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Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4: 6 ESV
Welcome to our January 2010 1st Friday Call to Prayer. Our aim is to provide you with teaching that we trust will enhance your prayer experience and will be an encouragement to you. We will also provide you with praise items and prayer requests coming from within ANiC and the Anglican Communion worldwide.
Given that the 1st Friday is New Year’s Day, we encourage you to set aside Friday, January 8th, as a day of prayer and fasting for the Church in these critical days, ideally gathering with other believers in your parish or region for corporate prayer at some point in the day.
Prayer Quotes
Let God act. Abandon yourself to Him. You will suffer, but you will suffer with love, peace and consolation. You will fight, but you can carry off the victory, and God Himself will crown you with His own hand. You will weep, but your tears will be sweet, and God Himself will come to dry them.
Francois Fénelon 1651-1715
Praying for the Harvest II
In our last month’s meditation, we began to look at what it might mean for us as Anglicans to “pray for the harvest” in the 21st century. We looked at Matthew 9:35-38, the passage where the Lord Jesus urges us to “pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest” that he would send forth more labourers because “the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few.”
We also examined the Ephesians 4 passage that describes the ministry gifts that Jesus has promised to give the Church for the maturing of the saints and the building up of the Body of Christ. We suggested that in every parish fervent prayer for the identifying and release of these ministry gifts amongst our lay people was essential and strategic if we are to reach our God-given mandate of 1000 new ACNA churches in 5 years.
The second focus last month could be simply summarized as praying “for an increased personal and corporate burden for those who do not know Jesus” – that Jesus would give us his burden for the lost. We noted that this “begins with each of us repenting of our lack of fervor concerning the lost, and praying for the heart of Jesus that we might care as He cares”.
My prayer for myself as we explore praying for the harvest is that my heart will be broken over my apathy and lack of fervor for those who do not yet know the Lord Jesus. I dare say that none of us needs more “information”, more convincing about the importance of evangelism and reaching out to the lost. Personally, I need a heart change, and part of my current prayer pattern is to repent of my missed opportunities and timidity.
This month, we will consider two other ways that we can be praying for the harvest. The first is that we would be praying for a greater manifestation of God’s presence in our worship services. Now that thought may not sound typically Anglican, but surely the days of “typical” are over, and we need a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit to blow through our churches.
Dr. A. W. Tozer, well-known pastor, teacher, and author of more than 40 books during the mid-20th century made the following remarkable observation in his classic work The Pursuit of God: -
“The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God, and the Church is famishing for want of His presence. The instant cure for most of our religious ills would be to enter the Presence in spiritual experience, to become suddenly aware that we are in God and He is in us. This would lift us out of our pitiful narrowness and cause our hearts to be enlarged. This would burn away the impurities from our lives (and churches) as bugs and fungi were burned away by the fire that dwelt in the bush.” A.W. Tozer 1949
What would we think about a worship service where the presence of God was so strong that sinners – and ‘saints’ – began to repent, and the sick were being healed, simply as they entered the building? Does that thought bring fear to our hearts? What if God showed up in power to transform lives? Isn’t that what our hearts are desperately crying out for? Truly, the world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God, and we in the Church are famishing for want of His presence.
In February 1999, a small group of Inuit residents of Pond Inlet were praying fervently for the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon them and their community. The well-documented results have now been told around the world: -
“It started like thunder, and at first no one knew what was happening. Moses Kyak, who was operating the sound system, turned the volume off but the noise kept getting louder. Then people began falling down without anyone touching them. James Arreak, who had been leading worship, began to shake. The building began to shake. For about a minute the noise continued to fill the church, like a mighty, rushing wind.”
In reporting on the above event, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada noted that, “It was probably the most dramatic event marking revival in Canada’s Arctic, but it was neither the beginning nor the end of a movement that has swept across the North, touching communities and transforming lives in a way never seen before” (You can read the full report online for more detail http://www.evangelicalfellowship.ca/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=1813
No one knows what a new manifestation of the presence of God might look like, but can we agree in prayer that we desperately need one, and that we trust the Holy Spirit enough to let Him bring whatever He chooses for our day, even if it is outside of our comfort zone? Veni Sancte Spiritus – Come, Holy Spirit!
Finally, having just come through the season of Advent where our hearts were poised to celebrate the birth of our Saviour, and yearning deeply for His return, let us look at a promise that Jesus made concerning the link between the Gospel being preached and the second Advent.
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
Matt 24: 14 ESV
This verse is taken from Mathew’s account of Jesus’ great discourse on the culmination of history as we have known it, and His return as King of kings. It would seem as if there is a direct correlation between the proclaiming of the Gospel throughout the whole world and the coming of the end of days. Surely then we can also “pray for the harvest” by eagerly anticipating the return of Jesus and allowing that yearning to inspire our prayer that the gospel of the Kingdom would be proclaimed throughout the whole world, to every nation and people group.
“Lord of the harvest, we so yearn for your return! We pray for the salvation of the many world-wide who have never even heard the Gospel message, especially we pray for nations under the control of Islam. We ask you to send our labourers of every ministry gifting so that many will be brought daily into your Kingdom and nurtured in your Church. Holy Spirit, we invite you to burst into our services of worship in a fresh, new way. May the presence of God overwhelm us and the power of God be released to transform hopeless, twisted and broken lives and relationships. We add the cry of our hearts to that of the apostle John in his plea, “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”
Garth V. Hunt
Praise God …
That the “fields are white unto harvest” – and He is calling labourers to work in His fields.
That He is equipping us for the ministry He is calling us to do.
That He loves us unconditionally and He knows our inadequacy for the task. But “His power is made perfect in our weakness” if we simply submit to His will and leading.
For our churches, for the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) and for the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).
For faithful Anglican bishops, clergy and laity – throughout the Communion – who are standing for truth even when their stand for Christ and His Word makes them targets of attack.
For those who are providing leadership to the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans around the globe and for the growing unity of orthodox Anglicans in the Communion.
For the reformation God is working out in global Anglicanism – and Christianity in general. In the midst of chaos, He is building His Kingdom and refining His bride, the Church.
For His blessing on ANiC, for how He has led, and for what He has planned for our future.
For the many ANiC “projects” – the small, but growing congregations of faithful Anglicans He is adding to our number.
Please pray…
That we would humble ourselves before God and confess our lack of concern for those who do not know our Lord.
That we would be willing to be changed – transformed into the image of His Son.
That God would give us a new manifestation of His presence; that the fire of His Spirit would burn away the dross and refine the gold in our lives, and in our churches.
That we would fall deeper in love with Jesus, growing more like our Saviour each day.
That we would see as Jesus saw, love as He loved, serve as He served, and die to ourselves as He died to Himself.
That we would see afresh the horror of an eternity without God and gain new compassion for the many around us who are lost and without Christ.
That we would be motivated to reach out with grace and humility to our lost neighbours and contacts with the Good News of forgiveness and restoration through Jesus Christ.
For God to raise up many labourers among us – perhaps even us.
For Bishops Donald Harvey, Stephen Leung, Charlie Masters, Trevor Walters, Malcolm Harding and Ronald Ferris, and their families. Pray for spiritual and physical protection, for wisdom, and for a daily closer walk with God.
For those suffering under the attack of the enemy in our congregations and families. Pray for victory in Christ and healing where needed. Pray especially for clergy and their family members who are experiencing spiritual and physical attack.
For new and forming ANiC congregations as they attend to the many details of organizing and launching a parish – and for other congregations considering joining ANiC.
For congregations that have lost their places of worship as well as for those forced to appeal to the courts and facing the possible loss of their buildings. May they demonstrate love to those who persecute them.
For the legal team and parish leaders seeking God’s direction for next steps in the legal cases involving church facilities.
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For the four Vancouver-area parishes which are considering appealing the disappointing decision from the BC Supreme Court. |
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For the case involving St Aidan’s in Windsor, ON. |
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For St George’s (Lowville, ON), Good Shepherd (St Catharines, ON) and St Hilda’s (Oakville, ON) in their dispute with the Diocese of Niagara. |
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For a change of heart on the part of the dioceses pursuing ANiC parishes. May they relent and work with parishes to reach amicable, mutually beneficial settlements. |
For the recovery of a lively orthodoxy in the ACoC and for those who feel called to remain in the ACoC to pray and work for reformation and for a renewed commitment to Jesus Christ and His inspired Word.
For the leaders of the Anglican Communion Alliance (formerly Anglican Essentials Federation), Anglican Essentials Network and Anglican Essentials Canada as they provide support for orthodox Anglicans still within the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC).
For Biblically-faithful Anglicans in Canada who feel isolated in liberal churches and dioceses as well as for those who feel they can no longer remain in the Anglican Church of Canada. May they find Christian fellowship and spiritual nourishment.
For Archbishop Gregory Venables (and his wife, Sylvia) who graciously provided a temporary “home” for ANiC members when we needed Primatial oversight.
For our new province, the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA):
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For Archbishop Bob Duncan (and wife, Nara) |
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For the other dioceses and the bishops giving leadership – especially those in Canada: the Anglican Coalition in Canada and the Reformed Episcopal Church. |
For the orthodox Primates and bishops who are courageously standing for the Truth. Pray for spiritual and physical protection and for discernment, grace and strength as they lead in a torn Communion.
For the Covenant process. May the Lord clearly lead and may His will be done.
For the Archbishop of Canterbury. May he pursue God wholeheartedly and seek the wisdom and discernment he needs to fulfill his responsibilities to the glory of God.
For suffering Christians around the world in conditions of persecution, war, drought, famine and poverty – especially:
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For those facing persecution in Muslim countries hostile to Christianity, such as Pakistan, Iran, northern Nigeria & Iraq |
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For those suffering from famine and drought in Eastern Africa |
For those in authority over us. Pray for wise decisions that honour the Lord and promote the welfare of Canadian citizens. Pray also for protection for those who are in “harms way” as they serve our country. Specifically, pray:
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For those in government – both for members of Parliament creating laws and for civil servants in positions of responsibility; |
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For judges in our court system who are charged with interpreting and applying laws; |
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For officers of the law who daily risk their lives for our protection; and |
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For those who selflessly serve our country in the military.
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That God would revive us, our church and, ultimately, our nation.
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