21 Days Devotional

January 9-29, 2023

Let's start off the year with 21 days of an intentional refocus of our hearts, mind, and body. We invite you to join us starting January 9th to January 29th.

DAY 1- THE GREAT COMMISSION - OUTREACH

THE GREAT COMMISSION – OUTREACH

For 40 years, the book of Exodus tells us that Israel wandered in the wilderness. Whether the Israelites who wandered in the wilderness wanted to rebel against God or turn away from His commands is unknown to us, but we can be sure that none of them would have answered that they did wish to do so. However, we know that their biggest problem was disobedience.

Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

When we read the great commission in the Gospel of Matthew, we must be conscious of whether we are rebellious as Israel was in her mission.

Verse eighteen is the key verse in this passage; if it weren’t written, the following verses would still be available to the believer. Still, verse eighteen says: “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.”

It is clear! In this expression, Jesus is making it evident: what I am going to say now is not an option; it is a command; I am saying it with authority given to me in heaven and on earth, no one has more authority, and the command that follows is clear:

Go – Many Christians do the opposite and believe that the issue is that people have to come. They stay in their comfort zone waiting for people to come, but the command is clear, you must get out of your comfort zone, get out of the four walls and go to where the people are that need to be reached.

The way our church gets out of its comfort zone and decides to go and fulfill the Great Commission is our LifeGroups, so meditate today before the Lord and ask yourself:

Would my behavior be considered obedient or like that of the Israelites in the wilderness?

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, you have all authority in heaven and on earth. I understand what you are asking of me as your disciple. I ask that you put in me the will and the doing to go and make disciples. Allow me to take the time to attend a LifeGroup, and take at least one new person per season to take care of and consolidate that person with the help of your Holy Spirit.

Amen.

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We remind you that the objective of our unified prayer today is to “Reach the Lost”

DAY 2- THE PROMISED LAND

The history of the Promised Land takes Israel from the level of dependence to the protagonist of its history.  Joshua conquered 7 nations and defeated 31 princes, taking the gates of their cities.

Our warfare is not physical but spiritual.  Therefore, we are destroying Satan’s strongholds in our lives and families, pushing back the kingdom of darkness in our city.

As part of Joshua’s command, Israel took 31 gates, including DOR, which means “THE GENERATIONAL DWELLING OR GENERATIONAL INHERITANCE.”

In Exodus 34:6-7 it says:

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

According to the latest scientific discoveries of the human genome, it is proven that all human beings have a memory gene that stores information for up to four generations.

While it is true that we inherit good things from our ancestors, it is very common to hear when a doctor asks us if our close ancestors have had some disease.  In the same way that it happens in the body, a person can develop pre-existing mental and emotional conditions that may lead them to behave in certain ways and even be prone to neurosis, pressure, and violence; or even behaviors such as pride, narcissism, histrionics, and obsessions.

There are also spiritual inheritances in cases of lust, lewdness, witchcraft, pedophilia, and other types of perversions that affect spiritual life.

Many of these curses can be found in the first five books of the Bible, called by Jews “THE LAW.”

Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us”

What does that mean?  That He bore on the cross the curses that we should have borne.  Curses of inheritances of physical, emotional, and spiritual sickness even contemplated poverty and premature death.

He paid the price for our ransom.

So today, with our eyes fixed on Jesus, we declare the Word of God, accept it as truth, and pray that every generational curse will be annulled through Christ Jesus.

Today we declare ourselves free, and we declare all our descendants free for a thousand years, as the scripture says.

Exodus 34: 7 says: “keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sins”

Since Christ became guilty for us and bore the curse, today, we receive the blessing for us, our generations, and our church.  We pray for deliverance for the families of our city.

God gives you a day of celebration, for you are free from a curse for a thousand generations if you put your trust in Jesus and cover yourself with his blood.

We remind you that the objective of congregational prayer today is to “Retaining the next generation – Children and Youth

DAY 3 - THE GREAT COMMISSION – OUTCOME

Acts 2:41-42

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

When we have authentic outreach through the fulfillment of the great commission, we will have results as a church. Regardless of the changes we have through the generations in terms of style and ways of operating, irrespective of the systems we use, some principles cannot change.

This passage summarizes the history of the first church. It shows us the result we must have as a consequence of the practical application of the great commission.

The first thing is evident if we fulfill the great commission, we will have strong numerical growth. This growth leads us to baptize and teach people to become disciples and church members. These two types of development produce three more types of growth, which was clearly given in the first church. We speak of growth in communion, service, and spiritual life.

It is precisely where we, as a church, turn to small groups called LifeGroups. Through this program, we reach people, integrating them into discipleship and connecting in fellowship, serving each other’s needs, and growing spiritually as a group and individually.

Today we all pray as a church for all the ministries that participate in establishing the Great Commission so that they may be strengthened and grow naturally and organically.

We pray for all the leadership that will operate in Life Groups, Sunday Experience, Next Steps, and the ministries of prayer, mercy, and outreach.

We declare that our church believes and practices the Great Commission the Lord Jesus Christ gave.

We remind you that the objective of congregational prayer today is to “Training disciples

DAY 4- THE CALLING

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

John 15:16

When we talk about serving God, it is not like thinking about a profession. A profession is chosen, but ministry is not.

This passage sheds light on three fundamental aspects of calling:

First, you cannot choose yourself or determine what you want to do. The Lord chose you and commissioned you for something specific, and for this, he gave you the necessary gifts and talents.

Second, he expects that you will bear much fruit in the work he has commissioned you to do and that the fruit will not be temporary.

Third, the Father will provide the necessary resources to fulfill your commission.

The prayer you can pray today is to ask God to guide you to discover:

What did He choose you for?

What precisely does He want you to be doing now?

Are you placed where you can bear fruit in the church according to your calling?

What do you need to fulfill your purpose?

How can you be consistently productive?

We remind you that the objective of congregational prayer today is to “Develop servant-leaders

DAY 5- PAUL’S STRATEGY

2 Timothy 2:2

And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”.

First, Paul developed a strategy for the servant-leaders he formed, which led to him planting churches differently.

His plan was simple: he established a mentoring network and created a group of disciples conformed of men and women who learned the doctrine and a lifestyle that gave them DNA. He mentioned this in his letters and the book of Acts.

This culture later led to a multisite planting strategy. We see how Paul’s main disciples settled in provinces considered the headquarters of a specific population and opened up new fields around them.

As opposed to the strategy of the Jerusalem church that grew into a Mega Church, Paul decided to establish fields and multiply them through his mentor network.

Many modern leaders opt for the Jerusalem strategy, just as they did then. Others, like our pastor at Life House, have opted for a similar approach to Paul.

This day, let us pray that the DNA of Life House will be transmitted through mentoring and collaboration. We also pray that through Life Groups, we may multiply campuses throughout the city where God has placed us to serve.

We remind you that the objective of congregational prayer today is to “Multiply our campuses

DAY 6- THE PROMISE

Genesis 12:1-3

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Scripture tells the story and says that Abram, later called Abraham, carried out just as God told him, not questioning anything, just believing the promise.

So if you are waiting for God to give you the whole plan or you are one of those people who won’t start something if they don’t have all the information, let me tell you that God doesn’t act like that.

When God calls you, He makes you a promise based on a covenant that He will fulfill. He gives you the challenge, but He will never give you details; that’s the wonderful thing about embarking on an adventure with God.

Today I want to challenge you on behalf of God to be part of the plan God gave to Life House one day. We want to invite you to be part of this remarkable adventure. Many of us believe and give everything without reservation, making our church’s values, mission, and vision our own.

Tell the Lord today: Lord, you have brought me to Life House for a purpose. Give me the courage to accept the challenge, to take the leap of faith as Abraham did, and to honor you as he did. I trust entirely in your promises, and I am willing to walk with you in the plan of our church. Amen.

We remind you that the objective of congregational prayer today is to “Bakersfield Campus

DAY 7- PEOPLE MATTER

Genesis 14:14-21

When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. Then he brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his kinsman Lot with his possessions, and the women and the people.

After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him and said,

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”

And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.”

The number five value of our church is: “Never compromise” or make agreements with the enemy.

In this passage, we see two significant aspects. One is the appearance of Melchizedek, who blesses Abraham after defeating the enemy and rescuing the people. We can see then how Abraham gives the tithe of everything to Melchizedek.

According to Hebrews 5:6, Melchizedek is a type of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. On the other hand, in this story, we have the king of Sodom, who becomes a type of Satan. His genuine interest can be seen when he offers Abraham all the riches in exchange for the people.

The Bible teaches us that two kingdoms fight each other, the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of Heaven, but they are not battling for power, money, or fame; the battle is for people. While the kingdom of darkness fights to take people captive, the Kingdom of Heaven, led by Jesus Christ our Lord, fights to rescue and free people.

John 10:10 says: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly..”

We are part of the Army of God, and our job is to rescue and free people under Satan’s yoke.

Let’s pray that God’s power will come upon us so we can go out and fight this Spiritual Warfare where people matter beyond programs, buildings, and denominations.

Jesus Christ died for the people and will return very soon for the people. That is all that matters, and that is our mission.

We remind you that the objective of congregational prayer today is to “East Bakersfield Campus

DAY 8- FAITH FOR BLESSING

James 1:6

“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.”

Have you ever woken up on a day when you need sunshine, the sky is cloudy, and the rain is sure to come?  You pray to God that it won’t rain, and you grab your umbrella when it’s time to go outside.

Shouldn’t you wear your summer clothes and sunglasses and go out after praying?  Wouldn’t that be similar to what Noah, Elijah, or Jesus himself did after praying?

What is the reason we don’t act or dress according to the miracle we are asking for?

When the people of Israel were preparing to enter the Promised Land, God commanded the priests to enter the water before dividing the waters.  The waters would not have parted if they had not obeyed to enter the water.

If you are a believer in God and His Word, you should act as if God is going to answer your prayers if you want to honor God.

The invitation today is that after being on your knees, get up and take at least one small step of faith.  You don’t know if that will cause the waters to part and a great miracle to happen.

I know that today as you kneel to pray for the day, you are telling God that you trust that He is listening to you.  So I invite you to get up right away and take that small step to show God that you believe He will answer you.

We remind you that the objective of congregational prayer today is to “Delano Campus

DAY 9- REACHING THE BLESSING

Genesis 28:18-20

“So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear.”

The first step when we begin to know God and hear His promises is to believe and respond in the right way.  Jacob vowed to attain the blessing and the promise.

In Jeremiah 33:3, God tells us, “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”.

You may have found yourself or are currently in a situation where you have done everything possible to fix it.  Still, as Mark Batterson says, “Prayer is the difference between the best we can do and the best God can do.”

Let us seek today the presence of the Holy Spirit.  It is the only way to discover and obtain God’s secrets for us, make the right decisions and achieve the blessing.

If you ask God something in the Holy Spirit’s presence, you must listen.

Please take time today to ask God and listen to His voice.

If you have received something from God today, write it down and determine how you will turn it into action through a vow of commitment.

Even if you don’t understand, you will receive God’s blessing.

We remind you that the objective of congregational prayer today is to “Wasco Campus

DAY 10 – GOD’S PROVISION

Nehemiah 9:17, 19-21, 24-25, 31

They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.…you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.…So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness…Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.

These passages summarize an essential part of Nehemiah’s prayer and make us understand the foundation of God’s provision: his tender love and compassionate attitude toward us.

2 Timothy 2:13 tells us that “if we are faithless, he remains faithful- for he cannot deny himself.”  However, we can note how the ungrateful and unmindful attitude of the people of Israel ultimately led to their destruction.

The second book of Chronicles ends by saying that God sent prophets and messengers for many years to warn his people to change their attitude.  Until he says, “There was no other way” when the enemy took Israel captive for seventy years.  After this time and Jerusalem being destroyed and without protection, we find Nehemiah making a tremendous prayer of recognition and supplication for God’s protection and provision.

We reflect today on all of God’s blessings.  Let us show gratitude, be content with God’s actions, and pray for humiliation before the provider God, for we can be secure in Him.

He is “EL SHADDAI.” This name was given to God in the past, meaning “The all-sufficient God,” it comes from a Hebrew word called Shad, whose most profound meaning is chest.  It is the most tender designation of God’s character.  It is as if we say “God’s chest.”  In an analogical way, it makes us see ourselves as the baby when it is being breastfed, having everything it needs to feel safe.  It shows us God with the tenderness that only a mother can feel when holding her baby in her arms and giving it all the warmth, love, and security it needs.

We remind you that the objective of congregational prayer today is to “Coachella Campus

DAY 11 – PRAYER

There is a term in the Bible that accompanies God’s intervention. I am referring to “One day.”

We can read that one day Enoch went to God, one day Moses went out to see his brothers, one day Joseph described how the people were to be delivered in the future, one day Cornelius had a vision, and so on.

You can be sure that as you constantly pray, God will do something supernatural one day. It is like filling a balloon with water; sooner or later, when you least expect it, it will burst.

Fill the throne of God with prayers, and sooner or later, the day you least expect it, the Lord will surprise you. Do not lose hope.

Revelations 5:8 says that there are “golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.”

One day, God will bring healing, deliverance, and provide for a need in a wonderful way. It is a strange thing, but sometimes God responds when there is no more hope or possibility for human beings.

One day, it could be today. Do not stop praying.

We remind you that the objective of congregational prayer today is to “Life Groups

DAY 12 – POSITIVE MINDSET

Numbers 13:25-33

At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”

But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

As people who can influence others, we must be careful and consider the consequences of our negative approaches. It is wise to be cautious and prudent, but we should not be so cautious and prudent that we become negative-minded and block God’s plans.

Moses had sent twelve men to examine the Promised Land. Two of them had a positive mind, for although they did not deny the difficulty ahead, they believed in the promises of the Lord. However, 10 influenced the rest of God’s people, which delayed God’s plan for another 40 years.

Today, ask God to keep your mind focused on God’s promises and to set your sights more on the goal than the obstacles.

Today you can become someone who makes it easier for God’s Plan for Life House to be carried out. Or you can become someone who gets in the way and blocks what God is trying to do.

The Bible tells us that we can think like God, thanks to the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:16 says:  “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ..”

We remind you that the objective of congregational prayer today is to “Weekend  Experience

DAY 13 – FINISHING STRONG

2 Chronicles 26:3-5

“Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.”

Uzziah, despite his youth, knew how to lead his reign the right way. He did great things for the people of God and prospered greatly.

We could say that he was a man who started on the right foot. He did everything right throughout his life, but he failed in the end, and nothing of what he did before had any value, for he spoiled it.

Even if you have already served the Lord, even if you started your Christian journey in the right direction, you must be careful every day not to change and become your own failure.

2 Chronicles 26:16-18 continues:

“But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. But Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the Lord who were men of valor, and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the Lord God.””

Let us always put ourselves in the right place, be servants of others, abstain from all arrogance, and, above all, avoid trying to take a place that does not belong to us.

Let us pray that, just as we begin our Christian career, we may have the ability and humility to finish well.

We remind you that the objective of congregational prayer today is to “Church Families

DAY 14 – HEIRS

EPHESIANS 1:11

“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will”

Being named heir to something does not mean I am already a possessor of the inheritance. Once the testator dies, the heir is entitled by law to claim his inheritance.

Hebrews 9:16-17 explains that to inherit, the testator must die first. When Jesus died, we were entitled to an inheritance. When someone receives an inheritance, they need to understand what that new possession consists of before accepting it.

Hence the apostle Paul prays for the Ephesians in a particular way, seeking that they may discover by revelation what the inheritance consists of:

Ephesians 1:15-18

“For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love[a] toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints”

Ask the Lord in prayer that this day may give you a spirit of revelation and that you may be enlightened to understand the magnitude of the inheritance received. Thus, guard your salvation as a great treasure with fear and trembling.

We remind you that the objective of congregational prayer today is to “Church Marriages

DAY 15 – THE WORD OF GOD

DEUTERONOMY 11:18

“You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.”

Today I would like to share four areas of our lives in which God’s Word must be present for us to do well.

Firstly, it says that it must be in our hearts. This represents God’s Word’s control over our feelings and emotions. The ability to control our emotions is one of the most challenging things for any human being. However, this passage tells us that we can record what God says in our hearts and, in this way, program our emotions correctly.

Another place where we must engrave the Word of God is the mind. The mind of God must direct our thinking. It may seem strange to say that you could come to think like God because the mind of God is inscrutable. However, Scripture says that we have received the Spirit of God, who reveals what God thinks through the written Word.

If you do not read and study God’s Word, engraving it in your mind is impossible. It is necessary to meditate under the guidance of the Holy Spirit on what we read and apply it to our thoughts.

After that, the passage says that we must bind the Word of God in our hands. This is a guide for our actions. It is pointless to feel and think correctly if, when we act, we do not act based on what God has engraved in our hearts and minds.

Finally, it says we must carry it in front, where everyone can see it because the Word of God in action is our public testimony.

This makes us true Christians, and how can we achieve this?

The engraving workshop is called prayer; we acquire commitments and allow sanctification by the Word of God through prayer.

Remember, you are in the Master’s workshop. His Word will be engraved in your life so that you can feel, think, and act, and everyone can see His glory in you.

We remind you that the objective of congregational prayer today is to “Church Men

DAY 16 – OUR PLANS

PROVERBS 16: 9

“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”

Planning is important. People who do not plan generally do not advance in their lives. We usually set a goal, divide it into logical steps, establish the right strategy, and put tasks in our calendars to get where we want to be.

However, we cannot control the unexpected, the fortuitous things that happen daily.

People who pray with the intelligence of the Holy Spirit can see all those events as an opportunity and even a miracle given by God, not as a threat that can only paralyze you with fear.

 

When we put our plans in God’s hands, He directs our steps through a series of unexpected events. So, while you can plan your life, you can’t plan for the opportunities and miracles God constantly puts in your path.

Try to be aware of every opportunity God presents to you and act in faith. Do not be afraid because God is always ahead of you as a mighty giant.

Today’s task is to pray for God to help you discover opportunities, accept the miracles He brings every day, and have the faith to take advantage of those opportunities.

There are people who, because they don’t pray properly, don’t even realize what God is doing for them. And they keep trying to do it on their own.

Your life is a book; let God be the writer!

We remind you that the objective of congregational prayer today is to “Church Women

DAY 17 – PREPARING FOR REVIVAL

“Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you” Joshua 3:5

Many believers would like to do great things for God, but our job is not to do great things for God because the one who does great things is God, so all the glory may be to him.

So God is asking that you purify yourself today, and He will do great things tomorrow.

If you are looking for your name to be great because of the great work you do, you can look for a job as a politician, philanthropist, or something similar, but not as a Christian.

Acts 1:3-4 says: “He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me”

This passage refers to more than five hundred people who saw Jesus after he was crucified and resurrected.  They all saw him resurrected and heard the specific order to wait.  But in Acts chapter two, we see only one hundred and twenty of those five hundred disciples praying and fasting before the great revival came.  Practically 75%, even though they saw Him resurrected, did not pay the price for the resurrection.

Today is a day to consecrate ourselves to God, to purify ourselves before him.  Just submit ourselves, and make ourselves small through humiliation.  Then He will do great things for you and our church.

We remind you that the objective of congregational prayer today is to “Outreach Ministry

DAY 18 – A PLACE IN THE HEART OF THE CITY

Acts 2:47

“praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

We can have the best building, a well-organized parking lot, and an ideal geographical location. Still, our mission loses meaning if we do not have a place in people’s hearts.

There were a lot of religious, political, and philosophical movements at the time of the first Church. Many struggled to have followers and could compromise their principles to have people on their side. However, an emerging church, different, full of love and the presence of the Holy Spirit, gained the people’s favor. They grew more by their actions than words, without compromising or selling their principles, even amid persecution.

Today, we pray that God will cleanse the city of all curses and that organized networks of human trafficking, child kidnapping, drug trafficking, and organ trafficking will be dismantled.

We pray for the city authorities so that in a transparent and just manner, they may operate under God’s protection.

The Church has been called to be the Body of Christ, a light in the darkness, giving a taste of holiness like salt to food. It has been called to proclaim God’s righteousness and love.

It has been commissioned to rebuke every act of injustice as part of its mission.

The Church does not have a political color; the Church has a vision of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Church is not committed to movements. It strives to serve, love, and intercede on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves and those who are being abused and wronged.

Today we pray that the peace, love, and justice of the Kingdom of Heaven be poured over our city and push back the kingdom of darkness.

 

PSALMS 10:17-18

“O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.”

We remind you that the objective of congregational prayer today is to “Pray for our City

DAY 19 – REMEMBER

Deuteronomy 8: 2 and 4-5

“And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.… Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.”

The Lord invites us to remember the past, not to look at it negatively, but to process our memories through His eyes. This will enable us to understand how God has been in every good or bad event we have gone through.

I want to invite you to make a record of all the ways you have prayed before God and the answers He has given you over time. It will help you know, understand and trust God.

While you are praying, God is making a lot of spiritual connections to bring you an answer.

If you had a record of your prayers over the last ten years, it is possible that many of the current results of mistakes would have had a different story. But Israel insisted on remembering what it should not have remembered, forgetting God’s miracles during the wilderness trial. This prevented them from giving glory to God for His power.

Your task today is to pray based on Deuteronomy 8:2-5. Construct a prayer that brings to mind the memories you have of the year 2022 about the way God glorified himself in your life in the middle of the wilderness. Use this as an act of faith to write down who is the God who will go before you in 2023.

We remind you that the objective of congregational prayer today is to “Summit 2023 Events

DAY 20 – THE NAME OF JESUS

Acts 3:1-6

“Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

Peter and John were on their way to an activity they did daily, a prayer activity. They met this man and made a declaration in the name of Jesus. How could they be sure that a miracle would happen? If nothing had happened, they would have been embarrassed and brought the name of Jesus Christ into disrepute. What was the reason they took the risk?

How many times do we feel afraid to make a declaration in the Name of Jesus for fear that nothing will happen? Could it be that we use the name of Jesus with our mouths, but in our inner self, our fear prevails?

The boldness of Peter and John corresponds to a deep knowledge of the Lord Jesus through their prayer life. God will always honor His promises. We can only trust the promise and take the risk to speak according to the promise.

Our prayers are based on God’s promises. Because we believe in the one whose promise we are declaring, we realize that the answer is not in our hands.

Let us remember what Luke 11:8 says “I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.”

This has to do with the public risk and the personal risk of appearing foolish before the Lord.

Many of us doing this devotional today may have a testimony about the power of the Name of the Lord Jesus.

The task for today is to write the risky prayer you will implore God to hear day and night. That prayer will give you the strength and confidence to risk making a public declaration of your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is the confidence that your words will not fall to the ground because you will pay a price that extends beyond a religious prayer ritual.

Are you ready? Go ahead and start writing and then get the statement rolling.

We remind you that the objective of congregational prayer today is to “Tijuana Campus

DAY 21 – FEAR NOT, I AM WITH YOU

ISAIAH 41:9-13

“you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off”; fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish. You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all. For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”

A call to ministry is a challenge. When we stop to think about the story behind the words received by the prophet Isaiah, it gives us a better understanding. It takes strength and faith to appropriate God’s promise and, at the same time, keep it in mind during difficult times in ministry. 

Today we are closing our period of fasting and prayer as a church. We want to pray for our Pastor, Saul Gonzalez. We support him with our prayers, as he is our leader and the one who has received the vision to undertake a challenge from God called Life House.

It is time to cry out to the Lord that many young leaders in our church may absorb the work that began in the heart of our pastor. Young people who are willing to keep the torch lit for the next generation until the Lord returns for his church.

Thank you for joining us in these 21 days of fasting and prayer as our take-off to a new journey in 2023.

We remind you that the objective of congregational prayer today is to “Pastor Saúl González



Let's start off the year with 21 days of an intentional refocus of our hearts, mind, and body. We invite you to join us starting January 9th to January 29th.