Another great week at Calvary Church! God continues to answer prayer, but this is no reason for us to quit. Praying is what Christians do at all times. We shouldn’t just pray when an emergency arises or a problem comes our way or a need pops its head up. If we only pray when we are facing a crisis then we are not following the Lord’s will; in fact we are far from the Lord’s will. The Lord’s will is for us to be praying constantly.

“Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

“Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication…” (Ephesians 6:18)

Prayer is part of the fabric of the church (cf. Acts 2:42).

We are in a season right now that prayer is intensified, purposeful and intentional. This is a reminder to us that we are desperately dependent on God. This is a time when our focus shifts a little to some specific requests. This time will pass but our prayers must not. We should be praying everyday for His church. We will always find things to pray about; we just never run out of things to pray for. There will be times of intense and intentional praying for our children (VBS, camps, etc.); there will be times like that for our youth (Awaken Weekend, mission trip, etc.); and there will be opportunities to focus our prayer attention elsewhere. The point? We will always be praying for the church.

But today I am in praise mode (along with petition mode). I am praising God for another family that joined us on Sunday. Welcome to the family Ricky and Julie Moore! That makes #2; no, you’re not in second place! You represent an answer to prayer and we feel honored to have you become a part of what God is doing in His church. I am also praising God for an abundant offering. This is God’s church and He will pay the bills and take care of our needs. No need to worry or panic or manipulate, just trust.

I am also thanking the Lord for a phenomenal Awaken Weekend! Thank you to Kristy Hall and the youth crew who prayed, planned and participated to make this a life-changing weekend for our youth. You are awesome! I’ve heard so many good things about Jared Snead and his band. The prayer garden is a perfect addition to the life of Calvary Church. Thank you youth for your hard work on that and the windows.

Now let’s all grab a prayer rock and pray!

Grace & Peace,

At the end of Paul’s letter to the Roman believers he takes some time to write specifically about some people who impacted their world with the gospel. He’s careful to name names and point out godly traits that meant something to him. You see, Paul had it tough at times, but God always provided him with people who were a bright light along a dark path. These were people who encouraged him with their lives. For example he wrote about those who “risked their necks for my life” (16:4). I find that a fascinating statement. Or how about “the first convert to Christ in Asia” (16:5 [i.e., the first Asian Christian]). This was a believer who risked everything, refusing to follow the crowd of his national heritage. He mentions those who understood his suffering because they shared a prison cell with him because of their faith (16:6). He writes about the one “who worked hard in the Lord” (16:12). And then he tenderly remembered an unnamed woman “who has been a mother to me” (16:13). Can you imagine being that woman; she goes down in history as Paul’s surrogate mother. That’s just beautiful.

These were not Superman (-woman) believers, they were common, ordinary, everyday, what we would call “blue collar” Christians. This is what the church is made up of. What’s special about the people of God is not their heritage or their clothes or their bank accounts or their transportation or their house; no, what’s special about God’s family is their sacrifice for the sake of the gospel.

This is the church we should strive to be. We are different people, from all walks of life, with all types of stories to tell, who eat at different fast food joints, and live in all types of houses, driving all shapes, sizes and colors of vehicles, but what we do have in common is the gospel of Jesus Christ. That gospel will completely and irreversibly change people forever.

Think about the people in your life and how they’ve shaped you spiritually. God uses so many different colors and so many different shapes of brushes to paint the portrait of His grace on the canvas of creation. I want to encourage you to write down (as Paul did) the people in your life whom God has used to encourage you in your walk of faith. And don’t just write their names but also write down beside their names what it is in their lives that God used to help you. And then, write them a note of thanks telling them what characteristic in their life encouraged your walk in the Lord for the sake of the gospel.

Grace & Peace,