Letters to the Family of God

by Joe Franzone | October 28, 2021 | Pastor's Blog

Family of God - Website

October 28, 2021

Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord,

at the presence of the God of Jacob,

who turned the rock into a pool,

the hard rock into springs of water.

 

​​​​​​Psalm 114:7,8

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Dear friends,

 

I continue to thank God and you for your participation in these 40 days of prayer for Christ's church. I have been greatly encouraged by the expectant posture the church is holding towards our good, gracious, and powerful Father in heaven. All your confidence is in God.

Gospel advancement, God’s goodness as a framework for our thinking and living, and our relationship to one another are prayers we have considered. (You can find a list here) This week I would like to suggest prayers for the leadership of Christ's church.

Leadership is inescapably hard. The mission of the local church is, I think, superhuman. In both, we need God’s grace, the Holy Spirit's enabling, and the mind, heart, and person of Christ to do anything as we should. Our triune God turns the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water.

While the primary focus of these suggested prayers will be eldership, they are not completely limited to eldership. I suspect there will come a time for everyone when we must lead. The prayers, admittedly, may not make a top ten leadership prayer list; they just seem to me, at present, most needed. Therefore, they are simply suggested.

 

  1. We would earn the church's trust by being trustworthy.
  2. Good leaders know their place. Please ask God that we would know ours.
  3. We would be humble, well-mannered, tender, joyful, brave, expectant, generous, and in touch with our weakness so that Christ’s power may rest on us.
  4. We would be men of the Word, of prayer, of vision, and the Gospel.
  5. We would do our homework, pray a lot, taking initiative when suitable. In light of the latter, God would give us the grace to understand our times, be a great joy to God’s people, with an honest fight against our indwelling sin, which will always be a part of us.

I love you with all my heart in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for praying.

 

Your friend and brother in Christ.

Joe