A Culture of Prayer

THE NEED::
This past week I spent about 2 hours prayer walking the community around Florissant Presbyterian. The thing that the Lord continually impressed upon my heart was the need for the gospel to penetrate the hearts and lives of every home, family and life that I walked by, looked at, talked to, etc. We are at a point as a church that I believe we will either begin to take the great commission seriously or we will become content with just not really living our lives on mission with the good news of Jesus. I'll be the first to admit, talking out loud to strangers about Jesus is not natural for me, in fact, I hate it, to some degree. That is something that I have continually been confessing and repenting of this week, begging God to do it in me...which is what it's all about even for the person who loves evangelism. The question becomes, will we take God seriously regarding the great commission, but even before that regarding the great commandment. I am learning more and more that the more we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, the more we will love our neighbors and therefore fulfill the great commission.

THE ANSWER::
God has to do it in us. We won't do it ourselves (Rom. 7:15; 8:13-14, 26-27; Col. 1:29; 2:6-7), or if we do it will be a miserable failure, or an even more miserable success. But the answer isn't just to sit back and hope that it happens, but rather to beg God to do it in us and through us. Will you join me is seeking to make a culture of prayer at NC? That no matter what is happening--good, bad, tragic, or incredible success--our first thought is PRAY, run hard to Jesus with it.

THE HOW::
Rik continually reminds us that you have as much access to God as him and I do, as well as any other pastor or believer. I say that to say, you don't need us to always be leading you in prayer. Now our goal is still to do that--to shepherd you to pray more--but the question becomes, do you only pray when we schedule a time or when we say, "Hey lets go over here and pray before the service?" The first Sunday of every month we will pray from 9-9:45am under the pavilion. This time will typically be elder led, with some structure. Every other Sunday morning from 9:30-9:45ish under the pavilion we encourage you to pray before the service. There might not always be an elder there, my desire is that all of you lead out here. Even if an elder isn't available or around to say "Hey lets go out to the pavilion and pray," somewhat else needs to. This is the culture I pray we will have at NC. The last thing I encourage you to do is Prayer walk your communities. Take your wives and families and regularly walk around your community praying for your neighbors and asking God to show you how to be intentional in reaching them with the gospel.

The next 2 sundays, and even beyond, will we create opportunities for you to sign-up to serve at NC. One of the things on the list will be prayer. I hope that every person signs up to create a culture of prayer at NC. Will you join me? I'm praying that you will!