SUNDAY, 23rd AUGUST 2020 – CHURCH LEADERSHIP
PRAYER GUIDE
ISAIAH 51:15-16 (NKJV)
15But I am the Lord your God,
Who divided the sea whose waves roared—
The Lord of hosts is His name.
16And I have put My words in your mouth; [Emphasis Added]
I have covered you with the shadow of My hand,
That I may plant the heavens,
Lay the foundations of the earth, [Emphasis Added]
And say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”
JEREMIAH 1:9,10 (ESV)
Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me,
“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to break down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.”
GUIDING TEXT FOR THE FASTING SEASON
ISAIAH 32:1-8
1Behold, a king will reign in righteousness,
And princes will rule with justice.
2A man will be as a hiding place from the wind,
And a cover from the tempest,
As rivers of water in a dry place,
As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
3The eyes of those who see will not be dim,
And the ears of those who hear will listen.
4Also the heart of the rash will understand knowledge,
And the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly.
5The foolish person will no longer be called generous,
Nor the miser said to be bountiful;
6For the foolish person will speak foolishness,
And his heart will work iniquity:
To practice ungodliness,
To utter error against the Lord,
To keep the hungry unsatisfied,
And he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
7Also the schemes of the schemer are evil;
He devises wicked plans
To destroy the poor with lying words,
Even when the needy speaks justice.
8But a generous man devises generous things,
And by generosity he shall stand.
WEEK ONE (19th – 25th August 2020)
| Day of the Week | Date | Area of Focus |
| Wednesday | 19th August 2020 | Personal Preparation |
| Thursday | 20th August 2020 | Family Leaders |
| Friday | 21st August 2020 | Youth and Children |
| Saturday | 22nd August 2020 | The Elderly and Disabled |
| Sunday | 23rd August 2020 | Church Leadership |
| Monday | 24th August 2020 | Culture and Values |
| Tuesday | 25th August 2020 | Community Leadership |
SCRIPTURES FOR PRAYER AND PROCLAMATION
MATTHEW 16:18,19
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
ISAIAH 52:1, 2
Awake! Awake! Put on your strength, O Zion;
Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city!
For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come to you.
Shake yourself from the dust, arise; sit down, O Jerusalem!
Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion!
EPHESIANS 1:22-23
And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his
body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
EPHESIANS 4:1-6
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
EPHESIANS 2:18-22
For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer
strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of
God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the
cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the
Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
1 CORINTHIANS 12:12 – 15
12For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one
Spirit. 14For in fact the body is not one member but many. 15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?
EPHESIANS 4:15, 16
15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
16from 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.
JOHN 10:11-18
11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring,
and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
17“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18No one
takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
1 PETER 5:1- 4
1The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: 2Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; 3 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; 4and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.
MATTHEW 5:13-16
13“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
14“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
ISAIAH 60:1 – 5
- Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
- For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.
- The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.
- “Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you; Your sons shall come from afar, And your daughters shall be nursed at your side.
- Then you shall see and become radiant, And your heart shall swell with joy; Because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you.
- The multitude of camels shall cover your land, The dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; All those from Sheba shall come; They shall bring gold and incense, And they shall proclaim the praises of the Lord.
ACTS 20:28,29
27For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. 28Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29For I know this, that after my
departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.
The Church was God’s idea and creation and not man’s. It is not a building or denomination. The church is composed of all true Christian believers taken out of every tribe, nation and tongue and united with the Living Head, Jesus Christ since the day of Pentecost. It is the universal body of believers with multimillion members; one body made up of individual members.
In the scriptures, Christ used the word ekklesia to explain to his disciples what he was about to start. The Greek word ekklesia (called out ones) was in common use in Jesus day and was the word used for community assemblies similar to our local council meetings where decisions were made for the society. This means that Christ had it in mind that his “called out ones” would have an impact on society. In the scriptures the word ekklesia is translated as assembly 3 times and as church 112 times.
Paul Billheimer in his book, Destined for the Throne states that just as God said that it is not good for man to be alone, the same was said to the Son. At the end, we will find out that history is simply HIS Story. The end product of history is the church, the Bride of Christ. Jesus came to earth and paid for His Bride through His blood. He then sent the Holy Spirit as a deposit against what He will fully do on the earth. The Church was in God’s eternal plan.
If we could catch the heart of our Bridegroom, we would all be involved in building up and unifying the church. Jesus loves every member of his body whether we do or don’t. The Church is extension of Jesus ministry on earth. When Jesus was on earth, his physical body was the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the presence of God on earth. With the coming of the Holy Spirit it is the corporate Body of Christ, which houses the Holy Spirit. Those baptized into His body have become the corporate dwelling of God on earth. God moved his headquarters on earth from the Tabernacle of Moses, to the Temple of Solomon, and on the Day of Pentecost, to the Church. Our bodies now became the temple of the Holy Spirit; true believers now became the dwelling place of God on earth.
Christ raises and gives men and women as gifts so that the Body will come to full maturity and fully represent Him earth. God has a glorious plan for the Church. For that to manifest, His appointed leaders in the Body must come to the fore.
EPHESIANS 4:10-16
He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
WORSHIP CHRIST JESUS, THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH, WHICH IS HIS BODY
- Ephesians 2: 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
- Let us worship and praise God who has created us in His own image and called us to be His representatives earth
THANKSGIVING
- Thank God for establishing the church in this nation, and for leading it in its growth
- Give thanks to God for giving us the opportunity to retreat and really focus on our identity in Christ and our purposes as those called by God.
- Thank God for allowing the lockdown season to challenge our mindset about the temple of the Lord. For reminding us that we and not the buildings are the real temples of the Lord. For reminding us that He is omnipresent and therefore He is with us and in us everywhere all the time.
PROCLAMATIONS FOR LEADERSHIP IN THE BODY OF CHRIST
ISAIAH 2:2-5
- Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it. - Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. - He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore. - O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord.
Behold, Christ the Chief Shepherd is raising true under shepherds for his flock the Church in Uganda. These are under shepherds formed in the image of the Chief Shepherd who will lay down their lives for the flock of God and truly know the Chief Shepherd and also know the sheep. They will like the Chief Shepherd seek out the lost sheep to bring them into the fold of God’s flock and teach them to follow the voice of the Chief Shepherd. They will know and work with the Chief Shepherd as He builds “one flock under one Shepherd”. These true shepherds will serve eagerly, from a sense of calling and not from a sense of duty. They will lead and serve as examples to the flock and not as lords over them. They will not be afraid to declare the whole counsel of God to the flock and will not hesitate to use the rod to drive away wolves that come to devour the flock. The time of the hireling shepherds and the “wolves in sheep’s clothing” shepherds who come to devour the sheep is over.
As a result of this shift in leadership in the Body of Christ, there will be an increasing understanding among the flock of Christ that though we are many, we are one Body with different functions and expressions. There will be an increasing understanding that the Body of Christ cannot fulfill destiny individually; we can only fulfill our call and destiny when others fulfill theirs.
A new season of greater cooperation and collaboration within the Body of Christ is unfolding and leaders who operate under the spirit of strife and competition are loosing their influence.
In the unfolding season ahead, honor within the Body of Christ for the Head of the Body, Jesus Christ, who alone knows what role each part should play is increasing. There is increasing truthfulness expressed in love within the Body of Christ. Linkages, collaborations and partnership are forming in accordance with Christ’s strategic interests for His Body. There is a flow of supplies and nutrients through those joints. As the Body comes alive there is participation with each part playing its role and doing its share and so contributing to the overall good of the body. The Body of Christ is maturing and coming to full stature as it edifies itself in love.
In the unfolding season the territorial church is emerging in our nation: members of the Body of Christ, irrespective of the tribes, social classes, churches or denominations they belong to, living and working together with a consuming zeal to seeing the manifestation of the Kingdom of God in our communities and institutions.
The Church is waking up from the state of sleep and anesthesia that the enemies of the Bridegroom: Satan and his human agents, have placed her in just as they did for Samson. The Body of Christ is being lifted from the state of weakness and helplessness to a place of strength and might.
There is a new understanding of God’s architectural plan for his Temple laid on the foundation of apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ as the Chief Cornerstone. There is a growing understanding of God’s “whole building project” and that goes beyond tribe, race, social class, and transcends national boundaries. As these foundational ministries are being recognized and given room to function, the Temple of God’s building blocks are getting fitted together in harmony so that there are no gaps or breaches. The presence of the Spirit of God in His Temple is increasingly manifesting as acceptable spiritual offerings are being offered.
In the unfolding season the Temple of God is being cleansed, as the Shepherds that God is raising are driving out den of robbers and all that is defiling it.
The Bride of Christ is exchanging her garments of shame, defeat and despair, and putting on the beautiful garments of glory and victory. She is shaking herself from the dirt, being cleansed from impurity and all that is defiling her. She is loosing herself from the chains that have shackled her neck so that she cannot lift up her head. The Bride of Christ is arising from all that has kept her down. She is being freed from captivity to the glorious liberty of the children of God.
She is fully committed to her Bridegroom and completely focused on establishing His Kingdom. As a result she has become visible like a city set on the hill that cannot hide its light. The light of the Lord that is shining so brightly through her that it is exposing darkness, which has to flee, as it cannot stand in the presence of light. The Father, the source of light is being greatly glorified. The Bride of Christ is also functioning as the salt of the earth and checking the moral decay in our sin-infected world.
The mountain of the Lord’s house (the Kingdom of God) is being established as the most prominent of all mountains. The light emanating from the church is so strong that the nations are attracted to walk in the ways of our God.
They are coming to God’s people to seek God’s counsel and learn His ways.
The Church is raising up sons who are peacemakers and their influence is being greater peace and harmony in society. The Body of Christ is raising up a multitude of sons and daughters that are taking institutions, communities and the nation by the hand and showing it the way it should walk.
