Day 20 of Hearts Prepared | A Heart Prepared To Make Disciples

This is day 20 of our 21-day prayer journey.

Today our focus is on hearts prepared to make disciples.

Acts 4 13 says, Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished, and they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

May others look at our ordinary lives and recognize that we've been with Jesus.

Let's go to Jesus and spend some time in prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father, today I thank you for calling me not only to follow Jesus, but to help others follow Him as well.

Thank you that when you saved me, you also gave me a mission.

You have called every believer to make disciples, to invest in others so that they may know Christ, grow in Christ, and live for Christ.

Father, forgive me for the times I've reduced Christianity to simply attending church or gaining more knowledge.

Forgive me for the times I've been content with spiritual comfort instead of spiritual multiplication.

Help me remember that your desire is not simply that I become a mature disciple, but that I help others become mature disciples too.

Jesus spent his entire ministry intentionally investing in twelve ordinary men.

Jesus, you you taught them, you corrected them, you encouraged them, you challenged them, you prayed for them, you modeled what it meant to walk with the Father, and then you sent them to do the same for others.

So help me to follow your example.

Teach me to invest in people the way that you invested in your disciples.

And Father, would you deepen my walk with you?

Help me understand that I cannot lead others where I've not gone myself.

Draw me closer to you each day.

Give me a greater love for your word.

Teach me to pray faithfully, help me to walk in holiness, fill me continually with your Holy Spirit.

May my life become an example worth following, not because I'm perfect, but because I'm continually growing in Christ.

Lord, give me a heart that sees people through the lens of discipleship.

Help me look beyond appearances.

Help me notice those who are spiritually hungry.

Show me who you're calling me to encourage, to mentor, to teach, or simply walk alongside.

Open my eyes to those who need someone to point them toward Jesus.

Father, give me courage to invest my life in others.

Help me make time for relationships that matter for eternity.

Teach me to listen well, to encourage faithfully, to lovingly speak truth, to patiently walk with people as they grow.

Give me grace to celebrate small steps of spiritual growth and to faithfully persevere when growth seems slow.

Father, I want to pray for Forward Church.

Would you make us a church that makes disciples?

Not just attendees, not consumers, but disciples.

Men and women, students and children who wholeheartedly follow Jesus and help others to do the same.

May Acts 242 continue to define who we are.

May we devote ourselves to your word, to fellowship, to communion, and to prayer.

And as we grow deeper in Christ, may we also reach farther with the gospel.

So, Lord, raise up disciple makers throughout our church.

Would you raise up small group leaders, Bible study leaders, mentors, teachers, parents who disciple their children, grandparents who faithfully pass on their faith, students who influence their friends, young adults who encourage one another, men discipling men, women discipling women.

May discipleship become a part of the culture of our church.

Father, we celebrate transformed lives.

We love to see growing believers.

We long to see healthy families, people discovering their spiritual gifts, believers serving one another, new disciples being baptized.

We pray for disciple makers, raising up the next generation of disciple makers.

God, would you give me patience when discipleship is difficult?

Give me perseverance when progress seems slow.

Help me to remember that you are continually at work, even when I cannot see immediate results.

And God, I want to pray for the next generation.

May our children and students become lifelong followers of Jesus.

Protect them from the distractions and deception of this world.

Give them a genuine love for Jesus and his word.

Raise up young men and women who boldly stand for truth and faithfully proclaim the gospel in their generation.

And Father, would you help me to live each day with intentionality?

May I never miss the opportunities that you place before me to encourage, teach, pray with, or walk alongside another believer.

Help me ask good questions that point people toward Christ.

Help me share what you are teaching me.

Help me model what it looks like to follow Jesus in everyday life.

Lord, I thank you for the promise that you are with us always, even to the end of the age.

I know that I don't make disciples alone because you go before me, your spirit empowers me, your word guides me, your grace sustains me.

So today I surrender myself again to your mission.

Would you use my ordinary life to make an eternal difference?

May those I influence grow to love Jesus more deeply, trust him more fully, obey him more faithfully, and make disciples themselves.

I pray that generation after generation would come to know Christ because one person was willing to faithfully disciple another.

Lord Jesus, until you return, may my life be spent advancing your kingdom.

May I faithfully make disciples who make disciples for the glory of God.

And I pray this in the matchless name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

I'll ask God to reveal someone in your life today that you can begin a discipleship relationship with, and then follow up on that prompting by meeting with that person and beginning to make disciples.