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“Prayer is, first of all, about
spending time with God. Simply being together is a
necessary part of any growing relationship…. Second,
it is through prayer in concert with our study of
Scripture that God makes his will known to us. God
is at work in the world and invites us to join him
in that work. Because we discover God’s will
through prayer, prayer is the primary, or initial,
work of all believers” (The Praying Church Idea
Book, by Doug Kamstra p. 17). On November 1,
2008 Classis Toronto will be having a prayer
morning where we will learn more about including
prayer as part of our congregational life, where we
will learn about perseverance in prayer, where we
will be encouraged as prayer leaders and where we
will spend time listening and discerning God’s will
for our Churches and Classis. In order to prepare
for this event, instead of the usual prayer calendar
format, this month’s prayer calendar will help us
all (whether we plan to attend the event or not) to
focus on God and God’s plans for our Classis. We
will use the A.C.T.S.S. format to guide our prayer
this month.
A - October 1-6 – Adoration. We
offer praise for who God is, for what God has done,
and for what God has yet to do.
C – October 7-12 – Confession.
We acknowledge our sins and our need for God’s
forgiveness. Our confession must be open, honest,
and specific.
T – October 13-18 –
Thanksgiving. We thank God for his goodness and for
God’s answers to our prayers.
S – October 19-25 –
Supplication. We lay both the needs of others and
our needs before God.
S – October 26-31 – Surrender.
We wait on the Lord and are willing to accept God’s
answers in obedience.
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| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
| |
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Creator God, we praise you for creation, for the
beauty of the fall season. |
We praise you God for the work you have done through
the ministries of Classis Toronto. |
Lord, we praise you for how you continues to use our
Churches to see the Kingdom of Heaven come to earth.
|
We praise you God that you are with us, that you have
made your dwelling with us. |
| 5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
|
Lord, we praise you for the things you have yet to do
in our Classis. |
God, we praise you for your amazing love and grace
you show us every day. |
God, we confess that, as congregations, we do not
always listen to your will for our lives. |
Lord, we confess that we do not always trust other
churches to be listening and following your will. |
God, we confess that we do not always welcome the
stranger into our midst. |
God, we confess that we often get caught up in the
little details of church life rather than focusing on
how we can glorify you. |
Lord, we acknowledge that we need you to come and
change our hearts, minds and wills to follow you more
closely. |
| 12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
|
Lord, we ask you to forgive us, to extend your grace
to us and to change us to be more like Jesus. |
Sovereign Lord, we thank you that you have forgiven
us, that we can be sure you have heard our prayer
and have extended your grace to us. |
God, we thank you for our chaplains (Nel DeBoer, Shiao
Chong, Brian Walsh, and Geoff Witchert) who work on
behalf of all of us to touch people’s lives and make a
difference for the Kingdom of God. |
God, we thank you for the freedom we have to worship
and pray openly in our many church buildings. |
We thank you God for the work of all our volunteers
who make ministry happen in our classis. |
God, we thank you for the work of our staff: the
Stated Clerk, John Meiboom; the Treasurer, Cor Buikema;
and the Ministry Coordinator, Elizabeth
Guillaume-Koene. |
We thank you God for all the congregations of
Classis Toronto. We thank you for the diversity we
experience within our Classis. |
| 19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
|
God, we ask you to give us wisdom as we plan a church
plant in the Milton area. |
Lord, we ask you for a special measure of grace and
wisdom for all our churches who are without a pastor
right now: All Nations, ClearView, Cochrane,
Friendship, Holland Marsh, Maranatha, Richmond Hill,
and Willowdale. |
God, we ask you that all our congregations would grow
to become missional churches: doing missions right
where we are. |
Lord, we ask you to guide and bless the work of the
pastors who are involved in a Peer-Learning Group on
becoming multi-cultural churches. We ask that you
would help us all to become more welcoming of the
those from different cultures. |
God, we ask that we may hear and obey your will for
our Classis. |
Lord, we ask you to guide and bless our committees:
Diaconal, Campus Ministries, Hospital Ministry, Race
Relations, Safe Church Team, Home Missions, Youth,
Nominating, Candidacy, Finance and the Classis
Ministry Committee. |
We ask you God that we would become praying churches,
where prayer isn’t just another program but where
prayer is central to everything that happens in our
congregations. |
| 26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
|
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God, Help us to be still and know that you are God.
That you are exalted among the nations and over all
the earth. You are with us God, (Psalm
46:10-11) |
God, we wait for you to speak to us. To show us the
way you have for us to go. |
God, help
us to be still before you and wait patiently for you
to answer us, for you to speak to our hearts, (Psalm
37:7).
|
God, we remain confident that we will see your
goodness in this land. So, we wait for you Lord, we
are strong and we take heart and we wait for you Lord,
(Psalm
27:13-14). |
God, we
wait for you, our whole being waits for you; and in
your Word we put our trust. We wait for you, Lord!
(Psalm
130:5-6). |
God, we surrender to you. We accept that you are God
and we are your people. Help us to be obedient to
what you want us to do. |
Join others from around Classis Toronto in a morning
of prayer at Richmond Hill Community CRC from 9-12. |
