Day 10 - Tuesday - January 17- Prayer Focus - Small Groups
Our prayer focus today - Small Groups
We are believing God to something supernatural in the hearts of our small group leaders.
We are not a church with small groups but a church of small groups. We believe in the power of connection - in the context of relationships.
God values groups and He encourages us to connect.
Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV)
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
A passage that shows us the power of groups - of proximity.
Luke 5:18-20 (NIV)
Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
This is a beautiful picture of intercession. Here we have 4 men who see a man on the side of a road. He cannot get where he wants to be. Out of their compassion they see him, they pick him up and bring him to Jesus. These were not strangers, they likely were his group, men in relationship with one another.
Intercession is simply standing in the gap of where someone is and taking them where they need to be. In the presence of God. Healing, Freedom, breaking strongholds all happen in the presence of God.
These men took him where he needed to be - at the feet of Jesus. Three ways we can pray for our groups and theses needs:
1. Pray with compassion.
Put yourself in that position. Having empathy. Pray as if it were ourselves in that position.
2. Pray with boldness.
These men didn’t just settle - they did what they had to do. They climbed on the roof. They dismantled the roof and lowered the man before Jesus.
There is nothing too hard for God to do.
3. Pray with expectation.
This man experienced healing in the spiritual - When Jesus saw their faith he was healed spiritually and then he was healed physically.
We pray with expectation. Jesus responded to their collective faith. They expected Jesus to do great things and He did.
There is nothing that our God cannot do.
Thank you Lord that today we pray for our small groups with compassion, boldness and expectation. In Jesus’ name!
