Tag: Prayer

God’s Spirit helps us to pray. So we look to the Spirit to direct and guide and show us how to pray. There are many times when we don’t know what to pray, but the Spirit takes those groans and brings them to the Father.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
Romans 8:26-27

Pray that we would learn to pray at all times in the Spirit, being alert.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Ephesians 6:18

Pray that every follower of Jesus connected to OCC will minister in the Spirit…

Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:18-20

Pray that we (as individuals, as OCC, as the church in Orillia, and as the worldwide church) will not try to serve God by doing religious stuff in our own strength, but will understand what the will of God is and serve him in and through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:17-20

Pray that followers of Jesus would continue to learn to walk in the Spirit just as they received him into their lives. Pray that all followers of Jesus (including ourselves) would recognize that grace and maturity does not come by keeping an external law but by walking in the Spirit

2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?
5 So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?
Galatians 3:2, 5

When Paul and Silas were imprisoned in Philippi, for preaching the gospel, God shook everything loose that kept them away from the ministry God had called them to and shook everything that kept the jailer locked in unbelief.

Pray that God will shake loose everything that keeps believers from walking in faith and obedience.

Pray that God will shake loose everything that keeps those who are not following Jesus locked in their unbelief.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Acts 16:25-30

We live in a world that continually encourages us to live in our own power and strength.
Pray that every follower of Jesus will recognize that we can only live the way that God wants us to, when we are dependent on his power and strength, as we lean on the Spirit.

For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reasons for such confidence. Philippians 3:3-4

This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty. Zechariah 4:6

 

Pray that people around us [OCCers, other church communities, people in general] who are spiritually asleep will be shaken from their slumber, as the apostle Paul says in quoting what is probably an early hymn

“Wake up, sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:14

We pray that the light of the gospel of Christ’s kingdom will shine into our lives and out into the world.

The prophet Ezekiel spoke of a day of judgment against Israel.
In that day every person will shake at God’s presence.
Pray that all of us, all over the world, would shake under the realization that we are still accountable to a holy God.

The fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign Lord. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. I will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’ Ezekiel 38:2-23

Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,

pray that followers of Jesus, here in Orillia and around the world will be

…thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe Hebrews 12:28

That word “worship” includes serving. We worship God, “with reverence and awe” by being people who are being and doing all that God desires.