40 Days of Praying - Day 10
Targeted Outreach: Pray for us to be more intentional and targeted on the people we need to reach. Pray for effective ways of targeting specific groups and reaching them for Jesus.
Mark 1:36-38 Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!" Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else — to the nearby villages — so I can preach there also. That is why I have come."
Luke 19:10 "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
Jesus had a strategy. I remember the first time I heard someone say that. Jesus didn't wander aimlessly hoping that something might happen that would contribute to God's purpose. He had a mission. He also had a strategy. He understood it clearly and he pursued it intentionally. When the disciples thought that they saw a good opportunity for more ministry in Mark 1, they insisted that Jesus leave his place of prayer and come back to it. But Jesus had a strategic plan. He understood it well enough to know when to say no and when to say yes.
We need the Lord to show us a plan for connecting with people who haven't determined to follow Jesus. We need a plan for connecting with people who are like us and who are not like us. We need a plan for finding them, speaking to their lives and helping them become disciples. So let's pray for it.
Lord, show us your strategic plan. We know that there is so much that could be done but we need to know who and how and when. So show us. Teach us how to reach people. Teach us how to help them become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. We pray in His name, Amen.
Grace.
posted by Tod Brown at 7:34 PM
2 Comments:
While the plan is important, the thing I am missing is the follow through. I often lack the discipline (and probably the commitment to the plan) to actually do the work that the plan requires. My prayer is that I will have the desire to actually follow through.
By the way Tod, keep posting. It is important, even if there are only a few comments. For those reading but not commenting, I would encourage you to go to Mike Cope's blog and see how many people comment on his daily posts. It is important to hear from all of you on things that matter. Go to www.mikecope.blogspot.com/ to read it.
January 20, 2005 at 7:49 AM
Tod, you are doing a great job of posting during these 40 Days of Prayer, considering the fact that you have been really busy this week it has been a sacrifice. Thank you for thinking of us and for your comments.
There is a group of individuals we are not reaching at all, and that is the young adult group (19 - 30). There are a great number in that group that are not in college and the singles class is a little mature for them. They have no place to go and we are not reaching them. We need to target this group, they are the future of the church. We need classes that target the issues they face and to encourage and teach. I have tried to address this before and got verbal agreement, but that is as far as it has gone. I will keep praying about this group as it is a group that is close to my heart.
January 20, 2005 at 8:35 AM
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