American Reformation Church Prayer Journal 64
ARC Prayer Meeting:
For the last several weeks, our church, American Reformation Church, has been focusing on what we are terming the ARC marks. What are the main marks of our church that define our vision and mission in the Lord? Chief amongst them is our heartfelt desire to be known as a loving church. Since God is love and the Scriptures promote love as the chief virtue, we thought it proper and fitting to discover what God’s love is, what it is not, what love will do and what love will not do.
It has been quite a journey I must say. The only time we have deviated is on special occasions like last Sunday when our church celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The previous Sunday before that, we ministered on “Love does not rejoice in iniquity.” This week the Biblical topic on love is “Love rejoices in the truth.”
The Scriptures have much to reveal on what it means to rejoice and what constitutes the truth. In both Testaments, God commands His people to rejoice, especially, when they taste and see the Lord is good. God’s Word also discloses there is a four-fold fountain of truth. Jesus is the Person of Truth, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, God’s Word that sanctifies is the Word of Truth, and the Church of the living God is to be the pillar and ground of truth.
What it comes to our salvation, Isaiah declared, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation” (Isaiah 61:10). When it came to intercession, the Apostle Paul writing to the Philippian church stated, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy (Philippians 1:3, 4).
When it comes to the worship of the Lord, the Psalmist reminds us, “Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness…Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name (Psalms 100). Even when it comes to difficult circumstances God’s Word admonishes us, “Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls—Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation” (Habakkuk 3:17, 18).
I know there are times when our prayers and intercession comes from a broken, heavy heart, but please do not forget the Lord’s salvation. Paul was suffering in jail when he interceded with joy. Habakkuk, at the thought of losing his livelihood, still reasoned it was good to rejoice and find joy in the God of our salvation.
