They...were constantly united in prayer. (Acts 1:14)
12/22
Use the following prayers to guide your prayers for Westside today: Lord, thank you that you are the head of the Church. We are your body. You are our leader. Lord, thank you that you have equipped us with the Holy Spirit. Thank you for that power. Thank you for being you.
Lord, thank you for Westside. Thank you for the people. Thank you for the giftings. Thank you for the challenges. Thank you for the opportunities.
Lord, bring us deeper--deeper in our relationship with you--deeper in our love and obedience--deeper in our love for each other--deeper in our willingness to serve one another--deeper in our love for the world around us--deeper in our willingness to build relationships that lead to people coming to salvation. Lord, bring us deeper.
Lord, thank you for our leadership team(s) at Westside. Thank you for the gift mix. Bless this team. Bless us with unity. Bless us with resolve. Allow us to serve our church as if we were serving you--because we know that is what we are doing.
Lord, raise up new leadership to help us pursue our purpose as a church. Bless the Nominating Committee as they prayerfully discern new leadership for 2023. Lord, raise up more biblically qualified leaders. Lord, show us how to better nurture/disciple new leaders.
Lord, thank you for your financial provision for our church through the generosity of your people. As we look to 2023, guide us in putting together a new budget. We want to live a blessed to be a blessing legacy.
Lord, be at work in the lives of our kids and youth. Help our parents to shepherd their children’s hearts toward you. Bless our children and youth leaders--anoint their ministries. Raise up new leadership to help fill in the gaps. Raise up youth leaders who can take this amazing group of kids to the next level.
Lord, how do we encourage deep, meaningful relationships at Westside? Small groups have worked minimally, but I see the need for more consistency as an ingredient in our efforts to care for one another. How do we press into the gift of relationships we have with one another? How do we do it across cultures? Give us wisdom and ideas and unction to follow you.
Lord, how do we minister to our community? What replaces FEED? How do we show our community that we care? How do we care? Lead us to the least of these. Lead us to those places where you are already at work that we might co-labor with you.
Lord, give us your heart for the lost. Lord, prepare us for the receiving of new believers at Westside. Lord, make us a community that you can entrust with new believers to be nurtured and disciples. Lord, make us expectant and intentional today as we engage with our neighbors, work colleagues, classmates, families, and friends. Help us to live out the gospel in the way we love one you, one another and our community. Use us to reach the nations both in Greensboro and beyond.
Lord, as we look ahead to 2023, lead us. Protect us from the attacks of the enemy. May the things that are important to you become more important to us. Help us to put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, may we long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it we may grow up into salvation--because we have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Peter 1:1-3)
9/22
Use the below prayers as a guide as you pray for Westside today.
Lord, thank you for Westside. Thank you for the unique group of ethnicities, socioeconomic backgrounds, personalities, and giftings you have brought together. Knit us together as one family.
Lord, help us to know what it means to abide in you. May our identity be first child of God and beloved. May we be quick to confess and repent of sin in our lives. May we grow in our awareness of and yieldedness to the presence of God. May we be willing to obey and experience the joy of following you into the uncomfortable and inconvenient. Help us to value and seek a heart that abides in you. Thank you that abiding is not a pipe dream but a real possibility for your followers.
Lord, raise up leaders at Westside who are in love with you and your bride the church. Raise up leaders who reflect the uniqueness of Westside. Show us ways to nurture leadership that has a heart for the nations.
Lord, show our children and youth that you are real. Show them that your love is real. Show them that your presence is real. Show them that you are worthy of them giving their lives to you and your good plan.
Lord, help parents to know your Father-heart and then to shepherd, discipline, and direct their children in your ways.
Lord, help our marriages. May they reflect the gospel. May Husbands be open to and growing in their Christ like sacrificial love for their wives. May wives be open to and growing in their respect for their husbands (Eph. 5:21-33).
Lord, help those struggling with spiritual stuckness to seek you until you are found. Bring personal and church wide revival to us. Soften our hearts.
Lord, allow us to be a display of your manifold (many colored) wisdom. Help us to show the world who you are through the way we sacrificially love each other--the way you love/loved us. What is something I/we can do today to sacrificially love a Westsider?
Lord, allow many people to come to you because of our witness and our willingness to go to the least reached. We want the people and nations you have gathered in Greensboro to meet you. Who is someone who doesn't yet know you that you want me to build a relationship with? What can I do today or this week to invest in relationships with non-believers? What is a ministry Westside can join or start to help reach those in need and those who need to know your truth and love?
Lord, show us how to bless and encourage and learn from other churches in Greensboro. Thank you for what you are doing through the Ekklesia pastor’s group and retreats. Thank you for what you are doing through the international churches we have relationship with. Bless these churches. Bless Renova, El Shaddai Vision Church, the Koho church, Grace Montagnard Church, and all the churches in Greensboro. Everything we pray for ourselves, we also pray for all churches that make up the body of Christ. What are ways that I/we can be a blessing to these churches?
Lord, help all those who are experiencing health issues, depression, and hopelessness. Bring healing. Bring hope. What is a way I/we can show them your love today?
Lord, stretch us and make us uncomfortable so that we must depend upon you. You are so worthy. You are so worth it. Your will be done. Your kingdom come as it is in heaven here at Westside and in Greensboro. What is one thing I/we can do that is outside of our comfort zone that causes us to flex our faith muscle today?
