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Praying with Stones ‘Cast your burdens on to Jesus because he cares for you’ When Jesus died on the cross, he took upon himself every wrongdoing of every man and woman. He promised to forgive us if we put our trust in him. Sometimes we can feel as if we are carrying around heavy burdens: these might be things that we have done wrong or perhaps people or situations about which we are concerned. It can be helpful to use a visual aid to remind us that we can give our troubles to Jesus and he will take care of us. I suggest that this prayer idea would work better as part of a service when several people could take part. 1) Place a large cross in the corner of a room / church building. 2) Invite people to select a stone from a pile. Ask them to take a moment to think about what burdens they might be carrying around inside themselves. 3) As they take the stone to place it at the foot of the cross they should be encouraged to pray that Jesus will be with them in that situation or even take the burden away completely.
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Getting rid of rubbish!Do you sometimes feel that you have said sorry for something in the past but it keeps returning to your mind time and time again? We can often feel that God has not really forgiven us for something because we find it hard to forgive ourselves. Why not try writing down the issue on a piece of paper, or perhaps formulating it into a prayer. Make a conscious decision to trust that God has forgiven you because he has promised to do so and because Jesus died so that we might be forgiven! Then take the paper and screw it up or rip it up to represent that sin being no more. (If you wanted to take it further, you could even burn the paper so that no trace of it was left, although you might feel that is a little extreme!)
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Praying on the ‘phone 'Where two or three are gathered in my name...' Just because you are not sitting in the same room as somebody, it does not mean that you cannot pray with them! I often pray on the ‘phone with people because I find it a powerful way of feeling extremely close to them even if they are miles away. Remember that if you are both Christians, the Holy Spirit lives in both of you, and as you pray you are united through that same spirit. Thousands of miles cannot separate you from each other with your individual situations, or from the God that lives in both of you. Get your head round that one!
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Praying in tongues / ‘groaning’ in prayer The thought of praying in tongues might be quite intimidating! It is not important whether we can or cannot pray in tongues. It is a gift that God gives to some people. I was given the gift of tongues of years ago and found it very helpful to pray for situations when English seems inadequate for what I would like to express to God. Perhaps God gave me the gift of tongues because he knows I often stumble for how to express myself in English, when others have a much more natural command of the language! If you have never experienced praying in tongues then ask God for the gift to be given to you. He can only say ‘no’, but if you don't ask you will never know! ‘Groaning’ in prayer sounds like a very strange thing to do! The expression comes from Paul’s letter to the Romans. ‘We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.’ (Romans 8: 26b). In my personal experience this ‘groaning’ comes about when God gives us a deep sense of compassion for somebody, so much so that, as Paul says, words cannot express what we want to pray. In these situations we can be moved to tears, sobs or ‘groans’. I believe that this is the Holy Spirit at work interceding to the Father for us. It can be very reassuring to know that when our own language is inadequate, God owns His own language, in which we can trust!
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Using music to inspire prayer There is a wealth of Christian music available in recordings. Some songs can act as stimuli to prayer. Many hymns or songs are based on passages from the Bible. These particularly can help us reflect on God's Word. Music can help us to relax, to focus on God and pray. (However, do be careful not to rely on a musical experience in order to ‘get into’ God's presence, because then you can be in danger of mistaking a musical atmosphere for the presence of the Almighty God.) I am a musician so often pray using my own music because I find it easier to express myself through a musical language rather than through the English language. If you play an instrument or sing, try playing as you pray, either using songs that you know, or asking God to inspire you to improvise. I have experienced a quite distinct difference between times when I have played using my own skill and those times when God has really allowed me to play ‘in the Spirit’ (almost like speaking in tongues). During those times, those listening have commented on how the music blessed them. I know then that God has been at work! If you are not a musician, then enjoy the music of others, as they will in turn gain from the gifts that you have to give the Church as you all work together in Christ's name.
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Soaking prayer Most of us live very busy lives and don't often take the time to relax or spend ‘quality time’ with ourselves or with God. The idea of soaking prayer is that we take time out to spend and ‘soak’ in God's presence. Soaking prayer is best done with several people who have had some experience of it. Set up a room with somewhere comfortable to sit or lie down. Choose some recordings of calming music. (These could be instrumental tracks from some of your favourite Christian albums or some other relaxing music.) Those who have requested prayer might tell the pray-ers what they would like prayer for, or may wish to keep it private. Pray-ers should allow the pray-ees to make themselves comfortable and should be sensitive in perceiving how much input they should give. At the beginning of the session pray-ers might like to pray out loud but quietly over pray-ees. As the time progresses it seems to be helpful if pray-ers then turn to pray silently, in order to let the pray-ees reflect or pray about what they have heard or perhaps thoughts that they are having. Many people find soaking prayer quite an emotional experience because it may be the first time in a long while that they have had to time to rest, and sometimes pent-up emotions are released. It is important that pray-ees know that pray-ers will be available for them afterwards should they wish to talk about anything they felt during prayer. Similarly if they do not wish to talk that should also be respected.
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