Rejoicing in Overflow
The following is a suggested prayer structure. Each section should take approximately 10 minutes. However, be flexible, and enjoy going off-piste by adding any prayer points you would like! Spend longer on the sections that are meaningful for you, and feel free to leave out others as time permits. Whatever you do, however, please pray – and in particular pray through today’s specific prayer points so we seek God’s Kingdom with others as a united, praying church.
Praise and Worship
Spend some time praising God. Use songs, listen to music, speak out words of praise. You can find some worship songs to sing, or reflect upon by clicking here.
Pray in tongues
If you have the gift of tongues, use this now and allow the Holy Spirit to build you up (1 Corinthians 14:4). If you have never spoken in tongues, you can spend time asking the Holy Spirit to receive this specific gift, or alternatively seek God’s blessing for your time of prayer. If you have the gift of tongues, pray for a full 10 minutes, and consider the following: what has changed in my thinking, how have my emotions shifted, what do I want to pray for now that may be different from, how has my view of Jesus changed?
Waiting on the Lord
Take some time to still your thoughts and sit before the Lord in silence. Ask him to reveal to you anything that is coming between you and Him. Confess anything that comes to mind. This will enable you to pray without anything coming between you and God. If God highlights anyone He wants you to forgive, muster up the courage and strength to forgive them from your heart (Mark 11:25).
Reading and Praying Scripture
Read today’s passage. What is God showing you or talking to you about from that passage: for instance, what strikes you as unusual, interesting, provocative, or puzzling? Ask God and pray about those things.
Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
This is the same passage as yesterday. I am not trying to be lazy by recycling yesterday’s scripture, but I think this prayer of the Apostle Paul needs further thought and application, so that we will mull it over for another day. God’s hope, the certainty of his past, current and future activity, produces further fruits in our lives – joy and peace. Martin Lloyd-Jones notes that a ‘Christian is not merely one who is a little less miserable than he was. He is one who rejoices.’ He’s right because we have so many reasons to be joyful and to celebrate. The first is that Jesus was joyful: sometimes the depictions of Jesus on stained glass windows of old church buildings imply that He was sombre, melancholic, or dour – nothing could be further from the truth! In Luke 10:21, Luke tells us that Jesus was full of joy, as were the seventy-two who followed Him. We can also rejoice because we are reconciled to God and we are now His sons and daughters. All our sins have been forgiven, even the ones that we will commit today and tomorrow.
Not only that, we have peace: not just our own, but God-given peace. Peace that is eternal and unshakeable. Our peace comes from knowing that we are eternally loved, secure, accepted and forgiven. Jesus is preparing a place for us to live with Him in sinless eternity, John 14:2. Whatever happens today, nothing can take away the security we have in Jesus and the eternal joy in which we will revel in Jesus’ presence.
Intercession
Pray and reflect:
- Ask for the Holy Spirit to remind you of why you can have joy and peace because of Jesus’ life and resurrection
- List all the reasons to be joyful in Jesus and thank Him for them
- Think about the future ahead of you with Jesus: what are you looking forward to?
- Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with fresh joy
- Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with renewed peace, peace that calms fears, doubts, concerns
- Ask the Holy Spirit to give you such joy and peace that they overflow to others, both inside and outside the church.
- Ask the Holy Spirit to fill our Sunday meetings, small groups, one-to-one meetings and friendships with His joy.
- Ask that our corporate worship times may overflow with even more Holy Spirit-given joy
- Ask for occasions where people who don’t know Jesus ask YOU why you are so joyful and peace-filled.
Reflection
Write down anything that God has spoken to you. You can send in your reflections, thoughts, words of encouragement, prophetic words to office@kchw.co.uk.
