GBC Community Update: Pray without ceasing

Good afternoon. Summer is here.  As things start to slow down, what a great time to read a book. We have great ones in our main library and kid’s library upstairs. Why not pick something you’re unfamiliar with, or study that theological question that’s on your mind?  Use the time this summer to grow in your faith through reading.
 
 Oasis set building help
Once again we are partnering with Grace Community Church to share our Oasis sets. We are looking for volunteers to help build them. The dates are June 28 and 29 and July 3, 5,6 from 9:30 to noon at Grace Community Church, 7427 Country Road 30. Please contact our summer student Esther Timm if you are able to help with this at [email protected].   
  
Summer Prayer Time
Pastor Dan invites any who might be free, willing, and able to join him for prayer on Thursday mornings, from 8-9am this summer. We'll be praying for the church, for the world, and for our lives.
Please email Pastor Dan if you'd like to join him on Zoom.
 
"Whether we like it or not, asking is the rule of the Kingdom... All the Christian virtues are locked up in that word, prayer." - Charles Spurgeon.
 
 
Thought for the day: Steps Towards a Mature Prayer Life- Pray Without Ceasing
Prayer is not just for a special time of day, Sunday morning, or a prayer gathering.  In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 it says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” God calls us to pray without ceasing. As followers of Jesus, we should be praying throughout our day.
While this Scripture may seem impossible to achieve think about it like this: you are creating a lifestyle of prayer. You can pray no matter where you are, at work, school, in the car, the gym, shopping, and so on. If you are out in public, you can pray in your heart. God still hears these prayers.
This does not mean you should stop setting aside time to pray each day, but rather to pray throughout the day including your prayer time. The more we pray, the more we realize how great God is and how we need Him to be with us every second of our lives.  The early church father Augustine wrote this:  Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him.
I think this is appropriate being in summer since often the heat causes us to thirst.  Does our ‘heat’ for God cause us to thirst?  Satisfy that longing, regardless of what is going on, through prayer.
 
In His grip,
Pastor Chris