A Prayer for our Second Anniversary

Dear New Covenant Family,

I’m thinking back to a message Andy Euler, a present member of New Covenant, preached back in January 2005. The text was that magnificent doxology of the God-enamored apostle, Paul:

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly
than all that we ask or think,
according to the power at work within us,
to him be glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations,
forever and ever. Amen.
—Ephesians 3:20-21

In his sermon, Andy encouraged us to pray, “Lord, let me make a difference for you that is utterly disproportionate to who I am.”

I wrote it in my Bible, and I’ve been riveted by that text and that idea ever since.

We’ve been together for two years now, a mile-marker we will celebrate with our Anniversary Luncheon on May 6. As I think about how far God has brought us, I rejoice! Truly “the LORD has done great things for us; we are glad” (Psalm 126:3).

This spring season has been especially full of hope with the launching of Exploring Christianity. Each week there are people in our midst who are encountering the beauty and power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is transforming all our lives through this glorious gospel. Just this past Friday, following the Men’s Bible Study at Big Apple Bagel, a husband and wife stopped at the table of a couple of New Covenant men and asked, “Is that the Good Book you’re reading?” What an open door for gospel communication! Pray for that couple, and for many others who are hearing the gospel in new and fresh ways through the ministry of the people of our church. To God alone be all the glory!

Where do we go from here? I’d like to encourage all of us to start meditating on Ephesians 3:20-21 and asking God to let us make a difference for him that is utterly disproportionate to who we are.

What might that mean for you personally? Where is God challenging your faith? And what might that mean for our church? What are one or two things you would love to see God do at New Covenant in the next year? Over the next five years? Can you dream of a work of God here that is utterly disproportionate to who we are? Can you begin to envision, and to pray for such a movement of God’s Spirit in our midst that the only possible explanation anyone could make is, “God is really among you”? (1 Cor. 14:25).
It all begins with a conscious, explicit reliance on the Holy Spirit. And we express our desperate dependence on the Lord through corporate prayer. Please join us this coming Wednesday night, May 2, for an evening of prayer from 5:30—7:45.

“For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Luke 11:10).

Expecting great things from God as we attempt great things for God,

David Sunday