Christian Coffee House - Prayer/Chat thread. No rubbish church coffee allowed.

[Madhairday]

With the latest prayer thread coming to an end, we thought we would create a new thread for prayer and general chat too - we had chat threads running for years alongside prayer threads, and we thought it would be great to combine them. I try and collate some of the prayer requests from the last thread in the next few days. In the meantime, dive in! Lurkers/newbies - you are welcome to post. Feel free to start any chat subject about Christianity, church, worship etc, and do share any prayer needs.
Would love to hear from those who were on previous threads and haven't been around for a while, too. Come and let us know how you are.

Fine personally going into lockdown.
I look at what can be done.
I am helping move house - allowed
I tend to visit more sick people in Jan - allowed
I am a key worker anyway.

But I feel dreadfully sorry for those whose lives will be severely impacted. Some of their stories are just awful.

I never class myself as the best prayer in the world.
So if anyone @JanuaryChill and others want to suggest some, I and maybe some others, might find that useful and helpful.

I saw that video @JanuaryChill - it was very good, we played it in an online service. Things like that are helpful.

Yes very much praying for those on the frontline, I have several friends out there and really feeling for them. And yes so worried about effects for others too. It's all horrible isn't it. Hopefully this lockdown will be the last, hope springs eternal... But not baseless hope, as the vaccine is here :)

Good Morning!

I converted to Christianity last February. With lockdowns it hasn't been the journey I thought it was going to be. Rather than joining a church community it's mostly been reading the Bible at home - which has been rewarding but not what I thought I would be doing!

Do you ever pray for more 'selfish' reasons? We are in the process of moving house and I'm finding it hugely stressful. With everything going on in the world I feel silly praying about it but also don't want to feel I'm 'alone' in this x

How have I just found this thread?

Please join me in praying for all in the US at the moment - things there are horrific!

Pray that calm and peace return, and that those authority are able to cope without escalating the violence. Let Christ enter all of their hearts and bring love where there is hatred.

Welcome Hedgemoon and Schadenfreude. Hopefully the violence in America will not escalate.
hedgemoon very difficult to come to faith when so much of what supports it has fallen away in the past year. I’ve found that ‘prayer’ is not so much sharing your worries with the Almighty as trying to immerse yourself into His ‘Almightyness’. I was untangling a ball of wool yesterday and was reminded that, however tangled it was, there was only one end and one beginning. I think life is like that too, it is not like spaghetti with lots of ends and beginnings, but one thread which is in God’s control and will, like my tangle be able to be wound into a tidy ball. (Trust Oma to bring knitting into it!)

I love that Oma brings knitting into it ❤️

Welcome @Hedgemoon and @SchadenfreudePersonified (I think I've met you on a few threads along the way). Hedgemoon it must have been such a difficult year, without being able to find somewhere to nurture your new faith - really tough. Have you been able to find any online church to watch at all? But yes, there's a lovely verse in scripture that says cast all your anxieties upon him, for he cares for you - nothing is to small to bring before God, and moving house is a big deal. It's absolutely right to lay down your fears and worries before God and know God is right there with you. Philippians 4 is a good passage to read. Welcome, really pleased you're here.

Schadenfreude yes Amen. It's chilling and appalling what is going on in the US and I join my prayers with yours.

I'm poorly again so any spare prayers appreciated (I'm chronically ill for those who are new.) Thank you.

Will pray for the house move, and for you @Madhairday.

Holding you in my prayers Madhair. Chronic illness is both debilitating and exhausting.

Thank you. I'm shielding as well which sucks as I miss hugging my family :(

Hello all. MHD I knew lockdown 3 was going to be toughest on you and am sad to hear that you are suffering again. I hope you are not lonely given that you can't get out in the garden with family. It must also be a worry for your dh and dc when you are ill. I pray for you often. I think it can only be a good thing to have a large (If sometimes impersonal) suport network. The virtual world has it benefits while our IRL friends and family keep their distance.

Hello to Hedgemoon. Although you might not be getting the comforts of physical church and the community it brings, your timing couldn't have been better. I've felt the benefit of my faith this year, it's kept me calm and given me focus and offered a respite from home when I have been able to go to church. I find lockdown gives me time to pray, or read, or join online communities. I'd be interested in hearing how you came to convert. Btw I pray about everything and I don't think its selfish to pray for a smooth and trouble free house move. I will pray for that too!

Welcome alsoSchadenfreude. I got out of epiphany mass on Wednesday evening to see it all kicking off and felt like going back in to pray for all those poor people caught up in this awfulness in the USA.

@Madhairday @ZenNudist @JanuaryChill @Dutchoma thank you for your prayers. At first I felt silly praying about it (and slightly selfish considering the larger problems we are all facing) but I thought if I would share my worries with a friend or my husband, then why not God?

@ZenNudist I honestly never expected to convert to Christianity. I grew up in am atheist home and initially went along to the Alpha course at my local church group as I wanted some sort of 'path' for my DC if anything happened to me and my husband. We don't really have much in terms of family support (my family are in in NZ and my husband isn't close with his) and I though the church could provide a good community and 'path' for life's difficulties if we weren't there. After my first session I started reading the Bible daily and quickly came to the conclusion that it was true. I just knew it and felt it.

I've missed not having a church community as sometimes I feel lost when I don't understand passages or where I don't know where to look in the Bible for comfort. That being said I've been very grateful to have faith this year. On the dayas when I don't read the Bible or pray I do notice it. It's a little harder to get through a hard day without feeling 'faith'. Does anyone else have this? Sometimes I worry I'm not 'Chrisitan' enough in my heart if I need to keep reminding myself of my faith.

That is an amazing story Hedgemoon, I’m glad you found Alpha useful.
Not feeling ‘Christian’ enough? Just remember that God loves you unconditionally, with a perfect love. We are not able to feel that love, especially not for ourselves and it is very easy to think of God as a ‘could do better’ parent. Take time to delight in God’s love for you, a love that does not depend on how well or how often you pray, or read your Bible. A love that is there, whether you ‘feel’ it or not.

Hello everyone, I hope it’s okay for me to join you here. I only became a Christian last year. My family are staunch atheists and I don’t feel able to talk about faith with anyone in real life so I’d really like to have a place to talk to other believers.

You are very welcome Penguin. You and Hedgemoon are both very new Christians and might well like to share views.
Take a pew, help yourself to a virtual drink. You might even be able to find a biscuit, but I’m not promising.

@Hedgemoon I loved reading your story and how you came to faith through Alpha. It's so very normal to stumble through the days with faith, we are all human and some days it's so much harder than others, and you have it doubly hard with having come to faith so recently and then having covid hit and so having church things less easy to access. Please do ask any questions here about the Bible or anything faith related, we'd love to explore that with you.

@PenguinsAndPandasOhMy hello and welcome! I'm so excited you've become a Christian too. It must be so hard with family so against it. Again, please feel free to explore anything here and ask for prayer too. Do you have a church you have keyed into at all?

It's so lovely to see you both here.

Aaaaa

Thank you for the welcome Dutchoma and Madhairday. I’m really happy to have found this place to chat. I haven’t been able to find a church (partly due to lockdown etc) so I’ve sometimes felt a little isolated without anyone to talk to.

Thanks for sharing your story hedgemoon, I can relate to a lot of what you said. I also grew up in an atheist, somewhat anti-religion family and I still sometimes feel surprised (and thankful) that I became a Christian. And I have often felt a bit lost this year too without having a church community to ask for help or guidance.

My own story of how I became a Christian is a bit hard to explain, but it started around a year ago when I happened to see a video shared online of someone being baptised (not someone I know personally). One of the people in the video was so emotional at seeing his friend being baptised and I found myself thinking about it again and again over the next few days. It’s hard to explain but essentially it made me think “what am I missing here?” I wanted to understand what could be so special that it could evoke that kind of joy and emotion. I even ended up crying in the street just thinking about it one day.

So I started reading the Bible, usually feeling a bit silly and unsure about everything. Over time I just started to feel that what I was reading was true and that I wanted to become a Christian. I was still very unsure and I often struggled to keep praying and reading the Bible.

Then several months later, there was suddenly a chance that a big problem that had been affecting me and my family for years could be resolved. I’d been praying about this and it honestly felt like a completely unexpected answer to my prayers.

There was still a big chance that it wouldn’t work out and normally I would have found the waiting and uncertainty completely unbearable and I’d have been bad-tempered, anxious, and basically a complete wreck until it was resolved. But, (and actually this is the thing that I think finally made me feel certain of my faith), when I was praying and reading the Bible that day I read two verses that I kept repeating to myself and somehow I just knew that whether or not this particular opportunity worked out, it would still be okay. That probably doesn’t sound like a big deal, but I can’t describe what an amazing and sudden transformation it was in how I felt about this situation that I’d been struggling with for years. I just knew that it had to be God comforting me and teaching me, and that finally helped me move past some of my doubts and uncertainties about becoming a Christian.

Thank you again for the welcome and I hope I haven’t outstayed it with this post which ended up much longer than I’d expected or intended!

Very happy to have you here Penguin and very pleased to hear your story. It just goes to show that, however difficult the Bible may be to understand at times, it can still speak to us. It also shows that God will indeed provide for all our needs. So don’t hesitate if a site like this can provide an outlet for your thoughts, it is one of the ways God provides for one of your needs.

@PenguinsAndPandasOhMy I love your story of how your faith was a comfort to you and your prayers were answered.

I'm a chronic worrier and home schooling, moving and covid isn't helping! Am making sure I'm reminding myself of the below from Matthew periodically at the moment.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

How is everyone else? I'm making sure tomorrow I'm making time for an online service.

Hello everyone. I hope you don't mind me popping in? I have a question or two that I need help with.
Last night, again, I felt God calling me, and Jesus. I find believing in God so much easier than believing in Jesus, in fact, I've been pretty scared of him. You see, to believe in Jesus, you have to believe in Revelations/The End Times. I find it hard to think that a loving God would put anybody through what is supposed to happen.
Also, when holding myself up to Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I have sinned in the past and could quite easily sin now (Ie, not wishing good for my neighbours that have at times made life a living hell.). When I think of being a Christian, it means to me thinking 'good' thoughts, acting a certain way, basically changing who I am as a person (I hope that doesn't sound too bad! I'm not a bad person, I give to charity a lot and help others when I can. I've talked two different people out of suicide, and helped a girl whose dad was a busing her get some help.) I feel like I have to be 'good'pure' in thought and action all the time. Surely this is not right?! (I hope not as it's stressing me out.)
Sorry to just come barging in with my questions. They've felt a bit urgent is all. Thank you for reading, and hello again to you all.

Hello Kittykat, you are very welcome.
Sounds to me you are tying yourself in knots a bit, so let’s see if we can untangle things a little.
1 You don’t have to believe every world in Revelations to believe in Jesus. Revelation is a story that tells about how God will make everything right at the end. There are beautiful bits in Revelation: for instance he will wipe away every tear. God is good, he is just and his judgment will make everything alright. In the end, we’re not there yet. If things are going to be hard for a while I don’t think you can blame God for that, we (collectively) are not living the way God meant us to live and the consequences can be bad.
2 You don’t have to be ‘good’ to be loved by God. He loves you, just as you are and yes, we are all sinners. And we will remain sinners all the while we are alive. And God will still love us. He will also help you to do the things he asks of you. He might remind you that he also loves your hellish neighbours and that can be tough. He might ask you to give up certain things. That can be tough too.
When you say you felt called by God, what do you mean? What do you think God is calling you to do?
And finally, I don’t think there is any reason to be scared of Jesus. I think, from what it says in the Bible that he was an amazing person and people adored him. I reckon every girl in the village had a soft spot for him and was utterly devastated when he died. Such a horrid death. And he did it so we could know what God is like. And if God is calling you, then I would say with Mary: “It’s ok by me, I’ll do it.”
Hope this helps. Best of luck

Hi Dutchoma Thank you ever so much for your reply-it really helps. I shall come back tomorrow and have another read of it too.
As for God 'calling me,' you know, I can't really put it into words. A 'knowing,' a nudging gently, like towards Christian books on Amazon when I was looking for books on life after death (It's arriving tomorrow. :) ). Almost sensing/seeing things in my minds eye. A talking but without words.
Sorry, that's the best way I can describe it!
Thank you again for your reply, I really appreciate it.

Sorry, replied too quick. I feel God and Jesus were calling me back to the Christian faith.

Sorry, me again. I feel I was being called back to save my soul from damnation after I passed.

Yes, I understand that. I think there are a lot of Christians who are motivated by fear of what may happen to them after their death, rather than by love of God.

This is fuelled by a lot of Christian churches, who sometimes in the past have forced people to pay money to ‘save their souls’. People have led very cramped lives, because they felt they had to ‘be good’. I sense that in you first post.
And I think that God is saying to you: My dear child, I love you as you are. I love you so much that you will be able to be the best you can be. And I will never, not in this life, or the next abandon you. Don’t worry about it, I will sort it out. Go, go, be the best you can be, love people, because I love them too and want them to know me. Because I am God and I love the world and everyone in it. Go free, your sins are forgiven, because I love you so much.”