Silas
Beloved of All
We join you in praying for the leaders of the church and for the work God has called them to do. Your desire to see them grounded in prayer and in the Word, and then sent out to seek the lost and to strengthen the church, is right at the heart of what Scripture teaches.
We pray that those who shepherd and teach will give themselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. That devotion in private is the preparation for all public ministry, whether it is worship, sound teaching, correction from Scripture, preaching the gospel, or going into homes and into hospitals and prisons to visit and to share Christ. We ask God to keep them from giving offense that would hinder the gospel, and to give them boldness to preach repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, both to the many who already believe and to the one lost sheep who still needs to be found. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, and it is a trustworthy saying that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. There is great joy in heaven when even one is found.
We also pray with you for revival. God does not desire a half hearted devotion but wholehearted love and obedience. Only in the Lord is salvation, and to look for it elsewhere is vain. True revival comes when hearts turn fully to Him in repentance, and He restores and refreshes His people.
We thank God that salvation is entirely of His grace. It is outside our own ability and effort. God has placed it on the basis of His own work through Jesus Christ, whose very name means the Lord is salvation, for He saves His people from their sins. It is by grace through faith, not of ourselves and not of works, so that no one may boast. We are His workmanship, His poem, made beautiful by His grace. The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, open to whosoever will come, reaching even the lowest sinner. Jesus is the captain and originator of our salvation who through His suffering brings many sons into glory and makes us part of the family of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Himself as the cornerstone.
Because this salvation is so great, Scripture warns us not to neglect it and reminds us that now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. We pray that many will hear and receive it today, not passing by God's offer. Assurance comes not from our own striving but from discovering His grace, and those who hear the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, and believe are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.
We join you in praying for families and households. We do believe we should pray and trust God for the salvation of our loved ones. The example in Acts shows that the word of the Lord was spoken not only to the jailer but to all in his house, and they all believed and were baptized and rejoiced together. We pray that God will draw family members and visitors by His Spirit, that the Father will reveal Christ to them, that the Holy Spirit will convict and convert, open minds to understand the Scriptures, and give faith that comes by hearing the Word. We pray for a real hunger for the Word, like newborns desiring milk, and for the Spirit of revelation to make Christ known. We pray for protection from the evil one, and that all would come to repentance and to the knowledge of the truth, for God desires that none should perish.
We also pray for the fellowship of the church, that believers will not forsake assembling together but will continue daily in fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayer, proclaiming the Lord's death until He comes, and experiencing the presence of Christ as He builds His dwelling among His people. May God grant freedom to worship in spirit and in truth, with the anointing and teaching of the Holy Spirit who guides into all truth.
We ask all of this in the name of Jesus, trusting that when we ask according to His will He hears us.
We pray that those who shepherd and teach will give themselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. That devotion in private is the preparation for all public ministry, whether it is worship, sound teaching, correction from Scripture, preaching the gospel, or going into homes and into hospitals and prisons to visit and to share Christ. We ask God to keep them from giving offense that would hinder the gospel, and to give them boldness to preach repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, both to the many who already believe and to the one lost sheep who still needs to be found. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, and it is a trustworthy saying that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. There is great joy in heaven when even one is found.
We also pray with you for revival. God does not desire a half hearted devotion but wholehearted love and obedience. Only in the Lord is salvation, and to look for it elsewhere is vain. True revival comes when hearts turn fully to Him in repentance, and He restores and refreshes His people.
We thank God that salvation is entirely of His grace. It is outside our own ability and effort. God has placed it on the basis of His own work through Jesus Christ, whose very name means the Lord is salvation, for He saves His people from their sins. It is by grace through faith, not of ourselves and not of works, so that no one may boast. We are His workmanship, His poem, made beautiful by His grace. The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, open to whosoever will come, reaching even the lowest sinner. Jesus is the captain and originator of our salvation who through His suffering brings many sons into glory and makes us part of the family of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Himself as the cornerstone.
Because this salvation is so great, Scripture warns us not to neglect it and reminds us that now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. We pray that many will hear and receive it today, not passing by God's offer. Assurance comes not from our own striving but from discovering His grace, and those who hear the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, and believe are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.
We join you in praying for families and households. We do believe we should pray and trust God for the salvation of our loved ones. The example in Acts shows that the word of the Lord was spoken not only to the jailer but to all in his house, and they all believed and were baptized and rejoiced together. We pray that God will draw family members and visitors by His Spirit, that the Father will reveal Christ to them, that the Holy Spirit will convict and convert, open minds to understand the Scriptures, and give faith that comes by hearing the Word. We pray for a real hunger for the Word, like newborns desiring milk, and for the Spirit of revelation to make Christ known. We pray for protection from the evil one, and that all would come to repentance and to the knowledge of the truth, for God desires that none should perish.
We also pray for the fellowship of the church, that believers will not forsake assembling together but will continue daily in fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayer, proclaiming the Lord's death until He comes, and experiencing the presence of Christ as He builds His dwelling among His people. May God grant freedom to worship in spirit and in truth, with the anointing and teaching of the Holy Spirit who guides into all truth.
We ask all of this in the name of Jesus, trusting that when we ask according to His will He hears us.
