The prayer topic for October is unity of believers.

Jesus said, “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:22-23 TNIV)

• Pray that we will be in unity of praise and vision as we continue to serve God this year and next.

• Pray that God will give the leadership clear direction and anointing, and that they will continue in unity.

• Pray that churches in our area and throughout the U.K. will learn to serve and work with each other

• Thank God for the unity we enjoy already with the churches we work with to achieve God’s plans and pray that these relationships will be deepened and strengthened.

• Pray that at Christmas people will be drawn to church as they see that the churches can work together.

• Pray for the worship team as they lead us, that they will be in unity and be led by the Holy Spirit

God promises to command His blessing where His people dwell in unity (Psalm 133:1-3 TNIV). Let’s seek Him for unity, striving to work together and making every effort to keep the unity of the Holy Spirit through the bond of peace. (Eph 4:3 TNIV)

Throughout October, I will be blogging a ‘gold nugget of truth’ each day, for this is the month when I celebrate my 30th birthday. I won’t be standing on the birthday box at church, but it’s 30 years this month since I first gave my life to Christ and in thirty years, it’s to be hoped I’ve learned a few things I can pass on to others! There would be something very sad and immature about life if we didn’t grow up, and just as we want our children to grow into mature adults, so God wants His children to develop and mature into the likeness of His Son, Jesus.

I’m not claiming to know it all – no one could do that and I’m far from any sense of feeling ‘I’ve arrived!’ Even Paul said ‘Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal…’ (Phil 3:12 TNIV), and I don’t think I’m anywhere near knowing as much as Paul did! But I do think that it is important that each one of us pass on to others the truths God has revealed to us. There is simply no point ‘re-inventing the wheel’, as the saying goes, and if we can help others along life’s journeys through the things God has taught us, then I believe we can sometimes help people to avoid the pitfalls and perils we’ve maybe fallen into. Paul urged the Thessalonians to ‘stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.‘ (2 Thess 2:15 TNIV)

I’d be interested to know if the thirty nuggets of gold I’m about to share are similar to the things you’ve learned or if you have experienced different lessons along this journey. Do feel free to comment and share your nuggets too! The amazing thing about the Christian journey is that God is teaching us all and there is great unity through diversity in His master plan!

To close the evening service, we sang the song ‘White Flag’. The title and the theme of the song is obvious: surrender. The symbolism of this surrender is waving a white flag. In military terms, the white flag is an internationally recognised protective sign of truce or ceasefire, and a request for negotiation. It is also used to symbolise surrender, since it is often the weaker military party which requests negotiation. A white flag signifies to all that an approaching negotiator is unarmed, with an intent to surrender or a desire to communicate. Persons carrying or waving a white flag are not to be fired upon, nor are they allowed to open fire.

The story behind the song can be viewed here.

When we surrender to God, the defeat which we think is inevitable is actually magnificent, because through it we find a new way illuminated: the path to freedom. Surrender brings us into the place of freedom and victory. The enemy tells us that surrender is not the way forward, but I am convinced that our surrender to God, rather than to ourselves or to the enemy, is the key to breaking free from every chain which would bind us and to living in freedom. As we lift the cross high and take up our cross daily and follow Christ, we find the truth sets us free.

Tonight we looked at John 8:31-36 TNIV and Galatians 5:1 TNIV, looking at freedom through surrender. The first step to knowing freedom is to acknowledge that there is a problem. The Jews said ‘We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?’ (John 8:33 TNIV), relying on their spiritual heritage to guarantee freedom rather than understanding that freedom can only come through Christ. Many people don’t even realise that they can be slaves to sin (see Eph 2:1-7 TNIV), but once we understand that we are not free (see Romans 7:14-20 TNIV for a description of the struggle we often face in our everyday lives), we need to move on to discern what is truth and what are lies.

Some lies are obvious (I couldn’t get to Australia and back in an afternoon, for example!) But the devil can seem very plausible in his lies (2 Cor 11:14,3) and can even use the Word of God (see the temptation in the wilderness). Nonetheless, Jesus exposed him as a liar (see John 8:44 TNIV) and if we are to enter into the freedom Christ has purchased for us, we must be able to recognise what is true compared to what is false. This can only happen as we allow God to transform our thinking (Rom 12:1-2 TNIV) and realise that His word must have pre-eminence in our lives.

If we are to ever know freedom in Christ, we have to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Cor 10:5 TNIV). If we don’t, if we allow our natural thoughts to control us, we become prisoners to them. Beth Moore says, “The walls of your mind will never stay bare. Never. Once we tear down lies, we must re-wallpaper with truth, or the enemy will happily supply a new roll of his own. Different pattern maybe – a more updated look – but the same deceptive manufacturer.” (Beth Moore, ‘Breaking Free’ P 241)

The choice we have is to walk in God’s ways or to follow the ways of the world, where fear and doubt take control and we are led into captivity. The path God has for us is utterly different. He leads us to ‘places where there’s beauty to behold.’ (Jeremy Camp) His plans for us are good; His ways lead to freedom: ‘I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.’ (Ps 119:45 TNIV)

We are freed from so many things by the power of Christ: from the prison of sin (see Psalm 146:7 TNIV) and the chains that sin brings with it to bind us. Psalm 116:6 TNIV says ‘You have freed me from my chains’. We are freed from the tyranny and rule of the devil, who is the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Eph 2:2 TNIV). We are freed from the power of him who holds the power of death – that is the devil – and from the slavery which is caused by a fear of death (Heb 2:14-15 TNIV). We are freed from God’s condemnation, judgment and wrath. (Eph 2:3 TNIV) We can also be freed from wrong thinking, habits that enslave, wrong patterns of behaviour and every destructive stronghold which would seek to imprison us.

We are freed to become transformed into the likeness of Christ (2 Cor 3:17-18 TNIV), but the way to this transformation is through surrender and death (see Matt 10:38-39 TNIV, Mark 8:34-35 TNIV, John 12:24-25 TNIV). That doesn’t seem to make sense to our natural way of thinking, but we have to be dead to sin and alive to Christ if we are to walk in the paths of freedom.

Unanswered prayer – when we feel that God is not giving us the answers in prayer for which we are seeking – is a difficult area for many Christians to tackle. We know the promises of God regarding prayer, but sometimes our experience seems far removed from these promises. This morning, Dave looked at the testimony of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1:1-28 TNIV to show us how God often uses difficult circumstances to refine our attitudes and draw us closer to Him. As Bill Hybels says, “God always has the answer to our prayers: ‘No – Slow – Grow – Let’s Go.'”

Hannah is an unlikely heroine, yet her persistence in prayer resulted in the birth of one of Israel’s greatest prophets, Samuel. The story starts with the story of her barrenness, which Scripture makes clear resulted directly from God. Sometimes our hardships and limitations come from God, rather than from the enemy (who in any case can only do what God allows him to do, as the story of Job makes clear, whilst the healing of the blind man in John 9 refutes the oft-held notion that unanswered prayer is always the result of personal sin.) Hannah wrestles with her infertility for many years, longing for a child and having to face the verbal abuse from her rival, Penninah. She has to move from bitterness, anger and frustration to a place of surrender and submission before she sees the answer to her prayers.

For many years, Hannah’s predicament does not change. She is sorrowful, angry, and finds it almost impossible to cope with this heartache. Her name means ‘woman of grace’, but her grace must have been sorely tested by Penninah’s mockery and ease at bearing children. Hannah learns, however, to seek God through her sorrow. Ps 51:17 TNIV reminds us that the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. Her prayer in this chapter is a prayer of submission (1 Sam 1:11 TNIV), for she promises to give her son back to God if she is granted her request and this becomes also a prayer of sacrifice, for she now realises that children are not just given to the parents for themselves but are a gift from God, loaned to parents for a short time, but given ultimately for God’s greater purposes.

Hannah’s attitude has changed. Her selfishness at wanting a child for herself and for her own reasons has been replaced by selflessness. She is now prepared to put God’s will above her own and to do what God wants. She has learned to respond as Mary would in later days: ‘May it be to me according to your word.’ (Luke 1:38 TNIV).

Samuel, the son born in due course, means ‘asked of God.’ The chapter may start with unanswered prayer, but it definitely doesn’t end there! Hannah is true to her promise and gives her son back to God, for Israel needed a prophet who could be soaked in God’s presence from an early age. She has moved from despondency over unanswered prayer to a greater understanding of God’s plans and her attitude has changed so that she now approaches God with clean hands and a pure heart, knowing that God is in control at all times and is always willing to hear and answer prayer.

Today was the Macmillan Coffee morning at church.

We raised £114.21 at the coffee morning and the church has agreed to send £250 in total to Macmillan. Many thanks for all your generosity.