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).