Praying for God’s Will to Be Done on Earth
“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man.” (Eph. 3:16)
“Moreover, in like manner the Spirit also joins in to help us in our weakness, for we do not know for what we should pray as is fitting, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Rom. 8:26)
“If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.” (John 15:7)
God’s intention is to accomplish His will through the believers’ prayer in union with Him. God needs us to exercise our spirit with our resurrected will to pray according to His divine will for Christ to be manifested and enjoyed by us, for the Body life to be practiced by us, and for the Body of Christ to be built up through us.
A genuine man of prayer is one whose desires are fully blended into God’s desires and whose thoughts are fully one with God’s thoughts. He is a man in whom God’s desires are imprinted, a man of revelation whose heart is a duplication of God’s heart.
When we come to the Lord in prayer, we need to allow the Spirit to mingle our desires with His desires, lead our thoughts into His thoughts, and imprint His desires and thoughts into us. Then the prayers that we utter to God with His inward desires will be precious, weighty, and valuable to Him and will cause Satan to suffer loss. (ITERO, The Will of God, msg. 3, II, E, E.1-2)
Unceasingly Pray: 21 Days of Global Prayer
The highest and deepest prayers in the NT are for God’s work in the saints and for His move on the earth (Phil. 1:9-11; Eph. 1:15-23; 3:14-21; Acts 4:24-31; Eph. 6:18-20; Col. 4:2-4). Intercessory prayer is a matter of co-laboring with Christ in His heavenly ministry.
Brothers Minoru Chen and Ron Kangas have recorded words of encouragement regarding the importance of prayer during these days. To watch the videos, visit http://unceasinglypray.org/updates.
Many matters require the church’s prayer. Here are some items mentioned this past week:
- The dormant believers to be enlivened, the wayward Christians to be recovered, and the backslidden saints to be restored to the Lord and to the fellowship of the church.
- The scattered believers to see God’s eternal purpose, to be stirred in their spirits to seek the deeper things of Christ, and to take the way of God’s NT economy.
- All the churches to be in a prevailing one accord, glorifying our God and His Christ with one mouth to bring forth the reality of the one new man.
- The Lord to strengthen, uphold, and prosper the churches in every country in His recovery as the testimony of Jesus.
- The Lord to supply the co-workers and leading brothers and grant them wisdom to lead and shepherd His people onward.
- The saints to be preserved and sanctified, to be separated unto God from common and sinful things, and to not be conformed to this age but to be transformed that they may prove the will of God.
Let us pray that the prayers of the saints in all the churches will be anointed by the Lord and pave the way for Him to carry out His economy in the midst of the current situation. May these 21 days of prayer become a base for many saints to build up the habit of praying in twos and threes.
The Advancement of the Gospel
“Now I want you to know, brothers, that the things concerning me have turned out rather to the advancement of the gospel… and most of the brothers, being confident in the Lord because of my bonds, are more exceedingly bold to speak the word of God without fear.” (Phil. 1:12, 14)
Let us petition the Lord that the outward things concerning us—in LA and around the earth—will turn to the advancement of the gospel and that we would be bold to speak the word of God without fear.
Los Angeles Young People
The SCYP Spring Pursuit will conclude this Saturday, April 18, but the Monday and Wednesday online meetings in LA will continue indefinitely. Please pray for all our YP in LA to be encouraged, supplied, and helped practically by these gatherings.
Southern California College Conference
The upcoming SoCal College Conference will be held online April 23, 25 and 26 at 7:30pm. Registration will be required but will be free of charge. Please pray for the preparations leading up to the conference, both of the practical arrangements outwardly and the students’ hearts inwardly. Pray strongly that the Lord would release as many as possible to sign up in the midst of this unprecedented time.
Ministry and Blending, including Memorial Day Conference
As conferences around the world have been cancelled or replaced by online events, please pray for:
- the blending and the release and digestion of the ministry to continue strongly;
- all the saints to learn to use the telephone and internet for visiting and blending both near and far;
- the saints serving at LSM in their planning for the Memorial Day online conference.
Bibles for America
As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing regulations, we are not able to package and ship out Bibles at the usual pace. Please pray that the serving ones would remain healthy and that their body, soul, and spirit would be be covered by the Lord. Please also pray that these Bibles can continue to go out in a timely way to all those who are eager to read God’s Word. May the Lord operate during this difficult time to cause many hearts to turn to Him.
Germany
Please pray for the mass mailing of a new gospel tract to the households in every postal code in Berlin. Pray that the Lord will use this tract to give all the people in Berlin an opportunity to hear the gospel, to save many people in Berlin, and to gain some for the organic building up of the church.
Announcements
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Morning Revival: Crystallization-study of Deuteronomy, week 8.
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Giving to the church at this time, see https://churchinlosangeles.org/members/offerings.
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6th Grade Conference will not be at Oak Glen this year. It is our hope to have a one-day conference later in the summer.
Online Resources
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The Church in Los Angeles website has frequent updates on resources and fellowship related to our church life in the present situation. https://churchinlosangeles.org/covid19
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The Bible Tells Me So is posting daily videos from Monday to Friday. The purpose is to foster a “Family Time” in each household. http://www.thebibletellsmeso.com/familytime
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LSM Webcast is offering access to all video content at a reduced subscription rate until June 30. http://www.lsmwebcast.com
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LSM Christian Radio broadcasts hymns and messages of the ministry 24 hours each day. http://lsmchristianradio.com
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GTCA has a redesigned website to present ongoing burdens and updates about the ten target cities for migration this year. Participate by praying, giving or going! http://gtca.us
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Living to Him provides a forum for dialogue, study and prayerful exploration with a goal of helping young working saints to practically enter into a vital living for the building up of the Body of Christ. http://livingtohim.com