Jul 13 – The focus of this week’s prayer letter is on Keeping Our Soul in Good Spiritual Health linked to the sermon on Sunday morning 12 July.
Father, we pray for genuine encounters with Your Spirit, for many to experience Your power, presence and peace, for Your light to overcome any residual darkness in our lives, and for our lives to be salt and light pointing the world to Christ. We ask for a breaking down of that which is a barrier in our lives to a genuine connection with Your Son. May true, lasting and open connections be established which enable each of us to be good stewards of our own souls.
Your Son is always open to receive the one who comes to Him in faith – we confess we are not always open to Him, His ways and His will. We ask for the mercy, grace, biblical understanding and godly wisdom to become the people You are calling us to be – good stewards of our own souls. May these prayers this week be a catalyst for renewed commitment to Christ, His cause and church, and an aid to our spiritual growth. In Jesus’ name. Amen
Jul 14 – Father, we pray about the connections between us in Church. Where there are relationships which are hard, damaged or dysfunctional; where there is self-seeking, self-promotion, self-loathing or self-doubt – bring these to the surface and equip our Church to be able to redemptively deal with them.
Instead of disconnection – may there be a true unity of the Spirit. May Your agape love be the cement that binds us together; and may Your Kingdom’s essence of mercy, grace, favour, presence and truth be present in every person and every ministry of our Church. Where these are already flowing – thank You, and may these areas grow even stronger in Christ. Where these are not yet flowing as they should – remove the blockages; guide each of us to a point of spiritual break through into a new season of spiritual life and vitality. In Jesus’ name. Amen
Jul 15 – Father, this week, as we consider keeping our souls in good spiritual health – we recognise the need to model authenticity, authenticity in our dealings with others, in our expression of Your values and nature through how we live, and in how we seek to follow Jesus. Your beloved Son was the true, authentic and eternal Son of God – we declare and stand on these truths about Him.
Everywhere Christ went He modelled these attributes so that people knew they were encountering the divinely inspired ministry of God’s servant and prophet. Those who were saved then became aware, by revelation from Your Spirit, that He was and is the eternal Son of God, the Saviour of the world. As we consider our souls, and how to be authentic models of Christianity – we ask for Your Spirit’s presence to fill our lives, His power to enable us to be all You call us to be, and revelation through Your Word to sanctify / set us apart so that others are drawn to the eternal Son of God through our witness and example. In Jesus’ name. Amen
Jul 16 – Father, help us to establish in our lives the principles of biblical servanthood revealed in Your Word:
1. We ask that we may know what these are – centred on the example of Christ.
2. That the freedom this lifestyle brings will be clearly understood as good for our souls and part of Your will for our lives.
3. That Satan’s attempts to link biblical servanthood and stewardship with human slavery, legalism and destructive bondage will be exposed and overthrown. As a result we will then be able to differentiate between man’s inhumanity and sinful dealings with other people, and Your blessed, wonderful and gracious call to follow the example of Christ who did not come to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.
4. That Your Spirit will supply the grace needed to commit to this lifestyle.
5. That our church will be equipped to teach, model and equip many with these principles which are good for their souls.
6. That Your agape love will be at the heart of our pattern of biblical servanthood.
Where we are tempted to use servanthood as a tool to gain recognition or credit or for false humility, enable us to stand firm in Your truth; where we are already doing these things – forgive, cleanse and restore us.
May our lives be a wonderful pattern of biblical servanthood which others can recognise so they too can seek to become servants of Christ. As this is the case – then this is good for our souls and enables us to live out Your Kingdom’s values, principles and authority. In Jesus’ name. Amen
Jul 17 – Father, You call us to be good stewards of our time, finances, talents, relationships and giftings. We know this is only possible if our inner life is spiritually healthy. We confess it can be possible to be really good stewards of our finances but poor stewards of our time or relationships. To be dedicated stewards of our talents but not to really know what our spiritual gift/s are. We ask for Your provision in order to be dedicated to the cause of Christ – committed in giving of our talents, time and treasure to you, and in becoming a more rounded, whole, follower of Christ.
Your Word is clear that each of these areas is important to You. You also make it clear that what You require of us is love, faithfulness, obedience and devotion. You clearly state that we are also accountable both in this life, and will be before Your throne on the Day of Judgement. As we reflect upon these truths – it makes us more committed to take up our cross daily and wholeheartedly follow Christ.
Considering that we will give an account to Christ for how we have used our 1. talents, 2. time, 3. treasure, 4. gifting/s, and how we have 5. loved others – we pray for our church to be effective at drawing many to Christ, into Christ, becoming disciples following Christ, witnesses for Christ, and spiritual giants who make many new disciples.
Spiritual poverty is a terrible affliction, but sometimes we acknowledge that we have impoverished our own souls by not following biblical stewardship principles in these areas. May Your Spirit reveal to us if this is the case – especially if in any of these five areas we are falling short of Your standard. May Telford Elim be recognised as a place where excellent biblical stewardship is taught, embraced, practiced, and modelled. In Jesus’ name and for His glory. Amen
Jul 18 – Father, we acknowledge the benefits of co-ordination between the different ministries in the church. We pray for the ongoing development of our coherent vision, mission statement and strategy for making disciples, growing the church and reaching the communities with the Gospel. May each person and each ministry within the Church be Kingdom focussed, ‘fit for purpose’ in equipping each of us to guard our souls, feed our souls good soul-food, and live faith-filled lives.
Where anyone, or a ministry, has been struggling to clearly understand his or her place in the overall vision of our Church – may clarity, understanding and revelation be given. We acknowledge the importance of relationships between each person and each ministry; we also pray that where any person or ministry feels isolated or neglected – this will be recognised and proper steps taken to address the issue. We pray for wholeness and the unity of the Spirit for every person and every ministry in the church.
As we continue to battle the four great opponents: sin, self, Satan and the world, as they seek to invade our souls and bring darkness and fleshy, carnal ways, Satan seeking to gain a destructive foothold – may truth, righteousness, Your word and the Spirit’s power be our shield and strength. May Your Spirit’s power flow through Telford Elim bringing a godly focus and Cross-centred victories to multitudes of men, women, young people and children. In Jesus’ name. Amen
Jul 19 – Father, may the Church as a whole take ownership of any issues that need addressing – issues related to Proverbs 4 about guarding our spiritual lives; namely, guarding our souls: what flows out of it determines the course our lives will take; the words we speak, our tongue, impacts our spiritual strength and health; eyes looking straight ahead: we need singleness of purpose in following Christ; our feet on the straight pathway: focussed on staying on the narrow pathway following Christ in this world.
It can happen that many think they can do nothing about their own soul’s health – that it is Your problem or that they are not equipped to look after their inner lives; whereas, Your Word is clear that the health of our soul is our responsibility because You give us the resources we need to feed and look after them well. Ultimately, what we sow into our lives we will reap a harvest from, good things and good fruit will come – evil, dark things and the fruit will be carnal, destructive and worldly focussed.
If anyone in, or connected to, our church in Telford, or wider afield joining us online, is overwhelmed and their soul is in pour spiritual health – it affects their whole person: body, soul and spirit. Not caring for our souls means we lose spiritual energy and vitality, are more prone to poor physical, mental and relationship health. We ask that everyone in the Church, in person or online, will be able to begin to really care for their own souls.
We pray for the spiritual health and well-being of everyone – our children, young people, young adults, women and men. You place mature believers in a church as vitally important cogs who are dedicated workers, committed teachers and gifted ministry practitioners to teach, model and assist others to become spiritually healthier.
It is vitally important to pray for each person, encourage each one in the ways of Christ, and support them in the pathway of life, especially in ‘whole-life discipleship.’ Lord, if there is anyone on our mind at this moment – we pray for them…
Where we are in lack or in deficit as a Church, in these areas – may redemptive pathways be created which lead us to fit for purpose, effective and fruitful ministry and spiritual development in each person’s life – in person, online and in the wider communities. Save, heal, cleanse and renew Telford & Wrekin, Shropshire, our nation, and the nations we represent. In Jesus’ name. Amen
