A prayer based on Acts 2:42-47.

<aside> 🙏🏻 God of our salvation, We give You our thanks that You are conforming Your people into the likeness of Your Son. We praise You that You will finish what You have started, and that one day we will be radiant, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. But knowing that we not yet what we will one day be, we pray that by Your Spirit, You would continue to shape and fashion us, so that we reflect Christ more and more.

Help us to be a people who are devoted to Your Word. We thank You for gift the Scriptures are, as they reveal who You are, Your marvellous works, and Your will and ways. May we make the most of every opportunity we have to hear Your Word. On Sundays as it is preached and taught. During the week with the opportunities we have to study it together and on our own. And would we not only hear and understand what it says, but do what it says, by applying it to our lives.

Help us to be a people who are devoted to each other. To commit to sharing our lives with one another. To get to know and forge meaningful relationships with others in the church. To encourage them to keep going in the faith. Give us a real concern for the material, emotional, and spiritual needs of those who are part of the church, and a willingness to give up time, money, energy, convenience, to ensure that they have what they need. To be sacrificial and generous in our care for this fellowship. To not miss an opportunity to meet with each other unless we have to. To look out for and to get in touch with those we haven’t seen or spoken to in a while.

Help us to be a people who are devoted to prayer. May we delight in coming together to pray. Grow our prayer meetings. Make us increasingly aware of how much we need You our God, and would we show this, as with one voice we approach Your throne of grace with confidence to plead with You to be merciful to us.

But, Saviour, we don’t want our devotion to be out of grudging duty. We want it to be out of real delight. To be devoted to Your Word, to one another, and to prayer, because we love You and want to please You by living Your way. So, fill our hearts, Holy Spirit, with joy and gladness as we commit ourselves to these practices.

Amen.

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