21 Days of Prayer: Day 20
Dana Olson
Senior pastor, Faith Baptist Fellowship
- Discipleship & spiritual formation
As we begin the new year, Converge churches and missionaries from around the globe will embark on 21 Days of Prayer. Join us on this prayer journey by reading the daily entries on Converge’s blog, or by downloading your free 21 Days of Prayer: Praying God’s Agenda prayer guide. In addition, you can share daily posts from our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds. Thank you for joining us as we open 2020 in prayer together.
Follow the One who said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”
John 14:1-6
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Notice
On the road to the cross, in the upper room, Jesus offers great reassurance and hope to his disciples — and to us. Don’t be troubled by the events that are unfolding. Instead, believe in my Father and believe in me. You will have a future dwelling place with me that will last forever. Thomas’ question opens the door for one of the grandest of all of Jesus’ statements: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” Jesus is our way to eternal life with our heavenly Father. Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, is also the grand object of it.
Think about it
Do we need a road map to know where we’re going? Jesus is the way. Do we need a standard of truth for this mixed-up world of situational ethics and political correctness? Jesus is the truth. Do we need to know how to experience life to its fullest, with enduring joy now and forever? Jesus is the life. A massive amount of information and misinformation is available to us every moment of every day. It’s one click away. But does it provide clarity? Does it provide true guidance? Does it reveal the King’s Agenda? Most of it does not. King Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. No one finds fellowship with God the Father except through him.
A prayer for followers of Jesus
“Holy and eternal God, giver of life and breath and every good thing, I come to you today with a heart full of thanksgiving that you have shown me the way through your only, unique Son, Jesus. I put my faith and full confidence in him as the only way to eternal life with you. I look to Jesus as my road map for daily living, standard of truth and source of true joy. Help me this day, Father, to point others to Jesus. Give me words to testify to the difference Jesus Christ has made in my life and to the profound truth of the gospel. Fill me today with your Holy Spirit. And may our church be a lighthouse of faith, hope and love in our community as we point to King Jesus as the way, the truth and the life. In his matchless name, the name above every name, amen.”
To read more of God’s word
I Chronicles 16, John 14, Philippians 1
Dana Olson, Senior pastor, Faith Baptist Fellowship
Dana Olson is the author of the new booklet, Praying the King’s Agenda: 21 Days of Focused Prayer. He formerly served as director of Prayer First for Converge and served as chair of the Denominational Prayer Leaders Network and on the executive team of the National Prayer Committee. He is senior pastor of Faith Baptist Fellowship, a multisite congregation in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Additional articles by Dana Olson