“A Lifestyle of Prayer”

This week’s prayer focus: Faithfulness!

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.”
Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

Our prayer focus will once again look at a specific part of the fruit of God’s Spirit.  The last few weeks we have focused on self-control, kindness, and goodness.  This week we will focus on praying about the faithfulness God’s Spirit should be producing in us.  The fruit of God’s Spirit within us brings great benefit to our lives but more importantly, our faithfulness is designed to help us represent God’s faithfulness to the people around us.  Many times Christians focus so much on the law that says, “Thou shall not” that we neglect an equally important focus on the Spirit which says, “Be!”.  As you pray, ask God to help you understand His faithfulness more fully so that you can live a life filled with greater faithfulness.  Pray that you would not just avoid evil, but that you would be faithful in doing good.  Pray that your faithfulness in all things would help others see God’s presence in your life and come to know His faithfulness to them.   Pray for a unity of spirit among believers in general and among your church family in particular.  

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”
Ephesians 6:18 (NIV) 

Please spend time praying each day about the faithfulness God desires for you to have through the power of His Spirit.

Sunday: Pray for your church, its staff and leadership, and for all of the preaching and teaching that takes place.  Pray for me (Tom Lemler) and the work of Impact Prayer Ministry.  

Monday:  Faithfulness in Serving the One God.  Pray that God would help you recognize, and throw away, the gods that others serve.  Pray that you would daily choose to only serve the one true God.  “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.”  Joshua 24:14 (NIV)

Tuesday:  Faithfulness in Giving.  Pray that God would fill you with His spirit of generosity.  Pray that your giving would be done with both joy and faithfulness.  “Hezekiah gave orders to prepare storerooms in the temple of the LORD, and this was done.  Then they faithfully brought in the contributions, tithes and dedicated gifts.”  2 Chronicles 31:11-12 (NIV)

Wednesday:  Faithfulness in Hope and Humility.  Pray that pride would have no room to take root in your life.  Pray that your hope in God would draw you into a humble faithfulness.  “Love the LORD, all his saints!  The LORD preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full.  Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.”  Psalm 31:23-24 (NIV)

Thursday:  Faithfulness in Speaking God’s Word.  Pray that you would recognize the difference between your dreams and God’s Word.  Pray that you would faithfully, and accurately, share the Word of God.  “Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the LORD.”  Jeremiah 23:28 (NIV)

Friday:  Faithfulness in Prayer.  Ask God to help you be faithful in in praying about everything.  Ask God to help you learn to pray about joy, affliction, and everything in between.  “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”  Romans 12:12 (NIV)

Saturday:  Faithfulness in Using God’s Gifts to Serve.  Pray that God would help you know His gifting in your life.  Pray that you would be faithful in using that gifting to serve others.  “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”  1 Peter 4:10 (NIV)