“The church is a hospital—a place where sick, broken, wounded, flawed people are made new by Jesus.” ― John Mark Comer
Join us in prayer as we come together this new year asking for renewal and thanking Christ for new mercies each day. Click the image below to download and print the January Prayer Guide, as we celebrate how God is working in and among our congregations.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:1-2
Have you ever been at the end of flight, airport in sight, and then instead of descending to land, the plane begins to fly in circles? The repetition of a flight path is called a “holding pattern”. When we are not present and intentional in our daily lives, we can fall into holding patterns of our own. Small and seemingly insignificant habits can seem harmless, but over time our habits form our life. For example, trading out 30 minutes of TV time each day for a walk can drastically improve our health. This same principle applies to our spiritual life.
It is easy for the values and lifestyle of the world around us to shape us; shifting the focus of our identity from a beloved child who belongs to God, to comparing ourselves to the people around us and where we fall in the hierarchy of society. The transformation starts not with our behavior but by presenting ourselves before our merciful Father. As we experience being held by our gracious God, holding patterns are broken and we are transformed. He renews our minds and reveals the way forward. Take some time in worship today, presenting yourself before the Lord in worship. May he renew your mind and show you his perfect will for the patterns in your life.
Prayer:
Gracious God, thank you for loving me into who you made me to be.
Reveal the patterns in my life that are shaping me to reflect the world instead of you.
Transform me by renewing my mind by your Spirit. In my mind and life, may you be glorified.
By Michelle Fleming
Psalm 70: Be pleased, O God, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me! 2 Let those be put to shame and confusion who seek my life. Let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire to hurt me. 3 Let those who say, “Aha, Aha!” turn back because of their shame. 4 Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. Let those who love your salvation say evermore, “God is great!” 5 But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay!
Psalm 70 is one of those Psalms that expresses a longing for God to act. It’s an urgent prayer for help. It expresses a feeling of being short on time and long on need. In a few short words it expresses a plethora of feelings.
There are many moments in the life of every Christian where this Psalm sums up our deepest need. We want God to act and we want it now! Yet we are asked to wait. We feel the need to be vindicated. We want those who have hurt us exposed, to have justice done. In those moments, Psalm 70 provides us with a scriptural basis for lament, for airing our grievances, and for asking for help, for acknowledging that life is not always warm and fuzzy. Psalm 70 in its brevity expresses our expectation that God must hear and act! It’s is also a reminder that we might not receive an immediate answer.
But there are also times in our lives where the urgency of Psalm 70 is not our own. There are moments when our days are easy, when we are in a wide place. We may hear Psalm 70 but not really feel connected in the daily routine. We may be more interested in “what’s for lunch?” or the next big game. Our days may simply not have room for lament.
Yet it is perhaps on those days that we might benefit most from hearing this Psalm 70. After all, the urgent cry of the psalmist (“O LORD, make haste to help me!”) is someone else’s cry. The psalm can serve as a powerful reminder that even while our own lives might be rolling regularly along, that is not necessarily the case for everyone. Others might be hurting, calling out for help, awaiting deliverance. Others might be crying out but hearing no response.
This Psalm calls us to stop and listen. Who around us is living in the reality of this Psalm? Who is desperate for help but waiting for God to intervene? Who might be crying, even though there are no visible tears? Who needs our love and reassurance while they wait upon the Lord?
Prayer: Father, this Psalm has the capacity to say so much in such a few words. Keep my ears and heart open not only to my own cries but also to the cry of others who long for your deliverance and await your salvation. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
By Gill Khoury
Pastor, South Africa
Sitting beside the pond the day after my son’s wedding, I was thinking about how beautiful the wedding was, how thankful I am for our new daughter-in-law, and what a blessing it was that God brought them together. While praising God I saw this reflection and told God I wanted to be the perfect reflection of Christ—living as he lived and loving as he loved. And then I noticed the ripples.
The ripples were caused by a stream cascading down the hillside and entering the pond. The stream prevents the pond from becoming stagnant and potentially lifeless. My mind whirled with spiritual lessons from this image and those ripples. Let me share a couple of them.
I realized that I often focus on the ripples in my life as a negative—a constant reminder that I don’t reflect Jesus perfectly. But that day on that hillside, looking at this scene, I believe God wanted to show me a different view. I do reflect Jesus, even with the ripples. My reflection may not be a perfect reflection, but it is still beautiful. I am a work in progress as God makes me one of his masterpieces. And maybe, just maybe, the ripples are caused by the Holy Spirit convicting me so I continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for including me in your work and allowing me to reflect your beauty – ripples and all. Amen.
Lord, bring on the ripples,
Rick Shallenberger
Regional Director USA, North Central
…is the Father, Son and Spirit’s decision to elect, or choose, humanity to be included in his relationship forever in Jesus!
In Jesus, you and every other person you know, including all presidential candidates that are and ever will be, have been elected or chosen to be at the highest place of honor and privilege possible for a human being – in Christ. All of what it means to be fully human is seated, truly but mysteriously, in that relationship of privilege right now, in the person of Jesus Christ, who represents and substitutes for all of us before the Father. (See Ephesians 1:3-6.)
That is who we humans are, fundamentally, and where your personal human identity is. That is the identity of all members of all political parties everywhere. That is who the presidential candidates in this year’s election in the U.S. really are, too, in Christ (not in and of themselves but in Christ). That is the reason why no matter which candidate has been elected as President of the United States, and no matter how much more difficult or good our political, social, and economical times may get, we all still have a reason for a greater and more REAL hope in the Lord Jesus Christ! Having overcome our evil, sin, and death (which still hinders every human being and political party on earth), Jesus ascended into glory as the God-Man, solidifying the fact that he can still be more faithful than we are (1 Timothy 2:13)
As we live in the Holy Spirit, this is this kind of hope that that will be fueling the thoughts and prayers of us who trust Jesus, the Father’s Son, no matter who we decided to vote for, or decided not to vote for. Hopefully, and appropriately, the decisions you made about your voting came out of a relationship you received from the Father, through Jesus, and in the Spirit. All of what I am describing is not just a static or generic reality but rather a dynamic and relational reality as revealed by Jesus (John 14:12-17) — a relationship in which we ask and seek, and our Father hears and gives (Matthew 7:7-12). In this worshipful and relational way, we who believe and have received Jesus and his Father’s Spirit are participants in having the mind of Christ, even in our voting, and even if we voted differently than other believers might have (1 Cor. 2:16).
Fundamentally, in Christ, all of humanity is still selected and elected to be with him. This is so not because of us but because of Jesus, who sustains everything as the powerful Word of God, now in his human and glorious person (Hebrews 1:3). The sooner we come to embrace this gospel truth by God’s grace, the more we can experience and begin to be who we are in him right now!
Prayer: Please let us fully experience our unity and inclusion in you, Lord. May we see past earthly circumstances to the truth of our identity and belonging in you first and forever.
Tim Brassell
Pastor, Baltimore, MD
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Philippians 4:4
I have heard it again and again – rejoice! Repeated endlessly by worship leaders, preachers and sympathizers in exhortations, devotionals, sermons – “rejoice” I am told, even if I don’t feel like it. I am tempted to think, is this some kind of denial? How can I rejoice when trials, sorrow, and hardships stare me in the face? Especially now, with the pandemic having claimed the lives of two dear church members, and the “new normal” seeming so abnormal!
Then again, how can I not take Paul’s words to the Philippian church seriously? Does he have an important point to make? My reflections led me to the following thoughts. First, the sorrow and hardships I might experience are not a verdict that God does not love me. On the contrary, his love is never diminished, no matter what I am going through. Nothing, yes, nothing changes God’s love for me. That itself is a reason to rejoice!
Second, I am to rejoice “in the Lord”! In a fallen world, hardships dampen the spirits but “in Christ” there is an inexplicable joy. Where is my focus – to temporary situations or to everlasting victory in Jesus? My focus could become my idol. Sadness and sorrow of the temporary are lousy idols to be worshipping! I might as well trade it for the “joy of the Lord”! And finally, Jesus meets me in every one of my hardships. In his incarnation he understands every one of those gut-wrenching feelings I experience. His presence imparts comfort and provides strength to cope.
Rejoice, indeed, in the grace of Christ. There is every reason to!
Prayer: Lord, I may not understand everything that happens around me, but help me know your grace. While you give me strength to cope, grant me to experience and express your joy in every circumstance. Amen.
By Danny Zachariah
