WEEK OF PRAYER AND FASTING 2025 - DAY 4
Read Ephesians 4:10-16
‘He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Rather, speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part if working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love’.
COMMENT: This is a wonderful passage where the Apostle Paul casts an all-encompassing vision of what the Church has been designed by God to be. We are reminded that the Ascended Christ now works through us, his people, by equipping each one of us to play a part in the advance of the Kingdom.
God has given each one of us as a gift to one another to build each other up in Christ, and to speak the truth in love so that we might grow together. This happens when each one of us fights against passivity, comfort and spiritual apathy by embracing our calling to be ministers of God’s grace to one another, rather than settling for spiritual consumerism.
Alternatively, if we give in to laziness, cowardice or indifference, the warning is that the whole church family will not grow, and we would deprive one another of an aspect of God’s grace towards us by failing to love one another.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Thank the Lord for your Church family and how they can be a blessing and encouragement to you.
2. Give thanks to the Lord for the way that we have been encountering his presence in our gathered times as a Church. The Lord has been good to minister to us through the spiritual gifts he gives to his people. Wonderfully, we can ask God for more of this.
3. Ask the Lord to continue to pour out his Spirit. Ask the Lord to guard your own heart from passivity and apathy. Ask the Lord to equip you to be the kind of person who builds others up in love.
4. Pray for those who have the responsibility to lead, teach, equip and disciple in our Church family. Pray for our ministry teams and their leaders.
5. Ask the Lord to help us continue to grow as a Church - especially in prayer, evangelism, generosity, hospitality and compassion.
6. Commit this Sunday to the Lord, a day when we will have a wonderful opportunity to serve others. Ask the Spirit to encourage and show you how to be a blessing.