After a long summer break, the prayer blog is back! I hope you had a refreshing summer.
 
The prayer blog has a new format this year. The first half focuses on prayer topics drawn from the Sunday sermon. In an ideal world, we would listen to the sermon having prepared ourselves by reading and reflecting on the passage ahead of time. After the sermon, we would review and apply what we had been taught. But we don’t live in an ideal world, do we? Too often, the sermon goes in one ear and then out the other as we exit the sanctuary. Praying through the passage and the teaching we received will help us absorb the spiritual nutrition the sermon provides.
 
The second half of the blog focuses on prayer requests from the Calvary family and prayer for ministries of the body. I encourage you to share by dropping a yellow prayer card in one of the three prayer boxes around the building or by contacting me directly. I look forward to hearing from you!
 
September 17, 2017  
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
 
Praise and thank God for deigning to work through His people. Thank Him for giving each believer at least one spiritual gift for the common good. Thank Him for your spiritual gift(s).
 
If you don’t know what your spiritual gift is, and perhaps doubt that you have one, ask God directly and explicitly to show you what it is. Then be alert for His answer! If you do know what your spiritual gift is, ask the Holy Spirit to evaluate how faithfully you are exercising it within the body.
 
As Pastor Dave noted, some purveyors of signs and wonders are counterfeits and frauds. Pray for anyone you know who is susceptible to being led astray by them.
 
Ask the Lord to help all of us think about and discuss the especially-controversial gifts of prophecy and tongues in a godly way – in an open-minded, humble, non-dogmatic manner. 
 
Calvary Family
 
Lift up Ruth Hanning, who is at home on hospice. As the light of earth dims for Ruth, the light of heaven certainly shines ever more brilliantly. Remember Ruth’s family in prayer as well.    
 
Pray for a smooth recovery for 17-year-old Faith Greene after heart surgery last Wednesday. Also pray for Kim Le, who is being treated for breast cancer.
 
I received a request that we pray for God’s blessing on and protection over the men of the TLC house. (Calvary’s Transitional Living into Community program ministers to men overcoming addictions.) My correspondent wrote, “Ask the Holy Spirit to do in us what we cannot do for ourselves.”
 
Pray that many will honor the Lord by carving out time to participate in the Night of Prayer and Worship this Wednesday.
 
Continue to ask the Lord to provide the right men for the open positions of Associate Pastor and Youth Pastor. Also pray for strength and encouragement for those in our body who are filling the gap in the meantime.

In Christ,
Carol Gilbert
Calvary Community Church of Brea