Whilst there has been a blessing on the worship and preaching, we have decided to change our Sunday morning meetings throughout the month of January.
For the month of January, we are laying aside the typical Sunday service and instead focussing on prayer and intercession. This will be a time of deep encounter. We want to start 2022 on the right foot.
At Kairos, we don’t believe in going through the motions. We always want to keep in step with the Spirit. Intercession is key to that.
The New Testament shows us that collective prayer was a major focus of the early church.
The pre-Pentecost church met primarily for prayer.
Acts 1:14: All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
The post-Pentecost church were no less committed to collective prayer.
Acts 2:42
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
Despite the passionate pursuit of prayer in the early church, prayer has not always been a priority for much of the church. Leonard Ravenhill, in his classic book, Why Revival Tarries, says this about the unpopularity surrounding prayer.
“The Cinderella of the church of today is the prayer meeting. This handmaid of the Lord is unloved and unwooed because she is not dripping with the pearls of intellectualism, nor glamorous with the silks of philosophy; neither is she enchanting with the tiara of psychology. She wears the homespuns of sincerity and humility and so is not afraid to kneel!
The offense of prayer is that it does not essentially tie in to mental efficiency. (That is not to say that prayer is a partner to mental sloth; in these days efficiency is at a premium.)
Prayer is conditioned by one thing alone and that is spirituality. One does not need to be spiritual to preach, that is, to make and deliver sermons of homiletical perfection and exegetical exactitude. By a combination of memory, knowledge, ambition, personality, plus well-lined bookshelves, self-confidence, and a sense of having arrived—brother, the pulpit is yours almost anywhere these days.
Preaching of the type mentioned affects men; prayer affects God. Preaching affects time; prayer affects eternity.”
The Christians in the book of Acts were launched out into discipleship and mission. They discovered what it was to live Christlike lives. Before this happened, they prepared their hearts through prayer, and encountered His presence through their own personal Pentecost.
If we hope to have any degree of effectiveness in Stirling, and our own communities in the surrounding areas, we too need to discover a new level of discipleship and missional engagement. True mission and discipleship is not about programs, it’s about people and Presence.
However, discipleship and mission must flow out of our relationship with God the Holy Spirit, and that relationship is nurtured on the altar of prayer.
I look forward to seeing you in January. Let’s press in to all that the Lord has for us individually and collectively
