“In prayer I shift my point of view away from my own selfishness. I climb above timberline and look down at the speck that is myself. I gaze at the stars and recall what role I or any of us play in a universe beyond comprehension. Prayer is the act of seeing reality from God’s point of view.”
Philip yancey, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference, p. 29.
Daily Devotionals: As we step into this next season in the life of our church, we are asking the Lord to help us “Make Room in our Hearts” – for the people Jesus loves, and the people Jesus brings. During these 21 Days, our whole church will be reflecting and meditating on these same thoughts and prayers together, with one mind, guided by and depending on one Spirit..
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Engage the Word: Making Room In Our Hearts
Read 1 Peter 4:10
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
Connect the Heart
When we make room in our hearts for others, we often do it by using the gifts God has given us. By recognizing and using our gifts, we open our hearts to the needs around us and serve as channels of God’s grace.
Reflect on the Truth
- What gifts has God given you so that you can use to serve others as a faithful steward of God’s grace?
- What are some ways you can actively look for opportunities to do good works this week?
- How might serving others with your gifts strengthen your faith and relationship with God?
Depend on the Spirit
- In the morning, ask the Holy Spirit to bring to your attention opportunities to use your gifts to serve others.
- In the evening, reflect on how God answered your morning prayer and give thanks for His guidance.
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see the deeper longings, desires or motives in your heart that these thoughts are pointing to. (For example: you may write down, “Father, sometimes I struggle with identifying what gifts I might have that could be useful to serve others. Please guide me and show me by your Spirit.”) The Lord can help us discern the path forward – through His word, His Spirit, His people.
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For Prayer
As you conclude your devotional time, please pray for our Ascent Church family to out-do one another by serving one another – both inside the church and outside the church. Pray that our church would be known for its serving hearts.
Fasting
Please read the first blog post entitled “Why Fast?” This explains what fasting is and why we follow Jesus in this spiritual discipline as together we seek the heart of God.
Previous Posts
To read yesterday’s blog post devotional, please click here.
To read our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting Introduction, please click here.
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Some parts of our 21 Days devotionals are adapted using various resources on scripture and prayer like The Bible Exposition Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, The New Bible Commentary, Logos Bible Software and other resources.
Since The Ascent Church is hosting the “Night to Shine” special needs prom on Feb 7th, we have an amazing opportunity right now to serve and see Jesus at work. I highly recommend being there—it was AMAZING last year. Here’s the link to volunteer if anyone is interested (there is a short training beforehand, so you can’t just show up): https://www.pursuithomechurch.org/volunteer
For those seeking to identify their spiritual gifts to help you serve God and others, consider taking our 4-week SHAPE course that begins Sunday February 9.