Prayer Guide: Saturday, January 8
Multiplication of Leadership: A Prayer Guide in Preparation for 2022
This prayer guide is given for us to seek the face of our Father together as we enter 2022. Our theme for this year is the multiplication of leadership. Each day the focus is on one of the areas of leadership we will be discussing throughout the year.
Please read the Scripture of the day and read the little devotional. Then use at least one of the prayer prompts in each section. We are following the “four x four” pattern of prayer:
Reverence: Praising God for something He has shown us about Himself.
Response: Responding to what God has shown us, to do His will.
Requests: Asking Him for healing of relationships and resources to accomplish His will.
Readiness: Asking God to lead us to accomplish it.
Saturday, January 8: John 21:15-25
Reverence:
This prayer guide is given for us to seek the face of our Father together as we enter 2022. Our theme for this year is the multiplication of leadership. Each day the focus is on one of the areas of leadership we will be discussing throughout the year.
Please read the Scripture of the day and read the little devotional. Then use at least one of the prayer prompts in each section. We are following the “four x four” pattern of prayer:
Reverence: Praising God for something He has shown us about Himself.
Response: Responding to what God has shown us, to do His will.
Requests: Asking Him for healing of relationships and resources to accomplish His will.
Readiness: Asking God to lead us to accomplish it.
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| Photo by Victor on Unsplash |
Leadership is followership. And following is a personal call. My roommate in college grew up on a farm in Virginia. The farm was in his blood. When he was five years old, he heard an audible voice coming from a bush say to him, “David, I want you to be a preacher.” Those few words were his call to ministry. He said that if he had not had that unusual experience, it would have been difficult to leave the farm. It was a hard, but clear choice.
Peter had denied Jesus. His guilt and shame are well recorded in Matthew 26:75 as he exited the courtyard and wept bitterly. Now Jesus is looking to walk Peter out of the darkness of his despondency back into the light of fellowship with Him. As Jesus questions him about his love for Him (the same number of times Peter denied Jesus), Peter is hurt. Jesus begins to tell Peter what he will face in the future. It will not be pleasant for Peter in the future, just as it was not pleasant for Jesus on the cross. Peter sees John near them and asks Jesus about him, what he will face. Jesus says, “What if I want him to live until I come back, YOU follow me.”
Your path in following Jesus is not my path and mine is not yours. Following Jesus is corporate in its direction but personal in the particulars. In emptying ourselves to do so, we display the same attitude that was in Jesus (Philippians 2:1-11). But as we do, His joy will be made complete in us, and He will lift us up in due time. Enjoy your journey with Him.
Reverence:
- Thank You, Lord for redeeming me from __________.
- I praise You Lord for asking me hard questions, like __________. (v. 15-17)
Response:
- Lord, I do love You more than __________. (v. 15)
- Lord, I will follow You without asking what that means for __________ (like John). (v. 21)
- Strengthen me Lord when following You becomes hard, like when I face __________. (v. 18)
- Lord, help me to care for the sheep around me, including __________. (v. 15-17)
- Lord, as You lead us, we will follow You!