7 Prayer Requests

Our prayer vision is simple. It contains 7 prayer requests.  These requests are not unusual or particularly creative.  In fact, they are rather obvious.  I share these requests out of a conviction that the church is built by prayer.  We can do nothing apart from Christ, but if we ask Him, we can bear much fruit (John 15:5-7).  My hope is that you will pray daily for these seven things and that God will answer as we pray. These 7 items come as a result of Riverside's leadership seeking God about what we should believe him for in 2006-07.  I hope that agreement will rise in your spirit as you bring them before God in prayer.  I trust they are pleasing to God.  Have you ever considered what could happen if God's people really prayed?  Great things will happen if you will pray.  Even greater things will happen if we will agree together in prayer.  That is what this prayer vision is about; It is about encouraging you to pray and about helping us to agree together in prayer.

1. Pray for 2.1 million dollars to pay off our DEBT. We are so grateful that we receive enough money every month in rent to pay the mortgage and to pay for the maintenance of the property.  We are also grateful that the property is worth much more than we owe on it.  It will be an even greater blessing to pay off the debt and to channel those monies toward other needs.  God has called us to help people in need, and there are many with great needs all around us.  The elimination of all debt will help us in responding to these needs.

2. Pray for the Taking the Next Step outside renovation project. By the end of 2006 we plan to have an entirely new outside of the property. This project is the culmination of much planning and God’s mercy. Ask the Lord for the needed funds and for the wisdom to do an excellent job.

3. Pray for Riverside to increase in PRAYER. The church is built in prayer.  If we pray, then we will see God do what we cannot do.

“I discovered an astonishing truth: God is attracted to weakness.  He can’t resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need him.” (Jim Cymbala)Let’s set our hearts to expand our prayer life. 

Let’s do it individually and as a church family.

• Commit yourself to pray daily
• Commit to pray for these seven prayer requests regularly
• Participate in the Monthly Tuesday night prayer service. 
  

4. Pray for Riverside to Increase in the WORD.  We need and desire to be a people of God’s word, the Bible. 

• Pray for our response to God’s word to be according to 1 Thessalonians 1:13: “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.”
• Read the Bible through on a regular basis.  We have compiled a two reading plan that directs you at a comfortable pace. If possible, use For the Love of God; A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God’s Word, by D. A. Carson.  Carson provides you with an excellent daily devotional to help you in your knowledge of the Bible.
• Pray for the teaching and preaching at Riverside to be anointed, weighty, sound and clear. 
  
  

5. Pray for Riverside to increase in EVANGELISM.  God has called us to reflect His glory by giving away what He has given to us.  We believe that this involves three areas. 

• First, Witnessing. Pray for our people to share Jesus and the good news with others and to bring guests to our Riverside services.
• Second, Good Works.  Pray for Riverside to be a people devoted to good works according to Titus 3:14.
• Third, Missions.  Pray for our missions work and your involvement in it. 
  

6. Pray for Riverside to increase in LOVE for one another. People will grow as they connect to the church family.  Jesus told us that others will know that we are His followers by our love for one another (John 13:34-35).

• It starts with the pastors.  Pray for your pastors and ministers to be filled with a love for the people. 
• Pray that they will shepherd God’s people in a way that honors God and blesses the people.
• Pray that in God’s timing we will begin new Home Care Groups to help us love one another. 
  

7. Pray for personal RENEWAL.  We’ve saved the best for last! This year, every day, seek God for your own growth in Him.  Ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit.  Ask Him to open His word to you and to give you a love for Him and His word.  Pray that God will use you everyday to bring the lost to Him.  Pray that you will delight in God and live for His glory in 2005.  In short, ask God to so work in your own life that you will be His answer to these seven prayer requests.  To God Alone Be the Glory!