Every Day Faith - Praying in June for the Spirit’s Expressions

June 4 is Pentecost Sunday, and during the month of June we are asking God for an increase in our sensitivity and availability to the Holy Spirit, so that the evidence of His power will intensify in our lives, in our families, in our work, and as we reach out to our communities. We hope you have had the chance to check out the resources by Dr. Jack Hayford that were highlighted in the communication sent out by our general superintendent David Wells on May 24.

We recently received an exciting video from Scott Williams. He and his wife, Melissa, serve as PAOC global workers in El Salvador with the ministry of King’s Castle. The video describes a young girl’s recent experience of receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You may wish to show it to your congregation, or even in a kids’ church setting.  Let’s trust God for the younger generation to experience the Spirit at work in their lives.

Click here to watch the video.

Be sure to share your stories of God’s answers to this month’s prayer focus at info@everydayfaith.ca, or share short testimonies by clicking here. (These testimonies will be a great encouragement to those exploring faith or growing in their faith journey.) Visit www.everydayfaith.ca regularly for encouragement in the disciplines of Bible reading, prayer, generosity and sharing our faith in word and deed.

Thank you for your continued participation on our Every Day Faith journey!

June 2017 (Missional Vitality)

For authentic, passionate Pentecostal leadership and congregations

• That our leaders and ministers will hunger for God’s presence and the Spirit’s work, gifts and expressions.
• That they would walk in companionship with the Spirit and be open to all that Jesus promised the Spirit would provide.
• For congregations to be increasingly filled with anticipation for the Spirit to reveal Himself and transform lives each time the family of God meets.
• That God will increase our understanding of our need for continual dependence on Him, and we will begin to consciously “practise His presence.”
• That believing prayer will become an increasingly significant part of our individual, congregational and community experience.

PASSAGES TO PONDER:

Luke 4:14-21

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Ephesians 5:15-20

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 3:19

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

Acts 1:7-8

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Psalm 139:1-18

You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.

Next month’s prayer focus: For God’s glory to be revealed in our nation (http://everydayfaith.ca/?page_id=1487).

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What’s In the Cup? – Taking time to fill your soul with God’s presence

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