Here we are at the start of another year. How did you do in 2021? Did you see growth in your life? Did your assembly see souls saved and added to the church?
As we look into the unknown that 2022 brings here are 5 prayers that have been on my heart for the last several months. These are prayers that each assembly could take before the Lord to see His power work in us for His glory!
1. Teach us to pray
This is the prayer that has convicted me the most. Do our prayer meetings reach the level of prayer that we find in the Word? Are we as churches crying out to God for Him to change our hearts and lives?
So often our prayer lists consist of mostly physical and material needs. Very little is given to the expression of the heart for God to work. So few are seeing much fruit in evangelism or spiritual growth. Do we come to God to get for ourselves or to advance His work in our hearts?
2. Help our unbelief
Maybe our prayer meetings are ineffective because we have lost our belief that God can still do amazing things. We read stories of God working in other generations or parts of the world but, if we are honest, we don’t believe He is going to work the same in our hearts.
I’d love to see the assemblies rise above this doubt in 2022. I’d love to see them not only pray that God will work in a mighty way but expect it to happen! So much talk about a revival (which is good) but it will do nothing if we don’t think God will show up for us.
3. Grant us to speak your Word with all boldness
Fear is a reality for many of us when it comes to personal witnessing. If you are reading this and you have not shared the gospel with anyone in the past year, 5 years, decade, then this prayer is for you.
We are not all evangelists. We are all witnesses. The assemblies in many places have lost the desire and boldness to win the lost. It saddens me that so few people are being saved in our assemblies.
The only way this will turn around is if we commit to intentional witnessing. It begins with this prayer for boldness but it doesn’t stop there. We must be willing to put ourselves in places where we can be a witness. Look for opportunities to share the love of Christ. Let’s commit to that in 2022.
4. Grant us to live in harmony with one another
Oh how we need this prayer. We are so good at fighting with one another. Divisions, strife, envy, and selfishness are commonplace. Here is the full text of this prayer.
We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
Romans 15:1-7 (ESV)
Speaks for itself, doesn’t it? There’s no place for selfishness. We don’t have to agree on every point of doctrine and practice but we do have to live in such a way that we glorify God together.
5. Give us the immeasurable greatness of Your power
We need a big dose of Holy Spirit power. We live and serve often in the flesh and most of the time we don’t even realize it. We can do nothing without the work of the Holy Spirit.
He has been called the Forgotten God because so little emphasis is placed on His work. If we are going to see great things done for God in 2022 we need to get back to the absolute surrender to the Holy Spirit.
Looking forward to 2022
I have seen the stirrings of an exciting work of God among many in the assemblies. I have seen men and women get serious about winning souls, breaking down the walls of division, putting aside legalistic ways.
Things are turning around and I believe 2022 will see us take a big step toward healthy, vibrant assemblies. I’m looking forward to what God is doing in my assembly, in my home, and in my heart.
May these 5 prayers (and many others) be on our hearts as we head into the new year.
Photo by Pedro Lima on Unsplash
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect any other author or an official position of the assemblyHUB team.
Crawford Paul
Crawford is an elder at Rolling Meadows Bible Chapel in Ontario and has a passion for the assemblies. He and his wife Beth serve in various ways within the assembly to build up and encourage the believers. He is president of Legacy Ministries Canada, an organization focused on helping individual Christians, local churches and Christian organizations with financial, legal and governance matters. Check it out at legacycanada.org
Taken from AssemblyHub.com
