Over the next few months we will be linking the prayer focus to the gardens we are creating at the church.

The first garden was the  HOPE one that we created as part of an outreach back into the community after the covid restrictions. It requires new bedding plants each year and tidying up, watering and weeding.   Just like our prayer life it needs care and refreshment. If we leave the garden weeds to grow and likewise in our prayer life, we can start to let other things get in the way. So it needs nourishment and new injections of inspiration from things we learn at church and read in scripture.

The following verse will be our inspiration

Romans 12 v12
‘Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer.’

We looked at joy in Oct 2020 and the Fruit of the Spirit in July and August 2021 so you may want to look back at some of the thoughts there or see what you have jotted down in your prayer journal.

Practically we can look at and appreciate or even help keep the church HOPE bed in good shape.

Prayerfully we can pray that people will see the large letters and seek hope through Christ and the living church they see in action. Pray it inspires people to seek God.

The anchor is a Christian symbol of hope and steadfastness. The source for this symbol is Hebrews 6:19, Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. Anchors are found in many inscriptions in the catacombs of Rome. They were also often carved on old Christian gems.

Here are some verses that may help you to meditate on this idea of hope

• Psalm 62 v 5-6
• Psalm 47 v 11
• Psalm 16 v 9
• Romans 15 v 13
• Romans 8 v 18
• Romans 15 v 4
• 1 Timothy 4 v10
• 1 Peter 5 v 10
• Colossians 3 v 1-3
• Revelation 21 v 4
• Lamentations 3 v21-23
• Deuteronomy 31 v 6
• Proverbs 23 v 18
• Isaiah 40 v 31
• Jeremiah 17 v 7
• Jeremiah 29 v 11