Prayer and our sense of identity
Philippians 1:3~5 I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now.
♬ Hymn for scheduled worship: Korean/English Hymnal #364 Sweet Hour of Prayer (#482 in previous version)
In our Christian walk of faith, the area in which we have the most trouble is prayer. How must we pray? We can turn morning hours into scheduled worship time using the Prayer Journal. And we seek after God’s blessing in our everyday lives as we connect our daily schedule with evangelism. In addition, we pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit in order to receive strength in our real lives. As we pray this prayer, however, what is the sense of identity that we must enjoy?
1. Personal life of enjoying the Gospel
Before anything else, we must understand what the Gospel is and enjoy it. ‘What kinds of people does God use? What are the blessings in Christ? What is the spiritual state of unbelievers and what is the reason that we must evangelize?’ We must understand the Biblical method of evangelism and the principle by which we can receive answers to our prayers and prepare ourselves to be the Gospel elite. Those who possess both spirituality and intelligence, who have faith as well as skills, who understand both faith and the world, are the Gospel elite.
2. Family life of enjoying the Gospel
We must find our sense of identity in our family life that enjoys the Gospel. We must grab hold of the covenant in the area of finances. The majority of people, whether they are believers or unbelievers, are not well-off financially. We will be worse off than unbelievers and face great difficulties if we are not knowledgeable about finances, or do not pray for the many things that come to our mind. From now on we must also begin an important prayer for our spouses. Seeking God’s image and looking for what we can do to help our spouses through forums are an essential part of our family lives. In addition, children are the inheritance that God has granted to us. Therefore, we must seek after God’s plan regarding our children. It is at this time that we can find and enjoy the blessing of a successful family.
3. Church life of enjoying the Gospel
What is it that we must seek after at church? The door of world evangelization opened through the Antioch Church. Through our church, we must find the meaning of the Remnant movement and understand what kind of works the lay leaders of the Early Church did and what the regional church movement that can save the whole world truly is. Only then can we correctly lead our Christian walk of faith at church.
● Forum Topic - We will undoubtedly have victory if we begin the day with prayer, end the day with prayer and are guided throughout the day by prayer. It is of the utmost importance to find ourselves within it. Deeply meditate on your sense of identity as you pray.
Young Adult Leaders’ Retreat Lecture 1 / 2010.2.13