Prayer Points

About 200 years ago, James Montgomery included the line ‘Prayer is the Christian's vital breath’ in one of his hymns. That remains true today as prayer is our means of communication with Almighty God, although He may use other ways in which to speak to us.

Christian Endeavour encourages its members to develop the practice of daily prayer. Three times a year we publish a series of Prayer Points which we are asking people to focus on during each month.

April:

Thank God for the time of fellowship and remembrances for those who met together at Beechwood last month. Thank God for all that CE has meant to us and that whatever our age we can continue to serve Him using the gifts he has given us and all that we have learned through CE.

As we celebrate Easter with Christians all over the world let us thank God for His amazing love in sacrificing His only Son. We need not mourn Jesus' death. In fact we are able to rejoice as we look forward to Easter Sunday as we know that He rose again and that He defeated death and took on our sins. We are able to stand before God clothed in His righteousness. Praise be to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Following Easter and the joy it brings us, help us to remember what Jesus did for us and pray that we will find courage to speak to our friends, neighbours and acquaintances about the love of Jesus for them. May His light shine through us.

Pray for our church leaders and the responsibilities they carry for the church family. Some struggle with the balance of time between family life and church life. Let us all play a part in supporting them both personally and in carrying for our brothers and sisters.

May:

Thank God for the formation of CE Friends, Pray for Shirley as she leads this initiative and that Endeavourers will be encouraged by the first newsletter issued last month

Pray for leaders of all CE societies as they facilitate regular meetings and encourage and care for their members. Pray for stamina and wisdom as this is not an easy task. We thank God for the principles of CE that we have been taught and that have been and are continuing to be equipped to play our part in meetings.

Praise God for the growth of CE in Lahore, Pakistan where a new bible college has opened and that are two sites where Students and Faculty of CE Pakistan can grow together. Pray for the protection of Christians in that country.

Continue to pray for the Trustees of the Union of Great Britain and Ireland and for the AGM this month. Pray for wisdom so that good decisions will be made.

June:

This month we celebrate Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples in such an awesome way. Thank God for the amazing change in those frightened men and praise and thank Him for His promise to strengthen and uphold us too. We know that when we are weak He is strong and will do mighty things through us.

Pray for the CE Holiday Centres in North Wales and Norfolk. Pray for the Managers and staff as they work together to provide hospitality and fellowship for their guests. Thank God for His provision over many years.

Pray for our world where there is so much conflict and suffering. Pray for world leaders that they will be prepared to listen to each other and not let their pride and desire for power prevent peace.

Pray for all young people’s organisations in the UK. Pray that they will uphold Christian values and guide youngsters to deal with moral issues that affect them daily. Pray for leaders to show integrity in every aspect of their work.

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Blogs

Man’s Inhumanity, Christ’s humanity

By CE Blogger • April 17, 2025

Mankind doesn’t seem to change. People often engage in building ‘empires’, be they small and personal or large and political. Leaders of nations strive to build up their power and hold on to it by any means they can think of, because they are fearful that others will come along to take over. It was the same in Jesus’ day. At His birth, Herod sought to kill the baby born in Bethlehem as he perceived in Him a threat to his crown (Matt.2.16). At the end of His life, the Romans used extreme measures to subdue any opposition and retain control of their empire. The religious leaders in Jerusalem were no different. They resorted to secret arrest, an unlawful trial and ‘doctoring’ the charges to ensure the execution of the man they feared. In their hastily called meeting of the Sanhedrin, they found Jesus guilty of blasphemy, but changed the accusation to treason, to make sure He received the death penalty when they brought Him before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. The result was that, although innocent, He was condemned to the slow painful, shameful death of crucifixion. Those who would build empires today, as Putin seems to want to do for Russia, and even Trump wants to do for America with his suggestions of taking over Greenland, amalgamating Canada with the USA and renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, follow in the wake of a line of ‘empire builders’ in the past 100 years who have used misinformation and false accusations to justify their ambition, and violence to enforce it. Jesus was at the centre of all the action on Good Friday, wrongly arrested, falsely condemned, unjustly crucified. He accepted it all, humbly submitting to the abuse and torture (Mark 14.65, 15.16-20), before facing the terror of the cross. In great humility and in obedience to His Father’s will, He gave up His life for our salvation, offering us forgiveness for our sins and eternal life in the Kingdom of God as we accept Him as our Lord and Saviour and seek to live in His way. As the execution party laid Him on the cross and drove the nails into His hands and feet, Jesus prayed for their forgiveness (Luke 23.34). There can be no greater example of the gulf, which still exists today, between man’s inhumanity and God’s love for humanity. Christ calls us to follow Him and in humility and love to change the inhumanity still so obvious in the world, and in the actions of those who seek power today, by showing true humanity in our daily living, the humanity of Christ shown in His love, compassion, care and concern for all.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS!

By CE Blogger • April 12, 2025

The day on which Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, the day we call Palm Sunday, raised the hopes of a good number of people. It seemed as if their dreams might indeed have some solid foundation. This was a day of great expectations. For the disciples, walking alongside Jesus, there was the hope that, at last, their leader was being recognised for who He was. Slowly, over the 3 years they had been with Him, hearing His teaching and seeing the miracles He had performed, they had come to realise how special Jesus was and, eventually, when Jesus had questioned them, acknowledged He was God’s appointed Messiah, the one long-awaited who would save the nation (Mark 9.27-29). If the people would also acclaim Jesus as the Messiah, what hopes and dreams would be growing in their minds as, step by step, the disciples accompanied Jesus on His approach to the city gate. Great expectations! The crowd of pilgrims coming into Jerusalem at the same time, to celebrate the Passover, would have had their own expectations. Their hopes would be stirred up by the religious fervour of the festival, and by national resentment against the Romans who ruled their land. It was a time when there would be dreams of religious revival and possibly an insurrection which would drive out the Romans. Great expectations! And now they were aware that there was one in their midst who, from what they had heard about Him, might just be the man they were looking to lead them. No wonder they shouted ‘Praise God! God bless him who comes in the name of the Lord! God bless the King of Israel!’ (John12.13), greeting Him by waving palm branches and spreading their cloaks before Him on the road. But there were others with different hopes and expectations. The Pharisees and the religious leaders had a very different view of Jesus as they saw Him coming into the city. In their estimation, He was a challenge to their authority and a threat to their position and status (John 12.19). For a long time they had been plotting to get rid of Him (John 5.15-18 [AV]) and now He was coming into their ‘territory’. They had high hopes that, at last, they would have a chance to finally ‘dispose’ of Him. Jesus was aware of all these hopes and dreams and expectations. He knew that none of them would be fulfilled, at least not in the way that was expected. As He entered Jerusalem, He knew that, only days ahead, He would be crucified. The dreams of the disciples would be dashed; the hopes of the people for a military defeat of the Romans would come to nothing; only the religious leaders would think that their expectations had been achieved. But even they would soon be dismayed, for Easter lay ahead & Jesus would have great expectations of His followers.

Do we really need to grow up?

By CE Blogger • March 28, 2025

Dads may forget our birthday, and some even struggle to remember how old we are, but mothers never forget. They knew us from our first stirrings within them before we were born. They remember the moment when, in pain, they gave us life. They can recall all the little incidents as we grew up. So we are always their child. But that makes them protective of us. They are there when we need them. They give us what we need to help us, rather than what we want. They point us in the right direction. They support us as we try to do things and encourage us in our ambitions. They understand us better than we understand ourselves and feel the pain of our failures and troubles. They give us their love unconditionally, whether we deserve it or not, because we are always their child. Unfortunately, we often fail to realise all this as we try to grow up, perhaps resentful that our mother still looks on us as their ‘child’, no matter how old we may be. It is not that she doesn’t want us to grow up but that we are precious to her because she has given us life and wants the best for us. However, we don’t realise how precious our mother is until she is no longer there to give us her love and support. It is significant that all I have said about the virtues of a good mother can also be seen in the character of God (even though we normally refer to Him in prayer as ‘Our Father …’). He is there for us when we need Him and will listen when we talk to Him. He will give us what we need rather than what we desire for He wants the best for us. If we listen to the Holy Spirit, He points us in the right direction. He will support us as we try to do the right things. He understands us better than we understand ourselves and feels the pain of our failings and troubles. He gives us His unconditional love, whether we deserve it or not. And why? Because we are His children! All He asks is that we make the choice to become part of His family again, and live as part of His family, for then He says, ‘You will be My sons and daughters’. That is the privilege of being children of the Kingdom of God. For God to call you His child is something which is priceless. We shouldn’t want to grow up so much that we want to put ourselves beyond that.

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