PRAYING FOR THE CHURCH

The early Christians suffered consistent persecuted, this resulted to them mostly meeting in homes secretly. They were known as the Church, the “Ecclesia” which means a gathering. It had nothing to do with a building but the people. Despite the persecutions they suffered, they grew and became more influential. With the large numbers they began meeting in dedicated places which eventually we now call church. So, the Church is not a place we go to, it is a people we belong to. It is not a building we walk into to sing, pray and praise God and hear His word, it is the people we pray with and praise with, it is the gathering.

When Jesus said in Matthew 16:18 “I will build my church…” He was not referring to a building or a temple, He was always talking about a people.

Today by God’s grace, we are part of the church, the building that Christ Himself is building, and he said in Matt 16:18, the Gates of hell shall not prevail against his church, which is us.

Paul also teaches us that the church is body of Christ.

1 Cor 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Paul also teaches us that the body is one

1 Cor 12:12,13 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. 13Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.

PRAYER POINTS

1. Prayer of Unity in the Body

Luke 11:17 Says “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall.”

Pray that God will remove all forms of barriers against the unity of the body

• John 17:11 Says Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.
• Pray that the farther will unite us as one body, in spite of national, cultural and racial differences, God will unite us in spirit and in purpose
• Pray for the Love in the body
• Unity is not possible where there is no true love, in John 13:35 Jesus said “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
• Pray for God’s true agape love to flourish generously in our hearts towards one another, love that transcends culture, age, race and more
• Pray for Growth and Increase
• In Acts 2:47 it says, And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

No man can add to the Church but God, because He is builder of His church.

• Pray that God will increase his church beginning with Solid Rock to the rest of the Ireland and the world

Acts 9:31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria experienced a time of peace. It grew in strength and numbers, living in the fear of the Lord and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.

• The Church experienced a time of peace. Pray against conflicts and offences and ask for the reign of God peace in the church. Pray that the fear of God will be restored in the Church and that God will increase his church, spiritually, numerically and financially

PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH:

1. TO EXALT AND GLORIFY GOD

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

(Pray that God will be exalted and glorified through his church, and things that do not glorify God in His church, false practices and operation be exposed)

• TO STRENGTHEN AND BUILD BELIEVER TO SPIRITUAL MATURITY
• The great commission is not limited to saving the lost but also in building those that are saved

Matt 28:20 “and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Ephe 4:11-15 “He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ”

• The Church struggles more not simply because of the obvious enemy outside which is Satan, but because of the believers who would not grow up to maturity and are easily tossed about by strange doctrines

(We pray for a church that is rooted in the truth, mature in the faith, and faithful in service)

• TO REACH THE LOST WORLD FOR JESUS
• Mark 16:15 And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. 

Matt 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

(Pray that God will give us a heart for the lost and for willingness to go out and reach them, That God will raise amongst us more evangelist and missionaries who will be dedicated to take the gospel to the lost)