Oct 13, 2020 | Now More than Ever, Prayer Guide
Psalm 66:8-12
8 Praise our God, all peoples,
let the sound of His praise be heard;
9 He has preserved our lives
and kept our feet from slipping.
10 For You, God, tested us;
You refined us like silver.
11 You brought us into prison
and laid burdens on our backs.
12 You let people ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water,
but You brought us to a place of abundance.
No one deserves our praise more than God Himself. His watch and care over our lives brings the hope of security to face the challenges of our days. His estimation of who we are, and what our lives can be, is vastly superior to our own suppositions. He knows the value of our lives because He tests and refines us to make us like pure silver so we would reflect His good image. He allows us to go through the refiner’s fires and to experience the challenges of great difficulties because these are the paths that produce His abundant fruitfulness and ultimately increase our joy in His presence.
Pray
Father, thank you for your faithfulness to us even in the midst of our challenges. Help me to realize that even in the times of testing your goodness will hold me fast. Father, even when I feel like I cannot take any more pressure in my life, I know You have never left or forsaken me and that truth gives me hope for my day. Even if people mistreat me and the circumstances overwhelm me, I know You lead me to your abundant self, and for that I am forever grateful. Amen.
Oct 12, 2020 | Now More than Ever, Prayer Guide
Psalm 66:5-7
5 Come and see what God has done,
His awesome deeds for mankind!
6 He turned the sea into dry land,
they passed through the waters on foot—
come, let us rejoice in Him.
7 He rules forever by His power,
His eyes watch the nations—
let not the rebellious rise up against Him.
Our God is an ever watching and benevolent Father. Nothing misses His notice. What seems impossible to us is an opportunity for Him to demonstrate again His great power and strength. He provides the way where He leads His people, and His actions cause us to rejoice in Him. His awesome power is not limited by either time nor nature, and the nations of the world are subject to Him. No one and nothing can stand against Him, so all the world, from the great to the small, may see and praise His awesome deeds.
Pray:
- Praise God for the awesome things He has done in your life.
- Praise Him for the ways He has led you through difficult times in your life
- Express honor to Him in your own words for His actions that you see.
- Thank Him that He sees and knows everything that is going on in your life and around the world.
Oct 11, 2020 | Now More than Ever, Prayer Guide
Psalm 66:1-4
1 Shout for joy to God, all the earth!
2 Sing the glory of His name;
make His praise glorious.
3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power
that your enemies cringe before you.
4 All the earth bows down to you;
they sing praise to you,
they sing the praises of your name.”
We are invited into an extraordinary relationship with the God of all the earth! When we turn our attention to Him, when we see Him for who He truly is, the brightness of His glory, the depths of His wisdom, the purity of His goodness overwhelms our senses and there is nothing we can say or do but to praise Him. In His presence, even His evil enemies lose their pride and all creation bows in reverent praise. As we come today into His glorious presence, collect your heart and mind, body and soul to turn your full attention to Him and give Him the fullness of your praise, for He alone is worthy of it.
Pray:
Father, You alone are great and there is no one greater than You. I praise You for your greatness and recall the ways You have demonstrated your great goodness to me.
I say with the psalmist “How awesome are your deeds!” for You have done this…
(list as many ways you can of how God has shown His goodness to you). In this sacred moment, I bow with all the earth acknowledging that You alone are God. I thank You that I can also call you Father, because of the righteous work of your Son, in whose name I pray, Amen.
Oct 8, 2020 | Now More than Ever, Prayer Guide
Matt 5:43-48 (NLT)
43 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
We are called to live such different kinds of lives that we stand out from the rest of the world. We cannot relate with only those we like to ‘hang out’, but also with those we would never consider an engagement with. We most act like the deity Himself when we choose to love those who are furthest from Him, like we once were. Loving those who our gaze would normally overlook, or those we would intentionally look away from and do not deserve our love; these are precisely the ones God would choose to love through our hands and feet, our voices and expressions. When our love stands out, we stand out with the love of a perfect God.
Pray
- Thank God for His great love that He has demonstrated to you.
- Express to Him what that means to you.
- Thank Him for the confidence of His love in your life.
- Ask Him to help you love those in your life who are difficult for you to love.
- Ask Him to help you see them as He does and to act towards them as He would.
- Thank Him that His love enables you to love as He does.
Oct 7, 2020 | Now More than Ever, Prayer Guide
Matt 5:17-20 (NLT)
17 “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. 19 So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
20 “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!
God’s law was fulfilled by the life of Christ, even to the smallest details of life. God and His ways are eternal, they are not dependent upon a person, place or thing. The demonstration of His law and ways will be unchanged. When we choose to live our lives according to his truth then we experience the joy of His favor. Only through Christ are we able to live this kind of life for He is the only one who fulfilled the law, to it’s fullest detail, and through Him we enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Pray:
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for sending your Son to fulfill your law. Forgive me Father for the ways I have broken your law and ignored its veracity. Forgive me Father for the ways I have influenced others to join foolish pursuits. Thank you that the righteousness of Christ not only covers my sin but provides me the security to enter into your presence, both now and the day I will enter your Kingdom in Heaven. Amen.
Oct 6, 2020 | Now More than Ever, Prayer Guide
Matt 5:13-16 (NLT)
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.
14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
When God’s children live out the blessing of His generosity in the challenges of our lives, then we actually are people who bring benefit to the rest of the world around us. We are made to bring flavor and light to life in a world full of bitter darkness. He has blessed us to stand out, not to our benefit but to His glory. We are to live out the rich blessings He has endowed us with so those we encounter will bring praise to our good and great heavenly Father.
Pray
- Ask God how your life is to be like salt to the lives of people around you so you bring flavor and blessing to their lives.
- Ask God how you are to bring light to the darkness that is all around us.
- Confess the ways you do not see the darkness or bitterness of people’s lives around you.
- Ask that He would reveal this to you in a fresh way today.
