Day 26 of "27-Day Prayer & Fasting Journey with Rev. Les Towsey

Greetings in the name of Christ.

My name is Les Towsey and I am the Presiding Elder of the all the new church starts in the Northeast Conference of the Global Methodist Church. Welcome to Day 26 of 27 Days of Prayer as we prepare for our Annual Conference gathering on May 8-10 in Cortland, NY.

We have many churches and groups of people all in process of starting churches in the Northeast Conference. There are 13 new churches that have started since our last Annual Conference. They are located in many of the states in our conference. I want to highlight New Life church in State College. It started with nothing but one man’s dream and the moving of the Holy Spirit. It is now an affiliated GM church with an appointed GM pastor. We celebrate what God is doing in State College. What I love about all these new churches is their heart for reaching new people for Christ and the commitment to do the challenging ministry of church planting. We are so blessed as a conference to again see 13 new churches get started in the past year. There are 4 churches getting started in July, and we have one house church meeting. There are disaffiliated churches who are discerning about affiliating with the GMC, and I have a list of people who want to start churches all over the North East. I am also sure there may be some church plants I don’t even know about, please contact me if you are planting, or thinking about planting a church.

Please pray for all the church starts today and encourage your churches to pray for us as well, that we would faithfully live into our shared mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ and to spread scriptural holiness across the globe.

We are eager to see many of you at Annual Conference in May. The church planting and strategy team will have a table at conference where we can meet and answer any question you may have. We encourage you to use these days of preparation to hear God’s Word and pray with us as we prepare to fan the flame that the Holy Spirit has kindled in us all.

Here is today’s focus Scripture passage from Galatians 5:16-25:

"16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions  21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."

This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Today’s Prayer Focus

Just as a good tree cannot bear bad fruit (Matthew 7:18), so a life that walks by the Spirit will not veer toward the desires of the flesh. The Apostle Paul urges the church in Galatia to submit to the Spirit’s leading in their discipleship journeys. This will yield the fruit of the Spirit. Center your prayers this day on those fruits of the Spirit that seem to be absent or in short supply in your life. Ask the Holy Spirit to not only show you where those areas are, but to show you how to bear fruit in them.

Today’s Suggested Prayer (“The Spirit’s Work,” from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, ed. Arthur Bennett, The Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh, UK, 1975; alt.)

O God, the Holy Spirit,
have mercy on me.
When you first hovered over chaos,
order came to birth,
beauty robed the world, fruitfulness sprang forth.
Move, I pray, upon my disordered heart;
take away the infirmities of unruly desires
and hateful lusts.
Lift the mists and darkness of unbelief;
brighten my soul with the pure light of truth;
make it as fragrant as the garden of paradise,
rich with every good fruit,
beautiful with heavenly grace,
radiant with divine light.
Deepen in me the lessons of Christ;
write them upon my heart, that my walk be
sin-loathing, sin-fleeing, Christ-loving.
In the name of Christ. Amen.

You can find this prayer, and all the other prayers of these 27 Days, on the Conference website, northeastgmc.org.

May the Lord richly bless your faithful prayers. Amen.