On Prayer

On the evening of March 2nd, our church family will assemble for one of the most consequential meetings in our 138 year history.  After a season of prayer and fasting, our elders will present a new name for our church.  In addition to prayer, this process has included contracting with a marketing firm, forming a rename team, and interacting with different leaders in our body.  At this meeting we will show you a proposed name and graphic, we’ll nail down procedural elements of the 4/27 vote, you’ll hear from different elders as they share their heart, and we will address some frequently asked questions. Most importantly, we will end praying together as a church.

I believe the greatest need for the members of this body is to beg God to move in their hearts individually and in our lives corporately in this season.  We’ve had months of meetings, life group interactions and lots of one-on-one conversations.  These were essential for our family to have clarity about the why and the how.  But more than ever, the greatest need moving forward will not be more clarity or understanding, but prayer.    

Prayer is communion with God in response to His grace.  He pursues us, revealing Himself through the work of the Spirit.  As we come to know Him through faith in Christ, we enjoy God’s very presence.  God’s greatest gift to us is Himself and as a result our greatest privilege is to respond to Him in prayer.

I mentioned two dimensions to prayer in my message this past Sunday: Intimacy and Intercession (view the full message here).  Intimate praying is just being with God in His word, enjoying Him for who He is freely and authentically.  The most important components of this type of praying are desperation and assurance.  Enjoying God’s presence begins with desperately crying out to Him, declaring your total need for him in surrender.  This humble posture before the Lord connects us to the reality of our every moment existence: we need Him. But enjoying God’s presence moves to experiencing Gospel Assurance.  Speaking the truth of God’s word about your forgiveness to yourself allows God to continually comfort and encourage you giving you true peace.  Real intimacy with God happens in prayerful engagement in His word in which we express desperation and experience assurance.

Intercessory prayer is making requests of God, asking Him to move and work in specific situations.  We make requests of God in the name of Jesus because it is only through Christ that we have access to God.  We enter His presence to make requests because we are adopted children, saved by grace.  But we also make requests of God in the name of Jesus because we acknowledge that only His power grants our requests.  We are not praying for God to use our power, but His.  

As we come into and out of Sunday’s meeting, I’d like to give you six potential prayer prompts. I hope that one of these six will connect with your heart, leading you into deeper prayer in this season.

1. Pray for God’s Peace.   Peace is not just the absence of conflict but the presence of comfort that leads to flourishing.  Some of us may be fearful about different dimensions of this proposed change.  Regardless of the decision, God will see us through this.  Pray God’s peace permeates our hearts and minds as a church in this season.  

2. Pray for God’s Wisdom.  Wisdom is discernment in and application of the truth.  It’s the capacity to see the truth and to respond in truth. After a season of prayerfully seeking God’s wisdom, our elders believe that this proposed name better communicates who we are.  But as of Sunday night, we will ask you to actively pray about this proposed name yourself, seeking God’s wisdom in your own life.   Join us in prayerfully seeking God’s wisdom.

3. Pray for God’s Perspective.  God is eternal, seeing the past, present and future perfectly.  He’s actively guiding the universe to His plans and purposes in every moment of our lives.  God is moving and working in our church family.  I believe the proposed new name is a defining moment in the life of our church, that includes the potential to propel engagement of our community like never before.    Pray that God gives you a sense of the gravity of this moment before our church in such a way that it leads you to greater engagement in His plans and purposes in this season.

4. Pray for God’s Endurance.  “Pastor, how will you respond if the vote doesn’t approve the new name?”  “Poorly” was my tongue and check answer at one point.  Honestly, God has done a work in my heart about this issue.  I absolutely will have to go back to God with our elders and pray if the congregation doesn’t approve the name change, as I truly believe it’s our next step.  But I believe that this church will persevere and endure no matter the outcome.  Pray that God continues to sustain and empower this church to continue on in faithfulness to the gospel, regardless of the vote.

5. Pray for God’s Unity.  I want you to pray about this one, but honestly, I believe we’ve been doing this really well.  The way so many of you have been kind and gracious even in your disagreement has been such a blessing.  So far, I believe God has given us a love for each other, even in this season of difficult discussions.  Pray that God continues to give us the grace to love one another.  

6. Pray for God’s Favor.  We want this proposed name change to clearly communicate who we are to the community, spurring on a great culture of invitation and outreach in our body.  I truly believe that this proposed name has the potential to do just this.  But this goes nowhere in our engagement of this community unless God moves.  Like the church in Acts, we must beg God to give us favor with our community, opening hearts to hear the gospel.  Pray that God moves in this way.

Pray, Pray, Pray.  I cannot wait to share this new proposed name the evening of 3/2 at 4pm.  Please plan to join us.  More, please pray.