It seems that at almost every turn there are major world events that are creating a sense of unrest and uncertainty in people, whether it be the ongoing war in Ukraine or in the Middle East, or the upcoming American election or the constant economic pressures in the world. Similar situations have been a reality in almost every generation, and yet people today are struggling with a particular sense of anxiety over where the world is heading.

What I would like to do in this post is reflect on the unexpected way in which the characteristic of God’s omniscience can actually help us connect to the peace of Christ and enable us to be, in the words of author Mark Sayers, ‘a non-anxious presence’ in the world.

Most Christians are familiar with the experience of trying to pray but struggle to know how to express themselves to God. Sometimes it is difficult to know how to pray and what words to use and other times we struggle to know what to pray about at all. These challenges are certainly not unique to us as modern people; knowing how to approach God in prayer and how to express ourselves has been a difficulty experienced by every generation. One of the greatest resources in this area is found in the Scriptures themselves and today I want to share some thoughts about how we can learn to pray through different passages of Scripture.

“When Ethelred, the Saxon king of Northumberland, invaded Wales, and was about to give battle to the Britons, he observed near the enemy a host of unarmed men. He inquired who they were, and what they were doing. He was told that they were monks of Bangor, praying for the success of their countrymen. "Then,' said the heathen prince, 'they have begun the fight against us; attack them first.’” -Austin Phelps

For many Christians there is a strong association between prayer and engaging in a kind of spiritual battle. Have you ever heard the term ‘prayer warrior’ before? Perhaps you know someone who you might consider a ‘prayer warrior’, someone who you know actively prays and someone you would call if you had a specific prayer need. In some churches people like this are sometimes called ‘the intercessors’.

Where do we get these terms and what do they mean? How is intercessory prayer different from other forms of prayer? This is the topic I hope to explore in this blog post.

Recently I’ve been reading a book called Spiritual Rhythm by Mark Buchanan, where his looks at the four seasons of nature through a spiritual lens and how we experience different spiritual seasons in our spiritual journey. The season that really caught my attention was the season of winter; one of the main reasons is that having just come through the COVID pandemic experience, life has in many ways felt like an extended season of winter. The theme of this post is ‘abiding in Christ’, which is a phrase that largely comes out of John 15 and Jesus’ teaching that we must ‘abide’ or ‘remain’ in Him in order to flourish and grow and for our lives to produce the kind of spiritual fruit that God desires for us (Jn. 15:8). What I want to write about here is about what the spiritual season of winter teaches us about prayer and particularly how prayer is one of the primary ways in which we ‘abide Christ’.

“One of the unique prayer expressions that we do here at House of Prayer Edmonton is what we call ‘devotional prayer’. Each week we choose a specific passage of Scripture and we spend time together each day praying over that portion of the Bible. It is amazing to experience how God speaks through His Word during those times of group prayer. I remember one week when we were looking at Joshua 24…”

In my life I regularly have experiences of thinking of someone and sensing a call to pray for them. This can happen at any time during the day or when I am walking, hiking or biking. At times I wake up during the night and He brings someone to mind and I sense a call to pray for them.

Given the numerous examples of prayer in scripture and the scriptural calls to engage in prayer, it seems important to look at what relationship prayer has to holding an Eternal Perspective. The inspiration for “An Eternal Perspective: Living in Time, Preparing for Eternity” was my awareness that everything we do in time has ripples in eternity. Prayer is one of those things.