This is my prayer for 2020 and beyond.
- That you learn to be filled with the Spirit, and not drugs and alcohol. (Eph. 5:18)
- That you process less of your drama and pain on Facebook and more in real relationships with brothers and sisters. (Prov. 10:14, 28:26)
- That you really get that the only people you should take 100% responsibility for is you, and your young kids. That helping another grown person and doing everything for them isn’t love … it’s codependency. It hurts you and them. (Gal. 1:10, 6:1-5)
- That you’d really learn how to pray and understand what it means to seek God’s will in your everyday life. This means opening up God’s word daily! (Prov. 3:5, Psalm 119:105)
- That Sunday services would become an anchor to your week and reset your week; something you rearrange life to make happen and only miss when you’re sick. That you’d attend to seek strength, to seek health, to seek faith, and not go only when you feel like you got some strength, health, and faith. (Hebrews 10:25)
- That you would educate yourself financially and make better moves with money that will bless your family. That you’d have more to save and more to generously give to Church and those around you in need. (Prov. 15:22, Eccl. 7:12, Matt. 6:19-24)
- That monthly Shepherding group dinners would become a highlight of the month, and that through the whole month you’d love, pray, text, call, visit, and just do all that you can to point each other to Jesus. (Acts 2:45-47, Hebrews 10:24)
And my Prayer for not just 2020, but for the whole decade.
That your goals for your kids would be so much more than just that they don’t get pregnant too early, finish high school, not die of drugs, etc… But that you would pray for, instill in your kids no matter what your life has been, and share your hope, for them to know and love Jesus, make waves for God’s kingdom, and make an impact for justice for the forgotten and those taken advantage of. That they would find and marry a Godly person, who they can be a blessing to other people with. That whatever they do (school, work, family) that they would do it all in, 100% and that they would be blessed!
I want you to write down on a piece of paper the names of your whole family and what ages they will all be in 2030. What do you hope for them, for yourself?
“Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.” Proverbs 29:18
That in a decade lots of folks in our church would take steps, and pray into reality these moves:
- People who rent now would own homes.
- Those who are learning about Jesus now but aren’t really sure, would follow Jesus and become our future shepherd group leaders, elders, deacons and just solid pillars in the Church and wider community.
- That those who have no idea if their marriage is gonna make it, find themselves in the strongest place they’ve ever been.
- That those who are in the middle of their worst struggles with anxiety and depression would find freedom, and become guides and lights to others.
- That those who are up to their eyeballs in debt would live completely debt free.
- That we would have raised up leaders and planted several new churches in towns like Camden, Little Egg Harbor, Millville, and Woodbury.
Finally, we are so glad people are becoming Christians and giving up things to follow him. But we also want education and opportunities, we want to see the spiritual moves of the past few years turn into whole life and community change in the next decade.
So, my prayer and vision is that we would become a people notorious for tutoring kids everyone else is “done” with. That we would have a powerful ministry that saves people from addiction. That we would have the clout with the city and county we are in, to pull down new branches of education, development, jobs and more.
What are you working towards and praying for in this next year and decade? Let Christ and your community be apart of those dreams.
Pastor Joe Marlin
Epiphany Church of Gloucester City
December 31st 2019