustrated by this, just thankful to God that he has made the world such an interesting place. Sometimes people mistake my work ethic for duty, or being driven to prove something. There was a time when that was true. The Holy Spirit gloriously delivered me from that. I am however still as busy but it's because most of the time I relish life and the opportunities for service which come my way. I do not understand what it is to be bored or not to be bothered. What is that like? It must be awful, not to find prayer, the Bible, the world, people, and life fascinating.
Anyway, just so you know, sometimes the reason why there are long gaps between blogs, it's because I'm doing something else and blogging was the next thing on the list to do but didn't quite make it before the time ran out!
Bye for now. I'm off to get stuck into prep for Sunday and ..........................................
God bless
Carol
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Pray for a Day
It's Pray for a Day at Pill Corps again. Once again we have had dozens of requests for prayer, which we will bring before the Lord throughout the day.
In addition we will be praying for a list of things for our own Corps and each seeking God for his anointing and power.
Then on Saturday, it starts all over again as Lori Richards and I are responsible for setting up the prayer rooms for the Territorial Congress and will be spending most of the week-end providing prayer cover for the meetings and praying for the UKT
That's brilliant as far as I'm concerned. I can't think of many other better ways to spend a week-end.
Let's believe that God will mightily bless the Salvation Army in the UK and do much more than we can ask or imagine!
God bless
Carol
It's Pray for a Day at Pill Corps again. Once again we have had dozens of requests for prayer, which we will bring before the Lord throughout the day.
In addition we will be praying for a list of things for our own Corps and each seeking God for his anointing and power.
Then on Saturday, it starts all over again as Lori Richards and I are responsible for setting up the prayer rooms for the Territorial Congress and will be spending most of the week-end providing prayer cover for the meetings and praying for the UKT
That's brilliant as far as I'm concerned. I can't think of many other better ways to spend a week-end.
Let's believe that God will mightily bless the Salvation Army in the UK and do much more than we can ask or imagine!
God bless
Carol
Monday, 9 November 2009
Jonathan and his armour bearer
Do you ever get the feeling that God might be asking you to look again at a particular part of his word?
Just over a week ago at Prayer School, part or our study was to look at prayer roles, one of which was armour bearer and the story used as an example was 1 Samuel 14:6-15.
Yesterday at the Remembrance Service, our local Baptist minister chose the same reading for his sermon. This morning, whilst eating my breakfast I browsed through TV channels onto one of the God channels, which was showing a preacher at the New Frontiers Conference in Brighton. He was preaching on 1 Samuel 14:6-15!!
Anyway Pill Corps, be on the alert I get the sense that this a word for us to chew over on Friday at the Prayer Day.
God bless
Carol
Do you ever get the feeling that God might be asking you to look again at a particular part of his word?
Just over a week ago at Prayer School, part or our study was to look at prayer roles, one of which was armour bearer and the story used as an example was 1 Samuel 14:6-15.
Yesterday at the Remembrance Service, our local Baptist minister chose the same reading for his sermon. This morning, whilst eating my breakfast I browsed through TV channels onto one of the God channels, which was showing a preacher at the New Frontiers Conference in Brighton. He was preaching on 1 Samuel 14:6-15!!
Anyway Pill Corps, be on the alert I get the sense that this a word for us to chew over on Friday at the Prayer Day.
God bless
Carol
Sunday, 8 November 2009
Monday, 2 November 2009
From the cradle to.............
Tomorrow I have an interesting day. It starts off in the morning with our Toddler Group, which consists of mostly unchurched parents and their children coming for a morning of activity and chat.
Following this, Alan and I will be off up to the Secondary School for the lunch-time games club. We usually attract between 6-10 kids, some of whom are particularly vulnerable. It is a bolt hole, a place where they are offered a listening ear and where they can build up their confidence.
Then it's off to one of our soldier's houses to celebrate a "significant" birthday and having had our tea and cake we re-visit Smallcombe House to conduct a meeting with the elderly residents there as part of the Salvation Army Social Services Campaign Week.
The old slogan that the NHS provides for health needs from the cradle to the grave is also true of the gospel, except of course that it also provids for beyond the grave, for eternity. I think I am meeting with almost every age group tomorrow at some point or another.
In lots of ways tomorrow is not unusual. It's just another day in the life of an ordinary Corps but it could also be the day someone really hears the gospel for the first time, the day someone gets saved, someone returns to the Lord, someone gets filled with the Spirit. What an immense responsibility to make the most of every opportunity to share the free benefits of a gospel that can meet the needs of every unique individual I will meet tomorrow.
Thank God, he doesn't just pour out anointing for Sundays and Festivals but on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and .....................
God bless
Carol
Tomorrow I have an interesting day. It starts off in the morning with our Toddler Group, which consists of mostly unchurched parents and their children coming for a morning of activity and chat.
Following this, Alan and I will be off up to the Secondary School for the lunch-time games club. We usually attract between 6-10 kids, some of whom are particularly vulnerable. It is a bolt hole, a place where they are offered a listening ear and where they can build up their confidence.
Then it's off to one of our soldier's houses to celebrate a "significant" birthday and having had our tea and cake we re-visit Smallcombe House to conduct a meeting with the elderly residents there as part of the Salvation Army Social Services Campaign Week.
The old slogan that the NHS provides for health needs from the cradle to the grave is also true of the gospel, except of course that it also provids for beyond the grave, for eternity. I think I am meeting with almost every age group tomorrow at some point or another.
In lots of ways tomorrow is not unusual. It's just another day in the life of an ordinary Corps but it could also be the day someone really hears the gospel for the first time, the day someone gets saved, someone returns to the Lord, someone gets filled with the Spirit. What an immense responsibility to make the most of every opportunity to share the free benefits of a gospel that can meet the needs of every unique individual I will meet tomorrow.
Thank God, he doesn't just pour out anointing for Sundays and Festivals but on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and .....................
God bless
Carol
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