Day 1: The Church on the Mountain of the Lord
Bible passage: Micah 4:1–2; Hebrews 12:22–24; John 4:19–24
The First Mountain
Today is Friday 3rd of April 2020. Welcome to Day 1 of our 7 Days of Prayer and Fasting. This week we are praying for seven areas of our nation’s life, and we begin with faith: the church and the spiritual life of our land.
We start here because everything else flows from it. If God’s people are not right with God, we will have little to offer anybody else.
A Mountain Above the Hills
Micah’s Vision
The prophet Micah was shown a day when the mountain of the Lord’s house would be the highest of all, and people from all over the world would stream to it. They would urge one another to go up to the mountain of the Lord, so that He could teach them His ways (Micah 4:1–2).
Notice what draws them. Nobody forces them. They come because they want to learn the ways of God. The church does most good in the world when it is a place where God can truly be found.
You Have Come to Mount Zion
The writer of Hebrews tells believers that they have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to thousands of angels in joyful gathering, to the assembly of God’s children and to Jesus Himself (Hebrews 12:22–24).
He writes in the present tense. They have come. This matters a great deal this month, when our buildings are shut. A locked door cannot close the church. We belong to a gathering that no restriction can touch.
More Than Religion
A Samaritan woman once asked Jesus which mountain was the right place to worship. He told her that the place was no longer the point. True worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. “The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.” John 4:23 (NLT)
Christianity is not a system of rituals for earning God’s favour. It is a relationship with the Father through His Son. The great danger for church people is religion without life: going through the outward motions and trusting in our own goodness.
There is another need as well. Paul says that the minds of those who do not believe have been blinded, so that they cannot see the light of the Good News (2 Corinthians 4:4). Only God can open blind eyes. So we pray.
Prayer Points for Today
Unity. Pray that the churches of our community would stand together in love, and that every spirit of division would go.
Repentance. Pray that God’s people would return to Him with all their hearts, with reverence and with holy fear.
True worship. Pray that our worship would be in spirit and in truth, and never empty routine.
Open eyes. Pray for those who are searching for God in these anxious weeks, that they would see the light of the Good News.
Wholeness. Pray for the lost to be found, the broken-hearted to be restored and the sick to be healed.
Workers. Pray for pastors, evangelists and missionaries, that they would show the love and power of God.
Revival. Pray for a spiritual awakening in every church in Wythenshawe and across our nation.
Prayer for Today:
Father, thank You that Your church is not a building, and that I have come to Mount Zion through Jesus. Forgive us for religion without life. Unite Your people. Teach us to worship You in spirit and in truth. Open the eyes of those who cannot yet see the light of the gospel, and send revival to Your church, beginning with me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Keep going
See every day of this guide on our Prayer & Fasting page.
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