Jan 15 – Father, many of us live with the expectation that we will be better people in two year’s time. However, without changing how we think, do and say today – we will not create a better tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s change requires today’s action. This is where many fall down and end up living with a flickering hope but without any tangible evidence of change. I pray for all in our church, and true believers in our borough and county, to step into a new level of faith and obedience.
May there be a spiritual awakening to the truth contained in this spiritual principle leading to a radical shift forward in the actual godliness and holiness that underpin a true, biblical living hope. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Jan 16 – Father, in order to have Living Hope, we need to be inextricably and completely united in relationship with Your Son. Peter says that we have this hope by being born again.
We pray for more and more people to be born again through the Spirit-empowered witness of Telford Elim, its people and ministries.
Your Holy Spirit makes salvation happen – Your Spirit and word working in perfect harmony bring about new life in Christ. This Living Hope ensures that we have an inheritance that cannot rust, fade away or be stolen. It is reserved in Heaven for us.
We can live in the firstfruits of this amazing future today by living, abiding in and serving Your Son – what an amazing Living Hope He is.
I pray for unsaved loved ones, family, friends, neighbours, work and school/college colleagues – may Your Spirit move mightily in their lives convicting them of their present perilous state, giving them the revelation of Jesus as their only hope for salvation, and pointing them to repentance and belief into Jesus.
May the possibilities of an amazing life full of hope fill more and more people as they follow Jesus, and be the portion of many through Telford Elim, its people and ministries. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Jan 17 – Father, Paul told Timothy to ‘do the work of an evangelist’ in the context of ‘preaching the Word…convincing, exhorting, rebuking when necessary, and fulfilling the ministry’ (2 Timothy 4:1-5).
This exhortation to Timothy, was to evangelize and convince, encourage believers in their walk with Your Son, and to rebuke those patterns of behaviour, thinking and reacting which reflected badly on His name.
Oh Lord, that all pastors would ‘do the work of an evangelist’ as well as focussing on ‘feeding Your sheep,’ and establishing Your Kingdom in this Borough and County. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Jan 18 – Father, a key element in ‘feeding the flock’ is presenting the Gospel so clearly and faithfully that every member would be equipped to minister and share Your love and the message about Your Son effectively wherever they go.
Thank You that Your Spirit emphasised this idea also, through Paul, in Ephesians 4, ‘equipping the saints for the work of the ministry.’
This teaching and equipping focus energises and gives the confidence to us, Your people here in Telford Elim, to think that we too can witness effectively and fruitfully about Jesus to our loved ones, neighbours, school friends and work colleagues.
Empower us to be effective witnesses who witness out of the spiritual renewal taking place within our church. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Jan 19 – Lord God, Acts 1:8 gives another rendition of the Great Commission. Your Son’s words, ‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth’ speak of a powerful Spirit anointed enduement which is still for us today.
The ‘you’ was all of Your apostles, and all of the church. This is demonstrated in the way that the 7 additional men were chosen to serve as deacons, and these also must have been deeply involved in the ministry releasing the apostles to focus more on the ministry they were called to since the very next verse says, ‘then the Word of God spread, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem multiplied [a lovely phrase Father] greatly in Jerusalem’ (Acts 6:5-8).
It includes all the people of the church because it says that ‘they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness’ in Acts 4:31b. I accept this as for me and each one of us in our church – fill me in the same way, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Jan 20 – Father, as we reflect on the early church and its spiritual life and energy as portrayed in Acts, Your ‘Spirit-filled and empowered to be witnesses to Jesus’ church, we are inspired to pray for the same for us today.
Thank You that unknown to the Jerusalem believers, some of those who had come from other places to Jerusalem at Pentecost had also believed when they heard the Gospel being preached accompanied by the miraculous ministry of Peter and the Jerusalem church, and returned home with the same burning desire and zeal to bear witness to Your Son. Thank You.
It encourages us. These people were also seeing results in their homes, communities and regions outside of Jerusalem. The people we are reaching who are hearing of Jesus’ love and saving grace online, will be transformed as You save and work within, and they, then transforming others as a result.
Thank You for the incidental, to us, works of Your Spirit that takes place in the house, online, and through the witness, ministry/service and love of Your people out in their worlds. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Jan 21 – Father, we see that the early Jerusalem church started to get comfortable and settled into a pattern of only reaching people in Jerusalem. You started moving the church out of Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria, by allowing persecution and hardship to really affect them after Stephen’s martyrdom.
As a result, ‘they (the believers) were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles’ (Acts 8:1). Acts 8:4 adds this bit of insight: ‘Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching – ‘sharing’ – Your Word.’
Thank You that there is no hint that only certain gifted ones did the preaching, all of them did it. We acknowledge that the Church in general is facing hard days, but take courage that this hardship and frustration will lead to future spiritual growth, and the advancement of the Gospel witness to Jesus. Amen.
