…That the King of Glory may come in
Well, my last blog post about resting in God with the picture of the hammock seems a dim and distant memory right now! I am sure that many of you share my experience of finding yourself back in the fast lane in September and getting stuck into a new season of life and ministry. It is interesting, isn’t it, how different seasons give rise to different patterns of praying?
At the moment I am praying into two passages from the Psalms that have stood out for me. The first is from Psalm 24,
'Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of Glory? The Lord Almighty – he is the King of Glory'
Psalm 24:9-10
The second is close by in Psalm 25,
'Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long.'
Psalm 25:4-5
As I pray I am challenged again to remember that I must lift up my eyes and that this should be the posture of my life. I am also thinking about what it means for me to open up the doors of my life and our church communities so that the Lord may come in; checking that there are no barricades getting in the way! The prayer from Psalm 25 expresses for us that constant desire to become more and more like Christ; the one who is 'full of grace and truth' (John 1:14). This has relevance to all of my life and ministry and so, again, is a prayer that it is easy to dwell within during each day.
God is doing a new thing, and as I travel around and meet people I am seeing signs of that newness everywhere I go. Ministers and churches gathering with a renewed sense of call and passion for prayer, and encountering the Lord as they do. New churches being planted – one of the newest saw over 200 young adults turn up for the opening event! Precious moments of deep Christlikeness in seeing the marginalised being included and 'the other' being listened to carefully. Seeing the power of our ability to be a responsive and generous grass roots movement in response to the refugee crisis. And further afield in Europe, I sat at a gathering of European Baptist leaders in a former communist country and listened to the State President make a speech in a Baptist Church – God IS doing a new thing, do you not perceive it?