FERVENT: HEALTH & HEALING
There are a lot today in our culture who talk about wellness. There are wellness coaches, wellness programs, and a myriad of opinions on how we can be well. I think most people recognize the great need for healing. We are people who are inherently NOT well. We are broken and warped, twisted by our sinful natures. Of those of us who are members of the family of faith, however, there is a way that we can be well despite our sinful condition.
FERVENT: Justice and Poverty
We live in a culture that spends a great deal of time discussing the needs of the poor and downtrodden. The church is often at the center of these conversations and many people speak enthusiastically about ways that the church can impact the lives of the needy. Unfortunately, there is often a disconnect in these conversations. People have a tendency to look to charities, civic groups, churches and the government to meet the needs of hurting people, while not realizing that the call to love through action is extended to themselves as followers of Christ.
FERVENT: Mercy Hill Ministries
If you've been around Mercy Hill for any length of time, you've heard us talk of being the Church and not building a church. This is not simply some cute catch phrase adorning our website, but rather something that helps direct us as we plan events and start new ministries.
FERVENT: Government
Praying for our government is really never at the top of our list, is it? Scripture urges that "...supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way." I Timothy 2:1-2
FERVENT: CHURCH LEADERSHIP
Heb 13:17-19 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.
Fervent: A Prayer of Repentance
"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1:8
The claim to be without sin is self deception. And the reason we are so deceived is that the truth has found no place in us. When a person is converted, the truth takes up residence in the heart. Or we could say the light of God comes into the heart. And what John says here is not that it immediately drives out all falsehood and sin. That is a battle that lasts a lifetime. What he says is that when the truth enters in, its light reveals sin! The mark of the saint is not sinlessness but sin-consciousness! The evidence of indwelling truth is the exposure of error. The dawning of God's light in the heart is the revelation of remaining darkness.