Pete Greig joining us this Sunday 30th March | 10am & 3pm | 950 Victoria St | No 5:30pm Gathering this week 

Prayer

Welcome to Gateway’s prayer page. We hope it will inspire, challenge and encourage you in your prayer journey.

Prayer During Lent

We are sharing reflective prayers in the lead up before Easter in our Gatherings together. If you missed them or want to revisit, you can re-read them here:

Peter's Prayer

Read Luke 22:54-62
 
“Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.” But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said. A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.”
“Man, I am not!” Peter replied. About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.” Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.”


Prayer:



Jesus, thank you for Peter. 

Help me to see that I too deny you in so many areas of my life, in so many ways, and at so many different times during the day.

When I am too busy to pray, I deny that you are the centre of my life.

When I neglect your Word, I deny that you are the competent to guide my life.

When I worry, I deny that you are Lord of my circumstances. 

When I turn my head from the hungry and the homeless, I deny that you are a God of mercy who has put me here to be your hands and your feet.

When I steal something from another person to enrich or enhance my life — whether that be something material or some credit that is rightly due another, which I have claimed for myself — I deny that you are the source of all blessings.

Forgive me, Jesus, for all those quiet ways, known only to you, that I have denied you.

Give me eyes to see and recognise what is in my heart and as I look into my Saviours eyes, help me to see the love and forgiveness that Peter saw.

Amen.

Pray with us

Every Wednesday in the Gateway Auditorium
Starting back up February 12th 2025

Can’t make the full session?
No worries, you can join us for the whole time or just part of it. Hope to see you there!

"Listening is a lost art in the human race…"

Many of us today find it difficult to hear the still, small voice of God because most of our prayer time is spent storming the gates of heaven with an endless barrage of noisy demands. We forget that prayer is a two-way street which not only enables us to speak to God, but also lets us hear the desire of His heart.

It is difficult to find silence in an age of technology and information. Silence challenges our cultural addiction to amusement, words, music, advertising, noise, alarms and voices. We find silence uncomfortable but there are occasions when it is good to sit down, ask nothing, and just listen. It is during those moments of solitude that we will begin to sense the heart of heaven. 

“There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven….a time to be silent and a time to speak” [Eccl.3:1,7]

“Know that it is by silence that the saints grew, that it was because of silence that the power of God dwelt in them, because of silence that the mysteries of God were known to them.” [Father Ammons]

Why is it that unless we have said something we often feel our time has been wasted?

Meditate on the following poem for a few minutes:

“Lord, I do not rush on. 
I do not hurry on into the noise.
I silence my whirring mind, my racing thoughts.
I close my eyes. 
I sit, I pause, I rest.
I stay here a moment in the quiet. 
I wait in silence for You only. 

There is no need to race on. 

Do I want anything, anyone else? 

In the prayer of quiet, we meet.”

For those who would question the validity of silence in prayer, be reminded that prayer is simply conversation with God, a two-way street. We talk and He listens, He talks and we listen, and sometimes we just sit together in silence. 

All of us know how frustrating it is when talking with someone and finding ourselves unable to get a word into the conversation; it is totally one-sided. I wonder if God ever feels like that!

There is an old Indian proverb that says “be quiet lest all your talking makes you deaf”.  

Maybe next time you come to pray you could spend time in silence - just listening. Who knows who and what you may hear…

Do you want to pray for Gateway but don’t know what to pray?

Pray that we would be a listening people.

“Speak Lord, for your servants are listening.” [1 Samuel 3:9]

How can we pray for you?

"The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with." - James 5:16 (MSG)

We have a team of people who regularly pray for our Gateway community, city & nation. If you would like prayer, please submit your prayer request below and someone will be praying for you this week!

If you would like to talk to our Pastoral Team, phone 021 318 663.

Prayer Book Recommendations

Prayer is our spiritual life breath. May it become a delight and never a chore, a joy and never drudgery and may we find ourselves gradually being transformed more and more into His likeness as we spend time in the quiet place of His presence.