December 2011 Prayer Calendar

“Revive us again,
Fill each heart with Thy love;
May each soul be rekindled
With fire from above.”
- William P. Mackay

1 This Sunday, the Blue Team, under the leadership of Jeremiah Canfield and Jimmy Herdklotz, closes their 8-day summit at First Baptist Church in Aledo, Illinois. Pray that the congregation will continue to be open and obedient to God’s direction in their lives and church.

2 Pray for anointing and wisdom for Nancy Leigh DeMoss as she speaks today at a WDAC radio event in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and at an area-wide ladies’ meeting tomorrow morning.

3 Ryan Loveing and the Revival Conference Team finish their mission trip to El Salvador and travel back to the United States. Ask God for protection and for opportunities to share what He has done.

4 Dan Puckett, Murrill Boitnott, and the Red Team close an 8-day summit at First Southern Baptist Church in Clarksville, Indiana. Ask God to powerfully move on hearts today and continue His work of revival and spiritual awakening in the days ahead.

5 Revive Our Hearts appreciates your ongoing prayers for the financial support that underwrites their outreaches. December is usually the month in which 40% of their annual income is donated. Ask God to move on the hearts of those He would have help spread the influence of this ministry.

6 Life Action uses the services of many vendors in our local community. Pray that our love for Christ will shine in all our business dealings.

7 Revive Our Hearts radio will host a recording session on December 15 at our National Ministry Center in Michigan, inviting area ladies to attend. Pray that God will specifically bring those He wants in attendance and work deeply in their lives.

8 Pray for great wisdom and direction for our Collegiate Impact staff as they create new resources directed at opening the hearts of college students to genuine revival and spiritual awakening.

9 Ryan Loveing and Tony Maples are pre-summit speakers for the Revival Conference Team’s summit in February at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Farmington, New Mexico. Ask God to call the people’s hearts to prayer, filling them with anticipation for what He desires to accomplish.

10 Pray for Lane Gordon, ministering tomorrow at First Baptist Church in Oxford, Mississippi, preparing the people for the Blue Team’s summit in February.

11 Pray for pre-summit ministry taking place today at Southside Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas, in preparation for the Red Team’s ministry there next February. Ask God to powerfully work in the church and surrounding community.

12 Pray over details regarding the OneCry Initiative: A Nationwide Call for Spiritual Awakening, which Life Action is officially launching in February. There is still much to be done. Pray for humble spirits and contrite hearts in our nation, and for God’s people to unite in seeking Him.

13 Life Action’s Lodge, Camp, and National Ministry Center staffs gather today for our annual Christmas celebration. Pray for a refreshing, encouraging time of coming together to worship the Christ who enables us to serve as a missionary community.

14 Cover the Collegiate Impact staff as they make final preparations for their speaking and administration roles at the Ignite Ivy student leaders’ conference coming up January 12–15 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

15 Pray for wisdom for our Pastoral Services Council as they meet, asking God to give them discernment to guide Life Action in the critical areas of mission, staff health, and message.

16 Pray for our road team leadership as they begin their semi-annual meetings today, reviewing how God has worked these past months and seeking His guidance for the remainder of the travel year.

17 Our home office IT department appreciates your prayers for Will and Angie Hess from North Carolina and Jason and Terri Theriault from New Hampshire. Both couples are in the Ministry Partner Development phase of coming and are hoping to join our staff soon.

18 Life Action thanks Teresa White of Oakville, Ontario, for running our Canadian office expertly and voluntarily for fifteen years. Barry and Gail McIlwaine from Sarnia, Ontario, have volunteered to take on these important responsibilities as Teresa retires from them. Pray that God empowers them for this task.

19 Our Senior Leadership Team’s semi-annual meeting is scheduled for today and tomorrow. Pray that God will prepare the hearts of Byron Paulus, B. G. Allen, Steve Canfield, Nancy Leigh DeMoss, and Del Fehsenfeld, giving them great wisdom as they pray, review, and plan.

20 Continue to cover our Senior Leadership Team in prayer today, asking for wisdom, faith, and discernment on their behalf. Pray that the Holy Spirit would guide their discussions and give them clear direction as they guide our ministry.

21 Cover Nancy Leigh DeMoss and all the staff and operations of Revive Our Hearts radio. Ask God to help them end this year engaged in powerful ministry which will continue into the new calendar year, even expanding as God directs.

22 Pray for the speakers who will join us in nine months for True Woman ’12: Nancy Leigh DeMoss, Erin Davis, Elyse Fitzpatrick, Dannah Gresh, Janet Parshall, Mary Kassian, Priscilla Shirer, Joni Eareckson Tada, Bob Lepine (emcee), and Keith and Krysten Getty (musicians).

23 Pray for spiritually refreshing and productive days off for our road teams and leadership as they take some time to rest, refresh, and prepare for the coming season of intense ministry.

24 Pray for a season of blessing, provision, and refreshing for our National Ministry Center staff, which will help equip them to continue serving with grace in their “behind the scenes” jobs.

25 As the Old Testament closed, the shekinah glory of God had long since left the temple mount in Jerusalem. When Jesus was born 400 years later, God’s glory again came to physically reside on earth. Pray that God’s glory will fill hearts today through revival and spiritual awakening.

26 Pray that local organizations that rent our camp’s facilities for their programs would be interested in returning and receiving spiritual ministry through family camps, retreats, and other events.

27 Pray for our publications staff, that God will fill them with specific knowledge and words to communicate His message through Life Action’s printed materials.

28 Pray for our staff at The Lodge as they take the winter months to refresh, visit ministry partners, and plan for the coming season of hosting guest pastors and leaders and their spouses.

29 Pray that many women will visit the TrueWoman.com website and register to join us in Indianapolis next September 20–22 for True Woman ’12.

30 Cover this weekend’s Resolution retreat at The Camp in your prayers, asking God to work deeply in the families who are ending the old year and starting their new year seeking Him together.

31 We praise God for greatly using Collegiate Impact’s ministry at Montana State University. As students conclude this semester and look ahead to the next, pray with us that God will deepen and broaden this work.

Live

A favorite theme in classic literature pictures someone destitute becoming unexpectedly wealthy. We like it even more if the person’s fortune had been stolen or lost, and upon its restoration they generously use their wealth to help others who are suffering. We are relieved and happy that justice has been done and the future made brighter. Add a character willing to give up their own safety, fortune, or station to provide for the destitute, and it becomes a story told again and again.

Even miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, the villain of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, captures our hearts after his conscience is stricken and he begs for mercy. The closing pages describe him giddy with the joy of giving. He gives lavishly to those around him, without a twinge of regret, though he is made financially poorer by his giving.

A wealthy benefactor rescuing a helpless victim is appealing because it reflects what Jesus did for us. “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Our Lord laid aside His rightful station and lived among us, making us spiritually rich by His earthly poverty. He now calls us to join Him by being willing to become materially poor, if He wills it, so that those around us may become spiritually wealthy.

Give

In the New Testament book of Philemon, the great missionary Paul asks Philemon to take back his formerly thieving slave Onesimus, whom Paul met and discipled in prison. Paul tells Philemon—after his appeal for the Onesimus with the new heart to be restored to his master’s household—that if Onesimus owes Philemon anything at all, the amount is to be charged to Paul’s account. Paul was willing to become poorer materially so that Onesimus, who probably had no hope of ever being set free physically, could go home and regain his former status.

In your legacy of giving, have you ever shared in such a way that through you becoming poorer, someone else benefitted spiritually? Have you ever given to someone you considered
very undeserving, or someone you really didn’t even like much, because God showed you it was what He wanted so that His Son could be reflected in the act?

Perhaps God is directing you this year, during this season of giving, to meet a need in a way you have not done previously. The time to obey is now. This particular opportunity may not always present itself. Follow the path your Savior so willingly chose to influence those around you for heaven.

Download pdf of the December prayer calendar.

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