Prayer Pointer
“Worship is intended to introduce God’s kingdom power throughout the church and extend that power through the church.” —Jack Hayford
Have you experienced this? His power comes as we gather and He inhabits our praise. Then that power fills us to overflowing and spills out our doors, through us to our neighbors and those God is sending us to minister to. How cool! Dwell in His love and receive a reloading of His power as we gather to worship and then prepare to go and overflow to others. That is revival! Pray into this. Expect this and look for the partners God is teaming you with. Then Go in His power to live and love more like Jesus! Amen!
Good Morning Powerful and Effective Praying Servants of God Almighty! Amen! There is so much God has put on my heart to share today and yet maybe the things I just shared are enough for you to meditate and pray into and activate as you go today! We are empowered and activated to bring God's will to life as we prepare and go with Jesus through this day and listen to and follow the Holy Spirit to His perfect plans for each of us and us together. Amen!
Today I may include some devotionals below, but God loves when you just open your heart, sit at His feet and commune! I want to remind you to be interceding and praying for our finance team as they begin the budgeting process. Pray they hear God and put together His budget and honor His plans to sow lavishly while being the best stewards. Pray for faith and wisdom to guide them. Thanks! May we all learn to deny self and not lean on our own understanding and to allow God to work and lead to His best plans! Amen!
Click this link and join together as we pray for five weeks and allow God to inform our prayers and direct our responses.
Prayer Challenge: https://harvestprayer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Five-Blessings-Brochure-2.pdf (I hope to add this to bulletin this week) We will be praying together and towards Christmas when people are more open to God and us. Who is God stirring you to bless and invite to join you? Start by praying and then follow God's lead. Include some time with Our Daily Bread (below) to help inform your thinking and praying and living sacrificially and sowing lavishly.
One last thing to pray about and act upon as God leads...The Christmas Giving and Blessing Challenge is back. How might God want to use you? One Sunday Dec 1st we will distribute envelopes with $50. in them to every adult in worship that signed up to be part of the challenge. The challenge is to use that $50. to go bless someone before Christmas and share you stories of what God did. There is a sign up sheet on the back bulletin board. You can add to this amount, partner with others or go it alone. God has a plan to send you and us to bless people this Christmas. We are blessed to be a blessing! And then we get blessed back by being one! I can't wait to hear the stories!!! The money for this comes from our treasury as a tithe for how much God has blessed us and to be used to sow His love and help. You can also opt for the church to use your $50. to give to the Kindness Project (they help foster families in the area) by checking that option on the sign up sheet. If you don't want to participate, don't sign the sheet but you will miss allowing God to use you to bless others and help our church to sow lavishly into the harvest. Pray about it. Ask God to show you His plans and to direct your blessings to share. Check out the Upper Room's teaching (below) about following God to His purposes for you. he does have great plans to bless through you as you work at living and loving sacrificially and lavishly more like Jesus! PTL! Who might you process this with?
Several times today Proverbs 3:5-6 has come up for Karen and me during our quiet times:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.
Yes meditate on that and surrender to God and His perfect, custom made plans just for you for such a time as this! I am praying for you and us and can't wait to heart those stories of how God will use our praying and giving challenges to bless you and many others and in turn bless our fellowship! God is on the move and we are becoming His dynamic movement! Let us commit to journey together to His best! Amen! We are powerful and effective because of Christ and he made you for His purposes for such a time as this. Focus on and Follow Him! Amen! Get used to different. God is doing a new thing! Can you perceive it? What will you do about it! Who are your partners? Seek first the Kingdom of God and He will add all kinds of things you need to complete your mission well! PTL!
ODB:
The state of Mizoram in northeast India is slowly climbing out of poverty. Despite their lack of income, since the gospel first came to this area, believers in Jesus have practiced a local tradition called “handful of rice.” Those preparing meals each day set aside a handful of uncooked rice and give it to the church. Mizoram churches, poor by the world’s standard, have given millions to missions and sent missionaries around the world. Many in their home state have come to Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul describes a similarly challenged church. Believers in Macedonia were poor, but that didn’t keep them from giving joyfully and abundantly (vv. 1-2). They saw their giving as a privilege and gave “even beyond their ability” (v. 3) to partner with Paul. They understood they were merely stewards of God’s resources. Giving was a way to show their trust in Him, who provides for all our needs.
Paul used the Macedonians to encourage the Corinthians to have the same approach to giving. The Corinthians excelled “in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in . . . love.” Now they needed to “excel in this grace of giving” (v. 7).
Like the Macedonians and the believers in Mizoram, we too can reflect our Father’s generosity by giving generously out of what we have.
By Matt Lucas
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Where have you witnessed sacrificial giving? How can you give generously in response to God’s generous giving to you?
Father, I pray for the Mizoram church as they continue to give generously to Your work.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
The churches of Macedonia (in northern Greece) were established during Paul’s second missionary journey and resulted from his response to a nighttime vision from God. A man begged him to “come over to Macedonia and help [them]” (Acts 16:9). Paul had just circumcised and recruited Timothy to help him in his missionary work (vv. 1-3). The apostle and his companions Silas and Timothy immediately left Troas and headed via ship to Macedonia to spread the gospel there. The first to be baptized in the Macedonian town of Philippi were Lydia and her household (vv. 12-15). Later, during Paul’s third missionary journey when he hoped to gather funds to help the poor believers in Jerusalem, the Macedonian church wholeheartedly and voluntarily contributed (2 Corinthians 8:1). Despite a “very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity” and “they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability” (vv. 2-3).
Alyson Kieda |
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Upper Room: God's Purpose
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