What can we offer people as a church? We can help to feed the hungry and befriend the lonely. But the main thing we have to offer people is Jesus himself. As we pray for the lost, we ought to be pleading with God to perform spiritual miracles in people’s lives, for God’s glory alone.
Author: John Johnstone
The impact of the Holy Spirit
Imagine that each of us began to earnestly pray to know more of the Spirit’s power in our lives. This will only happen as we ask God for it, and as we prayerfully study the Bible. Are we doing that? Then imagine the impact the Holy Spirit will have on us all, from the shyest to the most extrovert. In different ways, with different people, we’ll begin to talk to people about Jesus more than we ever have before.
Jesus’ ascension
Is your heart troubled today? What a truth this is to help us to keep perspective – Jesus is getting everything ready for us to spend eternity with him in Heaven. Let’s think about the ascended and reigning King Jesus more than we sometimes do!
Encouraged to witness…
We are called to be witnesses for Jesus. That’s one reason why we need to get involved in our communities, and in the lives of friends and neighbours. That’s why we need to keep on praying as we do this, depending on the power of God. And we need to go out in faith, with the message that Jesus Christ is the only King and the only Saviour. We have been given the power to do so.
Forgive as God forgave you
If we refuse to forgive others, we need to ask ourselves the question: have I really been saved myself? Have I truly been forgiven by God? One of the evidences that we are a child of God is that we do forgive others. And if we struggle to forgive others, we need to remind ourselves of the enormous debt God has forgiven us. Will you do that?
Life-changing faith
God grace extends far beyond the boundaries of Israel, at this would become so clear on the Day of Pentecost. The church of Jesus is an international church.
God’s gracious provision
We need to have faith in the Lord; He loves providing for us in unexpected ways. We can look back and see how God has delivered parcels of grace at desperate points of our lives. And we can be certain that if the Lord still has work for us to do, then he will continue to preserve us and keep us, until such a time as he takes us to glory.
Prayer focus
We can only marvel at the dimensions of God’s love. It is so broad that it encompasses men and women, rich and poor, and all the nationalities of the world. It is so long that it is a love which predates the existence of the earth, and will go on, unbroken, into eternity. It is so high, that it will take us up to Heaven one day. And it is so deep that Jesus was willing to stoop down and come into this earth to save the worst of sinners like us.
Exodus
At home, at work and in church, take your impossible situations and bring them to God in prayer, knowing that he loves to display his glory in our lives.
We don’t face troubles on our own. ‘The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.’ (Exodus 14:14)
Rising from the depths…
Are you ashamed of things you have done in your life? Are you ashamed of squeezing God out of your life and living apart from him? There is hope for you. God’s grace is greater than all our sins. Why not come to him in prayer right now, in the quietness of your own hearts, and confess your sin, and wait for the dawn to break, which it surely will.