I’m working on two terrific texts for this coming Sunday: Revelation 17 and Psalm 54. I’m looking forward to walking through them with you.
 
Psalm 54 is rooted in David’s traumatizing experience of betrayal recorded in 1 Samuel 23. But the main thought of the text applies to every trial we face as the children of God: “God is my Helper.”
 
I wonder what a difference it would make in our lives if we actually lived by that conviction. What would be the evidence that we believed this was true? The first indication of such a conviction would certainly be prayer. Wouldn’t it?  Of all the important and precious truths we find in the Psalms the one over-arching principle of the entire psalter is that God’s children live by prayer. Those who actually believe that the Living God of Heaven is their help would live by prayer - bold, humble, expectant prayer. How better to honor the God-who-helps than to continually ask for it??

• Here’s a very helpful, practical, article about how Elizabeth Elliot, a great woman of faith, lived by prayer. “Am. Have. Do. Suffer. How Elizabeth Elliot Processed Life”. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/am-have-do-suffer

• And one more, an article about how the church lives by prayer! https://www.challies.com/articles/3-reasons-we-need-to-pray/

Finally, speaking of prayer, we are planning on making a bit of a change to our Wednesday night Prayer meeting. More intentional. More focused. More people. I’ll have more details later – but right now I need your help!
 
I’m looking for a name for our prayer meetings! For example, "The Boiler Room." Charles Spurgeon, the famous 19^th-century English preacher, referred to the prayer gatherings of his church as the “boiler room.” In Spurgeon’s time, boiler rooms were the powerhouses, the driving forces of everything. He was convinced that prayer was the spiritual power behind the effectiveness of his ministry.
 
We would love to have a name for our prayer meetings that communicates our conviction that prayer is the indispensable power source for gospel mission and ministry, the ‘sine qua non’ of the church of Jesus Christ! 

- Pastor Dale