Day 36 – Make Us One

“…that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:21)

The church is fractured in so many ways.  And at the same time there are many who are working together for the sake of the Kingdom in incredible ways.

Let’s continue to pray wholeheartedly that we each will take personal responsibility to be the answer to Jesus’ prayer in John 17 … that His followers would be one.

We pray for Christians and churches to work toward fulfilling Jesus’ prayer together.  Pray that we would truly be co-workers with God to change lives for eternity.

Let’s join all creation and pray for the joy of Christ’s kingdom to erupt in celebrations of grateful praise among every people… He deserves our highest praise!

We must pray for God’s people to work wisely.  We must trust God to work powerfully.

Only God can bring healing to our land.  Let us humble ourselves and pray, seek His face and turn from wicked ways.  In Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Day 35 – Open Our Ears

“…as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself ” (Acts 2:39)

Our ears need to be opened so that we will hear God’s call.

Pray that God would call many to Himself who will call on Him to be saved !!!!!

Let’s pray for the Lord to open the hearts & ears of all in your area to Himself !!!!!

Let’s pray that every ethnic group in our area would come to know Jesus as Lord !!!!!

Day 34 – The Lord Adds Daily

“the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47)

What did the first Christians do?

They devoted themselves to the apostles doctrine, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  The people were generous with their possessions and they worshiped the Lord daily.

God blessed their passion for Him and added to the church daily those who were being saved.

In many ways individual congregations have strayed from these four devotions in our day and time.  We would do well to return to these 4 practices and the passion of the first church toward generosity.

Let’s pray that our area will experience a lasting transforming Spiritual Awakening by the mighty hand of God

Let’s pray for Christ to move so powerfully and clearly through His people that those watching will be ‘filled with awe.’ (Acts 2:43)

Let’s pray that the church will have ‘glad & sincere hearts’ (Acts 2:46)

Day 33 – The Promise

“For the promise is for you and your children…” (Acts 2:39)

The promise and the blessing on the day of Pentecost was that God desires to give His Spirit as a gift to all who will accept Jesus as Lord and Christ.  For the present generation, the next generation and all the generations yet to come.

Let’s pray today for the Holy Spirit to fill our lives, our homes, & our churches.  We need a fresh anointing for the next generation to rise up & forsake worldly ways.  We pray that they will turn their eyes upon Jesus and look fully into His face.  Then the things of this earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.

Take the time to pray that Christ will strengthen marriages and homes because they are seeking His will and His ways for godly living.

Most of the people who are in church right now made a commitment to Jesus when they were a child.  Pray for young people to follow Christ.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to fall upon them and they will give their lives wholly for Him … living for Him for a lifetime.

Lord, may we live lives that reflect the holy nature of Jesus.  Help us Lord to shine like lights in this sinful and corrupt generation.

Day 32 – Great Promises

Accept Jesus as Lord & Christ… be baptized in His name… for forgiveness & receive the gift Holy Spirit  –  Acts 2:38

The promises of God are abundant through His Word.  Paul says all the promises of God in Christ are YES.  And the apostle Peter says that through the promises of God we participate in godliness and escape the corruption that is in the world.

On this Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, the people were cut to the heart because they realized they were responsible for crucifying Jesus, the Son of God.  Peter gave them this wonderful promise: “Turn to the Lord – accept Him as Lord & Christ, be baptized in His name and God will forgive you and give you His Holy Spirit as a gift!  What a promise!  This promise is for them and for all who are far off.

Let’s pray for the Lord to give us all a driving desire for Jesus Christ.  To be zealous for Him.

Let’s pray for thousands of people to turn to the Lord in faith and obedience in our area.  May the baptistries bubble with joy as the people are turning to the Lord in faith!

As Peter and the other apostles preached the message of salvation in Jesus’ name powerfully, pray that pastors in our day will powerfully preach the risen Christ Jesus – there is no other name given under heaven by which we may be saved.

Let’s pray for church buildings to be filled with enthusiasm & the hope of our Lord.  That the believers will be filled with the Spirit and speak boldly for Jesus as we are out in the community.

Day 31- Deep Seated Conviction

“they were pierced to the heart… what shall we do?” Acts 2:37

The apostle Peter preached a powerful, Spirit-inspired message affirming that Jesus is The Christ, the Son of the Living God.  He declared their responsibility in having Jesus put to death on the cross.  They were personally responsible for having the Son of God crucified.  They were deeply convicted of their sin against God and asked the question, “What shall we do?”

That same conviction is needed today.  A deep realization of sin against God and turning to Him in repentance.  To be wholly committed to who Jesus is.  So let’s pray for this Spirit-led, Holy Spirit conviction of sin which will bring a complete turning toward the Lord.

Let’s pray for the presence of God to be made known in hearts and homes.  Let’s pray for believers to truly love The Lord with all their hearts, soul, & mind.

And let’s pray for someone who is walking in darkness to be drawn to the light of Jesus.

Day 30 – Spirit Inspiration

“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit” (Acts 2:17)

There are many stories of God speaking to people in their dreams.  Joseph, Daniel, & Joseph – the earthly father of Jesus.  There are stories in these last days of Jesus revealing Himself to certain individuals over a period of time leading to their conviction that Jesus is the Christ.  God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours and He can communicate anyway and anytime  that He wants to.

So let us pray and ask God to inspire Christians and be moved by the Spirit to be Bold & Loving Witnesses for Christ (Ac.4:31).  In Acts 4 the Spirit moved and shook the place where the Christian prayed and they went out and spoke the word of God boldly.  Do it again Lord.

Multiple millions of people are separated from God by their sin.  Ask The Lord to reveal Jesus to those in spiritual darkness.  

So many people are blinded by hate.  “Lord, open their eyes that they may see a glimpse of the truth that will change their eternity.

Pray that many souls will be given Spirit-inspired dreams to know Jesus for who He is – the Messiah, the Savior of the world.

Day 29 – Increase Zeal For The Lord

“you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, to declare the praises of Him who called you…” 1 Peter 2:9

You can visually see it when a sports team loves playing their sport.  You might say they have zeal!  They are zealous in how they play!  And their fans love it too – they catch on and cheer in very zealous ways as well.  Horns, signs, whistles, cheers, yells, etc…. They love their team and encourage them to be the best they can be.

On this fifth Sunday of the 2022 Bold Faith Initiative – let’s fervently cheer our fellow Christians to grow & mature to the full potential Christ has planned for them.  Declare God’s praises as the motivation.  We need to verbally encourage our brothers & sisters to walk by faith and not by sight.  Take the time to intentionally encourage someone today!

We pray that God’s encouragement to us will help us to encourage our fellow Christians to develop passion for encouraging the church.  We are called to be encouragers.

The Lord has given each one of us a gift for building up the church.  

Lord, help us to use the gifts and talents that You have given.  

Help us Lord to build up the church and to seek and save the lost.

God has ordained us a ministers to the world.  What a special privilege to make God look good as our special ministry.  Praise the Lord!

Day 28 – God, Move Powerfully

“They all met together and were constantly united in prayer” (Acts 1:14) 

The first believers gathered together (Acts 1) and prayed together because Jesus had instructed them to do so.  They needed to be together seeking The Lord.  The NEED has not changed for The Church to gather to pray.  The needs around us are great!

It seems odd, sad really, to need to ask Christians to pray this next request, but here it is:

Pray for God to draw Christians together in prayer with ‘one mind.’   Our individual congregations – the people in the church – need to support the leadership as they call for times of prayer.  Prayer meetings need to flourish with people praying – believing that God is going to answer our prayers.

Is there a severe lack of faith in God?  Not for forgiveness of sin but for the faith to believe and know that God desires for His people to pray.  Does the broader church not believe that corporate prayer really makes a difference?

We need to fervently pray for our hearts to blaze with love for Jesus Christ our Lord & King.  Love for His will and for His ways.  Lord, set our hearts on fire!

‘Pray without ceasing’ for God’s will to consume us (1 Th. 5:17)

And finally,

Thank God for moving in hearts & souls because we are praying. Thank God that He is answering our prayers as we seek Him!  Praise God for all the people that are sold out for Jesus!

Day 27 – Count Your Blessings

“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy ” (Jude 24)

There are many ways that we are blessed by God that we do not normally verbalize.  Could you take a few moments and Thank the Lord for 5 blessings in your life that would not be your normal ‘go-to’ blessings?  He definitely deserves our highest praise and an extra effort on our part to bless the Lord. 

Open My Eyes.  Ask the Lord to help you see the opportunity to bless someone this week.  Sometimes things happen by chance and there are those times when we take extra time and effort to let someone know how they have been a blessing to you.  Or perhaps you just want to commend them for serving the Lord in a special way.

Pray for the wisdom of the Lord to fill us in the coming days.  These words from James are very  clarifying at this time…

“If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. 

But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. 

But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.”   James 3:13-18 NLT

Bless The Lord from your heart today.