Please pray for the week long evangelistic mission to Blackpool that commences this weekend. Local missionaries, Keith & Jenny Raby, with the support of key church groups, have spent many months preparing a full programme of events that include a week long School of Evangelism & Discipleship, evening seminars on missions and evangelism, along with numerous outreach initiatives for the local community.
Please pray for spiritual protection over the team as they set out to serve the community of Blackpool and the Fylde Coast. Pray for the non-Christians that will hear the Gospel during the course of the week, as well as for the Christians that will receive extensive training in practical evangelism. Pray that this mission week would help to build vital momentum in the task of spreading the Good News of the Gospel to the 147,677 people that populate Blackpool and the Fylde Coast.
Thank you.
Blackpool Tower “Walk of Faith”
One of the biggest attractions in the resort is the Blackpool Tower, which was built in 1894 and stands at an incredible 518ft tall. The revamped tower also sports a “Walk of Faith” glass floor. Constructed to give people the illusion of walking on air, “The Walk of Faith” looks straight down to the Blackpool Promenade 380ft below the gallery, originally placed at the top in 1998.
So many photographs show the anxious expressions of visitors as they brave walking across the invisible platform. One Associated Press photograph showed a woman at the edge of the walkway, fists clenched against her face, trying to summon the courage to take a step. She had been told the platform was safe, but she was still afraid.
In so many ways this is true of life, because sometimes we feel that way about our circumstances. Perhaps a serious health problem, or an apparent unanswered prayer, or simply the unknown has caused us to question the power and the presence of God.
That is why it is encouraging to note that the Apostle Paul’s familiar words “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7) occur in his discussion about being “absent from the body and . . . present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). He used a powerful metaphor, calling our body an earthly house that’s being destroyed, yet he said we have a heavenly building made by God. He spoke of groaning in our earthly frailty and longing for our heavenly home. He concluded that no matter what circumstances we face, we should make it our goal to please the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:9).
Our walk of faith can indeed be challenging and sometimes very scary, however because God is powerful and present, we are able to step out in confidence this day and every day. Surely, it is far better to walk with God by faith than to go alone by sight.
Perhaps you can visit the Blackpool Tower some time!
2 Corinthians 5:1-11
Awaiting the New Body
5 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
The Ministry of Reconciliation
11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.