This Sunday Jackson will be wrapping up our Praying Together series with a sermon on Asking Together, from John 14:12-14 (and related passages). We can start asking together this week, in anticipation of all the ways God might work among us this Sunday.
Tony Payne’s short (but incredibly practical) book called How to Walk into Church, suggests a number of ways we could be praying in preparation for our Sunday worship gatherings.
- We can beg God to bring along all those people who are wavering or uncertain about coming, and to overrule in all the mundane details of the meeting so that everything might work together to build up his people.
- We can ask him to be with us, according to his promise, by speaking to us through the preaching, the Bible reading, and the other “Bible-shaped” words that we speak to one another. (I would add, through the Bible-grounded songs we will sing to one another!)
- We can ask him to work powerfully by his Spirit in the hearts of every single person who attends, so that whatever their spiritual state is as they walk in the door, they might have come to know God better by the time they walk out.
- There may be particular people you want to pray about before you turn up to church – people you are concerned about, or people you have been talking with and trying to encourage. You might pray that God would give you the opportunity and the words to say to help them along in their Christian walk.
And this is just a start. Would you take time this week to ask God to meet us as we are together for worship this Sunday?
P.S. – A great online resource that models how to turn God’s word into prayer is Heavenward, a blog by Scotty Smith, pastor of Christ Community Church in Franklin, Tennessee. Each post begins with a short passage of scripture and is followed by a written prayer, meditating on the passage and praying in light of it. These can be helpful guides for praying in private or together with others.
P.P.S. – It’s a great week to jump into (or back into) our Take Up Your Sword reading. We begin the book of Romans this week, chapters 1-5. Would you join us?