Dear First Pres,
I was so encouraged on Sunday when so many of you raised your hands during the sermon in commitment to pray this week for God to stir up our spirits. Haggai had given the message from God to the people of Jerusalem. It was time for them to start focusing their attention on the Lord's House, the Temple. And then, Haggai (1:14) writes that God stirred up the spirits of Zerubbabel, Joshua, and all the people. God stirred up their spirits into active obedience.
Ultimately, that's what we need. We need God to stir us up in our spirits with His Spirit through the Gospel. So that is what we're praying for this week. If you missed Sunday, please listen to the sermon online, and please join us in praying for God to stir us up as a church.
One of the ways I'm praying for God to stir us up is that He would stir us up in love. Revelation talks about special letters that John was to send to the churches. The message from God to the church in Ephesus (found in Revelation 2:1-7) recognized their hard work, but called them back to love. John writes: "the love you had at first." Can you imagine if every member of our church was passionately loving the Lord? What would our gatherings look like? What would our impact in everyday life look like? We talk a lot about moving outward with the Gospel at FPC, but if we do that without love it won't be effective. We gather every Sunday for worship together, but if we do that without love it won't be the kind of worship God desires. We need love.
Certainly, God deserves our love. He first loved us by sending the One and only Son to die for us, even while we were still sinning. What a good and loving God He is. So, as you pray for God to stir up our spirits this week, please join me in praying for God to stir us up in love.
Blessings,
P.S. I'm looking forward to FPC hosting the Community Wide worship & prayer gathering this Sunday evening, 5-6. Won't you join us?
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