A prayer based on Acts 28:11-31.

<aside> 🙏🏻 Our gracious God, We praise You that You are a kind and loving God, and You have been very kind and loving towards us. We thank You for the good news that there is salvation in Jesus Christ, and for enabling us to trust in Him and be saved. We thank You for the ability to gather every Sunday with other followers of Jesus, to spend time worshipping You and being encouraged as we do. And for every opportunity we have to meet with other Christians and for the warmth and hospitality they offer to us.

We thank You for the freedom we have to make Christ known. That God’s Word is not chained and has been unleashed all over the world. It is a joy and a delight to know that followers of Jesus can be found on every continent. In Europe and Asia, in North America and South America, in Africa and Australia, even in Antarctica. We give You our praise that the gospel has gone out in all these places, and people have listened and responded in repentance and faith to the message proclaimed. Thank You that we can trust Jesus to keep His promise to build His church, and nothing can stop His from doing this. Not opposition from the world. Or hypocrisy and friction within local churches. Not persecution and martyrdom of believers. Or cultural barriers that need to be overcome. Not even a global pandemic can stop the gospel’s progress. Because we know the good news about our Lord Jesus will go to every place You want it to and will save every person You have chosen to save.

And because we know this to be true, we pray that as a local church we will play our part in what Jesus is doing in this His world.

Help us by Your Spirit to keep teaching the Word. Cover to cover. Patiently and faithfully. Persuading people about Christ. Calling people to trust in Him as their Saviour and obey Him as their Lord. As teaching and preaching the Word is the means Your Spirit uses to convict and convert and change people.

Help us to keep looking for new opportunities to declare that there is salvation in Jesus’ Name. To push doors and see what comes of them. To go in search of people to teach the Bible to and explain the gospel from. To not turn away anyone who comes to us wanting to learn. We pray that as a church that You may open a door for our message, so we may proclaim the mystery of Christ.

And strengthen us so that we keep going in doing this. Even when people won’t listen. When doors are slammed in our faces. When people reject our message. And when life is made difficult for us. Because we are confident that there will be some who will listen and believe. That not even the gates of hell can stop our risen Saviour who has all authority in heaven and on earth from extending His kingdom. In His name we pray.

Amen.

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