Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Standing in God's faithfulness

For our churches next sermon series we are looking at various characteristics of God. I'm kicking off the series on the faithfulness of God and it reminded me of something the former youth minister of my current church said.

When we met last week, he mentioned that he would often pray that God would be faithful to the prayers of the past.

It struck me.

Previously i have called for the church to pray for the current youth ministry and the future youth ministry. But i had never made the connection that those prayers would be answered in such a manner that you could expect to be living and ministering in the answers of prayers offered years or decades ago.

It's not unusual for me to say that those in ministry stand upon the shoulders of those who have gone before. Usually, it is said in academic terms. Those who have gone previously pass done teachings and lessons that we can learn from.

But now the saying takes a new twist.

We also stand upon the prayers of the faithful saints of the past. We are a part of the out workings of God's answering those prayers.

And consequentially, we can influence the future of the church (because of God's faithfulness) by praying earnestly for God's blessing to be upon it, both now, and in the years to come.

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