Prayer Priorities for the New Year
At the recent Watchnight service, Pastor Eugene shared these prayer priorities for our church in 2024.
What are your aspirations for 2024? To accomplish these goals, some of us may have made New Year resolutions. Hopefully, we will be able to convert our resolutions into concrete plans and actions. I know from personal experience, however, that my good intentions do not always translate into deeds. While the spirit may be willing, the flesh is indeed weak.
Thankfully, it is God who works in us, “both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil 2:13). Therefore, we can confidently approach him to ask for help. Let’s pray this for one another: “That our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfil every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thess 1:11b-12)
Let’s also pray that God will help us, as a church, to glorify him through love and good works. We aspire to display the gospel by cultivating Christlikeness and gospel-shaped relationships. We aspire to gather in the gospel by encouraging unity and every-member ministry. We aspire to grow through discipleship, in order to train and send faithful men and women for gospel ministry. We aspire to go with the gospel by fostering mission-mindedness and gospel partnerships.
At the recent Watchnight service, I shared these prayer priorities for 2024, which reflect our aspirations. We pray that:
Gospel
We will grow in our knowledge of God’s truth, gratitude for Christ, and zeal for the gospel.
We will be faithful to proclaim, hear, trust, and obey God’s truth as our sermons go through Isaiah, 1 & 2 Thessalonians.
The expansion of our Equip classes will bear good spiritual fruit.
Gather
We will meet together regularly for worship, prayer, and mutual encouragement.
Our relationships with one another, especially with those who are different from us, will be marked by deepening love, grace, humility, and patience.
Grow
We will be intentional about cultivating a culture of discipling and hospitality among the body of Christ.
We will be purposeful in doing spiritual good to one another through one-to-one Bible reading, care groups, Bible studies, etc. for our growth in Christlike love and holiness.
Go
We will have evangelistic opportunities to tell others the good news about Jesus.
The pastoral staff’s monthly lunches with other Baptist pastors in Singapore will be mutually encouraging and deepen our cooperation in the gospel.
The March women’s and missions conferences with John and Keri Folmar of the Evangelical Christian Church of Dubai will foster gospel partnerships with other churches and encourage healthy churches in Singapore and beyond.
God will open doors for us to send workers and support gospel proclamation and church planting in Asia.
These are some of the ways we can be praying for Grace Baptist Church. In this new year, let’s unite our hearts to pray for these priorities. Since it is God who gives the growth, it is only right that we ask Him to bear good fruit from our efforts to plant and water. May God, by His grace, help us, so that we together exalt the name of our Lord Jesus.