Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? -Psalm 15:1
I’ve been reading Psalm 15 every day for the past week as I work on committing it to memory. It goes on from verse one to describe the qualities of the person who may approach the Lord. It also reminds the reader in its final verse that “He who does these things will never be shaken.” Wouldn’t it be nice to say, “I cannot be shaken” and mean it? My goal is that I can say such a thing about my faith in Christ and believe it to be true. I’m working on that daily.
As we come out of another Advent and Christmas celebration and prepare for the new year, I am praying specifically that the Lord might favor LifePoint Church and those who call it home in 2018. As always, I do not pray that to the exclusion of any other church in Indianapolis, or our brothers and sisters in Christ in those fellowships. But I am not responsible for them, nor can I impact their ministries in any significant way. I trust that the Lord will do as he pleases in those fellowships, and that they will know his blessing. But my prayer for our LifePoint family comes with responsibility. I can directly impact our ministry to Indianapolis and beyond by engaging whole-heartedly in my walk of faith and in my ministry in and through the church. So can you!
Will you consider making it your own prayer to grow in your faith in significant ways in 2018 and to engage fully in ministry in and through the church? To pray for our church family? Here are some prayer items that you might consider in relation to our ministry together:
- That the Lord will bring people under the influence of the church’s ministry who need to hear the gospel (Acts 18:9-10).
- That we will teach and preach “the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15). That we will not fear for our reputation nor our advantage in the community, but that we will proclaim “Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2).
- That we will be a unified body of believers. That gossip and slander will be rejected by those who hear it, and that we will love and offer grace to one another in truly biblical proportions (John 13:34-35).
- That we will be a sending church, with a heart for gospel missions that is unquenchable (Matt. 28:19-20).
- That we will love and care for our neighbors as we love ourselves (Matt. 22:39).
As we pray in 2018 for these requests, and others that will come to your own minds, I will regularly repeat this prayer of the apostle Paul’s for you as a shepherd of this local church body. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God (Phil. 1:9-11).
May your faith in Christ never be shaken, and may you know grace and peace in 2018!
Pastor Jym