Psalm 42: “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your billows have swept over me.”
Each year, the Elders seek the Lord Jesus for his heart and direction for PV. This year we are hearing the Lord calling us to pursue depth in 3 specific areas. We believe the same power that raised Jesus is available to all who believe in Him. (Ephesians 1:19-20) So we will pray with confidence from Easter Sunday of 2023 to Easter Sunday of 2024 - expecting great things from Jesus.
May we have resilience and strength through difficult seasons.
That God would produce spiritual fruit that nourishes us and provides for others.
For knowledge and understanding of the love of God that surpasses our intellect and overflows into our daily life.
For thriving and flourishing where God has planted us.
Ephesians 3:14-19 “For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Psalms 1:1-3 How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the LORD’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
Psalms 92:12-13 The righteous thrive like a palm tree and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the LORD, they thrive in the courts of our God.
Matthew 13:8, 23 “Still other seed fell on good ground and produced fruit: some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times what was sown; But the one sown on the good ground — this is one who hears and understands the word, who does produce fruit and yields: some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times what was sown.”
May our relationships carry the marks of our citizenship in another Kingdom and Heavenly family.
For understanding and insight that we are all image bearers and treasured by God.
For the love of Christ to compel us as we offer it to others.
For unity and oneness that proceeds from the perfect relationship of the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit.
To be established by the character of Jesus as we labor to build up the body of Christ.
Galatians 6:2 “Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 "Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
Colossians 3:12-14 “Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”
1 Thessalonians 5:14-15 "And we exhort you, brothers and sisters: warn those who are idle, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.”
1 Peter 4:8-10 "Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God.”
Let us be a “go and proclaim” church vs. a “come to us” church.
To be Spirit-driven in our obedience to the Great Commission while resisting complacency and rigidity.
May we be moved to put up the sail and allow the wind of the Holy Spirit to direct our path to those who need Him.
May we learn the gentleness and winsomeness of Jesus as we relate to others.
That we would not wait for people to be worthy of the Gospel, but pursue them with the grace which Jesus has pursued us.
Matthew 28:18-20 “Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””
1 Peter 3:15-16 "...but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do this with gentleness and reverence, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame.”
Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.”
Hebrews 13:2 “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it."
Matthew 9:36 “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
Romans 5:6-9 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person — though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath.”