Prayer for Friday, June 10

Scripture for Friday

Acts 14:20-28

20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.

 21 They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. 23 Paul and Barnabas appointed elders[a] for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust. 24 After going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia, 25 and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.

 26 From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. 27 On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.


Prayer: Fruitfulness in Our Own Lives
Lord of the Harvest, we know that it is from the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks. We pray that you will continue to cultivate the soil of our hearts so that our lives will produce much fruit for you. We desire to be the change we hope to see in this world; we long to live as citizens of the kingdom that is at hand and which we anticipate arriving in fullness. Only the Almighty God can bring about this kind of change in our hearts. When we've tried to produce this harvest ourselves, our efforts have been exhausting and fruitless. We turn to you, O Lord of the Harvest, as the one who brings growth. We call on you, the Faithful One, to do what you've promised. And we pray with confidence, knowing that you desire this more than we do.
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Final Thoughts
Today is the final day of our 7 weeks. I am so grateful that you've participated in this process with us. As I look at all that has happened since Easter Sunday, I am once again amazed by our God. As usual, things have not progressed as I anticipated...and as usual, I rejoice that God is at work beyond what I'm able to see in the moment. 7 weeks ago, I expected this Sunday to be the launch of fundraising for Intentional People and had no idea what sort of timeline we'd be working with regarding a new church plant...

Well, we've made a lot of progress with Intentional People, but we're moving the official fundraising launch forward to September, when we'll be participating in a Missional Church Conference in St. Louis. Yet, our new church plant, The Gathering, has already begun! The Christ Journey community encouraged us to move forward and three families decided to join us.

Since then, Brandy, a friend I met at Denny's nearly 3 years ago (who was quite uninterested in "church" at the time), has also joined us. Several months ago she moved to Fort Worth and with her work schedule hasn't been able to be part of our worship gatherings. However, Ron and Shandy Stogsdill (participants in The Gathering) were able to offer her a job with better hours and she told me yesterday, "Just so you know, I'm in."

Rachel Elder, another member of our community, invited her friend Paula to join us for a swimming party for the kids a couple weeks ago... This past weekend Paula made the comment, "I've never enjoyed being part of a church service like I did today." She was one of the first to sign up to bring food for our meal this Sunday... Thank you for your prayers, I believe God is hearing them.