Every Wednesday evening a band of brothers and sisters meet together to pray for our church. We take one chapter of the book of Acts and share a few thoughts about it. Then, we pray Scripture for our church family. If you need some specific prayer requests to pray for yourself, your family and friends, and your own community of believers. Here are a few ideas from Acts 15:

Pray that God would set a guard over our mouths. In Acts 15, words have the power to divide or to unite… To hurt or to heal.

Pray that the truths of the gospel of grace would not be betrayed by any of our teachers (for our adults, youth, and children).

Pray that the gospel would make progress and that it would be a matter of great joy among us. Pray for increased effectiveness in helping fulfill Acts 15:14 – “Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name.”

Pray that we would use our liberty and freedom in the gospel to serve one another and not as license to serve ourselves (Galatians 5:13 – “For you were called to freedom, brothers; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”)

Pray that God would instill in us new resolve to preserve and promote the purity and peace of His church.

Serving the Lord requires taking risks (v.26 – “men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”) Pray that we would be willing to take risks in serving our Lord. C.T. Studd: A gambler for God!  He joined the ranks of the great gamblers of faith, Abraham, Moses, etc., in Hebrews 11, and the true apostolic succession, “Men that have hazarded (gambled with, to jeopardize life to magnify and make known the name of Jesus Christ) their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 15:26).  Studd wrote:  “No craze so great as that of a gambler, and no gambler for Jesus was ever cured, thank God!”  His answer to the missions committee that rejected him was:  “Gentleman, God has called me to go, and I will go.  I will blaze the trail, though my grave may only become a stepping stone that younger men may follow.” (C.T. Studd: Cricketer and Pioneer, p.112)

Pray that the Lord would grant us charity and courtesy in dealing with the different opinions, views, and sentiments of others in our body of believers.
Repentance teaches us to be severe in our reflections upon ourselves; but charity teaches us to be courteous in our reflections upon others. O what mischief that pride and passion do in the world and in the church, even when they are found in good men!

– Adapted from Matthew Henry