To experience rediscovering Him all over again.

To be purposeful, intentional and consistent in seeking His face & reading His Word daily.

In the midst of our daily grind, teach us to prioritise time with You, Lord.

Help us, we pray…let every thought be put in captivity to the obedience of Christ and let it be so easy to connect & engage with You as we purpose in our hearts & minds to draw near to You in our daily lives.

- every barrier caused by sin, guilt, condemnation and shame will be broken, so that the truth of His love can reach into hearts and once again be turned to Him.

• For young adults/adults specifically: that we will have a renewed understanding of First Love beyond just the days of our youth. That we will all encounter His Love even where we are, despite who we are, that truly nothing separates us from His love, and that there’s absolutely nothing we need to be or supposed to be to earn his love or to sustain His love for us.

Arch door opening - enter His gates with thanksgiving (Psalm 100)

Wedding Bells ringing - call to greater intimacy

An invitation calling us to greater intimacy with Christ.

Joel 2. Rend hearts not garments.

Bring us to repentance.

Re-alignment of values.

Eph 1:17-18

To adopt a posture where we'd be ready to experience Him in awe, over and over again.

To truly love Him not with knowledge, but with fervent enthusiasm.

Proverbs 27:17 - iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

As we grow deeper in Love with Christ, it also means a deeper love for being disciple-makers. This is to journey as a collective with our spiritual practices, building intentional relationships - knowing it will cause friction, but also knowing that this causes growth and sharpening.

Pointing each other back to our first love in our walk with Christ, and coming back to scripture as our guideline.

I pray we all will be blessed with the relationships we have between one another, brother to brother (sister to sister), and we will encourage and uplift one another in truth and in spirit - in love.

Shalom

He is the vine and we are the branches. Each branch connected to each other. We have to stay connected to each other. While the world becomes more individualistic, we cannot conform to it. No matter how challenging community living can be at times, we have to intentionally choose to be connected. Each segment of the branch connected to each other, trusting that the "trellis" of God's grace will be there to support our formation.

The rest of John 15 on the vines and branches gives an emphatic charge from the Lord:

John 15:6-17 NIV

[6] If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. [7] If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. [8] This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. [9] “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. [10] If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. [11] I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. [12] My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. [13] Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. [14] You are my friends if you do what I command. [15] I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. [16] You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. [17] This is my command: Love each other.

The fruit of discipleship and formation will come, only that we learn to love each other, by His grace.

Lord, help us.