Thought For The Week 5 Aug 2018

Well, it’s that time of year again where we come to our Annual General Meeting.

A time to reflect and give thanks for the good things that God has been doing in our lives, to grieve those people and times that have passed on, and to look forward with hopeful hearts to the future.

It’s all too easy to let these occasions pass us by while we carry on with the busy-ness of our lives.  But perhaps this is an opportunity for each of us to pass in our lives, to take stock, and to offer ourselves, heart, mind and soul to God in Jesus.

There is a form of prayer known as the “examen”.  If “Amen” means “So be it”, offering our prayers to God’s will, then “Ex-Amen” means “And so it was”, offering our past and present to God, not out of guilt, but out of trust that Jesus carries that burden for us, that the Holy Spirit will redeem and renew our lives.

So, over the next few weeks I would encourage you to pray the “examen” prayer to God.  Think of the highs and lows of the last year, look at them with honest eyes, entrust them to God, and invite Him to lead you forward with a new heart into the next year.  Ask yourself these questions as you pray:

“What is one thing I am thankful for?”

“What is one thing that I can let go of?”

“What is one area that I need God’s healing touch?”

And as you pray, remember these words of assurance from Paul’s letter to the Romans:

“Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also praying for us.”

Rory Grant