Heavenly Father I praise You for changing the way we live, think, and worship. I praise You for sending Your Son, Jesus Christ, not only to be our savior but to teach us that we are now Your temple instead of a building or a tent. I praise You that through the New Testament we have the wisdom that demonstrates to us that we don’t go to church, but we are the church. As Your living temples, we take Your Spirit everywhere we go.
Holy Spirit help me and others to understand from Your word when it is taught: Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. [Ephesians 4:11-13, NLT]
Holy Spirit I pray for all believers especially the ones I worship with, to understand that the church is the people, not the building. We gather to encourage, feed on wisdom, worship, and then use this strength to go out into the world every week representing You. Let our hearts understand that as living temples we must keep ourselves spiritually clean so that Your Spirit is not hindered in any way and can work through us to breathe into others and continue to build Your kingdom.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Holy Spirit help us to bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances we may have against one another. Teach us to forgive as the Lord forgave us. These virtues help us to put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts, since as members of one body we are called to peace. Let us be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in us richly as we teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in our hearts to God. And whatever we do, whether in word or deed, help us to do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Amen. Colossians 3:12-17