I have something to say!

So I haven't blogged for a while; I suppose nothing much has struck me as that interesting to tell the world about. I had a wonderful moment of clarity this morning. I had to do the children's talk at church; not something I do much but I had offered to cover for someone who was on holiday. Well, at this point in my life I have a memory like Dorie on 'Finding Nemo' - about 8 seconds in length (P Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, SYDNEY!). I only remembered last night that I said I would do it. As I slipped into sleep last night I still had no talk.

This morning the matter that are called my 'little grey cells' started processing and I decided to talk about Simeon and Anna. Over Christmas I realised that everyone has visitors and/or visits. Jesus was a visitor at 8 days old; He went to the temple with His parents as was the custom of the time. Two things struck me this morning:

• Simeon and Anna recognised that Jesus was the Saviour when He was an 8 day old baby. What faith they had. Simeon says, ' “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,"' After seeing Jesus He was ready to leave this earth and meet His creator.
• At the beginning of Jesus' earthly life the gentiles are mentioned. '"...a light for revelation to the Gentiles,and for glory to your people Israel.”' Wow, that is me. The Gentiles were not just an afterthought in the plan of Salvation, we were involved. The great thing about this plan is that ALL nations, colours and creeds can be part of it. I love that God invented multi-culturalism. Praise God.

Perhaps, these thoughts are not revolutionary but they came home to me this morning in a real way and I thank God for the opportunity of having them brought to my attention again. Sometimes, we miss so much in the familiar parts of scripture.

Currently Reading

For Women Only: What You Need to Know about the Inner Lives of Men By Shaunti Feldhahn

What no blogging!

Nothing much to say at the moment (well there probably is loads but I can't think straight to word it!).

Just wishing you all a Happy Christmas and a blessed 2008. May we all know the joy of our Saviour in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in.

Take care and God Bless you.

Currently Reading

The Unquenchable Worshipper: Coming Back to the Heart of Worship (Worship Series) By Matt Redman

Too good to be true.

Do you ever meet people who are just too good to be true? I do. Some folks I have an uneasy feeling about everything they tell me about themselves but it isn't anything I can put my finger on. They just don't seem real and I tend to take all they say with a pinch of salt. I long when this happens for something to prove me right or wrong about those nagging feelings.

As a Christian I am so glad that Jesus isn't like that. Over the summer I have been doing a lot of thinking about my position in Christ. I praise Him that the claims He makes are real and can be totally trusted. He is the Christ, the son of the Living God. He did die and was raised to life again. He has called me to Himself and 'by grace I have been saved through faith, and that not of myself, it is the gift of God, ...' I am so full of thankfulness that 'In Him I also trusted, after I heard the word of truth, the gospel of my salvation, I was sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of my inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.' (Quotes from Ephesians in the Bible)

So perhaps when I meet these people in my daily walk I need to remember these verses and praise God for His willingness to share Himself with me.

Back to College

I have started back at College for another year. I passed my Level 2 of a Child Care qualification and am now onto the higher level. We had the introduction on Wednesday. I was alright until she started talking about needing to think about things on a more supervisory level and the need for us to do a Longitudinal Observation of a child (translation: study one child over a certain period of time!) I have one particular child in mind and will chat about the possibilities of that with my Manager on Monday.

We have to write up regular log diaries of the work we do but this level needs it to be about situations I deal with (eg discussing with a parent about their child) rather than activities I am involved in (painting etc). OK, that sounds more tricky. I wasn't looking forward to it but once I started it I realised that I do like studying. My tutor wants to have a look at what we have written and will advise us if we have understood her instructions! We have to study more about Child Development theories, do more in-depth child observations on various children and also the Longitudinal Observation. I am really looking forward to this course. I do enjoy studying and I like observing how children behave and interact with their peers and adults. Believe it or not I also like studying the legal side of working with Children (eg Child Protection, Health and Safety).

I am also excited to see where this qualification will lead me. I know that God has a place for me and am very interested in finding out. If this year doesn't kill me (and cause my family to dread me looking at another text book!) I would like to study further and obtain a degree eventually. But God knows and for the minute I am going to enjoy this c

From negative to postive - a work in progress!

I am learning more of God and His greatness over the past few months. One of the ways I am learning of it is through His people. I am naturally a negative kind of person and will often look on the bad side of peoples' motives (some would say this comes with the terrority of being a pastor's wife!). I have to fight this part of my personality. I have been blessed to come across Christians in the past year who without realising have been such an influence on my life by being positive about the Lord and other Christians. I thank God for the Internet for that reason. Unfortunately, (like a reformed smoker!!!) I get really sad when I hear such negative comments about fellow Christians. This is not the way I or the body of Christ should be.

I was able to go to the Bible study the other night. The church is working through Galatians and is on Chapter 6. We looked at bearing one another's burdens and that is the responsibility of all of us in a local church fellowship. The passage (verses 1-5) at first appear contradictory but the man leading the bible study clearly set out what it means. The burdens and load mentioned are different. It spoke to me that the load is to do with my responsibility as a Christian; my study of the word, my worship of God, my work that He has prepared for me to do. I sort that out between God and myself. The burdens of others we are to share, to allow others into our lives to let them help us if necessary.

The last few verses of the study (6&7) the man said they refer to the pastor (that being my husband!). He explained the responsibility of the church to look after the pastor because he teaches the word each week. I was amazed to hear the love that some of our church members have for my husband (and myself). As the pastor's wife it was good to hear. Praise God that they are blessed by his preaching and the way he deals with people.

It is my prayer that we both allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives to continue to be of help to this church, our community, amongst our friends and for me the 'cyber' world I frequent. Those of you out there reading this if you ever notice a negative complaining heart creeping in tell me and by God's grace I will accept your words and deal with it. I know that if that attitude takes hold again I am not much use to God nor man!

A work in progress ......

The Summer Holidays are nearly finished. I am not so good during this time as I am the kind of person who needs the routine of life to work effectively. I achieve far more with deadlines and business then when I have hourse to spare!

Over this summer I have learnt more about my personality and am trying to work against the parts that aren't honouring to Jesus. If I don't worship God as I ought I become too introspective and start looking around at what that person is or isn't doing and then I become disheartened - I become critical of others and myself. The more I seek to worship God the more I realise that I am a huge work in progress and His grace is sufficient for me.

Over the summer I have looked, listened and read many things. I am becoming more convicted that I have got to get out of my safe place haven and get to know people where I live. I have so many opportunities with my college course, my placement, the parents from the girl's classes, the Toddler group etc etc. I must pray diligently that I be a light to Jesus. He will answer that prayer. He has a work for me to do here. I am learning to be grateful for the gifts that God has given me and I now have to use them more and more for His glory. I must be a witness in word and deed. One isn't any good without the other so I have to put each day into the hands of my Lord. He has a plan for my life and I must trust Him daily for it.

I have also learnt that Jesus is all I need. I am to have faith in Him and not what He can give me. He may choose to bless me abundantly materially, emotionally etc but I am to be content in what I have and trust Him no matter the circumstances. Recently, I read 1 Timothy 6 to remind myself of this.

Praise God that He never gives up on His children.

Building 'Church' memories for my children.

I was born and brought up in a Christian home and for that I am thankful. Those who know me in RL know that I don't have many memories (think Dorie the Fish on 'Finding Nemo' and you can't go far wrong!!!) but I do have a few.

Some of the strongest memories I have are of the church I was brought up in and I was reminded of them today whilst listening to a Wes King album.

• I remember the parties at Christmas when we all piled into the 'Sports Hall' of the church and everyone joined in the games, mostly revolving around food and chocolate.
  
• The summer outings when they were whole day affairs consisting of a trip in the morning and races and food in the afternoon. Large trestle tables heaving under the weight of all the vituals so lovingly prepared. I never won any of the races but I packed a decent amount of that food away.
  
• The wonderful choruses we used to sing. Led by our lovely Sunday School leader.
• My Sunday School teachers who taught me so much of the bible. A confirmation of what my parents thought me at home.
• Learning bible verses so I could get my Covenantors badge and the coloured pieces of felt that went with it!
• Having a service long 'foot-fight' with my brother and then being really told off by mum.
• The old godly Christians who took time with us young children and befriended us and prayed for us as well.
• Mum and dad's friend who would come around often for meals and the presents he would give us at Christmas.

And the list goes on. I really want my children to have similar memories of church. They love it at the moment but I want them to cherish what they do at our Fellowship. It is part of my job to build them for mine and the other children we are blessed with here.

Test everyone

Someone asked me the other day why our church doesn't support the arts because we don't have dramas and short-act plays in the services. I realised the question, as with almost every question, goes back to creation. I don't believe something has to be in a church service to be 'for God'. ... A church is a community of people who are learning how to be certain kinds of people wherever thy find themselves, so they can do whatever it is they do 'in the name of the Lord Jesus.' The goal isn't to bring everyone's work into the church; the goal if for the church to be these unique kinds of people who are transforming the places they live and work and play because they understand the whole earth is filled with the kavod (glory) of God. God isn't in one building only. Doing things for God happens all the time, everywhere. ...

So the labels ultimately fail, no matter how useful they are from time to time, because the life of Jesus is just that, a life that is lived by people who have oriented their entire lives around being true to Jesus' teachings.

One of the first things God does in creating the world is separate dark and light. The ancient rabbis say the first thing God does is distinguish between dark and light, and the rest of the Scriptures is God teaching people how to distinguish between dark and light. Huge sections of the book of Leviticus are devoted to God teaching people how to discern between life and death, light and dark, clean and unclean. The Ten Commandments are God teaching people how to discern, and how to live well in relationship between right and wrong with their creator. The Bible is filled with stories of God teaching people how to think. How to discern. How to sort and sift and figure out what is true and what isn't. What is good and what isn't. What brings life and what brings death.

Being a Christian is about engaging the mind and heart more and more, not shutting them off or letting someone else think for you. The writer Peter urges Christians to be alert. Paul tells his listeners in Thessalonica to test everything and hold on to the good.

The danger of labeling things 'Christian' is that is can lead to blindly consuming things we have been told are safe and acceptable. When we turn off the discernment radar, dangerous things can happen. We have to test everything. I thank God for the many Christians who create and write and film and sing. Anybody anywhere who is doing all they can to point people to the deeper realities of God is doing a beautiful thing. But those writers and artist and thinkers and singers would all tell you to think long and hard about what they are saying and doing and creating. Test it. Probe it.

Do that to this book. Don't swallow it uncritically. Think about it. Wrestle with it. Just because I'm a Christian and I'm trying to articulate a Christian worldview doesn't mean I've got it nailed. I'm contributing to the discussion. God has spoken, and the rest is commentary, right?

Velvet Elvis. Repainting the Christian Faith. by Rob Bell

Community and the will of God.

We shouldn't seek the ideal community. It is a question of loving those whom God has set beside us today. They are signs of God. We might have chosen different people, perhaps people who were more caring , cheerful, intelligent and like-minded. But these are the ones God has given us, the ones he has chosen for us. It is with them that we are called to create unity and live in covenant. Jean Vanier


And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” A Doctor called Luke - the Bible.

The above quote by Jean Varnier may be familiar to some of you who are on the same board as I am for this I make no apology as it triggered some of the following thoughts.

At our church this week we are holding our annual Holiday Club. Every year for the past 30 plus years this event has taken place. We have an assortment of different children from different backgrounds; some delightful, polite, well spoken and some more rough around the edges. I have been so challenged about how I deal with the latter group of children. Didn't Jesus come to save them as well? I need to draw alongside them; they need to know that the business of being a Christian isn't about being aloof and prickly but about being a friend. I believe with all my heart in the verbal proclamation of the gospel but that must go hand-in-hand with a life lived out as a light for Jesus. That is the will of God for me and the rest of us who love Him; in fact, it is a command.

May God give me the strength to serve Him in the community I live in, work in and worship in and not wait until the clientèle meet my requirements better. Let's face it we live in a fallen world and that is never going to happen and even if it does something will happen to mess it up (and more often than not it will have something to do with me!). I have to get used to where I am because some of these people will be in Heaven with me and I will be praising the Lord for eternity with them!

The wonder of Parenting.

Parenting is a tremendous experience and responsibility. I have been blessed with my children and I love them to pieces. Sometimes, when talking to other parents I feel as if I am an alien from another planet. Some parents will describe their experience of parenting and it is not one I can relate to at all; they appear never to say a positive word about their offspring. My road to being a parent was long and painful so I had many a long hour to reflect. My children have been incredibly frustrating at times but often I have to remind myself of the long years when the sound of their voices (either happy, yelling or whatever!) weren't there. That is a good wake-up call.

Kristy in 'She's having a baby' whispers to Jake 'We're blessed' at some stage of the film (can't remember where as it is many years ago I watched it and the walkng-encyclopaedia that is my husband is not around to ask ) and that is how I feel. The song 'Apron Strings' from that film would reduce me to tears of sadness and pain but now it brings tears of joy (and the occasional 'tear you hair out moment!') My husband and I are indeed blessed. God has entrusted me with our children and I must parent them with the love He shows us. Parenting is a hands-on job and I must be prepared to 'get my hands dirty'. May I take my responsibilities seriously and prayerfully and train them in the way they should go.

Thank God, for blessing me as a mummy.

My identity in God.

Mara has discovered that the more she lets herself be used as a channel of God's love, the less likely she is to be anxious about her own personal concerns. She can lose herself because she is secure in her identity. What did it matter that she was born to a Brazilian medium, married to a South African, the mother of children born in Turkey and now living in Britain?'Home' lies in the epicentre of God's will.
Mara urges other women who question their identity to find it through the one who made them. She would also challenge them to open their eyes to the world at their doorstep. And to discover that missions is not crossing the seas but seeing the cross.

True Grit: Women taking on the World, for God's sake. by Deborah Meroff

Inspiration from God's workers

I am reading a book called 'True Grit' and every week I have a list of prayer items to pray for Christians in countries where they are persecuted. In the book the ladies went to countries where sometimes they didn't even have proper heating or running water. Many of them through the hardships that they lived through suffered from ill health or different kinds. Some of them gave up great things in their home countries. The persecuted Christians suffer many different indignities and torture. These people trust God for their help and strength. They feel the pain and hurt of being rejected. I am sure that they feel the pain of the torture etc.

I am inspired by them as they live for Christ and they know that as the bible says, 'all things work together for the good of those who love Him'. Praise God that there are Christians today who serve Him no matter what befalls them. They know that it isn't about them and their feelings etc but about the awesome power of God. They have grasped the fact that if Christ suffered death on the cross then His followers may be called upon to suffer for Him. They know that this life is only a temporary home and that in heaven they will receive the wholeness of Christ. May I truly desire that.

Faith and decisions

Sometimes certainty is possible because Scripture leaves no options about a decision (should I steal that car?). But most decisions are more complex and we cannot be sure of being on ‘the right path’. Often there is an element of uncertainty and that is healthy if it causes a genuine trust in God. It is somewhat misleading to translate the text as ‘He will direct your path’ ... As if God is like an officer directing traffic exactly where to turn, where to stop, and where to go.

To understand what Proverbs 3:6 means, the New Testament has a very helpful definition of faith: ‘Now faith is being sure of what ... We do not see (Hebrews 11:1). What is it that we cannot see (concerning this topic of guidance)? We cannot see how God is guiding ‘behind the scenes’! We cannot see the secret will of God. But we believe it implicitly! Faith is utterly convinced that God will rule and overrule in all our decisions. Genuine obedience to God will not ultimately bring us to grief. The assurance that God makes our paths ‘straight’ obviously implies that they need straightening! There are some crooked bits, some twists and turns. If they are not straightened out they will harm us. Faith know that God will re-move all ultimate harm by straightening our paths. Our best decisions are imperfect, but God will use them to His glory and for our sanctification.

From What the Bible teaches about ..... Guidance. By Peter Bloomfield

Colour-coded!

I have just finished reading the book 'Rabbit Proof Fence' - the story of 3 mixed race Aborigine girls who were forcibly removed from their home and moved across Australia. It also tells the amazing story of their walk back home using the Rabbit Proof Fence as their guide. This happened in the 1930s and was done for the good of the children; or so the authorities said! When I read books like this I am ashamed to be white and admit that people of my colour did these things. Oh yes, the intentions were supposedly good as they were going to give these children an education but I just don't understand why they had to put them in inhumane conditions and treat them like animals.

We like to say in the enlightened 21st Century that would never happen on our watch but how much have we really learnt? This week in the news there has been a call for more ethnic adopters. I understand some of the thinking behind this; that the children need to be kept in their cultural background etc. Some of the children in the care system in the UK are there purely because of their colour not a lack of adopters. The authorities in Australia were taking children for what they saw as their own good; is our policy of same colour adoption much different? Why is colour of skin still so important? Thank God that He looks at the heart and in one of the books in the bible it says; There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

History should teach us but alas it often doesn't speak loud enough. The lessons are there if only we open our eyes and listen to the teacher!

The Silver Ring Thing 2.

Unfortunately, the courts have ruled that Lydia Playfoot was not discriminated against when she was told not to wear her ring as it isn't a requirement of being a Christian. It is a sad thing to think that this young girl was trying to make a stand for what is right and appears to be the one who is being judged. May God bless her stand and keep her safe.

You in your small corner ....

I am reading a variety of books at the moment. One of them I am reading is purely about women around the world. Here is a quote from the Introduction.

The women 'on God's search and rescue team' chosen for this book are not superstars. They were chosen because they have the same ordinary fears and failings we all experience. And while none of these women felt they could take on the world, each one has been willing, by God's grace, to tackle one small corner of it. Take encouragement, as I have, to see what can happen when, as Mother Teresa put it, they simply allowed themselves to become 'pencils in the hand of a writing God, who was sending love letters to the world.'

Just a word of warning. Passionate prayers not only change the world, they have a way of transforming the people who pray them. As God channels His concerns for the world through you, you may find yourself moving out in unexpected ways. This should not come as a surprise. God's goal is to recruit every one of us for His search and rescue team!

True Grit: Women taking on the World, for God's sake. by Deborah Meroff

Stolen Ministry

American Pastors are abandoning their posts, left and right, and at an alarming rate. They are not leaving their churches and getting other jobs. Congregations still pay their salaries. Their names remain on the church stationary and they continue to appear in pulpits on Sundays. But they are abandoning their posts, their calling. They have gone whoring after other gods. What they do with their time under the guise of pastoral ministry hasn't the remotest connection with what the church's pastors have done for most of twenty centuries.

A few of us are angry about it. We are angry because we have been deserted. Most of my colleagues who defined ministry for me, examined, ordained, and then installed me as a pastor in a congregation, a short while later walked off and left me, having, they said, more urgent things to do. The people I thought I would be working with disappeared when the work started. Being a pastor is difficult work; we want the companionship and counsel of allies. It is bitterly disappointing to enter a room full of people whom you have every reason to expect share the quest and commitments of pastoral work and find within ten minutes that they most definitely do not. They talk of images and statistics. They drop names. They discuss influence and status. Matters of God and the soul and Scripture are not grist for their mills.

The pastors of America have metamorphosed into a company of shopkeepers, and the shops they keep are churches. They are preoccupied with shopkeeper's concerns - how to keep the customers happy, how to lure customers away from competitors down the street, how to package the goods so that the customers will lay out more money.
...
The biblical fact is that there are no successful churches. There are, instead, communities of sinners, gathered before God week after week in towns and villages all over the world. The Holy Spirit gathers them and does His work in them. In these communities of sinners, one of the sinners is called pastor and given a designated responsibility in the community. The pastor's responsibility is to keep the community attentive to God. It is this responsibility that is being abandoned in spades.

"Hot indignation seizes me ..." (Psalm 119:53). I don't know how many share my anger. I know a few names. Altogether there can't be very many of us. Are there yet seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal? Are there enough to be identifiable as a minority? I think so. We recognize each other from time to time. And much has been accomplished by minorities. and there must be any number of shopkeepers who by now are finding the pottage that they acquired in exchange for their ordination birthright pretty tasteless stuff and are growing wistful for a restoration to their calling. It is the wistfulness an ember strong enough to blaze into a fierce repudiation of their defection, allowing the word of God again to become fire in their mouths? Can my anger apply a bellows to those coals?

"Working the Angles. The Shape of Pastoral Integrity". by Eugene H. Peterson. pg 1-3

The Silver Ring Thing.

So a young girl wants to wear a ring to publically declare her intentions of waiting for sex until she gets married. Her head teacher doesn't want her to because it breaks school uniform codes. Britain has the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in Europe, growing incidents of sexually transmitted infection (STI) and abortion amongst that age-group as well. Surely Lydia Playfoot should be praised for her desire to stay pure. Instead, she is having to take the school to court to argue her right to wear the ring. (I can't believe she is the only girl to want to wear a ring to that particular school.)

May God bless this girl for her stand and may the UK government stop and think about the so-called sex education programme here and think of alternatives that may work more effectively. God designed sex for marriage for a very good reason not just to be a spoil-sport.

I say 'Let the revolution begin' - the one that says 'NO, God had the right idea. I am going to wait.' The rates of teenage pregnancy, abortions and STI would drop dramatically. As a Christian I feel that we have a message of hope in Jesus and that is the education that needs to be promoted in the UK.

Where is your centre?

The fact of being Christ-centred provides us the power to be other-oriented, but we cannot be other-centred. We can only orbit around one centre at a time. Concern for others is simply not enough to attract us out of orbit around ourselves, only Christ centredness can free us to be other-oriented. One can only be self-centred or Christ-centred. Being Christ-centred means to please the Lord rather than ourselves. Pleasing the Lord provides us a pure motive for being other-oriented.

...

And just what is the key that will ensure that Jesus will bail me out? Harking back to Roy Hession, 'The only way to acquire grace is to admit you need it'. By this time I'm ready to admit I need His grace. The really exciting thing at this point (that I may not even recognise) is that I have finally come to an end of myself: I have cone face to face with the fact that my resources are inadequate for effective day-to-day living. This alone will ensure Christ-centredness, which will in turn ensure other-orientedness and the only positive cure for my basic selfishness. Effective day-to-day living is now possible in a way never before considered possible.

'A Humble Confidence: A Christian Perspective on Self-Image' by Dave Ames

From the mouth of babes!

Our eldest said to us last night during our family bible time; 'Praying is worship with your eyes shut.'

So she got the eyes shut bit a little wrong and we were able to explain to her the different places we pray and she can pray as well but don't we often forget that praying is worshipping God. How often do we in our modern thinking talk about worship and in our minds we are picturing singing songs, hymns and spiritual psalms?

Oh for the understanding of a child in my walk with the Lord.

Dilema

So I have been shopping and got my daughter her plates etc for her party. She is a little girl so I bought Disney Princess; everything matching. Now I feel guilty because of the money I spent on things that will be thrown away! As a Christian who wants to do the best for my children and someone who wants to make them aware of the needs of others I feel that I have wasted a lot of money. What I spent today on a party could have bought children in poorer countries vital things for their wellbeing and health.

I need wisdom in how to parent my girls the best. Letting them have a childhood but also making them think of others. I need to tell them of Jesus and how He put others first and help them model themselves on Him.

Prayer

I do not mean to imply that the Jerusalem temple, built by Herod the Great, is the direct counterpart of our church buildings today. God no longer centres His presence in one particular building. In fact, the New Testament teaches that we are now His dwelling place; He lives in His people. How much more important, then, is Jesus’ message about the primacy of prayer?

The feature that is supposed to distinguish Christian churches, Christian people, and Christian gatherings is the aroma of prayer. It doesn’t matter what your tradition or my tradition is. The house is not ours anyway; it is the Father’s.

Does the Bible ever say anywhere from Genesis to Revelation, “My house shall be called a house of preaching?” Does it ever say, “ My house shall be called a house of music”?

Of course not.

The Bible does say, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Preaching, music, the reading of the Word - these things are fine, I believe in and practice all of them. But they must never override prayer as the defining mark of God’s dwelling. The honest truth is that I have seen God do more in people’s lives during ten minutes of real prayer than in then of my sermons.

From: Fresh wind, Fresh fire by Jim Cymbala (page 70-71)