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Ephesians 4:8-16 (NKJV)
Therefore He says: “When He ascended on
high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” (Now
this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the
lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended
far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) And He
Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and
some pastors and teachers, for the
equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the
unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to
the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we
should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every
wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of
deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may
grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from
whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies,
according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes
growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
Ezekiel 34:1-10 (NIV)
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of
man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: This
is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who
only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You
eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice
animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the
weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the
strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So
they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered
they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered
over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the
whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.” Therefore,
you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As surely
as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because my flock lacks a shepherd
and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and
because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves
rather than for my flock, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: This
is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will
hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock
so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock
from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.
Prayers:
- Lord
Jesus, thank You for Your gifts to men. I thank You because You saw our
need to be built up and You sent us what we need. Thank You Lord for the
gift of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers.
- Lord,
what have we done with Your gifts? Your precious gifts have been abused,
misused and misappropriated by Your stewards. Your gifts to men have not
done what You planned because of our selfishness. I confess this evil
today, I come in sincere repentance today. Lord, have mercy on us.
- Lord,
Your gifts were given to men, but the stewards has consumed them on her
lusts. Lord, I confess this evil today, I come in repentance today. Lord,
have mercy and forgive us.
- Your
gifts were given to equip your people – we do not see Your people
equipped, instead we see men deceived, abused and help in servitude and
bondage. Lord, I confess this evil today. Please, Lord have mercy on us
and forgive us.
- Lord,
Your precious gifts were given so that Your body can be built up to a
position of strength and maturity. Today we don’t see the church in her
position of strength and maturity because Your gifts have been
misappropriated by Your stewards. Lord, I confess this evil today. Have
mercy and forgive.
- Lord,
Your gifts were given so that Your people will not be babies, tossed to
and fro by every wind of doctrine. Yet today we see a church that is
overtaken by deception, selfish ambition and doctrines of demons, instead
of the cross-centred gospel, sound doctrine, concerted discipleship and
missions. Lord, I confess this evil today.
- Lord,
Your gifts, if properly administered, should have resulted in a church
that is growing up into Christ but because we have deviated from preaching
the correct and complete mysterious gospel, we have not seen this happen
as it should. Lord, please have mercy today as I confess this evil and
repent today.
- Lord,
I ask that You bring the stewards of Your precious gifts to a place of
acknowledgment, confession and repentance of these evils. Raise up Your
Ezras who will take a posture of godly sorrowful repentance and inspire
other leaders to do the same.
- Lord,
I ask You to visit the stewards of Your precious gifts in Your mercy and
restore to Your church the correct ministry of the apostles, prophets,
evangelists, pastors and teachers. Let us begin to see Christ the apostle,
Christ the prophet, Christ the evangelist and Christ the pastor and
teacher expressed powerfully again as in times of old. This is the only
hope of glory that the church has.
