By Matt Huey

This week we had between 15-20 men gather together to seek the Lord Jesus. We again opened our time sharing the opportunities God had orchestrated in the past week to share the good news of Jesus Christ with unbelievers in our lives through word or deed. We then continued to walk through the book of Colossians, and this week Erik Henrikson led us in meditating on chapter 1, verses 3-8 (below).

“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.”

Reflections on this passage included that Paul, though he had only heard of the faith of these Christians, gave thanks for their faith and partnership in the gospel. He also commended their love for each other “in the Spirit,” which is from God and is distinguishable from mere human affection. We reflected on how this is encouragement to us to continually pray for our fellow brothers and sisters around the city, nation, and world that are partnering in the mission of reaching all nations with the good news of Jesus Christ.

We then moved into our time of prayer by getting our hearts right with God through silent and vocal confession, and then focusing outward through intercession for our church and surrounding communities of West Seattle.

Prayers this week:

• Offer prayers of thankfulness to God for a successful “Serve the City” day last Saturday. Pray that the communities in which Mars Hill served would continue to reflect on the love of Christ that was shown in word and in deed that day by those who served. Pray that God would cause any seeds of faith that were planted and watered to grow (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).
• Pray that the children, aged 3-10, that attend vacation bible school this week would hear and understand the gospel of Jesus and make a commitment in their hearts to follow him. Pray for those that will serve as leaders – that God will give them divine wisdom to know how to correctly handle every situation that presents itself and every question that the children will ask. Pray that God would grant divine wisdom to the parents to raise their children according to the ways of the Lord (Prov 22:6).
• Pray that God would use the “Pray Like Jesus” series to move the hearts of the those in our church to want to pray more and more. Pray that we would better understand that we can “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Pray that our church would be steadfast in prayer (Col 4:2), and that God would continue to draw people into deeper prayer individually, in small communities/groups, and within the corporate church body. Pray that God will bring more men on Wednesday mornings to pray.
• Pray that more people would seek to receive prayer during communion on Sundays. Pray that God will give the wisdom of Heaven to the prayer team that prays for people.
• Pray that God would instill a heart of mission in everyone attending Mars Hill. Pray for our community group leaders to have strength and perseverance as they continue to shepherd and encourage their groups to be on mission by reaching out to unbelievers in their lives, and by embracing parts of their communities through constant prayer and service.
• Pray for the specific neighborhood in which God has sovereignly placed you (Acts 17:26,27), and the specific individuals that you have met in those places.
• Pray that those attending Mars Hill will embrace the armor that God offers us (see Ephesians 6) and advance forward for the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
• Pray that the hearts of the believers at Mars Hill would be focused on Jesus such that it becomes a joy to faithfully and sacrificially give of their time, talents, and treasure to the mission of Jesus Christ at Mars Hill (2 Corinthians 9:7).
• Pray against Satan, his tricks, and divisive attempts to hamper the mission of Mars Hill and lead people astray from the truth.