Partners In Prayer For The
Ukiah Bible Church
MARCH
Introduction:

Our purpose and how to use the Scriptures to pray

Our desire is to create partnerships in the ministry of prayer for our church.  The purpose of this ministry is to unite the members of our congregation around the throne of God each week with a special theme for prayer.  The manner in which this takes place is simple; each partnership determines the time, location or means of connecting for prayer.  

One of the most effective ways of praying is to use Scriptures in conjunction with one’s conversations with God.  When one does this, the Spirit of God will use the Scriptures to help you align your prayers with His priorities, thus effectively conforming your prayers with what pleases Him.  One noted prayer Warrior said, “The Spirit rides best in His own chariot and His chariot is the word of God.” For this reason, along with each theme you will find Scriptures that relate to those themes.  If you will read the passages from your Bible before you pray and consider the context in which you find them, you will discover a source of words and ideas that will help your prayers align with God’s Word and thus, enhance your experience and accomplish much.

James 5:16, “…The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”
 
Our theme for this month is spiritual growth and discipleship. Pray for maturity in the Word, a hunger for holiness, and faithfulness to Christ among teachers, elders, and small groups. May our families and our church family be "rooted and built up in Him" (Colossians 2:6-7).

Week of the 2nd - Maturity in the Word

• Praise God for the gift of His Word. "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous Jaws. I have suffered much; preserve my life, Lord, according to your word. Accept, Lord, the willing praise of my mouth, and teach me your Jaws" (Psalm 119:103-108).

• Ask God to guide our hearts as we read and study His Word. "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:12-13).

• Pray that we would handle God's Word with wisdom, love, and discernment. "... continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:14-17).

Week of the 9th - Hunger for Holiness

• Thank God for His gracious gift of holiness through the work of Christ. "He has saved us and called us to a holy life not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:9-10).

• Pray we would offer our lives as worship to our holy God. 'Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God­ this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:1-2).

• Pray that we would be transformed by the majestic holiness of God. "For this is what the high and exalted One says    he who lives forever whose n me is holy- I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite'" {Isaiah 57:15).

Week of the 16th & Week of the 23rd - Faithfulness to Christ

• Praise God for His faithfulness, even in great difficulty. "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him. ' The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord"{Lamentations 3:22-26).

• Ask God to cultivate greater commitment to His Word and ways. "I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in Him you have been enriched in every way
  - with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge-God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:4-9).

• Pray that God's light would drive out the sin in our lives and restore our hearts in renewed faithfulness. "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:5-9).

Week of the 30th - Reliance on God's Power

• Ask God to help us depend on His grace and power for spiritual growth. "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:4-10).

• Pray we would rely on the Holy Spirit for wisdom and guidance. "[Jesus said] 'All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" (John 14: 23-27).

• Ask God to energize our service and love to Him in our families, workplace, and church. "For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen" (Ephesians 3:14-21).