In this thought-provoking talk from our series "Becoming Whole," Dan Orange explores the transformative power of daily prayer in our lives. As we delve into the essence of prayer and its impact on our spiritual health, we uncover the simplicity and depth of connecting with God on a daily basis. This service is an invitation to integrate prayer into the fabric of our daily lives, moving beyond traditional notions of prayer to embrace it as a dynamic conversation with the divine.
Key Highlights:
Key Takeaways:
Join Dan Orange in this enlightening talk as we explore the simple yet profound act of daily prayer and its capacity to transform our lives. Through practical insights and biblical wisdom, discover how the art of prayer can lead you to a more fulfilled, spiritually healthy life.
For more insightful talks and resources on living a life of faith, visit our website at crowd.church.
Welcome to this week's Crowd Church service.
Matt Edmundson:We are a digital church on a quest to discover how Jesus helps
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Matt Edmundson:Hello, good evening and welcome to Crowd Church.
Matt Edmundson:My name's Matt.
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Matt Edmundson:I've just realised, hang on, I just need to, there we go, get you more in the shot.
Matt Edmundson:I must have knocked the camera when I was doing all my, oh no, actually
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Matt Edmundson:No, please, that's not great.
Matt Edmundson:So there we go.
Matt Edmundson:Stop it.
Claire Glare:Well
Matt Edmundson:done, Matt.
Matt Edmundson:We made it.
Matt Edmundson:We made it, yeah, for whatever reason.
Matt Edmundson:Sorry about that, ladies and gentlemen.
Matt Edmundson:If you're just joining us, I'll just give us a few more minutes.
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Matt Edmundson:Now we are.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:So yes, don't quite get that but
Claire Glare:we are here.
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Claire Glare:It is.
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Matt Edmundson:what it is.
Matt Edmundson:So welcome for sticking.
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Matt Edmundson:Restream, but I'm, I don't know if I'm restreaming this,
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Claire Glare:Matt said today, he was like, are you going to bring your knitting
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Matt Edmundson:Just do it.
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Claire Glare:No, you are.
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Matt Edmundson:And that's why we're here.
Matt Edmundson:Well done for bringing that round, that was a good segue.
Matt Edmundson:So we are doing a series on becoming whole.
Matt Edmundson:We are in part two of that series, yes, we are going to be
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Matt Edmundson:Yeah,
Claire Glare:looking forward to hearing what Dan's got
Matt Edmundson:to say.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah, Dan Orange is talking about prayer.
Matt Edmundson:Good.
Matt Edmundson:Which is going to be good.
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Dan Orange:The simple art of daily prayer.
Dan Orange:Welcome to the second talk in our new series, Becoming Whole.
Dan Orange:How can we become whole?
Dan Orange:If you haven't heard the first talk about righteousness then, pop over to crowd.
Dan Orange:church and have a listen.
Dan Orange:It was a great talk and Matt also gives us a brief overview of this new series.
Dan Orange:Today, we're looking at prayer in the context of becoming whole, and
Dan Orange:how can daily prayer transform my life, how can praying change you.
Dan Orange:What is prayer?
Dan Orange:Perhaps that's a good place to start.
Dan Orange:If we look in a dictionary, then most class prayer is a request, a petition,
Dan Orange:a dress, or thanks to some deity.
Dan Orange:But one definition adds another element, which I think is key.
Dan Orange:A communion with God.
Dan Orange:Communion to me takes it from a formal request to a conversation.
Dan Orange:From.
Dan Orange:An act we feel we must do for some reason, whether out of duty or tradition
Dan Orange:or circumstance, to something that is a desire to learn more about God and desire
Dan Orange:to improve our relationship with Him.
Dan Orange:I'm married and if I didn't talk to my wife, I don't think it
Dan Orange:would improve our relationship.
Dan Orange:In fact, I have first hand knowledge that It does quite the opposite.
Dan Orange:If I'm quiet, if I try to avoid a subject, it doesn't bring us closer together.
Dan Orange:I don't get to know how my wife is feeling.
Dan Orange:She doesn't get to know what's going on with me.
Dan Orange:We might both give each other gestures or actions, but it
Dan Orange:probably don't really help.
Dan Orange:Talking does though.
Dan Orange:I learn about her, she learns about me.
Dan Orange:Prayer is a big way of learning about God and learning about myself.
Dan Orange:And using that same analogy, my relationship with my wife is
Dan Orange:improved by conversations every day.
Dan Orange:And dare I say, even multiple conversations a day.
Dan Orange:Consistency brings us together.
Dan Orange:Hopefully issues get resolved sooner than later.
Dan Orange:And if we're in constant communication, it's so much easier to grow
Dan Orange:together, to learn about each other.
Dan Orange:Your relationship with God is the same and it can be improved with consistency.
Dan Orange:Consistency, though, can often be where we get stuck.
Dan Orange:Do you find the concept of daily prayer daunting?
Dan Orange:How can you incorporate it into your busy life?
Dan Orange:Perhaps this is all new to you and just the idea of praying on
Dan Orange:your own for no reason is strange.
Dan Orange:Does daily chat with God help?
Dan Orange:In Paul's letters to the Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians 5, 17, says this,
Dan Orange:it says, Pray without ceasing.
Dan Orange:A very small verse, just three words.
Dan Orange:Mind you, not as small as the verse before, which says, Rejoice Always.
Dan Orange:Probably harder to complement than many talks about prayer.
Dan Orange:Rejoice Always.
Dan Orange:Wow.
Dan Orange:But that's another talk.
Dan Orange:Perhaps we should do that some other time.
Dan Orange:Back to this verse, Pray Without Ceasing.
Dan Orange:It seems to me that if Paul wrote these words, and he thought it was possible,
Dan Orange:and important, perhaps, without ceasing is a long way ahead in our spiritual lives.
Dan Orange:But it.
Dan Orange:It tells us that it's possible and something to work towards and if possible,
Dan Orange:then it probably takes more forms than getting on our knees by our bed and
Dan Orange:spending some time giving God our worries.
Dan Orange:If we did that 24 7, we wouldn't last long physically and mentally.
Dan Orange:Perhaps then it's not just formal talks, but informal requests, thanksgiving,
Dan Orange:thoughts in our daily lives.
Dan Orange:It's a conversation with someone that's willing and wanting to hear us.
Dan Orange:And to talk to us.
Dan Orange:Prayer doesn't have to be formal.
Dan Orange:It doesn't have to be reciting the Lord's Prayer or perfect words.
Dan Orange:That could be a very good place to start.
Dan Orange:And it's great to hear those words and have those words in our head.
Dan Orange:The most important thing is God wants to hear us.
Dan Orange:He wants to know our heart, our needs, our desires, our petitions.
Dan Orange:Our praises and thanksgivings, don't worry about what to say, words or
Dan Orange:no words, be quiet and wait for God.
Dan Orange:It's a beautiful time and I believe never a wasted time.
Dan Orange:This series is all about wholeness and if I spend time with someone
Dan Orange:I get closer to that person.
Dan Orange:If I spend time with God, I get closer to God.
Dan Orange:And if we're, as we're made by Him, designed by Him, then it
Dan Orange:makes sense to me that knowing Him is a completion of that creation.
Dan Orange:The reason for us and God to exist.
Dan Orange:It's making us whole and prayer is that time with God.
Dan Orange:Daily prayer is a habit.
Dan Orange:I pray every day.
Dan Orange:This is not a boast.
Dan Orange:I love God.
Dan Orange:I want to commune with Him.
Dan Orange:I want to know Him more, but it's still something I've learned and I'm learning.
Dan Orange:I want Him in my life and I need Him more in my life.
Dan Orange:Sometimes it is a fleeting prayer.
Dan Orange:Sometimes my day is a more conscious knowledge of being
Dan Orange:in His presence and communing.
Dan Orange:Often it's hurried.
Dan Orange:Often time and tasks take over.
Dan Orange:However, since preparing this talk, it's been great for me as I can't
Dan Orange:do a talk about prayer and not pray.
Dan Orange:That would be hypocritical.
Dan Orange:So as a consequence, my prayer life has grown, not in a massive
Dan Orange:revelation way, but inconsistency.
Dan Orange:So thanks guys.
Dan Orange:Me and my wife, ever since we got married, we pray together
Dan Orange:each night before we sleep.
Dan Orange:It's just something we've always done, and if I'm away or one of us goes to
Dan Orange:bed early, then it's a strange end to the day, it's become a habit, and to
Dan Orange:be honest, it's an easier one, it's a time to give thanks for the day, often
Dan Orange:to give him our worries for tomorrow.
Dan Orange:But when thinking about this talk, if you're, especially if you're in
Dan Orange:Christian circles, or you've read any books about men and women of God, men
Dan Orange:and women that pray, they always seem to get up early to pray, daily in the
Dan Orange:morning, and I've found this hard.
Dan Orange:Sometimes I pray in the morning, sometimes I don't.
Dan Orange:I give myself valid reasons every time, I'm not a morning person, I've got to
Dan Orange:get up early for work anyway, I went to bed late, I'll pray later in the day.
Dan Orange:All totally valid, but when praying about this and thinking about it,
Dan Orange:a thought came across my mind.
Dan Orange:What happens in the morning, every morning?
Dan Orange:The day starts.
Dan Orange:Profound, eh?
Dan Orange:It was to me.
Dan Orange:Anyway, the day starts, nothing else has happened, and how about
Dan Orange:if I start my day with God?
Dan Orange:If I want my day to be influenced by God, if I want to see things happen
Dan Orange:in my life, wouldn't it be good?
Dan Orange:If I started it with him, it seems to make sense to me.
Dan Orange:I'll leave this with you.
Dan Orange:Not saying you need to get up at 6am every day, otherwise prayer is not going
Dan Orange:to work, but for me, really spoke to me and helped me with morning prayer.
Dan Orange:What, when else can I pray?
Dan Orange:So prayer does take time.
Dan Orange:It's an act.
Dan Orange:It occupies space in our lives.
Dan Orange:And is your life busy?
Dan Orange:I should imagine it is.
Dan Orange:The 101 things that need to be done, work, kids, shopping,
Dan Orange:Facebook, studying, TV, food.
Dan Orange:There's a passage in the Bible where Jesus meets two ladies, Mary and Martha.
Dan Orange:The Message Translation in Luke 10 puts it like this.
Dan Orange:Jesus entered a village.
Dan Orange:A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him and made him feel quite at home.
Dan Orange:She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the master, hanging on every word he said.
Dan Orange:But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do.
Dan Orange:in the kitchen.
Dan Orange:Later she stepped in, interrupting them.
Dan Orange:Master, don't you care that my sister abandoned the kitchen to me?
Dan Orange:Tell her to lend me a hand.
Dan Orange:And the master said, Martha, dear Martha, you're fussing far too much and
Dan Orange:getting yourself worked up over nothing.
Dan Orange:One thing only is essential, and Mary's chosen it.
Dan Orange:It's the main course and won't be taken from her.
Dan Orange:Martha was missing out on spending time with Jesus because she thought
Dan Orange:the cooking was more important.
Dan Orange:Life is busy, but sometimes we make it busier than it needs to be at that time.
Dan Orange:Sometimes we need to see what's really important.
Dan Orange:Did God just speak to me?
Dan Orange:Hang on, got to check this email.
Dan Orange:Got to do this, I need to do this thing.
Dan Orange:Whoa, stop, wait, listen.
Dan Orange:Email can probably wait, other things can probably wait.
Dan Orange:Times in my life when I've just waited and let there be that little
Dan Orange:bit of time for God to speak.
Dan Orange:It's improved my whole day.
Dan Orange:It's when God just reveals something to me that maybe I would have missed, or
Dan Orange:maybe I had to wait much longer to learn.
Dan Orange:Perhaps there's a time in your day when you're normally on your own, but your
Dan Orange:routine is to fill it with something else.
Dan Orange:For me, it's when I'm driving, when I get in the van to drive for work.
Dan Orange:Often I have the radio on or an audio book, but sometimes I have to use a
Dan Orange:bit of self control and turn it off and calm myself and spend time with God.
Dan Orange:Often not for long, perhaps not the whole journey, but
Dan Orange:it's allowing God into my day.
Dan Orange:There's one more point I'd like to make about busyness.
Dan Orange:Like I said, we can actively make ourselves busy to fill those quiet times.
Dan Orange:Sometimes there's a reason behind it.
Dan Orange:Perhaps you're running from God, you're running because you know when you
Dan Orange:come before him and quiet yourself, you'll need to sort something out.
Dan Orange:Perhaps God is just prompting you to get right with your friend.
Dan Orange:Perhaps you need to forgive your neighbor and you're delaying that time to spend
Dan Orange:with him as you know he'll prompt you.
Dan Orange:So we get to know God more, he teaches, he guides us and perhaps
Dan Orange:The thing is prompting you to do is hard, perhaps he's asked you to give
Dan Orange:something up as it's distracting you, it's ironic, it's working.
Dan Orange:Or he's asked you to do something for someone and you're not sure
Dan Orange:you can, or you're not sure that person really deserves it.
Dan Orange:But we know from Jonah, running from God doesn't always end
Dan Orange:well, unless you like fish guts.
Dan Orange:It's time to check the busyness of your life and see if it's valid.
Dan Orange:Is it necessary or are you stalling?
Dan Orange:I've talked a lot about when to pray, but perhaps not much how to pray.
Dan Orange:Perhaps you've not experienced a mention of prayer like this
Dan Orange:before and you're asking isn't prayer just a form of meditation?
Dan Orange:If we go back to talking about prayer as a relationship, then it's
Dan Orange:about talking and listening, about knowing God and knowing ourselves.
Dan Orange:Meditation can be a good thing.
Dan Orange:It's a good thing to quiet our minds, to relax.
Dan Orange:However, sometimes the goal of meditation can be to empty our minds.
Dan Orange:But if we empty our minds, there becomes a hole, and it's
Dan Orange:gonna get filled with something.
Dan Orange:If we quiet our thoughts, we can allow God to speak.
Dan Orange:It's great to meditate on Him and His works.
Dan Orange:Philippians 4 says this, Finally, brethren, whatever things are true,
Dan Orange:whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are
Dan Orange:pure, Whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there's
Dan Orange:any virtue and if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.
Dan Orange:The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do,
Dan Orange:and the God of Peace will be with you.
Dan Orange:Meditate on Him, and the God of Peace will be with you.
Dan Orange:Psalm 46 says, Be still, and know that I am God.
Dan Orange:Often words aren't necessary.
Dan Orange:God speaks to us in the stillness.
Dan Orange:But, best way to find out about praying is to try it.
Dan Orange:My dad is a real big prayer and I know that if I asked him the
Dan Orange:secret pair of prayer He would say, Dan, to learn to pray.
Dan Orange:In fact, he has said that to me.
Dan Orange:Perhaps that should be my whole talk.
Dan Orange:Boom, five words.
Dan Orange:Anyway, if you're not watching this Live, then why don't you
Dan Orange:just hit pause now, try it out.
Dan Orange:Let this be the time to talk to him.
Dan Orange:You can talk out loud, talk in your mind, or just still, stay still and wait, or
Dan Orange:it's night before bed, before the things of the day, or the things of tomorrow,
Dan Orange:can fool your mind, ask God to be there.
Dan Orange:Like anything, we can't be perfect at something straight off.
Dan Orange:In fact, until we get to heaven, I doubt we'll be perfect.
Dan Orange:We won't be, but we have the most gracious teacher.
Dan Orange:What should we pray?
Dan Orange:Prayer, It's a great time and the best place to be honest.
Dan Orange:We can't hide from God.
Dan Orange:He knows our thoughts, He knows our struggles, but He wants to hear them.
Dan Orange:Have you read of some of King David's Psalms?
Dan Orange:He knew how to cry out to God.
Dan Orange:He knew how to be honest.
Dan Orange:Here's Psalm 42, again in the Message Translation.
Dan Orange:He says, Sometimes I ask God, my rock solid God, why did you let me down?
Dan Orange:Why am I walking around in tears, harassed by enemies?
Dan Orange:Why are they out for the kill, these tormentors, with their
Dan Orange:obscenities, taunting day after day?
Dan Orange:Where is this God of yours?
Dan Orange:Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
Dan Orange:Why are you crying the blues?
Dan Orange:Fix my eyes on God.
Dan Orange:Soon I'll be praising again.
Dan Orange:He puts a smile on my face.
Dan Orange:He's God.
Dan Orange:God is God.
Dan Orange:He's able to cope with our crying, our confusion, our anger.
Dan Orange:He wants that honesty.
Dan Orange:It doesn't matter about all fancy words.
Dan Orange:He wants to hear our hearts.
Dan Orange:How often, when you pray, do you hold back from God?
Dan Orange:Hold back your fears and your doubts?
Dan Orange:Even Jesus, when he was about to be crucified, told God his feelings.
Dan Orange:He fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him.
Dan Orange:Abba Father, he said, everything is possible for you.
Dan Orange:Take this cup from me, yet not my will, but what you will.
Dan Orange:Perhaps you yourself are going through a tough time at the moment.
Dan Orange:I can only encourage you to bring it before God.
Dan Orange:Tell Him your struggles.
Dan Orange:Share your fears with him.
Dan Orange:He says my yoke is easy.
Dan Orange:Perhaps it's time to give him your worries.
Dan Orange:Take his lighter yoke.
Dan Orange:I may have said this a few times already, but the great thing about
Dan Orange:prayer is it's a conversation.
Dan Orange:What's the point of praying if we don't think he'll answer?
Dan Orange:Some might say it's crazy to expect God to answer.
Dan Orange:You have an imaginary friend, you talk, oh, to, okay you have an imaginary
Dan Orange:friend, you, and he talks to you, now, that's crazy if we believe in a
Dan Orange:God, and we pray to him, what's more crazy, that he actually talks back,
Dan Orange:or we pray not wanting an answer?
Dan Orange:There was a man called Rhys Howells, and he was known as an intercessor.
Dan Orange:His calling from God was to pray, and pray he did, and he
Dan Orange:saw amazing answers to prayer.
Dan Orange:He said the meaning of prayer was answers.
Dan Orange:We pray to be close to God, we pray to get answers.
Dan Orange:Sometimes we pray, sometimes answers to questions about Him, sometimes
Dan Orange:physical answers, provision, healing.
Dan Orange:God has made us spirit, soul and body.
Dan Orange:Our spirit is the key to a spiritual life, a life with the Father.
Dan Orange:Psalm 42 verse 7 says, Deep calls unto deep.
Dan Orange:At the noise of your waterfalls, all your waves and billows have gone over me.
Dan Orange:The Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime, and in the
Dan Orange:night his song shall be with me.
Dan Orange:A prayer to the God of my life.
Dan Orange:Deep calls unto deep.
Dan Orange:Our spirit calls to God's spirit.
Dan Orange:Prayer brings the spirit life into our everyday life.
Dan Orange:Matt talked last week about wholeness and gave this definition.
Dan Orange:Biblical wholeness then is nothing missing, nothing
Dan Orange:broken, complete in every part.
Dan Orange:Through and through, no part wanting or unsound.
Dan Orange:What better way to have no part wanting by listening to God and
Dan Orange:asking Him to reveal those things that are wanting in our lives.
Dan Orange:Ask Him to fill us, to complete us, to bring us peace.
Dan Orange:Hopefully this talk has helped you.
Dan Orange:Some other great talks on prayer here on Crowd, so just go to crowd.
Dan Orange:church and search prayer and you'll come across them.
Dan Orange:Thank you.
Dan Orange:He
Matt Edmundson:says that.
Matt Edmundson:Where's the camera gone?
Matt Edmundson:There we go.
Matt Edmundson:Could hear us but couldn't see us, ladies and gentlemen.
Matt Edmundson:Welcome back to Crowd.
Claire Glare:Bit like the Lord sometimes, isn't it?
Claire Glare:Can hear him but can't see him.
Matt Edmundson:Or I can see him and not hear him sometimes as well.
Matt Edmundson:It just works both ways, doesn't it?
Matt Edmundson:That analogy.
Matt Edmundson:Welcome back.
Matt Edmundson:Firstly, can I say thank you to all of you that found us during the talk.
Matt Edmundson:The comments are coming.
Matt Edmundson:It seems, Claire, I don't know if you picked this up.
Matt Edmundson:You were knitting while she was listening to the talk.
Matt Edmundson:I'm busy.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah, he's sorting stuff out.
Matt Edmundson:It seems that we are going, can we blame Claire?
Matt Edmundson:No,
Claire Glare:Matt, we can't.
Claire Glare:I need all the help I can get.
Claire Glare:I've not made much progress, frankly, in three weeks.
Claire Glare:I was going
Matt Edmundson:to say, it looks exactly the same as it did when you asked it.
Matt Edmundson:So rude.
Matt Edmundson:So rude.
Matt Edmundson:Yes, we seem to be streaming twice now.
Matt Edmundson:Actually three times.
Matt Edmundson:We're on Facebook and twice on YouTube.
Matt Edmundson:I don't know.
Matt Edmundson:I just, I don't know.
Matt Edmundson:I'm just grateful we're on the air.
Matt Edmundson:So it's good to be with you.
Matt Edmundson:So welcome to everyone in the comments.
Matt Edmundson:It's been great.
Matt Edmundson:It's been great.
Matt Edmundson:I love what Matt said.
Matt Edmundson:He said, ironic that the subject was prayer and we were all praying you would
Matt Edmundson:actually get the live stream working.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Claire was, you were the Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:You just sat in the J You just started to pray.
Matt Edmundson:Okay.
Matt Edmundson:And I just started to fiddle.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Claire Glare:it.
Claire Glare:Faith without actions, wasn't it?
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:We need both faith with Yes, we do.
Claire Glare:and to be honest, you weren't doing the fiddling.
Claire Glare:I was doing the
Matt Edmundson:praying.
Matt Edmundson:And to be honest with you, it's a great, it is a great example of it
Matt Edmundson:because you were praying, the guys were praying and I'm sitting here going, we
Matt Edmundson:must have tried it like six or seven times going, I don't understand it.
Matt Edmundson:We restarted the computer, we did all kinds of stuff.
Matt Edmundson:And then it was like.
Matt Edmundson:I'm not going to say I saw the, the angels appearing with a sign or I heard
Matt Edmundson:voices or any of that sort of thing.
Matt Edmundson:It's I just wonder if it's the USB hub.
Matt Edmundson:Don't know why I thought that.
Matt Edmundson:Cause why would it be?
Matt Edmundson:I don't actually know.
Matt Edmundson:And so yeah, so thank you, Lord.
Matt Edmundson:Thank you that we're here.
Matt Edmundson:Thank you for praying for everybody that, was praying
Matt Edmundson:we'd get online and here we are.
Matt Edmundson:So a warm welcome to you.
Matt Edmundson:Did you have a beer before the live stream?
Matt Edmundson:No, absolutely
Claire Glare:not.
Claire Glare:So drove here.
Claire Glare:Yeah, Annie, but we did
Matt Edmundson:watch the end of the match and we did I watched
Matt Edmundson:the whole match, but yeah If
Claire Glare:you're new to the live stream, sorry to say if
Matt Edmundson:you are not a Liverpool fan I am And we've
Matt Edmundson:just got a spoiler alert.
Matt Edmundson:If you don't want to know the results, just put your
Matt Edmundson:fingers in your ears right now.
Matt Edmundson:We did win.
Matt Edmundson:The Cup Final against Chelsea, and I was shouting and dancing and I was
Matt Edmundson:very grateful to the good Lord, and the prayer answered, actually, that's
Matt Edmundson:a really interesting point, actually, somebody I remember, I think that
Claire Glare:praying for football team, surely, come on.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah, it's a really interesting question, isn't it?
Matt Edmundson:Because I remember years ago, when I first became a Christian, I I was like 18.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:And I was a long time ago now.
Matt Edmundson:A long time ago.
Matt Edmundson:Me and Noah mates.
Matt Edmundson:And what happened was I was working in this children's home in North Carolina
Matt Edmundson:and there was a guy called Birdie.
Matt Edmundson:Birdie.
Matt Edmundson:I'm still in touch with him via Facebook.
Matt Edmundson:. It's just, it's such a legend, that guy.
Matt Edmundson:And he was a big, and probably still is, I'm guessing, a big Washington
Matt Edmundson:Redskins fan, although I don't think they call the Washington Redskins anymore.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:But they.
Matt Edmundson:He was a big fan of this American football club, and he
Matt Edmundson:would pray before every match.
Matt Edmundson:He would just bow his head and go, Lord, just pray for this team, pray you
Matt Edmundson:would help them play, blah, blah, blah.
Matt Edmundson:And I'm like, that doesn't make any sense to me.
Matt Edmundson:Because why?
Matt Edmundson:Why would you pray, why would you think God would hear you?
Matt Edmundson:What happens if someone is praying for the other team?
Matt Edmundson:Does your prayer cancel out their prayer?
Matt Edmundson:Does their, does God like you more than them?
Matt Edmundson:And there's just all these questions in my head.
Matt Edmundson:And Birdie just looked at me and he said, I don't know if I'd want
Matt Edmundson:to worship a God where I can't pray to him about everything.
Matt Edmundson:And I thought there goes that then.
Claire Glare:That's a really good response.
Claire Glare:Because it is, because you're involving God in every area of your life.
Claire Glare:And it's important.
Claire Glare:See, it was important for him to, that his team won.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:It's important for you that Liverpool won tonight.
Claire Glare:It wasn't important for me.
Claire Glare:I didn't pray about it.
Claire Glare:That's fine.
Claire Glare:I didn't even know it was happening.
Claire Glare:Maybe I would have prayed.
Claire Glare:I don't know.
Claire Glare:It is, it's important to pray about everything that, what Dan was saying.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:I love Dan's talk.
Claire Glare:It was great, wasn't it?
Claire Glare:It was, he just talks so, it's with such integrity, isn't it?
Claire Glare:Yeah, it is.
Claire Glare:I think you can just see the presence of God in Dan.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:And obviously we've got the privilege of knowing him in the flesh, as it were but
Claire Glare:he can see that the power of prayer in his
Matt Edmundson:voice, can't you?
Matt Edmundson:Yes, you can.
Matt Edmundson:And he's always praying, Dan.
Matt Edmundson:He's one of those guys that, I was praying about this, I was praying about that.
Matt Edmundson:So he definitely walks the walk, and talks the talk.
Matt Edmundson:He's a really great guy.
Matt Edmundson:And I loved his talk.
Matt Edmundson:I love what his quote from his dad.
Claire Glare:Also another
Matt Edmundson:legend.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Dave, Dan's dad.
Matt Edmundson:I've known, you've known him for years.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:And I'm just going to change this light because it's a little bit bright.
Matt Edmundson:It's a little bit too dark.
Matt Edmundson:There we go.
Matt Edmundson:There we go.
Matt Edmundson:Sorry, ladies and gentlemen, I'm not.
Matt Edmundson:That looks no different to me.
Matt Edmundson:It's just not as bright in my eyes now.
Matt Edmundson:But Dan's dad to learn to pray.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:I thought it's very Dave Orange, isn't it really?
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Claire Glare:It's really profound, isn't it?
Claire Glare:Actually to learn to do something you have to do it.
Claire Glare:And, but what Dan was saying as well was that With God, we have the
Claire Glare:most gracious teacher, don't we?
Claire Glare:And he was talking about someone who is willing and wanting
Claire Glare:for us to communicate with us.
Claire Glare:And I was like, yeah, that is so true.
Claire Glare:Whenever.
Claire Glare:Whenever we just turn our faces, just that, even like 10 degrees, he's yeah.
Claire Glare:In your face, isn't he?
Claire Glare:Not in a bad way, but not in a, in a really lovely
Matt Edmundson:way.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Absolutely.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:So to learn, to pray is the top tip of the day.
Matt Edmundson:And it's, it is actually really true.
Matt Edmundson:It's like you wanna learn to walk.
Matt Edmundson:You gotta walk, you can learn all the theory.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Going back to another North Carolina.
Matt Edmundson:No, this is pre North Carolina.
Matt Edmundson:But formative
Claire Glare:times.
Claire Glare:Formative times.
Claire Glare:And for me, it was, I was in Bolivia when I was 18, 19 you're learning,
Claire Glare:you're, and they're, they are, they're what makes you, aren't they?
Claire Glare:Yeah, they are.
Matt Edmundson:These events.
Matt Edmundson:Tell us your story.
Matt Edmundson:I used to fly.
Matt Edmundson:What like?
Matt Edmundson:Airplanes.
Matt Edmundson:Sorry.
Matt Edmundson:Not like Peter Pan.
Matt Edmundson:I don't know
Claire Glare:where I was going with that.
Claire Glare:What, like Icarus?
Claire Glare:Icarus.
Matt Edmundson:Like Superman.
Matt Edmundson:No, I used to fly airplanes.
Matt Edmundson:I don't think I knew that.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah, little chipmunks.
Matt Edmundson:I was with the RAF
Claire Glare:cadets.
Claire Glare:Sorry, chipmunks.
Claire Glare:I'm on Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Claire Glare:Yeah, sorry,
Matt Edmundson:Chipmunks.
Matt Edmundson:Different, yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Different.
Matt Edmundson:What, is that a type of plane?
Matt Edmundson:Yeah, a little two seater plane.
Matt Edmundson:Oh, cool.
Matt Edmundson:And before I've
Claire Glare:liked to go up in a two seater.
Claire Glare:Oh, that's great fun.
Claire Glare:I've been in a six seater.
Claire Glare:I
Matt Edmundson:love that.
Matt Edmundson:That's great.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:That's great.
Matt Edmundson:Flew this little two seater.
Matt Edmundson:And you got to fly them with retired RAF pilots.
Matt Edmundson:So they would In the States?
Matt Edmundson:No, this was pre North Carolina.
Matt Edmundson:Sorry.
Matt Edmundson:This was a RAF Stay with the program.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah, stay with the program.
Matt Edmundson:And so I would fly these planes, right?
Matt Edmundson:Now, what they did, before they would let you up in the plane, is they gave you a
Matt Edmundson:book, there was a lot of stuff you had to read, there was, I could understand
Matt Edmundson:the theory, I could understand, low pressure, high pressure, I can understand
Matt Edmundson:the speed of the air over the wing, which makes it fly, and all this sort of stuff.
Matt Edmundson:But it wasn't until I actually got in the plane, the theory, all the theory didn't
Matt Edmundson:do me any good, until I got in the plane and went, ah, this is how you fly a plane,
Matt Edmundson:and then it became a bad experience.
Matt Edmundson:So knowledge was helpful, and knowing about prayer, knowing about the different
Matt Edmundson:types of prayer of incession, prayer of faith, all these sorts of things that
Matt Edmundson:people want to get tied up into, all the theory, all the theology, it's great, but
Matt Edmundson:it's not until you actually start praying that it actually makes a difference.
Matt Edmundson:Do you see
Claire Glare:what I mean?
Claire Glare:But also because you feel the exhilaration, you feel the adventure.
Claire Glare:You feel the joy, all of those, and the fear, all of
Matt Edmundson:those.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Just to be clear, because it's in the comments, I did not
Matt Edmundson:know that you flew Chipmunks.
Matt Edmundson:Chipmunks is a name for a plane.
Matt Edmundson:I didn't actually, not the little creatures.
Matt Edmundson:No flight.
Matt Edmundson:No . That's
Claire Glare:tumbleweed
Matt Edmundson:joke.
Matt Edmundson:. Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:No.
Matt Edmundson:The little planes.
Matt Edmundson:What was really just to, on that story, the first time I flew
Matt Edmundson:on that plane the pilot, the retired pilot, he sat behind you?
Matt Edmundson:I sat in front, was I sat behind him.
Matt Edmundson:He was, I can't remember which way it was.
Matt Edmundson:Anyway, I was in the plane and, he was flying around.
Matt Edmundson:He's we're gonna learn to do the loop.
Matt Edmundson:The loop.
Matt Edmundson:Oh.
Matt Edmundson:I'm like, first time I'm flying in a plane.
Matt Edmundson:No way.
Matt Edmundson:And he's he said, is this your first time?
Matt Edmundson:I said yes sir.
Matt Edmundson:It's the first time in the plane.
Matt Edmundson:He says, oh, we're gonna learn.
Matt Edmundson:We will have a little bit of fun.
Matt Edmundson:He said, we'll fly straight, we'll fly left, we'll fly right.
Matt Edmundson:And then you're gonna do a loop.
Matt Edmundson:The loop.
Matt Edmundson:I'm like, come on.
Matt Edmundson:So he get in the plane, we're flying around and he does
Matt Edmundson:a loop, the loop with me.
Matt Edmundson:And he's put your hand on the stick.
Matt Edmundson:You've got to pull back on that stick.
Matt Edmundson:If you don't pull back on that stick, that's yes, you're
Matt Edmundson:in all kinds of trouble.
Matt Edmundson:And so sure enough, we started to do a dive to get the speed and I pulled back on
Matt Edmundson:the stick didn't pull back quick enough.
Matt Edmundson:So chipmunks are a gravity fed engine, which means if you're upside down, the
Matt Edmundson:petrol is not getting to the engine.
Matt Edmundson:So what does it do?
Matt Edmundson:Stalls.
Matt Edmundson:That's what it does.
Matt Edmundson:And so the plane stalls.
Matt Edmundson:A bit like tonight.
Matt Edmundson:A bit like the live stream, yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Stopped.
Matt Edmundson:Just stopped.
Matt Edmundson:Oh, no.
Matt Edmundson:And yeah, we're falling out of the sky like this.
Matt Edmundson:He says, do you want me to take over?
Matt Edmundson:I said, no, sir.
Matt Edmundson:Just tell me what to do.
Matt Edmundson:And what, and did he?
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:He's totally calm.
Matt Edmundson:He's just like totally, yeah, this is what you gotta do to get out of it.
Matt Edmundson:Cool.
Matt Edmundson:So we got out of it and carried on flying.
Matt Edmundson:Great fun.
Matt Edmundson:Loved it.
Matt Edmundson:Anyway.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah we've digressed.
Matt Edmundson:I've totally digressed.
Matt Edmundson:We've done a loop the loop.
Matt Edmundson:Bringing it back.
Matt Edmundson:Come in.
Matt Edmundson:The point of that story is, you've got to pray.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah,
Claire Glare:because otherwise you're in deep.
Claire Glare:And you're stalling.
Claire Glare:But I love that thing about I've heard, and it is a challenge isn't it, about
Claire Glare:You know what how big are our prayers?
Claire Glare:Yeah, if we can fulfill them, then are they really big enough?
Claire Glare:Yeah, that's right.
Claire Glare:And so yeah, go on.
Claire Glare:I like that little loop the loop there.
Claire Glare:I think I've pulled it back.
Claire Glare:You've
Matt Edmundson:totally pulled it back.
Matt Edmundson:I love that.
Matt Edmundson:Are your prayers big enough?
Matt Edmundson:What do you mean though by big prayers?
Claire Glare:So I think it's things it is, it's things that we couldn't answer,
Claire Glare:could we, so I can pray, Oh Lord, I pray, give me the opportunity to to talk
Claire Glare:with this person about you, to, make them some dinner or something like that.
Claire Glare:It's pretty straightforward, isn't it?
Claire Glare:Yeah, you can just do that.
Claire Glare:We can just do that.
Claire Glare:We can do it, go and knock on the door.
Claire Glare:Oh, you're in, hi, here's some dinner.
Claire Glare:But if we're talking about, praying for our whole street or we're, praying for
Claire Glare:a whole city or a country that we've never been to and really, but really
Claire Glare:praying about it and investing in it with our money, maybe as well, cause
Claire Glare:nothing hits you quite like whether you put your pounds or your dollars
Claire Glare:or whatever it is, wherever you are.
Claire Glare:I think, yeah that, that speaks, doesn't
Matt Edmundson:it?
Matt Edmundson:Yeah, I think it's interesting, isn't it?
Matt Edmundson:Because there are Something that costs you.
Matt Edmundson:Something that costs you.
Matt Edmundson:So there are prayers that you can pray where it is very conversational.
Matt Edmundson:God, I would just love it if Liverpool won the Cup tonight, right?
Matt Edmundson:Now, it's not going to change my life if they don't.
Matt Edmundson:It's not going to change my life if they do, one bit.
Matt Edmundson:Other than that, it's just been great to see it, and I'm stoked for them.
Matt Edmundson:And you can pray for the team.
Matt Edmundson:And it's okay I can do that.
Matt Edmundson:But it's not really going to change my life.
Matt Edmundson:So that conversational talk, I do that with God quite a lot.
Matt Edmundson:Just chat away about all kinds of stuff.
Claire Glare:I think that's the because I was thinking about
Claire Glare:this before Dan even started.
Claire Glare:And I think that's almost the easy bit.
Claire Glare:Yeah, I think once you've If you've been a Christian a long time, that is the easy
Claire Glare:bit where I would say is my challenge currently is the habitual setting aside
Matt Edmundson:time.
Matt Edmundson:I'm praying about something specific, something big.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:And one of the things that I've been doing for the last few years, which has
Matt Edmundson:really been helpful, actually, for me, take it or leave it, but I journal a lot.
Matt Edmundson:And so I journal my prayers.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:And so the app that I use day one, I think it's called on the phone,
Matt Edmundson:that app will When you go on to it, the next time it say, Oh, this is
Matt Edmundson:what you wrote a bit like Facebook.
Matt Edmundson:This is what you put seven years ago kind of thing.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah, it brings it.
Matt Edmundson:Oh, this is what you wrote a few years ago.
Matt Edmundson:And you God, you've totally answered that prayer.
Matt Edmundson:Oh, I really like that.
Matt Edmundson:Maybe I've, maybe I needed to rethink that a little bit.
Matt Edmundson:Do you know what I mean?
Matt Edmundson:Or whatever.
Matt Edmundson:But it's a really interesting thing that actually when you journal
Matt Edmundson:those things down and you go back and look at them, it's super, super
Matt Edmundson:powerful because my problem is.
Matt Edmundson:Was quite often I would pray for things and then forgot I'd prayed about them.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:So how do I know God's entered them?
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:Do you know what I mean?
Claire Glare:It's only the really big things that you remember.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:Whereas the little things that actually are important and make life easier
Claire Glare:or more exciting in the day to day.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:That we forget.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:But that it is like that memorial stone thing.
Claire Glare:Isn't that in the
Matt Edmundson:Bible?
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:You're gonna have to explain that then.
Claire Glare:Oh, okay.
Claire Glare:Sorry.
Claire Glare:. So in the Old Testament.
Claire Glare:When God did something fabulous for the people of Israel, he would often say,
Claire Glare:and just park a stone here to remind you and sometimes that will be an altar
Claire Glare:and sometimes it would just be a stone.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:And it was a way that they could go back physically to that place and
Claire Glare:say, yeah, this is what God did.
Claire Glare:And this is why we serve him and love him.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:This is how I
Claire Glare:really like that idea of.
Claire Glare:Because for me, the challenge of journals is that I have a lot of things on the go.
Claire Glare:And so I might have one journal going and then probably my kids will rob it.
Claire Glare:And particularly my son, he'll be like, writing, doing colouring in it.
Claire Glare:And I'm like, that had my things written in it.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:Okay, I've got to start another one now.
Claire Glare:Whereas actually, but I'm not digital, I'm so 20th century, 19th century.
Claire Glare:I
Matt Edmundson:do both.
Matt Edmundson:I'm not going to lie.
Matt Edmundson:I do both.
Matt Edmundson:I have a leather bound journal, which is just this lovely journal.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:And I write in that a couple of times a week maybe.
Matt Edmundson:And then I have my digital journal.
Matt Edmundson:What I discovered during COVID.
Matt Edmundson:Again, may or may not help you is actually because phones now are so good
Matt Edmundson:at, you can dictate to them and they can translate text to speech to text because
Matt Edmundson:what I discovered during COVID was I would just go walk around the mystery,
Matt Edmundson:which is a park, a local park, and I'd walk around the park with my headphones
Matt Edmundson:in or a microphone or my phone just here, and I would dictate to the phone.
Matt Edmundson:So I didn't have to type it.
Matt Edmundson:I just as I was praying, as I was thinking, I'll just speak
Matt Edmundson:to the phone and it would
Claire Glare:But then does it also have things like, oh, I'd
Claire Glare:really a chippy tea tonight, in it?
Claire Glare:Yeah,
Matt Edmundson:But that's important too.
Matt Edmundson:It's not really what
Claire Glare:I pray.
Claire Glare:You weren't doing the, you weren't
Matt Edmundson:doing the No, because I'm, I know because
Matt Edmundson:you were consciously praying.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah, and I'm, because I'm speaking it out in a way that I Because if I just
Matt Edmundson:talk faster normally, the computer is going to go, but if I speak a bit more
Matt Edmundson:deliberately and intentionally, then it clarifies a lot of things in my head.
Matt Edmundson:So then I forget I, I don't get all that brain fuzz, where I'm praying,
Matt Edmundson:but then I'm thinking about the chippy tea and I'm thinking about the cat that
Matt Edmundson:was sick in the slippers or whatever.
Matt Edmundson:Do you know what I mean?
Matt Edmundson:All of that just goes and it's no, God, I'm just focusing on this.
Matt Edmundson:It's super helpful.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Hashtag the same.
Matt Edmundson:I've just
Claire Glare:skipped over Matt's comment because he's been super
Matt Edmundson:cheeky.
Matt Edmundson:That's unlike Crew.
Matt Edmundson:So Nicola said she started praying in the mornings.
Matt Edmundson:Where did you put that?
Matt Edmundson:Oh, yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Great talk by Dan.
Matt Edmundson:I've started the habit of praying every morning before I even get
Matt Edmundson:out of bed and it helps a lot.
Matt Edmundson:Well done, Nicola.
Claire Glare:Do you do that?
Claire Glare:Do you pray in the morning?
Claire Glare:I would say it's more that conversational kind of prayer.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:And, yeah, I chat hand on heart.
Claire Glare:Not really at the moment.
Claire Glare:I was thinking when Dan was talking about the Ninety Five song, Get Up, Get Out.
Claire Glare:No,
Matt Edmundson:that's a different one.
Matt Edmundson:No, Ninety Five is working
Claire Glare:now.
Claire Glare:But there's a bit about what she does when she stumbles out of bed.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:And, and so I was thinking what, what do I do in the morning and you do have to,
Claire Glare:there are certain things that you do and they are habits and they are rituals.
Claire Glare:And one of mine is my cup of coffee and another is just a little bit of
Claire Glare:calm before everybody else wakes up.
Claire Glare:But actually I could really intentionally.
Claire Glare:Spend time with God at that point, and sometimes I do, and it's lovely,
Claire Glare:and other times, actually, I just turn on breakfast telly for a bit of news,
Claire Glare:because I really rarely listen to the news, but that's not a great choice
Matt Edmundson:It's interesting, I think you go through seasons, don't you?
Matt Edmundson:No, I'm sorry, I'm
Claire Glare:struggling with my chair today, sorry.
Matt Edmundson:I think you go through seasons, don't you?
Matt Edmundson:Like, When our kids were younger, it was harder to pray in the morning.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah, it really was.
Matt Edmundson:And I know that the evangelical line is you have a quiet time in the morning.
Matt Edmundson:It's just what one of those things that's been drummed into you, since the first day
Matt Edmundson:you became a Christian, I don't really.
Matt Edmundson:I dunno.
Matt Edmundson:I think it's just different for different people.
Matt Edmundson:I never really did the quiet time in the morning thing.
Claire Glare:Oh, I probably do feel a bit guilty.
Claire Glare:Which I don't really generally do guilt , I'm not really guilty kind
Claire Glare:of person, but but I think I would like I know how valuable Yeah.
Claire Glare:That time with Yeah.
Claire Glare:Whether it's in the morning or whenever.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:And I, and and I would like it to be in the morning Yeah.
Claire Glare:Just for my own.
Claire Glare:Ordering.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:I, all I can say is publicly hand, do you know what I mean, hold me accountable.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Next time Clare's on, just, how's the knitting, how's the praying going?
Matt Edmundson:That's the two questions you need to ask Clare whenever you see her.
Matt Edmundson:But no, I do think, when our kids were your kids ages, it was much harder.
Matt Edmundson:Now our kids are much older and they take care of themselves.
Matt Edmundson:It's a lot easier of a morning to go right.
Matt Edmundson:My morning's quite structured in the way that I approach it, and
Matt Edmundson:so But that's so easy to do now.
Matt Edmundson:It was not easy when we had kids.
Matt Edmundson:There's no way I was gonna get that.
Claire Glare:You are just, 'cause you're not your own person, are you?
Claire Glare:No.
Claire Glare:You are at their beck.
Claire Glare:I don't mean that their beck and call in that in a bad way,
Claire Glare:but they are dependent on you.
Claire Glare:They're very dependent.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:And I, it shocks me still, I think having young kids that I'm not reliable anymore.
Claire Glare:I, I, like I can't be.
Claire Glare:I can't commit to things in the same way that I used to do.
Claire Glare:And what that is because I have dependence and I guess it's that recognition.
Claire Glare:Okay.
Claire Glare:And I'm just speaking it out loud as well as I'm thinking about it, but that I have
Claire Glare:dependence upon me, but actually who am I
Matt Edmundson:depending upon?
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:And it's easy to get caught up in that, isn't it?
Matt Edmundson:But yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:So there are definite seasons to the whole thing.
Matt Edmundson:Pray, pray big, pray in the morning if you can.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:It's not, it's not a requirement.
Matt Edmundson:Pray daily.
Matt Edmundson:Pray daily.
Matt Edmundson:Definitely.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:If you can keep a journal of your prayers.
Matt Edmundson:I love Dan's comment about what was it he said?
Matt Edmundson:I wrote it down.
Matt Edmundson:Is it crazy that God talks back or is it crazy to talk to
Matt Edmundson:God not wanting him to answer?
Matt Edmundson:It was a great question, wasn't it?
Matt Edmundson:I thought that was brilliant.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:I thought that was great actually.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:That actually we do pray and part of the reason why I enjoy the conversational type
Matt Edmundson:prayer is because I sense God in that.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Do you see what I mean?
Matt Edmundson:Yes.
Matt Edmundson:I'm not just talking to myself.
Matt Edmundson:I feel like God's in it.
Matt Edmundson:And I like that conversational aspect of it, I feel that God's
Matt Edmundson:there and I can sense him.
Matt Edmundson:I've, I can't say that I've prayed, God, tell me what the lottery numbers are.
Matt Edmundson:And he tells me,
Claire Glare:I back in the day, we played there was I was on a discipleship team.
Claire Glare:Yeah, we played murder in the dark a few times.
Claire Glare:We lived in a big house as a group of us.
Claire Glare:And I, if I was the detective, I would pray for a word of knowledge and I
Claire Glare:was banned from being the detective.
Claire Glare:And I, but I love that about God, like I really loved it that
Claire Glare:actually he would join in with our
Matt Edmundson:game, yeah, why not?
Matt Edmundson:And why not?
Matt Edmundson:Because God does things.
Claire Glare:Go on.
Claire Glare:I was just thinking that conversational and I think that listening
Claire Glare:to God back and hearing him in different ways of it might be.
Claire Glare:Just, a very deep sense of joy or peace or something like that.
Claire Glare:But it might be, I don't know, a bus going by with a particular thing on.
Claire Glare:I went through a phase of walking through a shopping center, St.
Claire Glare:John's in town when it was old.
Claire Glare:And literally every morning I would walk through the shopping center that I
Claire Glare:was literally just walking through it.
Claire Glare:for four minutes of a morning.
Claire Glare:Maybe it was just the timing, but it was hello, but by Lionel
Claire Glare:Richie, I'm not going to sing.
Claire Glare:Matt's told me not to sing.
Claire Glare:I'm not singing.
Claire Glare:I
Matt Edmundson:think he
Claire Glare:was talking to me.
Claire Glare:And I know, but I knew, or I know, I just called to say I love you.
Claire Glare:And I just knew that at that season, that was God speaking to me.
Claire Glare:And I, so I love that aspect of God.
Claire Glare:And then obviously through scripture
Matt Edmundson:as well.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah, absolutely.
Matt Edmundson:Through the Bible, through prayer, through, like you say, that sense of
Matt Edmundson:just that, those, that sense, just that peace, that presence, that joy.
Matt Edmundson:I remember praying about my exams for my degree.
Matt Edmundson:Didn't we all?
Matt Edmundson:Lord help us, please.
Matt Edmundson:And I remember praying because I, for whatever reason in my
Matt Edmundson:head, I wanted to get a 2.
Matt Edmundson:1 in my degree.
Matt Edmundson:And I was on track to get a 2.
Matt Edmundson:2.
Matt Edmundson:And in my final year at uni, I sat down with one of the tutors and
Matt Edmundson:he said, you're on track for a 2.
Matt Edmundson:2.
Matt Edmundson:My second year wasn't great uni.
Matt Edmundson:And he said, what do you want to get?
Matt Edmundson:I said a 2.
Matt Edmundson:1.
Matt Edmundson:He said you're gonna have to put in a bit of extra work, especially around law.
Matt Edmundson:I wasn't great with law, which was part of my degree.
Matt Edmundson:He said, you're gonna have to do some extra work.
Matt Edmundson:I said about that, I'm not going to be able to do that because from 5pm till
Matt Edmundson:10pm every night, Monday through Friday, I'm now doing Bible school because I
Matt Edmundson:want to get my Bible school diploma.
Matt Edmundson:So I did that my final year at university.
Matt Edmundson:And the tutor was a bit incandescent.
Matt Edmundson:I know it's a bit, overdramatic.
Matt Edmundson:He was a bit You what?
Matt Edmundson:You want to do what?
Matt Edmundson:He said you're going to get a 2 2 because you're not got time to
Matt Edmundson:put in the extra work you need to.
Matt Edmundson:And I said, I'm sure we can do something.
Matt Edmundson:He said, but honestly, the only way you're going to get a 2 1, and I quote
Matt Edmundson:you, this is what he said to me word for word, one of the things I remembered, he
Matt Edmundson:said, the only way you're going to get a 2 1, Matt, is if you get one of those
Matt Edmundson:miracles you're always talking about.
Matt Edmundson:So I was like, seriously, that's the answer.
Matt Edmundson:And he was like, yeah.
Matt Edmundson:And I was like, oh, thank you, Jesus.
Matt Edmundson:Because that took the pressure off in a lot of ways.
Matt Edmundson:So he was like, you what?
Matt Edmundson:I said if that's the answer, I said, I'll just pray, excuse me, I'm gonna
Matt Edmundson:go have a word with a miracle maker.
Matt Edmundson:And I remember that Christmas, I had this two week break over Christmas where I
Matt Edmundson:could study and I'm like, Lord, during these, I've got these two weeks, I'm
Matt Edmundson:gonna devote these two weeks to study.
Matt Edmundson:I'm gonna study like no one's studied before, but I'm gonna need your help.
Matt Edmundson:I'm gonna need you to tell me what to study, how to study etc.
Matt Edmundson:Because this is the block that I've got to do this in and it was genuine and I,
Matt Edmundson:as sure as I knew anything, I heard God say, I want you to go to the law library.
Matt Edmundson:When I got in the law library, I'm like, okay, I started, what, is
Matt Edmundson:there a book I'm supposed to get?
Matt Edmundson:It's I want you to go to this section of the library, I want you to get these
Matt Edmundson:past papers from this year and this year.
Matt Edmundson:And I went through them and he said, that question, I want you to answer them.
Matt Edmundson:Spend the next two weeks writing answers to those questions.
Matt Edmundson:Do you know when I did my exam, what questions came up on it?
Matt Edmundson:And so when it came to my exams and revision, I was just like, it's amazing.
Matt Edmundson:Cause when it came to answer the exams, I just felt God say
Matt Edmundson:to me, just learn those essays.
Matt Edmundson:And so here I go into the exams.
Matt Edmundson:I used to do this thing with my exams.
Matt Edmundson:I thought it's a bit like murder
Claire Glare:in the dark,
Matt Edmundson:Slightly cheating.
Matt Edmundson:Cheating is not quite the right word, but the Lord was helping me.
Matt Edmundson:And so I get into the exam and they are.
Matt Edmundson:And I'm just like, we did it.
Matt Edmundson:Boom.
Matt Edmundson:Do you know what I got?
Matt Edmundson:I got a 2 2.
Matt Edmundson:I got a 2 1.
Matt Edmundson:Well done.
Matt Edmundson:I went up to the tutor at the year.
Matt Edmundson:Well done, God.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Thank you, Jesus.
Matt Edmundson:I went up to the tutor at the end of the year and I said to
Matt Edmundson:him, still believe in miracles?
Matt Edmundson:What did he say?
Matt Edmundson:He said, I can't believe you.
Matt Edmundson:I said it's not me you're supposed to believe.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:And so I was just so grateful,
Claire Glare:grateful.
Claire Glare:Did you tell him that's what had happened?
Matt Edmundson:I can't remember.
Matt Edmundson:It's a long time ago.
Matt Edmundson:I've definitely told the story a lot.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:I've never heard it.
Matt Edmundson:Oh, okay.
Matt Edmundson:Maybe I've not told it enough then.
Matt Edmundson:The other time I really heard God quite clearly was when I was we
Matt Edmundson:were talking about this the other night with Tom and Emma Grant
Matt Edmundson:and they came around for dinner.
Matt Edmundson:So Tom Grant's just been on What's The Story.
Matt Edmundson:He's a pastor up in Netherton, part of the Eden team up there.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Great guy, does Wednesday Night at Finnegan's.
Matt Edmundson:If you've, if you want to watch something YouTube on a Wednesday night,
Matt Edmundson:I think it's like 8, 9pm, just go watch Wednesday Night at Finnegan's.
Matt Edmundson:It's hysterical.
Matt Edmundson:Is it?
Claire Glare:Okay.
Claire Glare:Comedy
Matt Edmundson:Thing.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah, Alan Finnegan and Tom Grant do it.
Matt Edmundson:So Alan Finnegan, they're both church pastors.
Matt Edmundson:He's a stand up comedian as well.
Matt Edmundson:Tom's just really funny.
Matt Edmundson:And together the Banton, they have guests on and he's built a pub
Matt Edmundson:down the bottom of his garden.
Matt Edmundson:And so they interview guests.
Matt Edmundson:I've been on it.
Matt Edmundson:So you know, but apart from that, it's all right.
Matt Edmundson:Funny.
Matt Edmundson:Apart from the one week I was on, it's really funny.
Matt Edmundson:And so yeah they came round and I was telling them this story, or Sharon was
Matt Edmundson:telling the story that Cause they're like, how did you and Sharon meet?
Matt Edmundson:I said Sharon came to the Omega team, which was a year training team our
Matt Edmundson:church did back in, a long time ago.
Claire Glare:Did you do the Omega team?
Claire Glare:That was when I was doing Murder
Matt Edmundson:in the Dark.
Matt Edmundson:Oh, okay.
Matt Edmundson:So Sharon was on the, and I remember I remember just again, just as clear
Matt Edmundson:as day, I was stood there, I was doing some teaching for the new Omegas.
Matt Edmundson:And I'm doing this.
Matt Edmundson:And I'm talking about faith.
Matt Edmundson:It's the first time I've met half of them because, people and
Matt Edmundson:Sharon was on that team and had everybody introduce themselves.
Matt Edmundson:So I knew who they were and I was started doing this teaching.
Matt Edmundson:I think I was doing teaching on faith probably and didn't think anything of it.
Matt Edmundson:Just met everyone.
Matt Edmundson:Hey, how you doing?
Matt Edmundson:About 10- 15 minutes in the talk, just as sure as I heard God say anything to me.
Matt Edmundson:He said, see ya, you're going to go out with her.
Matt Edmundson:And I was like,
Claire Glare:Okay, what do I do
Matt Edmundson:with that?
Matt Edmundson:What am I supposed to do with that right now?
Matt Edmundson:And I just stood still for five minutes.
Matt Edmundson:Everyone thought I was nuts.
Matt Edmundson:Because I just didn't say anything for five minutes as I'm having this debate.
Matt Edmundson:And this prayer time with God going, thanks Lord, but I just, I don't
Matt Edmundson:know what to do, I don't know her, I don't, and so anyway that's did
Matt Edmundson:Sharon flutter her eyes at you?
Matt Edmundson:No, she just didn't have anything to do with me.
Matt Edmundson:You should ask Sharon the story.
Matt Edmundson:She's really funny.
Matt Edmundson:Cause when we were, when I was like, it was like 18 months later, I was
Matt Edmundson:like, right now I think it's the time.
Matt Edmundson:So I made my moves.
Matt Edmundson:Casanova here.
Matt Edmundson:Made my moves.
Matt Edmundson:Sharon was not impressed.
Matt Edmundson:She said she had three categories of people, three categories of men in her
Matt Edmundson:life, the ones that she was definitely not going to go out with, the ones
Matt Edmundson:where she was like, possible, and me.
Matt Edmundson:I was in a category all of my own.
Matt Edmundson:I don't quite know.
Claire Glare:Was that a positive or a negative?
Claire Glare:Do you not know?
Claire Glare:Don't know.
Claire Glare:Oh,
Matt Edmundson:still not got the answer.
Matt Edmundson:We got married, so I figured it was okay in the end.
Matt Edmundson:She still likes me, I think, on the whole.
Matt Edmundson:She does.
Matt Edmundson:So yeah, prayer that sort of conversational prayer, the big prayers.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Praying for your exams was a big one for me.
Matt Edmundson:Praying for my wife was a massive one.
Matt Edmundson:Some of those really big prayers, and I think part of the problem, I don't know if
Matt Edmundson:you're like me, Clare, but if I look back over life, when I was a young Christian,
Matt Edmundson:I was praying big prayers all the time.
Matt Edmundson:And I think as you go through life, it's easier to stop praying those prayers.
Claire Glare:But, is it?
Claire Glare:Because you're in business, you've got big prayers still to pray.
Claire Glare:Oh yeah.
Claire Glare:Our situation is very interesting,
Claire Glare:And it's a great way to it is, but it's a real justice situation and.
Claire Glare:And it on, and we're just clueless about it.
Claire Glare:The only hope is God.
Claire Glare:And and so they are big, but I think recently God has been challenging me to
Claire Glare:pray more about that because it's been 12 years going on this situation that
Claire Glare:me and my husband have got a legal.
Claire Glare:Battle thing.
Claire Glare:And and it is it's just to say
Matt Edmundson:the battle's not between them.
Claire Glare:No, we are in unity upon it.
Claire Glare:But it's and it's, not, we've not done anything wrong.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah, the FBI are investigating,
Claire Glare:Thing.
Claire Glare:And, but it's just.
Claire Glare:Actually, you have, and actually, even this morning, it's that birthing prayer,
Claire Glare:I think I was feeling again, and just, Oh, God, you that something has to break.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:And I think that prayer of breakthrough, actually, when you're, maybe about your
Claire Glare:kids as well, when you're praying about people that you love, and still haven't
Claire Glare:come to faith and, maybe for us with older parents in that season of life
Claire Glare:that I'm in, who knows when my parents are, I've still got my parents, but I
Claire Glare:don't know when that's going to change.
Claire Glare:And we are their link to Jesus, aren't we, our family.
Claire Glare:So they, and they are really important in prayers, aren't they?
Claire Glare:But I think sometimes we can de, we can make them not big, but that's
Claire Glare:just that, actually, no, it's not just that, it's really flipping important.
Claire Glare:Yeah, it is.
Claire Glare:But then also and we can't, we, it is, it would be a miracle for XYZ to happen.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:And so I think, but then I think it's speaking faith into those, isn't it?
Claire Glare:Yeah, it is.
Claire Glare:And and expectation.
Claire Glare:That, God's a God who loves us and that he wants to answer and he's able to answer
Claire Glare:and okay, we're just doing what we can do.
Claire Glare:Praying those prayers, being in the right place, turning up and trusting.
Claire Glare:Yeah,
Matt Edmundson:Super powerful.
Matt Edmundson:And especially if you tie this back into the topic of wholeness, which
Matt Edmundson:is this whole season, becoming whole.
Matt Edmundson:Prayer is one of those things where actually I don't understand how you
Matt Edmundson:can become whole without prayer.
Claire Glare:And I was thinking about this and my job I see a lot of people
Claire Glare:with really bad mental health, physical poor ill health, just their whole lives
Claire Glare:are wrecked and I often think, I know that actually Lots of scientific study
Claire Glare:has gone into the power of prayer.
Claire Glare:And that is actually the studies are Christian prayer, mostly because
Claire Glare:it's been funded by Western churches.
Claire Glare:And so it's not got that bias, but it is it's that history.
Claire Glare:And I think it's really it changes you, it makes you more resilient.
Claire Glare:It makes your, you more whole.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah, it does, totally.
Matt Edmundson:Nicola said she started praying in the mornings because life was tough.
Matt Edmundson:And I think sometimes we start praying when life's tough.
Matt Edmundson:And I think, God helps us out of things.
Matt Edmundson:God helps us quite often through things, sometimes.
Matt Edmundson:Sometimes He doesn't deliver us out of things.
Matt Edmundson:He delivers us through things, more often than not is my experience.
Matt Edmundson:And He's gracious in so many ways with that.
Matt Edmundson:And that, but that all comes to prayer, doesn't it?
Matt Edmundson:And it's like Understanding if I'm fearful, God, going to God
Matt Edmundson:in praying and God what is it?
Matt Edmundson:Why am I fearful?
Matt Edmundson:What's making me fearful?
Matt Edmundson:Help me get to the bottom of this, and digging through a lot of these
Matt Edmundson:things with God, I think is just.
Matt Edmundson:It's away the future really.
Matt Edmundson:I'm aware of time.
Claire Glare:I'm not, I've I have no clue.
Claire Glare:It's 10 past
Matt Edmundson:seven, eight o'clock.
Matt Edmundson:How do you know the time?
Matt Edmundson:Because it's in the top corner of the screen.
Matt Edmundson:Hidden from where I am.
Matt Edmundson:But yes, we have, we run over.
Matt Edmundson:We started late, didn't we?
Matt Edmundson:We started very late.
Matt Edmundson:So I think we're probably on about time.
Matt Edmundson:So thank you for bearing with us, everybody.
Matt Edmundson:Next week we are talking about,
Claire Glare:I
Matt Edmundson:have no idea.
Matt Edmundson:I'm not you, Jack, I told you earlier.
Matt Edmundson:Dave Conns doing it.
Matt Edmundson:Fasting.
Matt Edmundson:Yes.
Matt Edmundson:Yes.
Claire Glare:Remembered.
Matt Edmundson:Claire's panicking.
Matt Edmundson:So yeah, I've got Dave Conn talking about fasting and what's
Matt Edmundson:fasting got to do with being whole.
Matt Edmundson:It's Matt, you're talking about becoming whole.
Matt Edmundson:You started off with prayer and fasting.
Matt Edmundson:And
Claire Glare:you don't shrink when you fast either.
Claire Glare:I think, from my own experience in the past.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah, it says.
Matt Edmundson:You become a different kind of whole, maybe, I don't know promote What's
Matt Edmundson:The Story, Yes, and midweek Zoom.
Matt Edmundson:, let me tell you about What's The Story podcast.
Matt Edmundson:If you haven't done so already, make sure you subscribe to What's The Story
Matt Edmundson:which is a podcast we put out where we talk to people about their stories,
Matt Edmundson:about how they became a Christian, what challenges they've had to face
Matt Edmundson:in life and all that kind of stuff.
Matt Edmundson:Just done one with Kristen who's just published a new book and you talk
Matt Edmundson:about coming from a broken family.
Matt Edmundson:Oh Lord, her story is heartbreaking in many ways, but God's done
Matt Edmundson:some amazing stuff in her.
Matt Edmundson:So the author of Legacy Changer.
Matt Edmundson:So do check that out.
Matt Edmundson:That's now available on What's The Story.
Matt Edmundson:And there are other ones as well.
Matt Edmundson:Loads of stories on there.
Matt Edmundson:Got lots of stories coming up as well, which is great.
Matt Edmundson:So do check that out.
Matt Edmundson:What's The Story podcast.
Matt Edmundson:Make sure you subscribe to the live stream.
Matt Edmundson:Do come join us live if you're watching on catch up.
Matt Edmundson:Or you're listening to the podcast, it always great to see you.
Matt Edmundson:Always great to have the comments and the banter in the podcast in the
Claire Glare:stream.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Chat.
Matt Edmundson:I start in the chat.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah, in the chat.
Matt Edmundson:It's always nice to have your comments in the chat.
Matt Edmundson:Just come and make fun of Matt Crew because he's normally making fun of me.
Matt Edmundson:Come and make fun of him because frankly, why not?
Matt Edmundson:It's a sport.
Matt Edmundson:We do banter as well, by the way.
Matt Edmundson:So yeah, next week, Dave talking about fasting.
Matt Edmundson:Check out what's the story.
Matt Edmundson:And if you'd like to join our midweek community groups,
Matt Edmundson:we'd love to see you in them.
Matt Edmundson:We've normally Wednesdays but obviously it can fit around different people.
Matt Edmundson:So we can set up different groups if people are interested, but do
Matt Edmundson:reach out to us at Crowd Church.
Matt Edmundson:Put a little website link on the web, on the screen there.
Matt Edmundson:Oh,
Claire Glare:I like that little touch of a button.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:Got a little thing that he touched.
Matt Edmundson:And it did that.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah, that's cool.
Matt Edmundson:Amazing.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Reach out to us at www.
Matt Edmundson:crowd.
Matt Edmundson:church.
Matt Edmundson:Or on social media at Crowd Church.
Matt Edmundson:And we would love to send you those details.
Matt Edmundson:It'd be great to see you in the community groups as well.
Matt Edmundson:We're going to be talking a lot more about community as we go through
Matt Edmundson:this whole series of Becoming Whole For Reasons, which will be.
Matt Edmundson:Hopefully medium, the obvious.
Matt Edmundson:So we're going to be getting into that whole topic a lot more soon as well.
Matt Edmundson:So yeah, do stick with us.
Matt Edmundson:Thanks again for sticking with us during the technical issues and whichever
Matt Edmundson:live stream you are watching tonight.
Matt Edmundson:Thank you for being with us.
Matt Edmundson:All the comments, I think most of the comments seem to.
Matt Edmundson:If you have actually put in comments and we've not seen them or responded to them.
Matt Edmundson:It may well be they've not come through to our system because it's
Matt Edmundson:just a live stream somewhere that the system doesn't know about.
Matt Edmundson:You're out in the ether somewhere.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah, it's my fault though.
Matt Edmundson:So hopefully next week, we'll get it together.
Matt Edmundson:I'll get a USB hub that actually works and doesn't crash the live
Matt Edmundson:stream because frankly, that's quite disappointing as well.
Matt Edmundson:Cost 50 quid that USB hub.
Matt Edmundson:That thing.
Matt Edmundson:Yeah.
Matt Edmundson:Take issues, man.
Matt Edmundson:So yeah, thanks for sticking with us.
Matt Edmundson:Really appreciate it.
Matt Edmundson:Have a blessed week.
Matt Edmundson:Anything else you want to say before we sign off?
Claire Glare:All good.
Claire Glare:All good.
Claire Glare:I think we
Matt Edmundson:should just pray.
Matt Edmundson:Oh yeah, let's do that.
Matt Edmundson:Shall we pray?
Claire Glare:Talk about prayer.
Claire Glare:Shall we pray?
Claire Glare:God, we love you.
Claire Glare:We thank you for our time.
Claire Glare:We yeah, we pray that as we reach out to you and turn our faces towards you,
Claire Glare:we would see your beautiful face and we would hear your voice saying, I love you.
Claire Glare:And this is the way walking it.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:Yeah.
Claire Glare:Amen.
Matt Edmundson:Amen.
Matt Edmundson:Well done for that.
Matt Edmundson:It's all right.
Matt Edmundson:I can't believe we just did this whole conversation about prayer.
Matt Edmundson:I didn't even think about praying.
Matt Edmundson:It's all right.
Claire Glare:I did think about it earlier.
Claire Glare:There we go.
Claire Glare:I'm supposed.
Matt Edmundson:And on that bombshell, have a great week, God bless you I'm
Matt Edmundson:going to press, what button am I pressing?
Matt Edmundson:That one.
Matt Edmundson:I'm going to press this button.
Matt Edmundson:We'll see you next week.
Matt Edmundson:Bye for now.
Matt Edmundson:Thank you so much for joining us here on Crowd Church.
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Matt Edmundson:the Christian faith, and also how to connect into our church community.
Matt Edmundson:It has been Awesome to connect with you and you are awesome.
Matt Edmundson:It's just a burden you have to bear and hopefully we'll see you next time.
Matt Edmundson:That's it from us.
Matt Edmundson:God bless you.
Matt Edmundson:Bye for now.