Long story short I want to ask you to pray for some specific people. Chris preached on boldness for Christ from a unique urgency as a result of the reminder of the fragility of life that came from Friday's double tragedy in Japan (earthquake and hurricane). I read an email from another pastor that said less than one half of one percent of the people in Japan have a relationship with Jesus. That makes for a triple tragedy.
The message Jesus preached through Chis was powerful throughout but one of his main focuses was where we are to start in the process of preaching the word of God with boldness. The starting point is prayer. At the end of Acts 4 we see that the believers gathered together in prayer and the Holy Spirit was so powerfully present that the place where they gathered together was shaken. Did you know that's not just a beautiful word picture? That actually happened. Have you or I ever prayed with a boldness and a faith worthy of God shaking the entire place in which we sit. Wow. I want to pray that way.
Well, at the end of the message I was reminded of a Scripture that rocked my world this week in 2 Corinthians 5:14 that says, "The love of Christ controls us." I have to ask myself if his love really does control me on a day to day, moment by moment basis. Instead of continuing on with a time of singing we allowed the Spirit to move, by the grace of Jesus, and we split up into groups of 3 or 4 and prayed individually for the people God has been calling us to share Jesus with boldly. We went one at a time in our groups and prayed for boldness this week. We also told the unbelievers in the group that they would need to be bold and admit that they don't yet believe, and we would pray for them (if there were any unbelievers in the group).
I want to ask you to pray for some specific people that God is calling us to be bold with.
John-- our next door neighbor who comes from a family of Lutheran pastors, experiences deep depression, yet sees no need for "religion." Pray that I would be bold in telling John I agree with him, I just believe he needs a relationship with God through Jesus!
Micah-- This is a friend of ours who claims Christ but does not live for him at all. Pray for his wife whom Kelli is getting to invest in and who is actually seeking Jesus right now.
Keanna-- This is a woman that Kelli has been investing in who we don't believe knows Jesus. Pray for Kelli to have patience and know how to pour out the love of Jesus on her.
Monica & Maria-- These two women are followers of Christ but are very new to their relationship with Jesus. Pray for Kelli to be bold in love with them about what it means to live for Jesus.
Who is God calling you to be bold with. Pray for them but pray also for boldness in you so his Kingdom would grow!
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