Day 17 of Hearts Prepared | A Heart For Our Community

Welcome to day 17 of our 21-day prayer journey, Hearts Prepared.

Today we are asking God to give us hearts for our community.

Matthew 5, 14 through 16 says, You are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Let's join together as we pray for hearts prepared to reach our community.

Heavenly Father, today I thank you for the community that you've placed me in.

I thank you for my neighbors, for my co-workers, for my classmates.

Thank you for the businesses, the schools, the first responders, the healthcare workers, teachers, government leaders, and every family that makes up our community.

None of us are here by accident.

You have placed us here to be your ambassadors and your witnesses.

Lord, I repent for the times I've become so focused on my own life that I've overlooked the people around me who desperately need you.

I repent of the times I've walked past opportunities to love others.

Forgive me for remaining silent when you are calling me to speak.

Forgive me for seeing people as interruptions instead of seeing them as souls created in your image who need to hear about you.

Father, give me your heart for this community.

Help me see people the way that you see them.

When Jesus looked at the crowds, he saw people who were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

Lord, let my heart be moved with that same compassion.

Break my heart for what breaks yours.

Give me eyes to notice.

Give me eyes to notice the lonely, the discouraged, the forgotten, the hurting, the searching, and the lost.

Help me slow down enough to see the people that you have placed in my path.

Lord, make me a faithful witness for Jesus.

Would you fill me with the Holy Spirit so that I may boldly and lovingly share the gospel?

Remove fear, remove hesitation.

Replace them with courage and wisdom and genuine compassion.

Help me remember that people are not my enemy, that sin is the enemy and Satan is the enemy, and the people around me are the mission field that you love and have called me to love.

Father, help me build relationships that point people toward Christ.

May my words be gracious.

May my actions reflect the character of Jesus.

May my life create opportunities to speak about the hope I have found in him.

And Lord, teach me to live with intentionality.

Help me learn the names of my neighbors.

Help me to notice those who are struggling.

Help me to be quick to encourage, quick to serve, quick to pray for, quick to forgive, and quick to love.

Father, I pray for every neighborhood represented by Forward Church.

May the light of Christ shine brightly through every believer who calls forward home.

May they shine your light into their neighborhood and beyond.

May homes be transformed by the gospel.

May marriages be restored and addictions broken.

We pray for prodigals to return home.

May children grow up knowing Jesus.

May families discover the hope found only in Christ.

Lord, when I think of our community, I think of our schools, I pray for our schools, I pray that you will protect our students, protect our teachers, give wisdom to administrators, raise up Christian students and educators who will faithfully live for you with courage and grace, shining your light into their school.

Father, I pray for our local leaders.

Your word tells us to pray for those in authority.

So reveal yourself to them, Lord.

Would you grant them wisdom, lead them toward justice, righteousness, and truth, surround them with godly counsel, help them make decisions that allow the gospel to continue spreading freely throughout our community.

And Lord, I pray for our police officers, our firefighters, our EMTs, our health care workers, the military personnel, and every public servant in our community.

Protect them as they faithfully serve others.

Give them strength, give them wisdom, surround them with your peace.

May they know that they are loved, appreciated, and prayed for.

Father, would you help Forward Church become known as a church that genuinely loves our community?

Not simply because of what we say, but because of how we serve.

May we love well because you first loved us.

May we live out what we claim to believe.

Help us meet practical needs while never losing sight of the greatest need, the need for Jesus.

Give us opportunities to share the gospel with boldness and love.

Help us faithfully make disciples who make disciples.

Lord, open doors that only you can open.

Lead us to people whose hearts you are already preparing to receive.

Give us divine appointments.

Help us recognize those appointments when they come.

May we never miss an opportunity to speak about Jesus.

Father, remind me that my mission begins right where I am.

Help me faithfully represent Christ in my home, in my workplace, at my school, at the grocery store, at the ball field, in every conversation I'm engaged in.

May people see Jesus in the words that I speak and in the way that I live.

Lord, burden my heart for those who are far from you.

There are people in my community who have never truly heard the gospel.

Others have heard it but have rejected it.

Still others are searching for hope in all the wrong places.

Use me to point them to the only one who can save.

Help me remember that the gospel is the power of God for salvation.

It's not my wisdom that changes lives, it's not my personality or my arguments, it is the message of Jesus Christ crucified and risen again.

So give me confidence in your word.

Father, I pray that revival would begin in our community.

May hearts be softened, may churches boldly preach the truth.

May believers unite around the gospel of Jesus.

May many come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

And may our city become known for the transforming power of God at work within it.

And Lord, begin that work in me.

Help me to be the salt and the light.

Help me live differently enough that others are drawn to Christ through the way I live.

May every conversation, every act of kindness, every invitation to church, every prayer, every opportunity to serve become a seed that you use to bring someone into your kingdom.

Jesus, you came to seek and save the lost.

We pray that you would radically save the lost in our community, and may we at Forward Church faithfully do your work.

I pray this in the powerful name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

We'll take a walk today and pray for each household that you pass that the Lord will become real to those who live there.