WHAT SHOULD WE LOOK FOR IN THE TIME WE SPEND TOGETHER?

  GREETINGS IN THE NAME OF JESUS:


                    God has given us some basic areas that always need to be covered when we get together as the church with the complete guidance of the Holy Spirit. I would like to take the time to go over these in more detail with you.  I believe that God would always have us begin and end with PRAYER.  All of the offerings we make or gifts that we might give to one another are centered in prayer.  For some people, MUSIC helps them to clear their minds and focus on what they are doing, and for others, it may be a distraction. The important thing is that we make contact with the Father and lay all things down at His feet before we start. The Lord's Prayer is a good format for this, but to resite, it does no one much good.
SCRIPTURE is next on the list of things we should always include for teaching and guidance.  We often get this through the sermon that we usually hear, and in our church, we are fortunate to have good leadership that is well versed in the word of God.  There are some other things that as the church we have kind of dropped out of doing that the first church did as an act of edifying one another. SHARING STORIES OF GOD'S WORK OR INTERVENTION.  These include things like praise reports of things that have both been victories or problems that have been encountered and a way to deal with these through prayer requests. I believe we need to encourage people in sharing in this prayer time by giving the people constant encouragement to be a part of this aspect of the service.
 As a church grows this becomes harder to continue with but when we start to shy away from it because it is inconvenient we are missing a vital part of lifting one another up in Christ by encouragement.

Some people seem to need a list of things that will help them to concentrate on their time in preparing for a service of worshiping God so I am going to give you some things that you can use to include in your prayer time.

1. Lord cleanse me of my sin
2.  Lord let your will be done in my life, and help me always to seek your face.
3. Lord help me to be honest with myself and with you as I pray.
4. Lord, I ask that your Holy Spirit would teach me what it is that you want from me as I pray.
5. Lord, I pray that your will be done with me and all in this church that we would be true disciples of Christ.
6. Lord show me how to be an example to everyone around me of what it is to live in you.
7. Lord help me to open up to those in Christ around me to develop a close family bond with those in the church.
8. Lord help me to find at least one person in the church I can pray with and have as my accountability partner.
9. Lord, I pray for the church leaders, for wisdom, guidance, and that they would stay in the center of your will.
10. Lord help me to allow you to draw me closer to you than I have ever been.
11.  Lord teach me the truth about myself and help me to be willing to what I need to transform into your child.
12. Lord, help me to humble myself before you like this every day and let this become a habit in my life.
   Always take the time to end your time in prayer in a loving way to God, and in thankfulness for His love for you.   May you richly bless God through your life in Him.


THE UNWORTHY SERVANT