13 Nov – The focus of this week’s daily prayers is on Wholeness in Christ.

Father, as we pray through this area this week, we acknowledge that each of us are at different stages in the process of maturing in Christian character, and in the use of our inherent talents and spiritual gifts.

We pray first about the key component to Christian wholeness – a full, open and healthy relationship with our Lord Jesus. I humble myself and seek Your grace and Spirit’s help as I pray for myself. I submit myself to a relationship health check-up.

Guide me through the process of examining myself (cf. 2 Corinthians 13:5), choosing to be patient taking the time to engage with You about the state of my relationship with Your Son. You call us to Christian maturity, Your will is our sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3). May Your will be done in my life. In Jesus’ name. Amen

14 Nov – Father, as I consider the wonder of being made whole in Christ – I give thanks and praise for the work of Your Spirit, word, prayer, fellowship, Your discipline, the trials of life, and testing and temptations which are all part of the process.

I recognise that it is a process, painful at times, during which You perform character, talent or spiritual gifting surgery. At one end is the pain of the refining process – at the other is the joy and spiritual strength of Christian maturity.

As we have begun this week by considering ourselves as individuals called to maturity in the faith, I give You thanks and praise for the work of grace and character development already accomplished in me. I am not the same self-orientated person I once was.

However, I acknowledge that it is easy to lose the ground already gained – if I do not keep in step with Your Spirit and continue to live a worshipful, serving, giving and witnessing life. So I reaffirm and declare my ongoing commitment to follow the Way of the Cross. In Jesus’ name and for His glory. Amen

Nov 15 – Father, as we begin to consider our church in this process, we now focus on the corporate aspects of wholeness.

First of all, we celebrate and give thanks that Your Spirit not only makes me an individual temple, but also inhabits our church corporately making it a temple.

Thinking of our church as a temple of the Spirit offering spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to You through our Lord Jesus (cf. 1 Peter 2:4-5), we pray for our church leadership team – may they continue to develop into even more wholeness in Christ.

As a team, bringing their different strengths and insights together, may they be well-formed, and properly functioning as they lead and work together determining the Spirit-led course for our church. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Nov 16 – Father, reflecting back to yesterday and the focus on our church as a temple of the Spirit – we pray for wholeness in Christ in every ministry of the Church.

Being part of a greater whole with each part of the whole working according to a coherent overall emphasis is a good, biblical way of doing ministry. You call us to the ministry of all believers – to live and pour out that which You are pouring into us by Your Spirit and word.

It is easy for a church to inadvertently have the different ministries in it sectioned off as a result of these being led by strong characters. Often these personalities will protect their own ministry not seeing themselves, nor the ministry they lead, as accountable to the church.

We pray for a strong ethos of accountability both to each other (cf. Ephesians 5:21), and to the Church leadership team (cf. Hebrews 13:17).

Lord, Your word is clear, submission and accountability to You are prerequisites to a vibrant spiritual life. ‘Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?’ (Hebrews 12:9). You discipline for our good and Your glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Nov 17 – Father, returning today to the theme of accountability as a key building block to wholeness in Christ, we pray for a true understanding of the nature and value of biblical submission and accountability.

Thank You that it is not based in the abuse of power over another, nor control, nor manipulation, nor coercion. If there are any such misconceptions present in our church, may Your truth replace them.

The biblical methods of correction when applied properly, sensitively, Scripturally, and with the aid and direction of Your Spirit – really do work. The extent of our accountability to each other is dependent on our level of accountability to You. May such a focus be at the forefront of all that we are and do as a church. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Nov 18 – Father, thinking again of the corporate wholeness of the Church, we pray today about another building block – hungering for the establishment of Your Kingdom and its righteousness (cf. Matt 6:33).

Without such a hunger, it is easy to lose the passion for worshipping, growing, serving, witnessing and giving together. Many struggle to flourish because of a limited appreciation of their own personal responsibility to draw upon the grace necessary to flourish, mature in character, and use their talents and spiritual giftings.

Therefore, we come and ask for the grace needed today to be whole in Christ and flourish as You intend. Forgive me when I have sought to mature as a believer without following the well-signed biblical pathway to success.

I pray for the further development in me, and us as a church in person and online, of a living, open, submissive and accountable, Spirit and Word-filled, prayerful Christian inner life. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Nov 19 – Father, as we begin this new week praying for ‘life in all its fullness,’ may the wonder of such a well-lived life in Jesus grab our hearts and minds, and fire our imaginations.

May it become a shared faith vision of the church. Your Son promised that in Him there would be life abundant, a rich and satisfying life. We ask for such a life to be the norm for each person in our church.

May our church be filled with such people, and may the atmosphere and ethos of the church as a whole reflect such a passionate, Christ-focussed life. In Jesus’ name. Amen