Prayer Focus for Fast - Day 1

Personal Renewal
Ephesians 3:14-19

Today’s prayer is focused on orienting our own hearts and minds toward God. This text is a prayer from Paul that I want to encourage us to personalize. It’s not a prayer for relief from difficulty. Nor is it a prayer for the increase of earthly comfort and personal gain. It is a prayer for increased intimacy with God; for sharper focus on God; for deeper awareness of God; for a greater knowledge of the character of God; and for a personal realization of the glory and love of God. That’s our focus today… personal renewal through treasuring Christ. We want to cherish God as the ultimate good and be filled with the Spirit as the ultimate source of life.

Some things to prayerfully consider:

• What changes has God worked in me for his glory in the last 3-6 months?
• What area of sin and dysfunction is God calling me to put to death and leave behind right now?
• What good things loom too large in my life and are, thus, obscuring the beauty of Jesus?
• What am I protecting from the Lordship of Christ for fear of losing it or having to live without it?
• What new practice or pattern is God calling me to as a pursuit of knowing Him more?
• What contribution could I make this year, with God’s help, to make disciples and advance his Kingdom?
• Who is God calling me to serve humbly with the love of Jesus, and to share boldly with the gospel of Jesus?

Brothers and sisters, let’s give serious, honest, Spirit-led consideration to our lives today. Let’s confess wrong attitudes and mindsets; ungodly emotions and behaviors; unhelpful habits and approaches to relationships. Let’s be honest with ourselves and with God. And let’s focus our hearts and minds on His grace and love; His holiness and glory; His power and purposes. Let’s remember the newness of life He’s given us in Jesus; the new things He’s worked in us by His strength; the new things He’s called us to which we have not yet stepped into fully. Let’s silence the noise within us and around us to listen to what the Lord is dreaming about for our lives.

Let’s discern today where He is placing us and with whom He is positioning us to be of use to Him. We are disciples and disciple makers at the core of our identity. Let’s give meaningful consideration today to our growth as disciples; to what is stunting our growth as disciples; and to how we help others grow as disciples. That’s what Jesus has declared and determined he will give himself to… so let’s orient ourselves toward taking the next step with Jesus.