{"id":8177,"date":"2022-05-30T11:45:50","date_gmt":"2022-05-30T18:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/?p=8177"},"modified":"2022-05-31T15:48:56","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T22:48:56","slug":"wca-prayer-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/2022\/05\/30\/wca-prayer-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"WCA Prayer Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
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June: The Way to Wisdom\u00a0<\/em><\/h2>\n

By Dr. Stephen Seamands<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\u201cSelect from among yourselves seven men of good standing,\u00a0full of the Spirit and of wisdom<\/em>\u201d (Acts 6.3 italics mine). Faced with growing dissension within their ranks, that was the Apostles solution for the growing food distribution problem in the Jerusalem church. And their proposal \u201cpleased the whole community\u201d (6.5).\u00a0\u00a0So, they chose seven persons like Stephen. Later, even those who violently opposed him, \u201ccould not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke\u201d (6.10).<\/p>\n

From its inception, the church has needed leaders, \u201cfull of the Spirit and of wisdom.\u201d And how desperately we need them today, especially as we prepare to embark on a perilous voyage into uncharted waters, in the formation and establishment of the Global Methodist Church. So, we need to earnestly pray for wise leaders that the new church will walk in the way of wisdom. And that\u2019s the focus of our prayer guide this month.<\/p>\n

But what exactly characterizes a wise leader? In\u00a0New Testament Words,\u00a0<\/em>William Barclay discusses the background and meaning of the three great Greek words (sophia, phronesis,\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0sunesis<\/em>) associated with wisdom found in the New Testament. Each captures an essential element of wisdom.<\/p>\n

Sophia\u00a0<\/em>pertains to awareness of eternal things. It has to do primarily with knowledge of ultimate things, human and divine.<\/p>\n

Phronesis,\u00a0<\/em>often translated\u00a0prudence<\/em>,\u00a0<\/em>is the ability to apply knowledge to the practical problems of daily life and living. Much of the Old Testament wisdom literature such as Proverbs falls into this category.<\/p>\n

Sunesis\u00a0<\/em>is the ability to test, evaluate and form appropriate judgements. The wise can intelligently assess difficult situations and then choose the right course of action in response to them.<\/p>\n

The way to wisdom combines all three elements. According to Barclay, it involves being \u201cwise in the things of eternity and efficient in the things of time.\u201d In Jesus, we find the perfect embodiment of wisdom. Paul stresses that He himself is wisdom, the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24, 30). In Him are all the treasures of wisdom (Colossians 2.3).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Suggested Pattern of Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n

As you pray through the following prayer points, invite the presence of the Lord into your time of prayer. Each day\u2019s prompt has a Scripture reference for you to pray through. As you pray allow time to also listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. When you have prayed through the Scripture and prayer point, you may be led to add your own prayers. Pray and consider what action steps might you take in response to the Lord\u2019s leading. Repeat this prayer pattern weekly for the month.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Daily Prayer Points<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sunday:<\/strong>\u00a0James urges us to ask, and God will give us wisdom \u201cgenerously and ungrudgingly.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Pray, boldly asking God to grant us wisdom for the living of these days. (James 1.5)<\/p>\n

Monday:<\/strong>\u00a0Pray for wisdom as\u00a0sophia\u00a0<\/em>in the WCA, the ability to distinguish between the eternal and the temporal so that we can hold fast to the things that never age. (Matthew 7.24-27)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Tuesday:<\/strong>\u00a0Since Christ himself is our wisdom, pray for a deepening of our union with Christ, so that as our love and devotion for him increases, our wisdom will increase. (Colossians 2.3)<\/p>\n

Wednesday:<\/strong>\u00a0Pray for prudential, practical wisdom (phronesis<\/em>), particularly in relation to complex decisions WCA leaders must make. (Proverbs 8.11-12)<\/p>\n

Thursday:<\/strong>\u00a0Pray that we would not be seduced by the power and wisdom of this world but hold fast to the foolishness of God\u2019s wisdom revealed in Christ\u2019s cross. (1 Corinthians 1.22-25)<\/p>\n

Friday:<\/strong>\u00a0Pray for an increase of wisdom as\u00a0sunesis,\u00a0<\/em>so that we might discern the long-term implications and consequences of current decisions. (1 Kings 3.9)<\/p>\n

Saturday:<\/strong>\u00a0Pray that God will raise up women and men \u201cfull of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom\u201d to lead us in the coming days. (Acts 6.3)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In Him are all the treasures of wisdom (Colossians 2:3).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dr. Stephen Seamands is Emeritus Professor of Christian Doctrine at Asbury Theological Seminary, where he taught for 35 years. He is the author of numerous books, including the recently republished\u00a0<\/em>Holiness of Heart and Life,\u00a0Francis Asbury Press, 2022.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

June: The Way to Wisdom\u00a0 By Dr. Stephen Seamands \u201cSelect from among yourselves seven men of good standing,\u00a0full of the Spirit and of wisdom\u201d (Acts 6.3 italics mine). Faced with growing dissension within their ranks, that was the Apostles solution for the growing food distribution problem in the Jerusalem church. And their proposal \u201cpleased the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":8027,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,222,1,231],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-news","category-prayer","category-uncategorized","category-wesleyan-covenant-association"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8178,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8177\/revisions\/8178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefount.church\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}