PRAYer aT Woodside Church
“God will do nothing but in answer to prayer”
John Wesley
“I have such a lot to do today, I shall have to pray three hours instead of two”
Martin Luther
Surveys have shown that three quarters of Britain’s sceptical and secular population admit to praying at least twice a week. There is no doubt that many of these prayers will be fired off in the vague hope that they will make a difference.
Here at Woodside, we place a high degree of importance on prayer because ultimately, prayer is about relationship. We are talking to God. He knows us by name; we are told we are welcome to come and speak to Him. We have no right in ourselves to come to God but we are able to do so through Jesus and in His name.
Jesus Himself prayed and He taught us to do the same. He said to his disciples ‘when you pray’ not ‘if’. His reason for doing so was that He knows that prayer not only changes us it also changes situations.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."
Matt 7:7-8
As the leader of Woodside Church I am regularly privileged to listen to people’s stories of how God has answered their prayers and many situations have been changed by God for the better.
 We strongly believe that prayer changes things. The Bible is full of examples where men and women prayed and God has heard them and He has answered them. We want to follow their example and be a people devoted to prayer who pray with faith and respond with obedience. It is very interesting to observe the instance when the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray. He teaches them to ask for God’s will to be done on the earth. Our constant prayer is for exactly that. We long to see God’s Kingdom touching the earth in such real ways that people’s lives are changed, and ultimately this town, nation and the nations are impacted with the Good news about Jesus Christ.
What dignity God gives to His Church, that through prayer we can enter into partnership with Him in such a way that we can change history.
“Prayer is essentially a partnership of the redeemed child of God working hand in hand with God toward the realisation of his redemptive purposes on earth.”
Jack Hayford
“God shapes the world by prayer. The more praying there is in the world, the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil… The prayers of God’s saints are the capital stock of heaven by which God carries on His great work upon earth. God conditions the very life and prosperity of His cause on prayer."
EM Bounds
“It will take violent dedication to prayer to bring the power of God into our lives. For power in prayer takes much time.”
David Yonggi Cho
To listen and learn more about prayer and its importance to us as a church, please listen to Sibs Sibanda who recently preached on this subject at Woodside Church.
Opportunities to Pray at Woodside Church
We meet altogether as a church on the first Wednesday of each month to pray for our church, our town and the nations. Everyone is welcome to join us.
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