The Prayer Team Update
First United Methodist Church
______
Volume 10, No. 2, February 3, 2017
Uncertainty. It’s the prevailing mood in our country and our state these days. It may also be the mood in our church in light of the recent news of my transition. The temptation in such times is to tighten-up and reach back for what is familiar. Anxiety about the future makes the past look better than ever. But God doesn’t live in the past. God lives in the Eternal Now and invites us into an unknown future.
Take Abraham, for example. When he least expected it, God called Abraham to go to a land he knew not of. The LORD said,
“Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” Genesis 12:1 (NRSV)
Abraham may have wondered, “Lord, what does this land look like? Is it safe? Who lives there? How long will this take? Is there something you want me to do there?” But God doesn’t give any details.
When Abraham received this clear, divine command, he basically had two choices. He could obey it or dismiss it. What makes Abraham such a compelling model of faith is he chose to obey God without hesitancy…but not without consequences. His choice to follow God’s lead plunged him into a journey of epic proportions.
When God invites you on a journey you didn’t expect, what will you do? We generally choose one of two options. We either become willful or willing. Willfulness leads to control. Willingness leads to surrender. They each have specific characteristics.
Control Surrender
False Self True Self
Ego Humility
Closed-ness Openness
When we are in control mode, it’s about us. We exert all the external power and influence at our command to make things go the way we think they should. We’re pretty sure we know what is best, regardless of what God says. Our Ego gets involved by wanting something that will make us more, and we become very closed to options other than our own.
When we surrender, we place our lives in God’s hands. We trust in God’s wisdom even when it doesn’t make sense to us, because God sees and knows so much more than we do. In humility, we don’t ask God for something to make us more, but to make us more ourselves. We become open to unexpected possibilities that could lead to a wild walk with God.
Abraham chose surrender. It didn’t have to make sense to him or feel comfortable. He didn’t have to know how it would turn out before he took the first step. All he had to know was that he’d heard God’s voice.
As we journey through uncertain times, let’s tear a page out of Abraham’s playbook. Let’s listen for God’s voice and willingly follow his lead, wherever that may take us.
Trusting with you in a Trustworthy God,
The Soulful Seven
FirstUMCPrayer Team
February 2017
Feel free to pray for a different area each day of the week.
Thanks for your prayers!
❖ Sunday—THANK GOD for helping us Stop the Drift in our lives. In the midst of unexpected changes, pray for the Lord to open our eyes to fresh leadings from God in our new series, My Wild Walk With God.
❖ Monday—Praise the Lord for the new total in our Christmas Eve offering of $44,337! This will give hundreds of children and youth a Christian education at the Haiti School of Hope & the John Wesley UM School in Liberia. Put your hands together for Jesus!
❖ Tuesday—Ask the Holy Spirit to make deeply devoted disciples through our classes and choirs for children, youth and adults during our Wednesday night CONNECT that started again on Feb. 1.
❖Wednesday—Praise God for the 17 students in our Confirmation Class on Wednesday nights! Please pray for personal faith to take hold in each of their lives. For both Wednesdays and the weekends, please hold Nancy Angulo & Matt Cleveland and their teams before the Lord as they help kids & families discover God loves them!
❖Thursday—As Jesus pours his joy into our hearts, invite Him to show us how we are filled to be spilled. As we seek to imitate Jesus who gave so freely of himself for the good of others, we are so grateful for the 7% increase in our Generosity commitments for our 2017 ministry plan! Please begin praying now for a fantastic finish to our Momentum Giving Campaign at the end of April.
❖Friday—PRAISE GOD for the successful and safe mission trip to Liberia by Pastor Nicole and the team from central Illinois who educated people about clean water. Pray for the 10 people who have already expressed interest in our Haiti Mission Trip scheduled for June 17-24.
❖Saturday—Petition God to reveal to our Bishop and Cabinet who our new senior pastor will be. Ask the Lord to also reveal a new part-time director of our Contemporary Choir. PRAISEGODforour staff team ofAaronHavard, Brennan Pappas,Carli Burton,Chase Carlisle,Chantel Corrie, Dennie Canny, Elyssa Carlisle, Holly Taylor, Jenny Hutcherson, Lana Salomonson, Matt Cleveland, Mike Whitaker, Nancy Angulo, Nicole Cox, Pam Long, Roger Ross, See Tsai Chan, Sharon Sweeney, Stacy Kuhlmann, and several caring nursery workers. Please pray for God’s supernatural favor on their lives and ministries.
If you would like to receive this Prayer Update by email, please contact
Sharon Sweeney at