Week of Prayer & Fasting - ‘Be still and know…’ (Psalm 46:10)
“Be still, and know that I am God.” – Psalm 46:10
As we come to the end of our Week of Prayer and Fasting, I want to invite you to take a deep breath — and simply be still with Jesus.
This week we’ve been practicing breathing in God’s presence and breathing out His love. We’ve taken focused time through fasting and rhythms of prayer to draw close to Him allowing His Spirit to realign our hearts with His purposes. Today, on this final day, the invitation is to rest — to put down any remaining striving or straining, to drop all pretence of trying to twist God’s arm, and to surrender to God’s love, remembering that He is God (and I am not!)
It’s easy to fill every moment with activity – even good things we’re doing for God. But often, the deepest work He does in us happens when we slow down enough to simply be with Him. When we stop long enough to listen, to rest, to be with him. That’s when we’re reminded that we’re not holding everything together after all — He is!
Maybe this week has been full of powerful moments with God. Or maybe it’s been tough, and you’ve felt hungry not just physically but spiritually too. Wherever you find yourself, today you don’t need to perform or prove anything. Just bring the truth of what it’s been like for you, and how you feel, and what you’ve thought to him in prayer once more. Physically breathe out all that’s been going on in your week before him. Hold your breathe out for long enough to read our verse for today: “Be still, and know that I am God.” – Psalm 46:10.
Now breathe in again! As the air enters your lungs, consider all that he wants to give you – his life, his love, his goodness, his peace – his presence. Welcome his breath into your lungs. Allow Him to help you know that He is God.
Repeat this slowly a few times as you fully consider all that’s been happening in your/our week.
Psalm 46 concludes:
He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.’
The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Tonight (Friday 10th October 2025) we’ll be gathering across our mainland sites — Bracknell, Farnborough, and Windsor — for times of sung worship and prayer as we bring our week to a close. These will be powerful moments to come together as a church family to exalt God among our site communities. We’ll sing our worship, we’ll speak out our thanks, we’ll ask for his will to be done in the earth, as it is in heaven, and to listen further for what He might want to say to us as we step forward from this week. He is with us! He is our fortress!
If you can, I really want to encourage you to come along in person. There’s something special about being in the room together — about lifting our voices, praying as one, and celebrating all that God has been doing among us this week. You can find the details for your site on the What’s On page of our website.
Let’s Pray…
As we finish this week of prayer and fasting, let’s make space to pause and pray one last time.
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for all that You’ve been doing in us and among us this week.
Help us to continue this rhythm of breathing in Your presence, and breathing out Your love into every people group we encounter. We pray you’ll do this through us in our families, our friendships, our colleagues & classmates, our neighours & neighbourhoods and wherever else you send us.
Remind us every day to be still with you first. To trust You, to listen for Your voice, and to walk in step with Your Spirit.
May our prayers then overflow into loving action, so others come to know more of you through us.
We ask this for your glory, trusting in the name of your Son, Jesus, and in the power of your Spirit,
Amen.
Today’s devotional was written by Ben Oliver.