Day 3
21 Days of Prayer and Fasting
January 14
Increase, Decrease
Read: John 3:22-36
REFLECTION:
Our lives tend to shine “spotlights” on things that matter most to us. Whether that be our hobbies, our teams, the music we enjoy or some other area of life… we all shine spotlights on the things we love. But I would argue that underneath all that sits something else that we consistently want to shine a spotlight towards… ourselves.
We may like to think we would never do this, but we know the great tendency we have toward pride, self-exaltation, and even the hope that others will think well of us. What is even more dangerous is that this temptation can even exist within the church. We can take pride in our serving, giving, devotional commitment, or even our greater morality as compared to those around us.
John the Baptist shows something to us in our verses today that is challenging, but also liberating for the pride that exists within us. John, over anyone, had much to be “proud” of. Jesus spoke very highly of him and his incredible story is captured in the gospels and he is seeing a group of people follow and learn from him. And yet John says that Jesus must increase in his life, and he must decrease. How desperately we need this reminder in our lives. We tend to be OK with Jesus increasing, so long as we can increase with him. We are even happy to give Him the greater platform, if He lets us come along for the journey. The problem is, only one person will receive the spotlight in your life. The spotlight will be on you, or it can be on Christ. Today, let’s pray and ask God to fill us with humility and give us great joy in decreasing as Christ increases!
QUESTIONS FOR PERSONAL PRAYER:
What areas of pride do you need to put before the Lord today?
Where do you find yourself most tempted to think about your own spotlight as opposed to Christ?
What kingdoms have you built that are in conflict with the kingdom of God?
CORPORATE PRAYER POINTS:
Read: John 3:22-36
REFLECTION:
Our lives tend to shine “spotlights” on things that matter most to us. Whether that be our hobbies, our teams, the music we enjoy or some other area of life… we all shine spotlights on the things we love. But I would argue that underneath all that sits something else that we consistently want to shine a spotlight towards… ourselves.
We may like to think we would never do this, but we know the great tendency we have toward pride, self-exaltation, and even the hope that others will think well of us. What is even more dangerous is that this temptation can even exist within the church. We can take pride in our serving, giving, devotional commitment, or even our greater morality as compared to those around us.
John the Baptist shows something to us in our verses today that is challenging, but also liberating for the pride that exists within us. John, over anyone, had much to be “proud” of. Jesus spoke very highly of him and his incredible story is captured in the gospels and he is seeing a group of people follow and learn from him. And yet John says that Jesus must increase in his life, and he must decrease. How desperately we need this reminder in our lives. We tend to be OK with Jesus increasing, so long as we can increase with him. We are even happy to give Him the greater platform, if He lets us come along for the journey. The problem is, only one person will receive the spotlight in your life. The spotlight will be on you, or it can be on Christ. Today, let’s pray and ask God to fill us with humility and give us great joy in decreasing as Christ increases!
QUESTIONS FOR PERSONAL PRAYER:
What areas of pride do you need to put before the Lord today?
Where do you find yourself most tempted to think about your own spotlight as opposed to Christ?
What kingdoms have you built that are in conflict with the kingdom of God?
CORPORATE PRAYER POINTS:
- That we would remove any idols we have place before Christ
- That we would humble ourselves and allow Christ to increase as we decrease.
- That we would allow Christ to root out anything that is hindering our walk with him.