The Church needs to give up control and let God be in charge. It’s his Church after all.
I read a prayer in The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson (see 5 Takeaways From “The Circle Maker”), which has stuck with me ever since I read it: “Lord, do something unpredictable and uncontrollable.”
It’s a scary prayer. But I believe it’s a necessary prayer for churches that truly want to be faithful and obedient, churches that want to make the biggest impact on the world possible!
Scripture says …
God has prepared things for those who love him that no eye has seen, or ear has heard, or that haven’t crossed the mind of any human being. (2 Corinthians 2.9, quoting Isaiah 64.4, CEB)
O God, the Church is your idea. It belongs to you. You are the Head of the Church. You are Lord and Master and King, and we are your servants and followers. O Lord, do something unpredictable and uncontrollable!
You have called us to follow you and to engage in your mission in the world. You lead us out of our comfort zones. It’s often difficult and messy to participate in what you are doing in the world. O Lord, do something unpredictable and uncontrollable!
We don’t just want to go through the motions. We don’t want to “play church.” We want our lives and our service to make a difference for the cause of Christ. O Lord, do something unpredictable and uncontrollable!
Do whatever you need to do in us, Lord—in our hearts and in the Church—to make us a Church you can use. Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us. Help us to be moldable and adaptable and nimble, willing to follow wherever you lead! O Lord, do something unpredictable and uncontrollable!
Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by his power at work within us; glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus for all generations, forever and always. Amen. (Ephesians 3.20-21, CEB)
Amen.
(I invite you to pray with me for the Church. Previous prayers include: awakening, transformational leaders, urgency, hope, health, compassion, action, unity, power, favor, endurance, trust, discipline, courage, vision, provision, humble & hungry, and patience & persistence).