7 More Days
Praying About Your Place in The Body of Christ within the Dalton Gardens Church of Christ

Church is a verb... It is not something you attend; it is a way of life and a commitment to worship and serve with others who pursue a common goal: To honor Jesus, love one another, and live under His Word in all things.

For eight weeks, we considered from the scriptures how God can change lives and elevate those with humble hearts and willing spirits to new heights of spiritual fulfillment. God expects our congregation, part of the body of Christ, to model what it means to be a church of CHRIST...

No piece of paper can change a life; ultimately it is a matter of each heart among us desiring to submit to God, love each other, and together embody a prescribed lifestyle out of gratitude for the salvation we share in Christ. In the coming days (and from time to time after that) you are invited to review and pray over critical passages of scriptures that describe God’s hope for us as members of His Kingdom and members of this congregation…It is then incumbent upon each one of us, consistent with our conscience before God, to consider how to apply these passages in our daily lives and in the life of our congregation. May God bless us in our ultimate goal to always honor Jesus Christ, love one another, and live under God’s Word in all things.

DAY ONE: How can you honor our spiritual leaders?

Heb 13:7: “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

Heb 13:17: “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account.”

1 Tim 5:17: “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.”

1 Tim 5:19: “Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses.”

Pray for our elders... Pray for your relationship with the elders... Consider how you can better know them and especially how you can encourage them.

DAY TWO: What can you contribute to the health and well being of our congregation?

Eph 4:1-4: “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

Eph 4:29-5:2: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

1 Tim 5:13-14: “Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to.”

Matt 5:23: "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”

Gal 6:1-2: “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

Rom 12:5-6: “Each member belongs to all the others.”

Rom 12:18-19: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

We are a family... but families require time and effort to be healthy... Pray for our church family. Plan to devote some time each week to invest in the health of our church family... Occasionally, it is as simple as hanging around after we are dismissed to look for people to visit with instead of dashing for the parking lot. Refuse to listen to or participate in gossip that cuts others down. Be a peace-maker. If you know of anyone who holds any thing against you, or if you have a problem with anyone, then go to them and try to make peace. The health of our church family is the individual responsibility of each of us. Pray that you will be used by God to bless others in our congregation.

DAY THREE: Each time you come to a church meeting, can you find someone to bless?

Heb 10:22-25: “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another”

Rom 14:7-8: “For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”

Rom 14:13: “Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way.”

Rom 14:19: “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”

Rom 15:5-6: “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6 so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Mark 10:45: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

When we meet as Christ’s church we do so to honor God and encourage one another. Pray about how God can use you to bless others every time you go to a church meeting…Stop being selfish…Don’t go to the church meetings just for yourself, even though your need may be great. Go to bless and lift others, and in so doing, the Lord will also lift you. Church is a verb. In part, church is about always looking for ways bless others and reinforce the hope of Christ in others. We should always strive to leave others better than we found them. It means coming to the building looking for people to help, it means spending a little extra time to engage people, and it means keeping your heart ready for an unexpected opportunity to bless another. Pray that God will help you be the kind of person he can use to help others smile.

DAY FOUR: Pray God will be honored by how YOU worship, study, and pray.

Col 3:16-17: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Rom 12:1-2: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

John 4:24: “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

2 Tim 3:16-17: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

2 Tim 2:15: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”

Luke 11:9-10: "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

James 4:2-3: “You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives…”

The basic tool box of Christians wanting to build themselves and others up in Christ contains worship, study of God’s Word, and prayer. Worship is the process, individually and collectively, of celebrating the presence of God in your life and expressing gratitude for his love and grace. Through the study of God’s Word, God speaks to us and he shapes our lives…In prayer we speak to God and he shapes our lives. Pray that you will find a renewed hunger and thirst for worship, study, and prayer. Be a life-long student of God and His blessing will be new every morning.

DAY FIVE: How can the greatest commandments become the guiding principles of your life?

Matt 22:36-40: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

2 John 5-6: “I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.”

James 2:8: “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right.”

There is nothing more basic to the Christian life than “loving God with all your being” and loving others with the same love that took Jesus to the cross. In everything we do as a congregation, our goals need to be to honor God and love one another. Please pray that your motives will be pure before God in all things. Hold nothing back from God; pray that you will give yourself totally to God each day. And then never allow yourself to do or say anything to another that cannot be described as an act of love toward them. May our congregation embody the greatest commandments.

DAY SIX: What can you do today to continue the mission of Christ to the lost?

Luke 19:10: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

2 Cor. 5:16-21: “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.”

Col 4:4-6: “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

Reaching the lost is not the task of just preachers, elders, and a few highly experienced extroverted members. Continuing the mission of Jesus to “seek and save the lost” is the calling of every Christian. Please pray for insight into how God can use you to make a difference in someone else’s life. Consider your neighbors, co-workers, extended family members…make a list of those who need the Lord and pray over them…pray for an open door to reach them, invite them to a church event, or just have a meaningful conversation about how belonging to the Lord has blessed you. Try to start each day reminding yourself that you need to look for opportunities to share the Lord and then when you find one, don’t pass it by. God always helps those who are trying to honor Him.

DAY SEVEN: Consider how you can better make the “one another” passages come to life in your daily life?

Be devoted to one another (Rom. 12:10)
Honor one another (Rom. 12:10)