Father God, I pray that You fill Your people with a new and fresh, annointing of Your Holy Spirit! I pray that You circumsize the hearts of those You placed in leadership to know that they are entrusted as Stewards over YOUR people and as such they are accountable to You. Let them not be caught up in their position as leaders OVER others, rather let them lead by EXAMPLE, rather than by rule & rote. Father God I pray this prayer, not to condemn or rebuke but rather to ask YOU to open their eyes to see CLEARLY and to be humble enough to recognize that change within the church body will NOT come unless the head decrees it and acts UPON it, not just professes it. Help the leaders to be open to changing the way THEY do things to REACH their congregations by the care they extend to ALL; let their n! ot be a sense of some being ministered to and others being overlooked...when people are not in church, because they allow the enemy to distract them from their worship of YOU because of lack of cohesion in the leadership, let SOMEONE recognize that they need to be contacted and reassured that they ARE Your beloved child and welcome in the assembly, valued in the assembly as sister/brother/daughter/son - co-labourer in the body! Let us ALL treat each other as valued members of the same body that Your Spirit of UNITY may truly be alive in Your HOUSE! I pray that EACH ONE of us, Your children will embrace the Mind of Christ and become involved in loving one another for who we ARE in Christ and not for who we are in the church! If the leaders don't want people to come in late for service they must make a point to be EARLY not just on time or walking in after the appointed service time. If leaders recognize that prayer is an integral part of EVERYONE'S life & walk with Y! ou, then they ought to support EVERY prayer meeting faithfully! , whethe r or not everyone else does....forgive me LORD, but I don't see change coming without a greater commitment from Your leaders, because if they don't show us how to be committed to a cause and we already have poor habits, how can we overcome them?! I pray that as You work in them You continue to work in us and we DO make greater efforts on our own, but if the church leader is not there to open the church, open the prayer, open the bible study, or whatever else is happening, how will any of the children see the importance and value of it if it appears their leader (physical representation of YOU) does not value it above the other things in their life? How can the membership be expected to commit themselves to coming regularly to meetings that keep on being cancelled? Oh God, I pray that YOU wake us ALL up from the leaders on down! Help the leaders to recognize those in their charge who have been committed to Your Work and who hear from You and would be a blessing to others ! if given the opportunity to be used by You to do what You've put in them to do! Give them a will to delegate and allow others to become more of an active part in strengthening the body, loving and strengthening one another - help them to realize that it doesn't diminish their role as leader if they hand over some responsibilities to others, but rather it strengthens it, because it gives them an opportunity to see Your Hand at work, and gives them a chance to rest and RECEIVE, after all it is YOU who is the HEAD of the body, and the entire body needs to share the work, they themselves can be revitalized by watching the blossom You have tended begin to open up underneath them...let them recognize the value of growth, through change; rather than give in to the feeling of tiredness (which comes from only a select few doing ALL the work) let them ENCOURAGE the rest of the body to become MORE ACTIVELY INVOLVED, by personally INVITING them to do so, and TRUSTING YOU "in"! ; them to get the job done! Even if it doesn't go as "the! y" expect, the first time they reach out, let them have the FAITH in YOU to work things out! Let them really let go and let GOD, as an example to everyone they lead! Don't let them be satisfied to talk about change and never employ it! Restore us to a place of being an "ACTS" body of believers, who are willing to band together, and support one another and not hold onto what WE have and allow someone else we know go without! Help us NOT to overlook a phone call or someone on the street but ALWAYS be willing to respond and treat each other with compassion and respect....let us not allow ourselves to be TOO BUSY with being where WE feel we ought to be, to miss out on an opportunity to be where someone else NEEDS a hand outstretched in love, or an ear willing to hear and a comforting word that needs to be spoken - open up OUR ears to hear YOUR VOICE directing our steps IN ALL WE DO! Let the leaders remember that the people, the building, the ministry is YOURS, not &q! uot;theirs", and You expect them to be the "good" steward who invests in the charge to see it multiply! LORD, I love You and I love the people I serve and serve with and I ask You to show ME if there is something else I CAN do by YOUR POWER to help my church become EVERYTHING You see it as! If there is to be UNITY among the body, then the individual leaders have to put aside pride in their individuality and come together to inspire by example a more unified body...start bringing their individual houses together for corporate (co-operative) worship and corporate activities to bring the people to a place of being involved WITH one another, so that we CAN empower each other to GROW IN UNITY! In the old testament believers from one church sent gifts of money and clothing to another church (or to Paul in another location) when they heard of a need...I believe in supporting global missions, but I also believe that we have to help those we KNOW that need help loca! lly too! If there are members within our own congregation who! are suf fering from lack (of food or clothing, or money to pay bills) we have to be willing to share what You have given us! Not just to put extra in an offering plate, but to give sacrificially to one another! Am I wrong, or is that not the example laid out in Your Word?! Oh, help me FATHER, I am struggling, I cry out to You that You make us able to see how YOU want us to interact with each other! HELP US FATHER to BE who YOU say we ARE! I thank You for a fresh outpouring of YOUR SPIRIT in us all, in Jesus' Name! Amen
Father God, we glorify you and thank you for answering
our every prayer request in Jesus' mighty name we pray.
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Lady Bee ♥
