Transparency: A Four-Letter Word
Transparency: a four-letter word.
A four-letter word? Really? Perhaps you read that and raised your eyebrows. Maybe your lip curled in disgust that I would dare liken a harmless word such as transparency to a cuss word.
Regardless, we treat transparency and all that comes with it, with an attitude of disdain and fear. Why? We need it, yet we dread it. We are afraid of it or of what it may bring. So we treat transparency, in it’s raw and honest form, as taboo. Genuine, relational transparency seems like unnecessary or awkward territory to traverse.
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Persevering Prayer
We here at North Park Baptist Church of Grand Rapids are calling one another to 12 days of focused prayer. If you’re part of our church family, I invite you to join with me in praying the 12 requests below over the next 12 days. You might take just one per day, following the sequence below. If you have additional time, you could pray through the list several times over the next 12 days. But most of all, let’s pray and keep praying because this is the way we fight and keep fighting the right fight… God’s way.
12 Days of Prayer for North Park
As an expression of our desire to be a church committed to personal and collective prayer, we encourage you to pray for the following items…
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Lies We Believe
Satan wants to get in your head and convince you that his lies are true. But don’t expect his schemes to be obvious. He is cunning and smart like a snake. He bites into us when we’re exposed to pain, hurt, and abuse. He splits hairs to craft wrong to look almost right. Our enemy camouflages destructive ideas with the appearance of life and light (2 Cor. 11:14b).
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Show Me Some Mercy!
“Show me just one shred of evidence that God has mercy! Give me some mercy!” shouted a small, elderly woman named Gladys.
Her words stung into my heart and rang like a bell throughout our empty auditorium. Silence swallowed up the end of each sentence that burst forth from deep within her grieving soul. A piercing sound, then hushed silence… as if she were waiting to see if God might audibly respond for all to hear.
