Hello Parkland Foursquare Church,

Many blessings to you and your families. As you may know by now, we are in our season of corporate fasting/prayer for 2018. We just finished our first prayer meeting for January and it was a great time of seeking God and asking God to bring, "a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God." We prayed for our workplaces/local establishments to be opened up for God's Word and for God to be revealed in the church body of Pierce County. Please join us for Tuesday prayer meetings from 6:00-8:00pm for a time of corporate prayer at The Sanctuary located at 3502 N Mullen St, Tacoma, WA 98405. Childcare is provided. If you have any questions please email info@foursquarechurch.com.

We want to encourage you to reach out to your brothers and sisters and see how they are doing and how you can pray for them. This time is usually a time where some may feel a little discouraged, irritated, guilty, or just plain hungry. We need to come alongside one another to lift each other up before God. Ephesians 1:16, "I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers..." Let's remember to lift one another up in our prayers. May God grant you with love and kindness for your church family. 

Don't forget why you are doing this. Use this time to draw near to God and to get His heart for your life, the lives of those around you and to know who God is more fully. Don't be discouraged. God loves you and desires your whole heart. 

Please email us at info@parklandfoursquare.com or write below if you are having a hard time, a great time, need prayer or anything during this fasting season.

Some of us may have missed the Service this last Saturday. We don't want to leave anyone out of the great resources for our time of fasting and prayer to help us have a little direction and unity in our pursuit of God this January. Please click on the following links if you are interested:

PFC/Sanctuary Prayer Card Resource

PFC/Sanctuary Prayer Fasting Guide Pamphlet (Great journaling resource inside)

Foursquare 21 Day Fast Supplement

Pastor Dan's Sermon...

Some of us go into fasting seasons like this and feel the shock of not having a life filled with prayer and intense seeking of God. We get caught up in the mundane and times like this really allow us to settle down and pray. Our focus for times of fasting should be to draw near to God and allow Him to give us direction in where we should go. A lot of us are kind of lost when we come to this place and need direction in our prayers and our fasting focus as we march on. The prayers of the apostles are a great resource for us as believers to engage with God's heart for us, for His church, and who God is. We need a teacher (just like the first disciples) to teach us to pray. The Holy Spirit guides us in His Word into what is on God's heart and how we can gain insight into what God wants to do. The Word is the language of God's heart and as we pray the Word, it is infused in us to become our language. "We become who we hang out with." When we pray the prayers of the Apostles and of Jesus we begin to align our hearts with the King of Kings and we are transformed into His likeness more and more as the disciples were.

When we pray we can get caught up in prayers that are constantly praying against things from happening. These prayers didn't happen very often in the bible. When the apostles pray they pray for God to impute His attributes into the church. When we pray prayers like Ephesians 1:16-20 we are praying for God to work the miracle of creation in our lives. We are asking Him to make us new. We are asking for Him to make us like Him. "We ask for Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of God." This prayer allows us to be dependent on God for He is the Giver. This prayer is asking God to bring His Divine Knowledge to our minds and our hearts. This prayer is asking God to take us away from the old way without even asking it. It is asking for us to be taken into the new which means we will be taken from the old (a lack of wisdom and revelation in Christ.) We can learn a lot from these Apostles prayers.

Pastor Dan mentioned three consistencies he found when looking at the prayers of the apostles in the New Testament.

1. They are usually for the Church

   - Church of Parkland is part of the church

   - We will pray for the lost but revival will come when the church is filled up with God's power, character and wisdom to do His will

2. They are GOD - CENTERED: These prayers focus on God; Who He is, what He can do, what He has for the church. The source of their petitions is God and the fulfilling of their petitions is God.

3. They are positive - This doesn't mean they are prayers that ignore the reality of horrible circumstances. As described above they are actively asking for God to impute God's character/attributes/fruits into His church. They aren't just shouting for "Satan to stop," but they are asking for God to positively move on His body.

As we pray these prayers we will notice our hearts long to intercede for His church. These prayers are very helpfully guided by the prayers of the Apostles as well. Pastor Dan mentioned three focuses of intercession in their prayers.

1. They ask for a greater measure of the Holy Spirit
2. They ask for a greater measure of Justice
3. They ask for a greater measure of Grace

When we pray for others we too can ask for God to pour out His Spirit on people, to bring justice to situations if injustice, and to bring grace to all areas of people's lives.

Pastor Dan also  mentioned that the Apostles prayers were themed by:

1.    GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT

-Supernatural power dimension. (1cor 12:7-10)

2.   FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

-Spirit of conviction and revelation (Jn 16:8  Eph 1:17)

3.    WISDOM OF THE SPIRIT

-Increase of understanding into God’s plans, will and word for others (Col 1:9-10, Acts 2:17-19)

We can focus in on Ephesians 1:16-20 and see 3 different expressions of this wisdom and revelation and we can pray for this experiential knowledge for others and ourselves.

1. To understand God’s calling for our life, both in this age and the age-to-come.

2. To know who we are to God as His inheritance and how He feels as we walk out our calling.

3. To experience God’s power in our life by faith and to rightly perceive how it operates.

 (Some subcategories of the above three)

            A. Revelation that God is breaking through with fullness Revival.

            B. Valuing with gratitude the days of smallness.

            C. Revelation of Eternal Calling.

                        1. Co-heirs with Christ

            D. The knowledge of the Power of His resurrection

            E. Seated with heavenly places with Christ

• First off, Brittni and I wanted to thank you for praying for little Troy. He had a lump in his neck and we have been praying for it to go away and after seeing the doctor (with no treatment) for the last three/four weeks it is going down in size. Praise be to God who answers our prayers. Thank you for praying!
• Please pray for the Wheelons as they are set to welcome their new baby, Anora, into this world very soon. Please pray for a healthy delivery and for health for Amanda as well. Pray for Dan and Amanda as they transition into having two kids. 
• Please pray for our church to be more unified in it's mission to reach Parkland and to seek God. 

Thank you all for your love and commitment to helping Parkland Foursquare grow further in it's calling to love Christ and to love those in Parkland. Please join us for prayer this upcoming Tuesday at The Sanctuary church from 6:00pm-8:00pm. It should be a very impactful time for the whole church. Thank you!

Please let us know if you have any questions comments, or prayer requests by emailing info@parklandfoursquare.com or commenting below.