Generous With Prayer

June 9, 2020

DAILY READING

1 Timothy 2:1

FIELD NOTES

This week, we’re going to dive deeply into the next Fruit of the Spirit: goodness. To set it apart, we’ll be framing it as generosity. Imagining together one distinct way we can exhibit generosity – or goodness – in our lives. To be truly generous, we have to slow ourselves down, pay close attention to ourselves and those around us and the leading of God’s Spirit. 

I have been so overjoyed by the fruit that has come out of the fruit challenge. It’s extraordinary. It’s powerful. I was blessed to be prayed for by one of our church members recently. He emailed me and told me he’d be praying for me the next day in the fruit challenge and asked if there was anything I needed prayer for. I wept. Because on that day, my heart was aching. Deeply aching. Because my grandmother had been hospitalized and then transferred to rehab. She was alone and didn’t know where she was, unable to talk on the phone, and I couldn’t get to her. None of us could. And somehow the prayers of my brother in Christ came at just the right time – for my sweet grandmother. And just yesterday I was able to deliver a prayer shawl to the front desk of her facility. Knit with the gentle hands and prayerful heart of one of our prayer shawl knitters. And now she has been wrapped in those prayers. Prayer is powerful. And it can come at just the right time. Let’s find ways to be bold and generous in our prayers.

QUESTIONS FOR THE FIELD

• Why is it important for you to be generous with your prayers?
• How will you be generous with your prayers? (Either do something today or create a plan for the future and put it on your calendar) 

PRAYER GUIDE

Lord, God. Open my heart to the needs of your children. Make me bold in my prayers that I will reach out when you nudge me and will  pray deeply where you call me. Amen. 

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT CHALLENGE

For the duration of our sermon series, we are offering daily prompts for applying the wisdom from the scriptures to our everyday lives. Each week focuses on how we can encourage those around us and bear fruit! This week we are focusing on the fruit of goodness.

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”

-Archbishop Rev. Desmond Tutu

Christ always gives us opportunities to do little bits of good for those around us. What is God inviting you into today? Who is God inviting you to pray for today?

To learn more about the Fruit of the Spirit challenge, click here.