Gracious Father, what an honor and blessing to be a part of your beautiful bride, your church. We stand in awe as we consider this privilege. You have placed your Son, Christ Jesus, over everything with full power, authority, and control so that your church might thrive and reflect your magnificent glory. Through your Spirit we are united in Christ as your consecrated children, making up this extraordinary body of people. As your children, we celebrate in sharing in Christ’s resurrection, ascension, and exaltation. We also celebrate that we are brothers and sisters united as your church with the same Lord, the same heart, and the same mission. As Christ’s bride, we pray that our churches might flourish with Christ-centered love, unity of purpose, respectful of each person’s unique gifts, talents, and perspectives while working in symphonic rhythm together for Christ’s glory.
We confess that this is only possible if we solely depend upon your grace and power. Protect us and our churches from the fleshly temptation toward self-promotion, self-prompted energy, creating and executing our own plans, being driven by our own perspectives, and depending upon mere human power. Rather, we pray that we might be Christ-reliant pointing solely to his glory while being utterly dependent upon his energy, his plans, his heart, and his supernatural power.
Bless us with continual hope, serving our churches with love, humility, faith, patience, and life example through teaching, discipling, and speaking the truth in love with an ever-increasing passion to lead our people into a deeper understanding and dependence in our incredible Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Christ Jesus, empower us with perseverance to never give up until your Church, which is your body, experiences your fullness that fills everything in every way.
In Christ,
Blessings!
Ephesians 1:22-23
22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Romans 12:4-5
For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Ephesians 4:15-16
but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.