Mid-Week Prayer, December 9

A reflection:

"One of the great Christian leaders of the twentieth century, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of Cape Town, used to spend several hours in prayer very early in the morning.  Nor was prayer then forgotten for the rest of the day.  A friend of mine who traveled around with him described how, wherever they went, whatever new thing they were doing, Desmond would pause and pray.  The Western church has perhaps allowed itself to be lulled into thinking that prayer and action are at opposite ends of the scale of Christian activity.  On the contrary.  Those who want their actions to be effective for God's kingdom -- as Desmond Tutu's undoubtedly were -- should redouble their time and effort in prayer.  Prayer brings together love and power: the relation of love that grows up between God and the person who prays, and the flowing of power from God to, and especially through, that person."                                     ~ N. T. Wright (on Ephesians 3:14-21)

This week's requests:

- Pray for our Christmas party this Friday night.  Pray that it would help us and our neighbors see the festival joy that is found in Jesus Christ.

- Pray for Redeemer to be a place where people don't "fall through the cracks".  Pray that God would use you in helping plug people into Redeemer.

Mid-Week Prayer, November 19

Reflections:

"But the Lord sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness.  The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.  And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you."                      -- Psalm 9:7-10

This week's requests:

- Pray for the Lord's wisdom and guidance as we make our building fund pledges and vote on our pursuit of the new building.

-- Please pray for Redeemer's visionary prayer goals for 2014-2015:

- Commitment to Prayer

- Ministry Teams online in a stage appropriate way

- New Worship/Office Facility

- Distribution of Match Fund money by year end

- Staff 

- Media Plan

- Building our web of relationships

Mid-Week Prayer, November 12

Reflections:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merciful Father and the God who gives us every possible encouragement; he supports us in every hardship, so that we are able to come to the support of others, in every hardship of theirs because of the encouragement we ourselves receive from God."                                                                                         - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

This week's requests:

- Pray that you would trust Jesus with your life and that you would rest in his love and forgiveness.
- Pray that God would incline your heart towards others and away from yourself.

-- Please pray for Redeemer's visionary prayer goals for 2014-2015:

- Commitment to Prayer

- Ministry Teams online in a stage appropriate way

- New Worship/Office Facility

- Distribution of Match Fund money by year end

- Staff 

- Media Plan

- Building our web of relationships

Mid-Week Prayer, November 5

Reflections:

"Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.
Indeed, our heart rejoices in him, for in his holy Name we put our trust.
Let your loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us, as we have put our trust in you."
                                                                              -Psalm 33:20-22

"Hear the voice of my prayer when I cry out to you, when I lift up my hands to your holy of holies."
                                                                              -Psalm 28:2

"You are the Lord, most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods."
                                                                              -Psalm 97:9

This week's requests:

- Pray for unity between the members of Redeemer.  Pray that God would help us to be a church where people truly love one another.  A place that deals with conflict in a Christ-centered way.  Pray for God to bind Satan.  He is the "troubler of Israel" who loves to stir up strife between God's people.  Pray that God will help us remember that Jesus reconciles and Satan divides.

-- Please pray for Redeemer's visionary prayer goals for 2014-2015:

- Commitment to Prayer

- Ministry Teams online in a stage appropriate way

- New Worship/Office Facility

- Distribution of Match Fund money by year end

- Staff 

- Media Plan

- Building our web of relationships

Mid-Week Prayer, October 22

A reflection:

"Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.  Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain."                                          -Psalm 127:1-2

This week's requests:

- Pray for the potential opportunity for a building:  for God's guidance, for our discernment of his leading, for our unity, for wisdom for the whole process, for financial provision, and for vision of how a permanent location fits with and expands our mission.
- Pray for God to make Jesus' presence so real in our midst that unbelievers who worship with us are drawn to faith in him.

-- Please pray for Redeemer's visionary prayer goals for 2014-2015:

- Commitment to Prayer

- Ministry Teams online in a stage appropriate way

- New Worship/Office Facility

- Distribution of Match Fund money by year end

- Staff 

- Media Plan

- Building our web of relationships

Mid-Week Prayer, October 15

Reflection:

"Almighty God, our heavenly Father, the privilege is ours to share in the loving, healing, reconciling mission of your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, in this age and wherever we are.  Since without you we can do no good thing,
May your Spirit make us wise;
May your Spirit guide us;
May your Spirit renew us;
May your Spirit strengthen us;
So that we will be:
Strong in faith,
Discerning in proclamation,
Courageous in witness,
Persistent in good deeds.
This we ask through the name of the Father."
                                                                             -- Church of the Province of the West Indies

This week's requests:

- Pray specifically for 3 to 5 people you believe that need to know the grace of Jesus Christ.  Commit to praying for them over the long haul.  Pray that God would provide you ways to minister in word and deed to these people (just like Jesus modeled for us). Put in a good word for the gospel and then flesh out the gospel for them in practical deeds of love and mercy.

-- Please pray for Redeemer's visionary prayer goals for 2014-2015:

- Commitment to Prayer

- Ministry Teams online in a stage appropriate way

- New Worship/Office Facility

- Distribution of Match Fund money by year end

- Staff 

- Media Plan

- Building our web of relationships

Mid-Week Prayer, October 8

Reflections:

"Sing praise to the Lord who dwells in Zion; proclaim to the peoples the things he has done."  -- Psalm 9:11

"May God be merciful to us and bless us, show us the light of his countenance and come to us."  -- Psalm 67:1

"Awesome things will you show us in your righteousness, O God of our salvation, O Hope of all the ends of the earth and of the seas that are far away."  -- Psalm 65:5


This week's requests:

- Pray for God to guide us as we continue to work towards purchasing a building.  For God to make this building a place that helps serve our purpose of worshipping together, building community, and serving Memphis.  Pray for it to be strategically located and very functional for our ministry needs.  Pray for God's wisdom as we search, work on budget considerations, and evaluate potential floor plans.  Pray also for Christ's provision.

-- Please pray for Redeemer's visionary prayer goals for 2014-2015:

- Commitment to Prayer

- Ministry Teams online in a stage appropriate way

- New Worship/Office Facility

- Distribution of Match Fund money by year end

- Staff 

- Media Plan

- Building our web of relationships

Mid-Week Prayer, October 2

A reflection:
"Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning.  Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray... I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house.  I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you.  Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me... Let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you.  For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favor as with a shield."                  - Psalm 5:1-2,7-8, 11-12

This week's requests:
- Pray for Harvest Fest, our joint picnic with Christ Quest this Sunday.  Pray for a great time of fellowship and encouragement, and a deepening of relationships.
- Pray for our Events Team.  This team plans and coordinates our people in organizing our large group party events, which provide the opportunities for us to enjoy life together at Redeemer, as well as a venue for our neighbors to join us in celebrating the festival joy we experience in God's Kingdom.

-- Please pray for Redeemer's visionary prayer goals for 2014-2015:

- Commitment to Prayer

- Ministry Teams online in a stage appropriate way

- New Worship/Office Facility

- Distribution of Match Fund money by year end

- Staff 

- Media Plan

- Building our web of relationships

Mid-Week Prayer, September 24

A reflection:

"I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.  And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all."                                                    -- Ephesians 1:16-23

This week's requests:

- Pray for God to give you wisdom, knowledge of Him, hope in His project of redemption and restoration, and power to trust Him and participate with Him in His big story (Ephesians 1:16-23).  Pray the same for our church body.

-- Please pray for Redeemer's visionary prayer goals for 2014-2015:

- Commitment to Prayer

- Ministry Teams online in a stage appropriate way

- New Worship/Office Facility

- Distribution of Match Fund money by year end

- Staff 

- Media Plan

- Building our web of relationships

Mid-Week Prayer, September 17

A reflection:

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.  Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever.  Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever; to him who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever; to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever; to him who spread out the earth above the waters, for his steadfast love endures forever"                           -Psalm 136:1-6

This week's requests:

- Pray that we would get to know each other better through our community groups as we seek to know Christ better, and that God would use these groups to build true community in our midst.
- Pray that visitors will get involved in Redeemer through community groups.

-- Please pray for Redeemer's visionary prayer goals for 2014-2015:

- Commitment to Prayer

- Ministry Teams online in a stage appropriate way

- New Worship/Office Facility

- Distribution of Match Fund money by year end

- Staff 

- Media Plan

- Building our web of relationships

Mid-Week Prayer, September 10

A reflection:

"God's cause is committed to men; God commits Himself to men.  Praying men are the vice-regents of God; they do His work and carry out His plans."                                             -E.M. Bounds

This week's requests:

-- Please pray for Redeemer's visionary prayer goals for 2014-2015:

- Commitment to Prayer

- Ministry Teams online in a stage appropriate way

- New Worship/Office Facility

- Distribution of Match Fund money by year end

- Staff 

- Media Plan

- Building our web of relationships

-- Pray for the Assimilation Team.  This team designs and implements a welcoming approach which assists people all the way from being first time visitors at Redeemer to being active members serving in our church.

-- Pray for our Big Bad Brunch to be a fun and welcoming event where people connect and experience the love of Jesus at work in our fellowship.

Mid-Week Prayer, August 28

Reflections:

"They returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet [where Jesus had just ascended to heaven], which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away.  And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James.  All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers."  --Acts 1:12-14

"Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.  Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain."                                       --Psalm 127:1

Please pray for Redeemer's visionary prayer goals for 2014-2015:

- Commitment to Prayer

- Ministry Teams online in a stage appropriate way

- New Worship/Office Facility

- Distribution of Match Fund money by year end

- Staff 

- Media Plan

- Building our web of relationships

Mid-Week Prayer, August 21

A reflection:
"If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love."                --John 15:7-9

This week's requests:
- Pray for our Fall Rally this coming Sunday night.  Pray that it will be a time of encouragement and excitement as we all remember our vision and plan for how we can participate in the advancement of God's kingdom through the life and ministry of Redeemer.
- Pray that God would make us a church that is very giving in terms of our time, talents, and treasure.  Pray that God would help you consider the ways in which he is calling you to give and support this ministry effort.
- Pray for our member care team.  This team has a plan for the people of Redeemer to serve as Jesus' hands, feet, and voice in ministering to the practical or "felt" needs of one another in the body.

Mid-Week Prayer, August 6

A reflection on prayer:

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.  Amen.

This week's requests:

- Pray for peace between the nations.

- Pray for our national leaders, our local leaders, and the elections this week.

- Pray for the peace and prosperity of our city.  

- Pray for our schools:  the administration, teachers, and students, especially this first week of school.

Mid-Week Prayer, July 30

A reflection on prayer:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.  Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it."            - John 14:12-14

This is a promise pertaining to Christ's Kingdom in the world.  This is promising that if we pray for the spread of Christ's fame and honor in the world, if we pray for more people to know him and be brought into his Kingdom, if we pray for the flourishing and good health of the church, if we pray for Christ's healing touch in the world... if we pray for his Kingdom to spread -- This is a promise that if we pray prayers along those lines then we will see Jesus operate powerfully in our midst.                                       -- Jeffrey Lancaster

This week's requests:

- Pray for God to use you in the spreading of his kingdom here in Memphis.
- Pray for opportunities for you to serve others in your neighborhood, in your workplace, at Redeemer, etc.
- Pray for God to use you and others to draw people to Redeemer.  For the Lord to make Redeemer a winsome witness in our community.

Mid-Week Prayer, July 2

A reflection on prayer:

"Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul.  I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue.  If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.  But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.  Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!"                            - Psalm 66:16-20

This week's requests:

- Pray for our City/World Serve Team.  This team helps Redeemer carry out God's calling by mobilizing us to share our people and financial gifts in supporting existing word and deed ministry efforts in our city and beyond.  The team helps mobilize us to participate with other Memphians in "restoring community and culture" in our great city.

- Pray that God would be glorified in your life and that you would find your identity and purpose in Him.

Mid-Week Prayer, June 26

A reflection on prayer:

"praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.  To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints..."                     -- Ephesians 6:18

This week's requests:

- Pray for the Spirit to work powerfully in our midst during the Lord's Supper each week:  beautifying Jesus in our eyes, building our faith in him, uniting us closer to him and one another, healing our dark and broken parts, producing new spiritual fruit in us, and empowering us to be a part of Christ's mission in the world.
- Pray for our Facilities and Worship Logistics Team, which helps Redeemer carry out God's calling by preparing Snowden for worship each Lord's Day morning.

Mid-Week Prayer, June 17

A reflection on prayer:

"Prayer... accomplishes things we couldn't do by our own effort, organization or skill.  Prayer remains mysterious at one level.  Nobody quite knows 'how it works', and this not knowing seems to be part of the point.  But it remains a deeply practical thing to do.  One of the great Christian leaders of the twentieth century, Archbishop William Temple, declared that whatever else one might say about whether prayer worked, he had noticed that when he prayed, 'coincidences' happened; and when he stopped praying, the 'coincidences' stopped happening...  Of course [he] didn't believe that the things which happened in apparent answer to prayer really were coincidences.  This was how God worked.... the prayers even of young and inexperienced Christians are every bit as powerful and valid in God's presence as those of a seasoned apostle."                                                                                         --N.T. Wright

This week's requests:
- Pray for all those who teach our children in Children's Church, nursery, and spiritual formation classes.
- Pray for the families of Redeemer.  That the love of Christ would dwell in our homes.  That our homes would be places where we "live with one another in an understanding manner" and where we follow the apostle Paul's words of exhortation where he says, "be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other just as God also in Christ Jesus has forgiven you."

Mid-Week Prayer, June 11

A reflection on prayer:

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?... Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother's breasts.  On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother's womb you have been my God.  Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help...my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death... But you, O Lord, do not be far off!  O you my help, come quickly to my aid!... The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord!  May your hearts live forever!  All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.  For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations."                                                                                              -- Psalm 22 (excerpts)

This week's requests:

- Pray for Jeffrey and his family.  They are in Jackson to meet with doctors and discontinue life support for his father.  Pray for Jesus' presence with them all, especially Jeffrey's mother and father.  Pray they would know him as the suffering Savior who has gone beyond the veil of death and conquered for us.  Pray they would have the freedom to lament and grieve well, and that they would know the peace of God.

- Pray for all those in our church community who are feeling the pains of aging (their own, and the aging of loved ones).

- Pray for God to continue to raise up leaders at Redeemer.

Mid-Week Prayer, June 4

A reflection on prayer:

"We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.  Of this you have heard before in the word of truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing -- as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               -Colossians 1:3-6

Prayer requests:

-Pray for God's spirit to help our pastor experience Jesus Christ as he preaches.  Pray for the Spirit to help him to know and believe in the power of Christ's forgiveness, grace, and renewing work as he ministers God's word on Sundays at Redeemer.  Help him to preach expectantly.
-Pray for God to bless all the mercy and justice ministry efforts going on in Memphis, and those throughout our city and the world of which our people are part.  Pray for God to bless our corporate mercy and justice ministry efforts through our City/World Serve Team.

Mid-Week Prayer, May 28

A reflection on prayer:

"Prayer is not as much inner as outer.  It is the most practical thing anyone can do.  It is not mystical escape, it is historical engagement.  Prayer participates in God's action.  God gathers our cries and our praises, our petitions and intercessions, and uses them.  The prayers that ascend to God now descend to earth.  God uses our prayers in his work.  'Prayer,' wrote Pascal, 'is God's way of providing man with the dignity of causality,'"
                                                                                                      -- Eugene H. Peterson

This week's requests:
- Pray that God would help us to experience the love of Christ in our midst as we worship, knitting us into a deeper and closer community of God's people.
- Pray for Katie as she leads our children's ministry.  For her to be encouraged and emboldened in her faith.  For God to give her more and more vision for our children's ministry and the faith to lead toward that vision.  For our members to support her and serve with her.
- Pray that God will give us wisdom in terms of outreach opportunities we should pursue in the community.  Pray for the Spirit to embower us to reach out.

Mid-Week Prayer, May 21

A reflection on prayer:

"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith - that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 
"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen."
                                                                                                             ~Ephesians 3:14-21

This week's requests:
- Pray for the preaching of God's word.  That God would give the pastor (and guest preachers) insight into his word and his world so that he (and they) can preach effectively.  For God to give them good illustrations and applications in their preaching.
- Pray for the children of Redeemer to be nurtured in our great faith.  For them to experience the risen Christ as they participate at Redeemer.  That our children would see Jesus fleshed out before them as they watch us worship, love each other, and serve in Christ's mission to Memphis.
- Pray for baby Reid, who was born Saturday and has had some trouble breathing.  Pray that the air pocket in his lung would be resolved and he would be able to go home soon, happy and healthy.

Mid-Week Prayer, May 7

A reflection on prayer:

"Somehow Jesus wanted his followers to live with the tension of believing that the kingdom was indeed arriving in and through his own work, and that this kingdom would come, would fully arrive, not all in a bang but through a process like the slow growth of a plant or the steady leavening of a loaf... We who live after Calvary and Easter know that God did indeed act suddenly and dramatically at that moment.  When today we long for God to act, to put the world to rights, we must remind ourselves that he has already done so [through Jesus' death and resurrection], and that what we are now awaiting is the full outworking of those events.  We wait with patience, not like people in a dark room wondering if anyone will ever come with a lighted candle, but like people in early morning who know that the sun has arisen and are now waiting for the full brightness of midday."                                           ~N.T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone, p. 170

This week's requests:

-Pray for the healing touch of Jesus Christ to spread in Memphis.
- Pray that in our homes as well as in our church we would be habitually confessing sin and repenting of it.  Pray that we would habitually believe the gospel of God's grace in Christ on our behalf and on behalf of others.  That we would be a community rich in forgiveness and restoration.
- Pray for us to be a church that is alert to the needs of the members of our body.  Pray for God to help us to care for one another in practical ways.  Help us to serve each other especially in times of need.

Mid-Week Prayer, April 23

A reflection on prayer:

May God be gracious to us and bless us
    and make his face to shine upon us,
that your way may be known on earth,
    your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
    let all the peoples praise you!

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
    for you judge the peoples with equity
    and guide the nations upon earth.

Let the peoples praise you, O God;
    let all the peoples praise you!

The earth has yielded its increase;
    God, our God, shall bless us.

God shall bless us;
    let all the ends of the earth fear him!

                                               ~ Psalm 67:1-7

This week's requests:

-Pray for our music team (Josh, Tony, Sarah, Christy, and Weston) as they assist us in worshipping God through singing

-Pray that God would help our ministers and elders to be bold, pace-setting leaders who pattern and exemplify what it means to be Christ's disciples and to participate in Christ's mission in Memphis and the world.  Help them be honest and real about their weakness and brokenness.  Help them be ok in ministering out of weakness so that Christ's power can be released in and through them.

Mid-Week Prayer, April 16

A reflection on prayer:

And [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.  He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.  And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’  For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’”  And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says.  And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night?  Will he delay long over them?  I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily.  Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”  ~Luke 18:1-8 

Since this is Holy Week, take a moment to imagine how Jesus' disciples would have looked back on this parable the night he was betrayed, the day he was crucified, and the day he was laid in the tomb.  They must have felt utterly hopeless.  All their expectation for Jesus as Messiah had been crushed.  Now imagine how they felt upon seeing the risen Jesus, the fulfillment of hope far greater than they had known.  God does give justice to his children who cry out to him!


This week's requests:

- Pray for Jesus to be so real to us that we are led to greater depths of repentance and faith.  Pray for people to experience the transformational power of the love of Jesus as we worship.
- As we move through Holy Week, remembering the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus, pray for your personal holiness.  Pray that God would show you your sin and that you would be repentant.
- As we prepare to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus, pray that God would fill your mind with the amazing truth of this event - the beginning of Jesus making all things new.  Pray that he would fill your heart with joy at his triumph and the hope it brings.

Mid-Week Prayer, April 9

A reflection on prayer:

"Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence -- as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil -- to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence!  When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.  From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him." - Isaiah 64:1-4

This week's requests:
- That we would experience the risen Savior working in our midst, ministering to us and through us to the world.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to beautify Jesus in our eyes.
- For God to bless our Food and Faith series with Christ Quest on Wednesday nights.  For the ministry of the Memphis Center for Food and Faith. For God to bless our relationship with Christ Quest.
- For unity between the Christian churches in Memphis (and across the world).