Prayer

As a church and as individuals we pray for:

• God's world - for peace and justice, for those caught up in violence, for those living without the essentials of life, for the coming of God's Kingdom in our damaged world
• the church as it seeks to live out and share God's love in his world
• our local community and the needs within it
• those who are sick or in any sort of need.

This Prayer Diary is a way of helping us to pray systematically and together - it can be an encouragement to know that others are praying at the same time as you.

You can use this Prayer Diary in two ways:

• as encouragement and inspiration for your own prayers
• as a place where you can add your own concerns, the things that you would like others to pray for.

What is prayer?

Prayer is not a form of 'magic' - there is no guarantee that God will 'answer' our prayers in the way that we might want him to. The guarantee is that God will 'hear' our prayers and as we pray we are sharing in his concern (which is already there, and already much greater than our own) for a situation.

Prayer is not primarily about 'asking'. It is about offering. Offering

• our Adoration for who God is, our rejoicing in his love for all that he has made
• our Confession for the ways in which we have failed to love him and love our neighbours as ourselves
• our Thanksgiving for all that is good which we experience in our world
• our Supplications (requests) as we offer our concerns and needs.

A 'balanced diet' of prayer has these four ingredients. We try to reflect that in our Prayer Diary.