“Gracious God, I put myself before you in this moment with desire. Open my eyes that I may see your promise all about me, open my ears that I may hear your words whispered to my deepest being.”
Dear Members and Friends,
First Chinese Baptist Church is now 131 years old. You as a church family have done some wonderful things for our Savior. But now we are at a pivotal moment in our life cycle as a fellowship. We are facing changing dynamics for our church in terms of staff, decline of younger families, a growing older fellowship and decreased giving. So how do we address such realities and make sure we are a vital, growing body that impacts its community and world through missions, discipleship and worship? We know the answer is always first to pray.
So I am asking that you take the month of June to pause and lift this ministry up for the next thirty days. I ask that you pray with your whole heart for our church family. Be committed to focusing for a few moments each day on our outreach, leadership, worship, maturity and giving.
Look at the world as Jesus told us to do. Be alert, be observant and pray about the life of your church family. Ask God to guide you as you pray. Look at your community the harvest is ripe. So how do we be the laborers God expects from us here in Fresno?
Be relentless in your prayer for the next thirty days. We have been granted access to the throne of grace. We have been taught to pray for God’s will to be done. We have been promised the help of his presence and his power. We can be relentless in asking God to work among us. We should never, never, never give up in our prayers. (Hebrews 4:16; Matthew 6:10; Matthew 28:19-20; Luke 18:1)
Pray lovingly. We pray because we love the Lord and want to accept His invitation to simply ask. We pray for this church family because we love each other. We pray because we love the lost and share his compassion for those who have no Shepherd.
Pray daily. There is no substitute for the daily exercise of contemplation, meditation and prayer. Ten minutes spent in the presence of God on behalf of this family, staff, leaders, teachers and volunteers will change our lives and ministry.
May God richly bless your time in prayer!
Rev. Dr. Danny L. Jack
June 1
Luke 11:1 Lord, teach us to pray
Read 2 Cor. 4:1; 1 Cor. 4:1-3
Dear God today I pray for my pastor and his wife. Today they celebrate 40 years as a married and servant couple. Keep him from losing heart when ministry gets tough. Help him prove faithful with the things that you have entrusted to him. Teach him Your ways so that he knows You and finds favor with You as He leads us. Keep him open and honest before You and help him to represent the truth plainly. Arlean and he celebrate 19 years as our pastor and wife may they know we stand with them that we are accountable to them and together we can bring hope to our community and church family.
