Prayer Points for July:
- Increase the movement of the Holy Spirit throughout the Northeast and the entire GM Church, for vision and mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ.
- Give us courage to be bold witnesses to our families, neighbors, churches, and communities, so that the name of Jesus is proclaimed everywhere.
- Guide and give wisdom to the GM Church General Conference delegates, our planning and preparation, and safety for those traveling to Costa Rica from the Northeast region in September.
- Empower and inspire the Northeast Conference Cabinet (Presiding Elders and President Pro Tem) and the appointments process for churches seeking pastors and pastors seeking appointments.
- Equip the GM Church Transitional Leadership Council and all the transitional commissions that are working prayerfully and diligently to prepare for General Conference and to steer the denomination into a fruitful future.
- Give patience, stamina, and hope to those UMC churches and clergy who are praying for a new day as they discern aligning with the GMC, following the decision of the UMC General Conference in May.
- Fill the Northeast GM Church pastors, leaders, and churches with a fresh outpouring of your Holy Spirit to bring people to repentance and faith in Jesus as they worship passionately and love extravagantly.
Open Prayer Meeting – July 23
Open Prayer Meetings are held at 7pm on the 4th Tuesday of the month.
All are welcome!
July 23, 7:00 pm
Join Zoom Prayer Meeting
https://tinyurl.com/NE-GMC-
Meeting ID: 897 4134 9144
Passcode: 562319
Devotional by Rev. Dr. Rob Townsend
There is a psychological test, called the Marshmallow Test, sometimes used with children. The purpose is to see how they respond to the choice of a small reward received immediately or a larger reward if they choose delayed gratification. A child is left alone in a room with a single marshmallow and a promise: if they do not eat the marshmallow until the adult returns, they will receive two marshmallows instead.
What do you think you would have done as a child? What do you do now when faced with a similar spiritual test?
Receiving a greater reward if we wait, is something that we see again and again throughout the Bible. The Israelites were freed from slavery – but had to wait a generation until they could enter the promised land. The Old Testament Prophets promised salvation – but had to wait until the Messiah arrived. And then, there was David…
As we learn 1 Samuel:16, David was a young man of 10 or 15 years old when he was anointed by Samuel as the next King of Israel; however, he does not become King until he is 30 years old. What a long season of waiting!
In those years, David is invited into King Saul’s Court to play the lyre and calm the evil spirit within Saul. That had to be a time of great fear for David – what would happen if Saul learned that David was the anointed King? But it was also a time of learning and preparation because David waited patiently and waited for God to move. In his season of waiting, David had time to learn all the things needed to be a good and effective leader and grow into someone who would be known as a “man after God’s own heart.”
God IS answering our prayers during our seasons of waiting! God is teaching and preparing us the entire time. He is teaching us patience and dependence; giving us strength and skills we didn’t even realize we needed. Imagine the broken relationships that can be healed, the forgiveness given and received, and the joy in ministry that can be found If we open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit! Do we wait like David and trust God’s timeline or do we prefer a “vending machine God” that we want to control through our own choices and whims?
If you are currently in a season of waiting, be willing to patiently wait. Take the time to learn, to give it over to God and to trust His timeline.
