TRP #001: Welcome to The Spark Prayer!

Welcome! It is such a pleasure for me to be able to put together issues of Spark Prayer for you.

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Years ago I was doing a deep dive into scripture on the topic of the Church, and realized that the most prominent use of the original Greek word ecclesia was to describe “the Church of the city”.

Most of the epistles were written to the church of a particular city.

In Revelation, Jesus addresses churches by the city - for example, those in Ephesus, Laodicea, and Philidelphia received rebuke or encouragement.

There appears to be a heavy emphasis on the church of the city by our Lord and Savior, and by the Apostle Paul.

In addition to that - as you and I are sojourners pursuing a life of faithfulness while waiting for our Lord to return, we must take part in the prophetic call from Jeremiah to pray for and seek out the welfare of our city. (Jeremiah 29:7)

We are to pray to the Lord on behalf of this region & city. We are to ask for good things to happen. We are to ask that they happen by God’s power and for His glory.

At the same time, we must never lose sight of the ultimate good that the city needs a thousand times more than it needs material prosperity…souls being transformed and people saved.

But neither God in scripture nor his people are indifferent to the health, safety, prosperity, and freedom of the city. We all want these things, and Jesus said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39), and the Lord says in Jeremiah 29:7 that loving your city is a way of loving yourself: “In its welfare, you will find your welfare.”.

So that’s what Spark Prayer is all about. Together each week - even if only for a couple of minutes, believers across each region, via Spark Prayer, will be aligned in prayer for:

1. A sweeping move of God in our region

2. Hearts of those who don’t yet know Him to be awakened

3. Welfare and prosperity of our region

4. Any local topic of importance - such as what’s happening at City Hall, in our schools, in legislation, etc.

Verse of the Week:

Prayer Prompt of the Week:

Heavenly Father, thank you for your faithfulness, goodness, and patience with us. Your word in 1 Timothy 2:4 tells us that you desire for all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Lord, you also taught us to pray your kingdom come, your will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven. So today as we acknowledge your will is for the salvation of all people, we ask that by a miraculous move of your Spirit here in our region, we would see massive waves of people coming to a saving faith in your son Jesus. We also ask know that you asked us to pray and seek out and contend for the welfare of our city. So would you bring about that welfare and prosperity in whatever ways you have in store for us? We hunger to see you do what only you can do in our midst and we desire to step out of what’s normal and comfortable and see miraculous things come to pass. It’s in the mighty name of Jesus we ask these things. Amen.