Church of the City Guided Prayer

Church of the City Guided Prayer

By Church of the CityReligion & Spirituality
Download on the App Store

Church of the City Guided Prayer episodes

  • 21 Days 2020 | Day 1 | With God, Not for God

    SCRIPTURE

    ------
    We love him, because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 KJV

    DEVOTIONAL
    ------
    One night when my son was about 4 months old, I stayed up all night staring at him. I was so amazed by this beautiful gift God had given me, I just wanted to gaze upon him and feel the joy and pleasure that he brought to me. I was so fulfilled just knowing he was mine. And in reality, there was nothing my son could give to me in that moment. All he could do was receive my love.

    This is where we must start with God. God loved us first and this love compels and empowers us to love Him back. We do not start the journey by loving God. We must begin by simply receiving God’s love. This time of fasting is about creating space in our lives to experience God’s love and respond to God’s love -- not earn or attain God’s love for that is already settled. The scriptures teach us that God saw us at our worst and thought we were worth the price of His Son. Imagine that!


    REFLECTION
    ------
    What do you feel, knowing that God loves you in that way? What are your barriers to receiving it?

    PRAYER
    ------
    Father, You love me so much that even when I was lost and had nothing to offer You, You sacrificed Your only Son so that You could be with me and I could be with You. Thank you for the blessing of not having to do anything to earn your love, but that I can simply receive it…what a gift! Father, show me how to surrender and accept Your great love for me.

    15 min
  • 21 Days 2020 | Intro

    INTRO
    ––––––
    As the Church of the City family, we feel compelled to begin 2020 much like what we did in 2019, with 21 days of prayer and fasting. Fasting is a discipline that brings breakthrough and we’ve been wondering, “what is God waiting to pour out on our church, or our city or our lives if we would just seek him through prayer and fasting?” Join us as we begin the 21 Days journey on January 1, 2020.

    5 min
  • Lent 2019 | Day 30 | Tetelestai (It is Finished)
    SCRIPTURE
    ------
    When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished” (Greek - Tetelestai). John 19:30
    DEVOTIONAL
    -----
    As C.H. Spurgeon says, tetelestai conveys “an ocean of meaning in a drop of language, a mere drop. It would need all the other words that ever were spoken, or ever can be spoken, to explain this one word. It is altogether immeasurable. It is high; I cannot attain to it. It is deep; I cannot fathom it. “It is finished” is the most charming note in all of Calvary’s music. The fire has passed upon the Lamb. He has borne the whole of the wrath that was due to His people. This is the royal dish of the feast of love.”
    A.W. Pink writes that, “Eternity will be needed to make manifest all that tetelestai contains.”
    Spurgeon adds "What a grand utterance (is "Tetelestai")! Now are we safe, for salvation is complete. The (sin) debt was now, to the last farthing, all discharged. The atonement and propitiation were made once and for all and forever, by the one offering made in Jesus’ body on the Tree. There was the cup; Hell was in it; the Savior drank it—not a sip and then a pause—not a draught (a single act of drinking) and then a ceasing. He drained it till there is not a dreg left for any of His people. The great ten-thronged whip of the Law was worn out upon His back. There is no lash left with which to smite one for whom Jesus died. The great cannonade (continuous heavy gunfire) of God’s justice has exhausted all its ammunition—there is nothing left to be hurled against a child of God (Beloved, do you believe these great benefits are yours in Christ?). Sheathed is thy sword, O Justice! Silenced is thy thunder, O Law! There remains nothing now of all the griefs and pains and agonies which chosen sinners ought to have suffered for their sins, for Christ has endured all for His own beloved and it is finished. Christ has paid the debt which all the torments of eternity could not have paid. Once again—when He said, “It is finished”. Jesus had totally destroyed the power of Satan, of sin and of death. The Champion accepted the challenge to do battle for our soul’s redemption against all our foes. He met Sin. Horrible, terrible, all-but omnipotent Sin nailed Him to the Cross. But in that deed, Christ nailed Sin also to the tree. There they both did hang together—Sin and Sin’s Destroyer."
    “Christ has said, “It is finished!” and we must cease to work too (Rom 4:3), not only with our hands but with our souls—working no more for life, for that is given; working no more for justification, for that is concluded; but today RESTING in Christ (Rom 4:5-6, Mt 11:28-30) for “It is finished!” There is nothing for God to do. “IT IS FINISHED.” There is nothing for you to do. “IT IS FINISHED.” Christ need not bleed. “IT IS FINISHED.” You need not weep. “IT IS FINISHED.” God the Holy Spirit need not delay because of your unworthiness, nor need you delay because of your helplessness. “IT IS FINISHED.” Every stumbling block is rolled out of the road; every gate is opened. The bars of brass are broken, the gates of iron are burst asunder. “IT IS FINISHED.” Come and welcome; come and welcome!"
    -Charles Spurgeon
    13 min
  • Lent 2019 | Day 29 | “I thirst.”
    SCRIPTURE
    ------
    “I thirst.” -John 19:28
    DEVOTION
    ------
    Here is another reminder that Christ joined us in our humanity. The eternal Word who was in the beginning, who was with God, and who was God (see John 1:1) has agreed to take on the weakness, the cravings, and the gnawing of the human flesh of His creatures, for our own sake, and yet we let Him suffer.
    Do we take much time to think of the lonely people in our lives for whom Christ died and of how they might thirst for attention (affection, love, acceptance, etc)? And we needn’t get too metaphorical, for sometimes the lonely are isolated and may experience physical thirst and hunger that we might help relieve. The Church has always recognized that we are not disembodied souls, but ensouled bodies and both elements of our unity are good and deserving of care. This is why the church has long encouraged both spiritual and corporal (fleshly, bodily) works of mercy.
    In fact, sometimes we spend so much time in the virtual, elec­tronic world that we forget that we all have bodies with needs we can help each other fulfill. When a text or an e-mail replaces a phone call, we have cut ourselves off from the recipient’s voice.
    When a call replaces face-to-face contact, we have cut ourselves off not only from that person’s face, but from his or her body language, all those subtle ways that God has given us to communicate with one another by virtue of having bodies. When we connect only over distant airwaves, we can certainly suggest that a thirsty friend get a drink, but we are in no position to hand him one.
    -Dr. Kevin Vost
    REFLECTION
    ------
    Check your phone go to see how much screen time you’ve had in the last week. How much time have you spent texting? How much time have you spent watching tv or Netflix? How much time have you spent face to face talking with friends? Are you caring for your own thirsty soul? Have you made time to be present with family and friends who may be thirsty for your presence and the presence of God within you?
    RESPONSE
    ------
    God I want to be human like you. I want to be willing to recognize my own thirst and the thirst of those around me. Let me drink from your well today. Let me be a well spring for those around me today. Amen.
    11 min
  • Lent 2019 | Day 28 | “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
    SCRIPTURE
    ------
    “ Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour, And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” - Matthew 27:45- 46
    DEVOTIONAL
    ------
    “The meaning of the incarnation is plainly revealed in the question of Jesus on the cross: ‘My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me?’“ -Karl Barth
    Jesus knows the human experience of questioning God, of wondering why God has apparently abandoned us. Wondering why God won’t come to our aid and rescue.
    When tragedy, pain or hardship strikes the questions come. Like Jesus we may question God’s absence. We may question God’s care or concern for us. To call for help and not receive it, to not feel God’s presence at our lowest, most devastated moment--this is the human experience that finds meaning in Jesus’ statement.
    Up until this point, Jesus, the God human, has been without sin. But when Jesus takes sin upon himself, the Holy Spirit who has been Jesus’ guide departs from the human consciousness of Jesus. When God’s presence goes, the light goes out. Surrounded by outward darkness Jesus feels inner darkness as well.
    Jesus is dying a death in “God abandonment”. This is the completion of the surrender that began in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus is drinking his cup to the dregs.
    Jesus took within himself—and thus into God’s experience—abandonment--rejection. The separation from God that was Adam and Eve’s in the Garden of Eden is now God’s experience. Jesus’ death in “God abandonment” breaks the curse. The human experience of God’s rejection is taken into God’s self. The separation that is ours is no longer! Because of this moment we are brought close. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (1 Corinthians 5:21)
    Because Jesus died a death in God abandonment, we will never be separated from God.
    As the apostle Paul writes, “I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that his love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken his love. There is no power above us or beneath us—no power that could ever be found in the universe that can distance us from God’s passionate love, which is lavished upon us through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One!” -Romans 8:38-39 (TPT)
    -Saranell K. Hartman
    11 min
  • Lent 2019 | Day 27 | “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
    SCRIPTURE
    ------
    One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at (Jesus), saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” -Luke 23:39-43 (TPT)
    DEVOTIONAL
    ------
    In this passage of scripture we see the spotless Lamb of God hanging on a cross, taking away the sin of the world. Jesus has two companions during his crucifixion. They are both criminals and they too are being crucified, one on either side of him. One of his men railed at Jesus saying, “ ‘What kind of Messiah are you? Save yourself and save us from this death!’ The criminal hanging on the other cross rebuked the man, saying, ‘Don’t you fear God? You’re about to die! We deserve to be condemned, for we’re just being repaid for what we’ve done. But this man—he’s done nothing wrong!’ Then he said, 'I beg of you, my Lord Jesus, show me grace and take me with you into your everlasting kingdom!’ Jesus responded, ‘I promise you—this very day you will enter paradise with me.’ - Luke 23: 39-43 (TPT)
    REFLECTION
    ------
    Have you had the experience of being on both sides of the cross of Jesus? Have you ever made demands of God? Have you ever blamed him for the consequences of your own actions? Have you, with a contrite heart recognized your own sin before him and cried out to him for forgiveness?
    If you should be so graced as to recognize Jesus for who he is and be gifted to enter in repentance, then by all means throw yourself at his feet and in so doing you too will share paradise with Christ.
    Perhaps there is someone who is asking you for forgiveness in a most inopportune moment. Maybe they don’t appear deserving like the thief who begged Jesus for forgiveness in his final moments on the cross. If so, could this could be your opportunity to share the forgiving heart of Christ with another?
    RESPONSE
    ------
    Dear Jesus, I want to be like the thief who recognized you for who you are. I want to recognize my sin, ask for grace and enter into communion with you. Father God, I want to be like your son Jesus and offer forgiveness to those who may even appear unworthy. Give me the heart of Christ so that I may love like him even when I am in distress. Amen.
    11 min
  • Lent 2019 | Day 26 | Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
    “Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ ”
    Luke 23:34
    SCRIPTURE
    ------
    It is impossible to comprehend the level of physical and emotional pain Jesus experienced on the cross. Even more unimaginable is the suffering he endured as the Sacrificial Lamb paying the price for our sin. “For God made (Jesus), the only one who did not know sin to (actually) become sin for us, so that we who did not know righteousness might become the righteousness of God through our union with him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 (TPT). Jesus, The Christ, who knew no sin, was made sin itself … for us.
    Have you ever thought about why Jesus didn’t just say, “I forgive you” to those who were mocking and torturing him? After all he is God. He had pronounced forgiveness to others before. He was the one being persecuted. He would have been well within his right to do so. There are layers of meaning as to why Jesus did this. For our time of reflection we will look at two things Jesus did for us when he prayed these precious words on the cross.
    First, on the cross we see the river of forgiveness that flowed from the heart of Christ as he lovingly prayed for his murderers. Jesus gifted us with a powerful picture of the height, the depth, and the width of his love and trustworthiness as our intercessor. Why is this so important? Have you ever sinned and afterward suffered from feelings of guilt and shame so much so that you withdrew from God and others? Of course, we all have.
    We need the revelation of Jesus as Intercessor for those times we suffer the effects of sin and we are (consciously or unconsciously) tempted to move away from God and withdraw into the shadows. And it is on the cross as Jesus prayed for his persecutors, that he gains our eternal trust. He does so by letting us see that nothing could prevent him from standing in the gap for us and that he will always intercede to Father God for our total forgiveness.
    Second, even in death Jesus taught us how to lovingly best care for our hearts while we pray. Let me explain: it is so painful to be hurt, betrayed, and wounded by others. Sometimes even as we forgive those who have hurt us, we secretly hope that God will punish them or that they suffer some kind of “karma” for the wrong that has been done to us. The problem with keeping score and locking others up in our own personal “dungeon of unforgiveness”, is we have to stay down in the darkness ourselves to make sure that our captors remain in our emotional prison of offense. By proxy we are keeping ourselves locked up in pain and darkness.
    It is good and needful for us to forgive those who have hurt us. It is also important for us to follow Jesus’ example and ask God to forgive those who have wounded us AND to not hold their sin against them. True freedom is found in saying, “Father forgive them”. On the cross, in death, Jesus showed us how to live transcendently. He does so by asking his Father to clear the record of his persecutors.
    We can have confidence that Jesus fully forgives us of all of our sin. By unreservedly receiving his love and forgiveness we are empowered to share the gift of forgiveness with ourselves and with those who have transgressed against us.
    REFLECTION
    ------
    Are there any places in your life where you are suffering from guilt and shame?
    Have you withdrawn from God and others because of feelings of hurt, guilt, or shame?
    Jesus is interceding for you now. Do you need to receive his intercession? Do you need the Father’s forgiveness today?
    Have you made bad choices (little or big) and suffered the consequences of those choices? If so would you be willing to offer yourself forgiveness today?
    Have you been hurt by someone else? Would you be willing to name the hurt today? Would you be willing to ask God to help you pray, “Father forgive them?”
    RESPONSE
    ------
    Father God, I want to follow in the footsteps of your precious Son Jesus. He taught us to pray, “forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us” (Luke 23:34). I want to start by saying, “forgive me Lord". I want to offer your forgiveness to those who have hurt and wounded me…intentionally or unintentionally. I want to ask you now to help me say, “Father forgive them”.
    I want to release anyone and everyone from the dark dungeon of my own unforgiveness. I don’t want to keep anyone in prison and I don’t want to stand guard making sure others can’t escape my emotional prison anymore either. I open the door. I turn to you, to The Light. I’m leaving the dark to join you now. I want communion with you Jesus. Being in the light with you is more important than anything else to me.
    Amen.
    16 min
  • Lent 2019 | Day 25 | Jesus is Sentenced to Death
    Pilate gathered the people together with the high priests and all the religious leaders of the nation and told them, “You have presented this man to me and charged him with stirring a rebellion among the people. But I say to you that I have examined him here in your presence and have put him on trial. My verdict is that none of the charges you have brought against him are true. I find no fault in him. And I sent him to Antipas, son of Herod, who also, after questioning him, has found him not guilty. Since he has done nothing deserving of death, I have decided to punish him with a severe flogging and release him.” For it was Pilate’s custom to honor the Jewish holiday by releasing a prisoner. When the crowd heard this, they went wild. Erupting with anger, they cried out, “No! Take this one away and release Barabbas!” For Barabbas had been thrown in prison for robbery and murder. Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, tried to convince them it was best to let Jesus go. But they cried out over and over, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” A third time, Pilate asked the crowd, “What evil crime has this man committed that I should have him crucified? I haven’t found one thing that warrants a death sentence! I will have him flogged severely and then release him.” But the people and the high priests, shouting like a mob, screamed out at the top of their lungs, “No! Crucify him! Crucify him!” Finally their shouts and screams succeeded. Pilate caved in to the crowd and ordered that the will of the people be done. Then he released the guilty murderer Barabbas, as they had insisted, and handed Jesus over to be crucified. -Luke 23:13-25
    8 min
  • Lent 2019 | Day 24 | Peter Denies He Knew Jesus
    One of the primary ways we find strength is by seeing Jesus and how much he loves us. For the next few weeks of our guided prayer we are going to take strength by meditating on what Jesus went through for us. The scripture teaches us that the greatest demonstration of Love is to lay down your life for another. Throughout Jesus’s time on earth he was continually “laying his life down” for us. Each day we’ll take one example of Jesus doing this and ponder it.
    SCRIPTURE
    ------
    The religious leaders seized Jesus and led him away, but Peter followed from a safe distance. They brought him to the home of the high priest, where people were already gathered out in the courtyard. Someone had built a fire, so Peter inched closer and sat down among them to stay warm. A girl noticed Peter sitting in the firelight. Staring at him, she pointed him out and said, “This man is one of Jesus’ disciples!” Peter flatly denied it, saying, “What are you talking about, girl? I don’t know him!” A little while later, someone else spotted Peter and said, “I recognize you. You’re one of his, I know it!” Peter again said, “I’m not one of his disciples.” About an hour later, someone else identified Peter and insisted he was a disciple of Jesus, saying, “Look at him! He’s from Galilee, just like Jesus. I know he’s one of them.” But Peter was adamant. “Listen, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Don’t you understand? I don’t even know him.” While the words were still in his mouth, the rooster crowed. At that moment, the Lord, who was being led through the courtyard by his captors, turned around and gazed at Peter. All at once Peter remembered the words Jesus had prophesied over him, “Before the rooster crows in the morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.” Peter burst into tears, ran off from the crowd, and wept bitterly. - Luke 22: 54-62
    REFLECTION
    ------
    (Ponder and grow in your awareness of Jesus’ life of sacrifice by reflecting on the following questions.)
    Peter's denial has been the subject of major works of art for centuries. That look the Lord gave Peter was brilliantly captured in the Mel Gibson movie, The Passion of the Christ. Many of the old masters including Rembrandt and Caravaggio have painted this scene. But long before any of these great works of art, Luke’s description of how Jesus turned and looked at Peter captured hearts and consciences down the ages.
    When Jesus turns and looks at us, he knows all our secrets. His gaze will always be loving, sometimes reproachful. The challenge is in our response.
    But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.
    Bishop Lancelot Andrewes, who wrote the following seventeenth-century prayer, knew how he wanted to respond. He asked to show the same repentance as Peter showed and to receive the same forgiveness that Jesus gave his flawed disciples. This was such full-hearted forgiveness that Peter became head of the early church. What an encouraging example of God’s practice of taking the worst of sinners, forgiving them, changing them, and using them in his service. Jesus’ penetrating look can be the start of this divine process if we respond to it with true repentance.
    RESPONSE
    ------
    “O Lord Jesus Christ, look upon us with those eyes of thine wherewith thou didst look upon Peter in the hall; that with Peter we may repent and by thy same love be forgiven; for thine endless mercy’s sake. Amen.”
    - Bishop Lancelot Andrewes (1555–1626)
    Jonathan Aitken. “Prayers for People under Pressure.”
    13 min
  • Lent 2019 | Day 23 | Jesus is Mocked & Severely Beaten
    One of the primary ways we find strength is by seeing Jesus and how much he loves us. For the next few weeks of our guided prayer we are going to take strength by meditating on what Jesus went through for us. The scripture teaches us that the greatest demonstration of Love is to lay down your life for another. Throughout Jesus’s time on earth he was continually “laying his life down” for us. Each day we’ll take one example of Jesus doing this and ponder it.
    SCRIPTURE
    ------
    Those who were guarding Jesus mocked and beat him severely. They also made fun of him, blindfolding him and slapping his face and saying, “Prove that you are a prophet and tell us which one of us hit you!” They blasphemed and heaped insult after insult upon him. -Luke 22:63-65
    They kept on spitting in his face and hit him repeatedly on his head with a reed staff, driving the crown of thorns deep into his brow. They knelt down before him in mockery, pretending to pay him homage. -Mark 15:19
    REFLECTION
    ------
    (Ponder and grow in your awareness of Jesus’ life of sacrifice by reflecting on the following questions.)
    Jesus, you are the Son of God. You are the All-seeing, All-knowing, All-present Eternal God. And yet, you chose to become a man, to be limited in your flesh. You allowed yourself to be blindfolded though Yahweh sees all. Surrounded by darkness, you let them curse your name - the name of God. With your own saliva you once restored the dignity of a cursed man. Here soldiers are spitting in your face to humiliate you. You came to set the prisoner free, but here you are allowing yourself to be bound, beaten, mocked, pushed, and slapped.
    Jesus, loving and hurting; hearing the voices of your very own creations mocking you. These are the very ones you wove together in the secret place. The ones you carefully, thoughtfully, wonderfully, and skillfully shaped from “nothing into something”. (Ps 139:15) And here they are mocking you, demanding that you identify them. Jesus you know them better than they could ever know themselves. You know they need you and you are about to lay down your life for them. Don’t give up Jesus, for in a few short hours even one of these soldiers will see and say “Surely this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39)
    RESPONSE
    ------
    Jesus, I am as guilty as any of these soldiers. The pain of bearing my sin far outweighs any physical pain you suffered. Thank you. Thank you staying present. For staying in the moment. Thank you for not going into a rage. You could have exploded with anger and been completely justified. Instead you willingly laid your life down (John 10:18) and allowed yourself to be crushed (Isaiah 53:10). Your most Holy of sacrifices is a sacred offering. It was “pleasing to God, like an aroma of adoration—a sweet healing fragrance” (Ephesians 5:2), and by it I have freely received the priceless gift of your righteousness forever, and ever, and ever. Jesus you are “worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” (Revelation 5:12)
    Amen.
    17 min

About Church of the City Guided Prayer

From the publisher's feed

Audio prayer guides from Church of the City.