Pray today that God would help you Love your Crossroads family as brothers and sisters in Christ. Ask God to heal broken relationships and protect us from divisiveness.

On the afternoon of the third worst day of my life, my body shut down and forced me to take a nap. We had a visitation to get ready for that evening, a funeral the next day (Bad Day #2), and I was still mentally and physically fatigued from the Worst of All Bad Days a few days prior. My body was telling me, in no uncertain terms, that I needed to rest.

 

It was an overcast day (like my mood), and when I woke up, the room was dim. I glanced out the window by the bed, closed my eyes again and groaned to myself: “I don’t know how I’m going to do this.”

 

With my eyes still closed, I sensed a bright ray of sunshine flooding the room. I felt its warmth and could tell how bright it was, even with my eyes closed. In that moment, it felt like God was comforting me in my sorrow. I whispered to the Lord, knowing that he would help me get through the day … and all the days to follow: “I love you, too.”

 

As quickly as the sun had peeked through, it was suddenly gone again. I opened my eyes to a dim room and cloudy sky outside but warmth in my spirit.

 

During the days, weeks and months that followed—when I really needed to see a ray of sunshine—I had a Life group that was praying for me. Our Life groups exist so that we don’t have to walk through the storms of life alone. What a difference it makes to know that we’re in this together!

 

We Love each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, Invest in each other’s lives genuinely, Fellowship together and Encourage each other. We do LIFE together.

 

This week, we’ll use the acronym for our Life groups along with Hebrews 10:23-25 as our prayer guide …

We will use the phrase GO WORLD as a prayer guide this week:

 

(Saturday) D – Developing countries. Our focus this week has been  on missions. Hopefully, by now, you realize that mission work isn’t just something that “other” people do in far-off places; we can be missionaries in our own community. However, let’s remember that there are people serving in unreached areas of the globe. Today, pray for God’s workers in the mission field abroad—for protection from illness, physical danger and spiritual attack.

 

We will use the phrase GO WORLD as a prayer guide this week:

 

(Friday) L – Land. After years of meeting in borrowed and rented     facilities, isn’t it wonderful that Crossroads has a permanent home? God is good – all the time! Thank God today that we have a place to come and worship him freely, and thank him for those who help take care of our facilities and property.

 

Something neat happened at our Life group last night. We were talking about prayer requests and how so many folks in our Life group seem to be under attack by the enemy and that we need to continue to pray for each other. Then, people started comparing our trials to storms, and we listened to the Casting Crowns song, “Praise You in the Storm.”

 

I was reminded about the prayer devotional that I just finished earlier in the day for next week …  the focus is on the storms of life and praying for our Life groups! Isn’t God neat?! I hope it is useful and timely.

 

We will use the phrase GO WORLD as a prayer guide this week:

 

(Thursday) R – Round Top Women’s Retreat. In the weeks leading  up to our retreat next month, pray for the women who will be     attending this time of renewal and learning. Pray for the leaders and all of the details that need to fall into place for a successful    retreat. Pray for open hearts.

 

We will use the phrase GO WORLD as a prayer guide this week:

 

(Wednesday) O – On the job. Did you know that we have only one   “full-time” paid staff member? The rest of the Crossroads team is   bi-vocational, meaning that they have regular jobs outside of their ministry. Please pray today for our church leaders and ask God to strengthen them during the many hours that they put into ministry and other work. Ask God how you can be a “missionary” at your own job, too. Pray for the unemployed in our church family.

 

We will use the phrase GO WORLD as a prayer guide this week:

(Tuesday) W – Welcome crew. It has been said that visitors often make the decision whether or not to return to a church in the first few minutes of their arrival, even before the singing or sermon time! Thank God today for our welcome crew, greeters and others who work hard behind the scenes to make Sunday mornings   pleasant for the rest of us.

We will use the phrase GO WORLD as a prayer guide this week:

 

(Monday) O – Outreach. Ask God to minister to our C4 community, as  a whole. Many of them are in broken, unstable families. Ask God to move in their lives with power and truth. Ask God what he would have you do to help with this mission effort.

 

 

I don’t know about you, but waiting is not my strong suit; I’d rather being doing something and seeing results. I enjoy writing because it’s concrete and allows me to see my thoughts unfolding, literally. I like working with tools because I have the satisfaction of seeing something broken become workable again. It’s tangible.

 

Waiting … for the unknown, for God’s sweeping intervention, for things to happen that are out of our control, to have to rely on someone else’s decision-making … is much more difficult.

 

Have you ever planted a garden? As we were reading the seed  packets for our vegetable garden, we noticed that the length of time necessary for each plant to mature varied dramatically. Some took just a few weeks and needed little effort, while others required more time and a lot more attentive care.

 

Aren’t trials like that? We whine about how lonnnnng things seem to take to resolve. There are things we want to hurry up and fix, push along, get moving, take care of—yet, they are out of our control. Just as we are completely and utterly incapable of making plants grow, we have to wait and watch expectantly as God allows other areas in our lives to take root and mature.

 

On the other hand, simply waiting around and watching the grass grow isn’t good enough. We can’t force the plants to grow, but if we  neglect to water and fertilize them, we can be sure to thwart their growth or kill them all together. We can do the same thing to the gospel: we can spread it enthusiastically around the world or keep it   to ourselves and pretend like mission work is for missionaries and   pastors. Let’s see what the apostle Mark had to say about missions:

 

“Then he said, ‘Go into the world. Go everywhere and announce

the Message of God’s good news to one and all.’”

—Mark 16:15 (The Message)

 

Does that mean ME? Yes, me! Whether it is in our own hometown or halfway across the world, there are opportunities for you to get    involved in missions. What’s stopping you?

 

We will use the phrase GO WORLD as a prayer guide this week. (In case you aren’t familiar with it from earlier posts, C4 is our inner city mission at a public housing project.):

 

(Sunday) G – Grades. Pray for our C4 kids who attend tutoring and the volunteers who work with them. Pray for our local schools and teachers.