Prayer Month 10th May

Today’s thoughts are provided by Rev. Cathy Gale.

John Wesley encouraged the early Methodists to be engaged in what he called “Acts of Piety” and “Acts of Mercy”. Acts of Piety were disciplines which he said were “means of grace” – practices in the life of the Christian through which God could channel this loving relationship called grace. The practices included things like Prayer, Searching the Scriptures, Holy Communion and Fasting. Today I want to focus on Prayer.

I found this candle in my Mum’s house when my sister and I were doing some sorting back in January. If you look closely it says on it “Pray without ceasing”, a quotation from 1 Thessalonians 5:17. What struck me was that it was still wrapped up in plastic! It seemed to me to be a symbol of how we often hold this wonderful gift God offers us – prayer. It’s full of power and potential, and yet we keep it wrapped in plastic, as if keeping it for a special occasion!
Oh what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Wesley’s idea of prayer as a means of grace is that it is first and foremost about relationship with God, a relationship that God wants with us. So today, as you reflect (perhaps using this image of an unlit candle) I invite you to think about these things:

➢ How gracious is God’s offer of prayer in the place of worry and anxiety! At this anxiety-ridden time, we don’t have to know what words to say, we just need to trust that God is listening.

➢ How amazing is the truth that in prayer we meet with the living God – the One who made us and the whole universe!

➢ How transforming might prayer be if we would listen as well as speak?

So pause, light your candle (not necessarily literally), and relax in God’s presence. You are praying.