The first week of each year prayer is emphasized in the Assemblies of God. While prayer should be a constant in the life of believers and Pentecostal churches all year long, the first week is a special opportunity to seek the Lord. In his short volume, Pierced by the Word, John Piper provides a meditation on Colossians 4:2-4 that is instructive for us.
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word,
To declare the mystery of Christ...
that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
Piper makes five points regarding prayer.
1. Continue steadfastly in prayer; perseverance in prayer yields results (Luke 11:8, 18:1-8)
2. Be watchful in your prayers; be mentally, spiritually, and physically alert in prayer (Mark 14:37-38). Being alert keeps us true to Scripture and attune to the voice of the Spirit as well as to the needs around us.
3. Be thankful in prayer; thanksgiving lifts our eyes beyond our need to the provider who can do all things.
4. Pray for an open door for the word; receptive hearts in both the church and unbelievers are essential to the work of the Spirit.
5. Pray for the preachers; no preacher, no matter the talent, can accomplish what the Spirit alone can do. Without Christ, we can do nothing.
May prayer permeate all we do throughout 2009 so that we may effectively proclaim His truth for the building of the Kingdom of God.
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2 comments:
I haven't read John Piper's book just yet, but his insight on Colossians 4 is very good. Prayer must be the center of everything we do and of everything we ARE.
We've encouraged our church to establish nine personal and collective goals for 2009 [we've called in '9 in 9'] The very first goal our leaders established was to have nine hours of cooporate prayer and praise on the 1st Sunday of the new year. Our morning service on Jan 4th was tremendous. the Spirit of the Lord moved upon people; the worship and praise service was so rich; the gifts were in operation as we waited on God. This led right into the afternoon and up to the 7PM hour when we concluded. During the afternoon people were free to come and go as they so desired. At times we had 25 and more seeking the Lord for various specific prayer requests and needs. Very powerful!
One lady, who is Catholic, visited during the AM worship service. She is from Conneticut and has watched our church services over the internet. So after the service she asked if our church was part of the 'order of the Holy Rollers'. I could hardly keep a straight face, but tried to summarize briefly for her, our pentecostal beliefs. She was so interested and believed that she had truly been in the presence of the Lord in our church.
Her comments and the entire day of prayer [or at least the nine hours of prayer] was such a refreshing way to begin the new year for our congregation.
As you stated, prayer should permeate all we do throughout 2009 so that we may effectively proclaim His truth for building the Kingdom of God.
Blessings...
W.G. Smith
Hi there Pastor Tourville,
Was a member of your church in West Chester back in the 90's. I see you are back in Penna. We moved to Florida 4 years ago and belong to a very small evangelical non-denominational church here that teaches a strong biblical message. We tried the Assembly of God church in town but knew it wasn't right for us. (The pastor threw his bible across the floor at the end of his sermon- that was enough for us!)
Anyhow, I see you are reading "The Shack". Would love to see you do a post on it, with your thoughts and comments about the book.
Have a blessed New Year and say hi to Marjorie for us!
Ken and Maryanne Jacobsen
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