40 Days of Prayer | Week 2

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40 Days of Prayer | Week 2 Written by Pastor Eric Stiller

Day 5 | Sunday, March 9 Scripture 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47 Devotional A human cannot be sound of body, yet sick of mind, and be well. We are holistic beings: intellectual, emotional, physical, social, spiritual, etc. To be well, not only must all these areas be healthy and fully functioning, but they must be integrated with each other into a unified person. The Bible knows nothing of compartmentalized human beings. And so it is with the church, the body of Christ. A healthy, flourishing church is a holistic entity, and whenever revival has occurred, it manifests itself by certain identifying marks. For the remaining 35 days, we will meditate on the 5 most salient marks of a revived church, all of which we see in this passage: 1) True apprehension of the gospel; 2) Vibrant worship; 3) Rich fellowship; 4) Bold evangelism; 5) Compassionate social concern. Prayer Dear Lord, through faith and the working of your Holy Spirit, you bring individual believers to wholeness in all of their being. Renewal of the person brings renewal to every aspect of their lives. Gracious, Heavenly Father, we beseech you now, renew your church, even our local congregation. Make us well and healthy and whole and strong. Let us grow up into the fullness of Christ: built on the foundation of grace, joyful in worship, caring for one another in deep community, reaching out to the world around us with the gospel of Christ, and making his love tangible as we serve “the least of these”. O Lord, by the power of your Holy Spirit, make these things ever more true of us, all to the praise of your glorious name!

© 2014 Central Presbyterian Church

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Day 6 | Monday, March 10 Scripture 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— 6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:4-9 Devotional We don’t want to admit that outside of Christ we are dead. We recoil from any suggestion that we may not be quite as good as we want to think we are. “Oh yes”, we may say, “I am a sinner, and I know I need forgiveness. But I’m not that bad. I just need a little help to become a better person.” We look at God as a supplemental aid to a relatively sanguine situation, when the gospel tells us that he is the only antidote to an utterly hopeless predicament. To learn grace means to learn that we are “dead in trespasses”; that we have no more power to become the people God intends us to be than a dirt clod has power to become a dolphin. It means to learn what Nathan Cole learned in 1740 when he heard George Whitefield preach: “My hearing him preach gave me a heart wound; by God’s blessing, my old foundation was broken up, and I saw that my righteousness would not save me.” A revived heart is one that has come alive to the radically unnerving yet unfathomably life-giving grace of God. Ironically, and wonderfully, learning that we are dead means we have at last begun to come alive… Prayer O Lord, we would hold fast to our righteousness, clinging to it as a drowning person clings to a life preserver. How foolish we are! How deceived by pride and folly! We know not the true depths of our despair, because we refuse to see how desperate our situation truly is! Give us eyes to see our sin. Give us a heart to perceive our deadness. Let your kindness lead us to a godly grief that produces true repentance, the repentance that leads to salvation, and life, and wholeness. Help us to embrace your gospel in all its wonder, for only when we finally look upon our sin are we enabled to catch a glimpse of the staggering, soul-defining grace you have poured out on us through your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

© 2014 Central Presbyterian Church

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Day 7 | Tuesday, March 11 Scripture Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Ephesians 5:14 Devotional Some of us have been churchgoers for years, and think that our religious observances make us Christian. We do not know that we are dead. Others of us at one time knew the depth of our sin, and the wonder of grace, but we have grown sleepy, and have forgotten that mere observance alone is repugnant to God. But when he begins to wake us up, Christ begins to shine on us. O believer, is Christ shining on you? That is, is his love more real to you than any other love? Do you see his beauty, his grace, his power, and do they weigh upon your heart more palpably than anything else in your experience? If not, we need to question whether we’ve ever really apprehended the gospel in the first place. Yet if you want this, if there is even a glimmer of desire for it, then it means that even now Christ is at work in your heart, drawing you nearer to himself. He has begun to shine on you. Awake! Prayer Father in heaven, far too long have we walked in a stupor, drowsy with a self-satisfied notion that you are actually pleased with our rituals and observances, when what you truly call us to do is wake up! Lord God, awaken us to your gospel! Rouse us from our lethargy, and shake us from our sleep of death! Kindle within us the fire of your love, the love of Christ: unspeakable, unsearchable, immeasurable, unquenchable. Make him more real to us, that we may know more and more that love that is beyond knowing, and be filled to all the fullness of God.

© 2014 Central Presbyterian Church

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Day 8 | Wednesday, March 12 Scripture 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." Romans 1:16-17 Devotional The gospel is a worldview, but it is more. The gospel is a social movement, but it is more. The gospel is a moral and ethical directive, but again, it so much more. All of these things are good, but they are results of the gospel, not its essence. At its heart, the gospel is power: the very power of God. Not a power for domination or oppression, but one that delivers people from the domination and oppression of sin. The gospel is not good advice on how to live. That is religion. The gospel is good news about who God is and what he has done. And what he has done is break into the world, into the whole time/space continuum, manifesting his kingdom here through the death and resurrection of his son Jesus Christ. The trajectory of religion is man striving upward to God. The trajectory of the gospel is God coming down among us. We do not “live” the gospel as much as we “live it out”. It is not something we do as much as something we embrace. It is not the (feeble) power of man. It is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” Prayer Great God and Father Almighty, you are infinite and glorious in power: the power that created the universe in might and wisdom, the power that hung the stars in the sky, the power that set the planets in motion, the power that no eye can see nor mind comprehend. Yours is a power that is merciful and loving, for it was love that brought our Savior Jesus to this earth to die for us. It was love that raised him from the grave to renew us. And it is love that is even now working all things for the good of those who love you. Mighty Lord, save us from thinking that it is by our own efforts that we ascend to you. Grant us, instead, that we may have eyes to see and hearts to perceive the power of your gospel that has broken into this fallen, sinful world. Help us to appropriate your gospel, to embrace it ever more fully, and to respond to it in faithfulness and joy. Let it be the power of our lives, the very power of God at work in our being, our families, our church, and our land.

© 2014 Central Presbyterian Church

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Day 9 | “A Beautiful Life” | Thursday, March 13 Scripture 16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 Devotional The way you look at yourself in a mirror is not like the way you look at other people. A mirror compels you, draws you in, absorbs you in contemplation. Why? Because we are absorbed with ourselves to begin with. When we look at the law, it functions in many ways like a mirror. We look at the standard for our lives, and we inevitably end up evaluating ourselves with questions like, “How am I doing? How am I measuring up? Am I succeeding? Am I failing?” Every success is magnified. Every blemish is scrutinized. But the gospel transforms the mirror into a looking glass that focuses our gaze on Christ. Instead of contemplating ourselves, we are contemplating him. Instead of evaluating how we are doing, we consider what he did. The law reflects our distorted lives. The gospel reveals a beautiful life, the most beautiful life ever lived. We can never become like Christ by focusing on ourselves and how we are doing. The only way to grow in holiness and beauty is to behold the source, to become lost in it, that we may be transformed “from one degree of glory to another.” Prayer Lord Jesus, too long have we been enraptured with ourselves. We have made human achievement the standard by which we measure our worth and significance. Ironically, in so doing we have set the bar far too low. You did not create us to be merely human, but to be glorious: to participate in and share your glory, the glory you had with the Father before the foundation of the world. We ask you now to help us take our eyes off ourselves and to fix them on you. Let us be enraptured with you, enthralled by you, lost in you, that in being so lost we may finally become the persons you intended us to be. We pray that you would renew us in your image day by day, that we may reflect your beauty, grace, and love to the broken world around us, that in beholding us, they too may come to behold you. Make us vessels of your gospel and instruments of your grace, for it is only your gospel that can transform this world.

© 2014 Central Presbyterian Church

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Day 10 | “Gospel Transformation” | Friday, March 14 Scripture 8 They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. 9And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep." For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. 10Then he said to them, "Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." 11So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved." 12And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them. Nehemiah 8:8-12

Devotional For decades, Jerusalem had been in the grips of nationwide apostasy. The temple still stood, but it was filled with idols. Offerings were still made, but to foreign gods. Prayers were still uttered, but not to Yahweh. Amidst all the trappings of external religiosity, the Israelites were lost in idolatry. But when Josiah read the book of the Law that had been found in the temple, revival began to spread throughout the land. Personally, he had been walking with the Lord for years, but his revival became the people’s revival through the reading of the word of God. For the first time in years, they kept the Passover. They rid the temple of idols. Not only was the name of Yahweh on their lips, he once again became enthroned in their hearts. The catalyst was the word, the book of the Law, the true proclamation of God’s saving acts on behalf of his people. The gospel has the power to restore the true knowledge of God to people who may consider themselves religious, but are lost in self-salvation and idolatry. Where God’s word is faithfully proclaimed, revival can take place.

Prayer O Lord, we thank you for the many years you have preserved the faithful proclamation of your word among us. In a world that has lost the true knowledge of God, in a land where so many churches have abandoned the gospel of Jesus Christ for a gospel of self-salvation, you have kept a few places where your word is treasured and revered. We ask you to continue your favor to us, and strengthen us that we may never abandon your word. Let us not rest on our heritage, but hold fast to your truth with awe and wonder that it is not because we are worthy or wonderful, but because you are gracious, that you have preserved your gospel among us. And we pray boldly that you will grant a soul-shaking repentance and revival to all the churches in our community. Many used to hold to your truth, but have long since drifted into doubt and relativism. Renew your church, O God! Bring revival throughout our land, and let © 2014 Central Presbyterian Church

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your gospel be shouted once again from pulpit to pulpit. As Josiah’s personal renewal led to corporate renewal, so let the ministers in our community who once knew you, or never knew you, come to a staggering realization of who you really are, and what you really have done for us through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and dominion forever and ever!

© 2014 Central Presbyterian Church

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Day 10 | “Revived By the Word” | Saturday, March 15 Scripture 2 And the king (Josiah) went up to the house of the LORD, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD. 3And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant. 2 Kings 23:2-3 Devotional For decades, Jerusalem had been in the grips of nationwide apostasy. The temple still stood, but it was filled with idols. Offerings were still made, but to foreign gods. Prayers were still uttered, but not to Yahweh. Amidst all the trappings of external religiosity, the Israelites were lost in idolatry. But when Josiah read the book of the Law that had been found in the temple, revival began to spread throughout the land. Personally, he had been walking with the Lord for years, but his revival became the people’s revival through the reading of the word of God. For the first time in years, they kept the Passover. They rid the temple of idols. Not only was the name of Yahweh on their lips, he once again became enthroned in their hearts. The catalyst was the word, the book of the Law, the true proclamation of God’s saving acts on behalf of his people. The gospel has the power to restore the true knowledge of God to people who may consider themselves religious, but are lost in self-salvation and idolatry. Where God’s word is faithfully proclaimed, revival can take place. Prayer O Lord, we thank you for the many years you have preserved the faithful proclamation of your word among us. In a world that has lost the true knowledge of God, in a land where so many churches have abandoned the gospel of Jesus Christ for a gospel of self-salvation, you have kept a few places where your word is treasured and revered. We ask you to continue your favor to us, and strengthen us that we may never abandon your word. Let us not rest on our heritage, but hold fast to your truth with awe and wonder that it is not because we are worthy or wonderful, but because you are gracious, that you have preserved your gospel among us. And we pray boldly that you will grant a soul-shaking repentance and revival to all the churches in our community. Many used to hold to your truth, but have long since drifted into doubt and relativism. Renew your church, O God! Bring revival throughout our land, and let your gospel be shouted once again from pulpit to pulpit. As Josiah’s personal renewal led to corporate renewal, so let the ministers in our community who once knew you, or never knew you, come to a staggering realization of who you really are, and what you really have done for us through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and dominion forever and ever! © 2014 Central Presbyterian Church

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