Thank you for taking time to read this week's News, Village family and friends. I pray that you are looking for ways to increase your Christian fellowship and growth in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Since the beginning of The Village Church, prayer has been at our core. This is because, Biblically speaking, prayer should be at the core of every believer and every gathering of believers. Recently, the pastoral fellowship that I am a part of wrote down a list of things we were committing to pray for through the end of 2020. I liked this idea very much and so I brought it up at last week's midweek prayer meeting (which if you do not come to, you totally should!). Since then I have been praying for our church, reflecting on God's Word for our church, and paying careful attention to interactions within our church. Here is the list, not necessarily in order of importance, that has come out of that prayer, that time in the Word, and those interactions:
Seven Year End Prayers for The Village Church in 2020
Lord, we pray that you would increase devotion to your word, to prayer, to fellowship, and to unity within our church family (Acts 2:42).
Lord, we pray that you would bring spiritual growth and flourishing in each member of our church family (Ephesians 3:14-19).
Lord, we pray that you would bring true gospel-regeneration to the lost souls among us, especially our children (Romans 10:1).
Lord, we pray that you would help our gospel-witness to be faithful and effective in the community of Byron and beyond (1 Thessalonians 1:8).
Lord, we pray that you would help us to properly steward your provision for us (Romans 12:6-8).
Lord, we pray that you would cause us to have a greater concern for your glory and the gospel of Christ than for worldly comfort and satisfaction (Philippians 3:7-11).
Lord, we pray that you would raise up qualified, capable men to be elders within our church (Acts 1:24-25).
So there it is! I'm asking that we commit to pray over this list through the end of the year. I'm asking that we pray daily, weekly, publicly, privately, in small, or in large groups. I'm asking that we, as Philippians 4:6 instructs, "by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let [our] requests be made known to God." You may notice that every item has a Scripture reference with it. This is to help us pray with the right motives, not grounded in the will of man or human opinion, but grounded in God's Word so that God's desire for his people may be carried out in us, and that he may be glorified in our praying. I would encourage you to familiarize yourself with the Scriptures attached to these items and let the Word help you pray.
Along with this church-wide call to prayer, I would encourage you, as individuals and/or as families, to sit down and come up with a list of things to pray for in your own life/lives. I would encourage you to find examples in Scripture of where the things you are praying for are prayed for and/or encouraged by God's Word. Allow God's Word to support your prayers before him.
Grace & Peace,
John
(You can reach Pastor John at jwhite@thevillagemi.com)