Prayer Focus for Fast - Day 5

Surrounding Community
Matthew 5:13-16

The life of Jesus in us makes us a salt and light in an age of tastelessness and darkness. People aren't satisfied with life on their terms. Our communities and neighborhoods and workplaces are comprised of hungry people who are settling for a bland existence, with no idea of what is even available for them in Jesus. They can't even see what they can't see. And Jesus' means of pursuing them and awakening them to what's possible and what's real is his church. We are God's strategy for bringing the light of the gospel to bear in the darkness around us and within those around us. We are salt he's shaking into the world so that that they might taste and come to savor something of Jesus. The has questions it doesn't know to ask... and they have longings they don't know how to articulate... and God's answer is His people, filled with His Spirit, expressing His love, sharing His gospel. So here are some things to pray and think through today:

• How am I entertaining darkness in my life which is suppressing the light both in me and through me?
• In what ways am I comprimising my distinctiveness as a follower of Christ, and blending in with the world?
• In what areas of my life could use my freedom in Christ, to live differently for the sake of Christ, rather than blend in? What freedoms do I have that Jesus is calling me to lay down in order to glorify him?
• Who are specific people God has placed in my life that don't know Him, but with whom I have found favor? Pray for them.
• How can I love them personally, and show the love of Jesus particularly to them in tangible ways?
• What fears are keeping me from being more bold in my faith and sharing the gospel explicitly, for which I need to repent? Pray for boldness.
• How and when does God want me to invite my unbelieving neighbors (actual neighbors, co-workers, friends, etc.) into my life and the life of my church community?
• How does God want me to become better equipped to reach the people around me who don't know Jesus?

All I feel led to say here is, actually pray these things through. There is a world that is lost and perishing and heading for a Christless and haunting eternity. We are far too indifferent to that reality. We are not impacted nearly enough by the lostness and deadness around us... in fact, that's our own deadness still fighting against God.

I wonder what would happen if our church together started to see the world through Jesus' eyes and with Jesus' heart. I have a feeling that it would radically alter with the order of our lives. So, what if we asked him for his eyes and heart... and for his wisdom. What if we actually lived as if we were sent; as if we were given a mission; as if we were given power from on high; as if we knew we couldn't fail. What if we took Jesus' commission and commands seriously enough to urgently and radically live as if he is the ultimate authority and ultimate reality.