BAKER MISSION’S WEEK OF PRAYER CALENDAR
Dakota Baptist Convention
September 8, 2014 (Day Two)
Ephesians 3:20-21: “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we
ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”
May we learn to trust in our God who can “do far more abundantly” than we can imagine. In
1961, J.B. Phillips wrote a terrific little book, “Your God Is Too Small.” In this book, he writes
that we have made God ‘man-sized’ or smaller. In our hands, God has become our image
bearer, rather than we His. The God we worship is a shallow repository of all our idle
wishes and half-baked whims. Phillips exposes those tendencies, explodes those myths,
and then issues a call to return to the true God of mystery and sovereignty and intimacy,
the God revealed in Jesus Christ.
According to Mark Buchannon, in his book, “Your God Is Too Safe”, he writes that bad
theology always produces bad living. It comes from wanting a god other than God – a god
who is nice, innocuous, pampering, who forgets not our confessed sins, but our besetting
ones.
Over time, we in America have worked hard to make our God small and safe. Yet, Paul
writes in Ephesians 3 how God is far greater than we can imagine. He can do more than we
think He can – because He is more than we think He is!
PRAY: Pray for the churches of the DBC to be all that God desires them to be. Pray for our
churches to “not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow
weary.” (Gal.6:9) Pray that God will provide the needed resources to serve our
communities. Pray for our churches to recognize and engage the lost with the Gospel of
Jesus. Pray our churches would find ways to meet real life needs with the love of God.
SERVE: Pray for our churches to correctly assess the needs in their community and find
ways to meet some of those needs. Pray for our churches to recognize how their
community is changing and to develop ‘bridges’ to connect the church with that need. Pray
our churches will work to show their community the church cares about their community.
GO: Pray for the people of our churches to find ways to partner with their community.
Maybe they need to volunteer at their local elementary school, food bank, the United Way,
the Red Cross, or any other group that serves the community. Without question, we must
go into our communities with the heart, vision, and mind of Christ. We must go and
demonstrate that Christ cares about our communities.
SHARE: Pray for our churches to be willing to lovingly share the truth about Jesus Christ.
Pray for our churches to believe the Word of God to be absolutely true, and therefore, they
must find ways to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with people in their community and
beyond. Pray our churches will reap a harvest of souls for Christ Jesus!
“Let me this day know you as you are,
love you supremely,
serve you wholly,
admire you fully.
Through grace le my will respond to you,
Knowing that power to obey is not in me, but
that your free love alone enables me to serve you.
Here then is my empty heart,
overflow it with your choicest gifts;
Here is my blind understanding,
chase away its mists of ignorance.
O ever watchful Shepherd,
lead, guide, tend me this day.”
(From “The Valley of Vision,” p.117)