Dear ECWA USA Family,

This is a reminder for the next First Tuesday Prayer and Fasting for Revival on February 1,2022. As usual, there will be three sessions at 6 AM, 12Noon and 6 PM ( All time is EST). Please endeavor to participate in this ECWA Global Family event. The purpose is to pray for God to send Revival to ECWA beginning with our individual lives, families, Churches and ECWA USA in particular.

Prayer Items
1. Consecration: Not only in our lives , but our time, talent and treasure as well. Rom.6:11-17;12:1-2; Deut.8:18; 1 Chron.29:14.

2. Experience The Power of Christ’s Resurrection (Power of The Spirit)
Eph.1:16-21; Acts 4:31;5:18.

3. A Deep Thirst For God Ps.42:1-2;63:1-6;Isa.44:3.

These three items are encompassing prayers and yearnings We want to spend good time praying and interceding before God to grant these requests. Everyone who is called or volunteers to pray during the session is asked to be mindful of time and pray straight to the point .We want to maximize the one hour to cover all the items in detail.

Thank you ahead of time for your cooperation.

Author: Rev. Joseph Ezeigbo
Rev. Joseph Ezeigbo is the Vice-Chairman of ECWA USA and a Bible teacher for the weekly Bible study at ECWA Maryland. He is also a part of the National Day of Prayer and the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up. (Eph. 4:11-12)

Since the body of Christ is still being built up, it is safe to say that the gifts Christ gave for this purpose are still in full operations today. Exercising some of the gifts and neglecting others is detrimental to the health of the body. A local church that recognizes only the ministry of the pastor and fails to recognize the roles of other equippers in their midst and allow them to function, will never mature fully.

Besides your pastor who preaches, manages the affairs of the church, there is the need for apostles who take the gospel outside the four walls of the church. There is the need for prophets who declare God’s revealed will to the congregation. There is the need for evangelists who proclaim the salvation message like no one else can do. There is the need for teachers who gently instruct and make plain the teachings of the Scripture to different age groups, gender, and even to those with learning disabilities. It takes a team of saints with the equipping gifts, working together to bring a saint to maturity.

No supper pastor, supper apostle, supper teacher, etc. can do it alone. The mystery here is that even the equippers need other equippers to equip them. We need each other to build up and grow together. Are you doing your part?

Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. (Pro. 30:8)

Every believer will shout a big Amen to the prayer of deliverance from falsehood and lies. But what is wrong with having extra cash or some sumptuous snacks in between our meals? God wants each one of us to prosper, right? Deuteronomy 8:18 affirms that it is God who gives us the ability to make wealth. God made Solomon the richest man in the world, so why should I not desire to be rich when it is not a sin? Why should I settle for a hand-to-mouth lifestyle when I can exert some extra effort and live comfortably well above the poverty line?

Wealth is deceitful and not everyone can handle it properly. We fall in love with it, we transfer our trust and allegiance to it since it promises to solve most of our problems. God is only referenced when our wealth cannot solve the problem at hand.  Solomon had it all, but he declared that all was vanity. Scripture warns us about an overemphasis on wealth. “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint” (Pro. 23:4). “Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind” (Ecc. 4:6). “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction” (1Tim. 6:9). Be contented with what you have, not what you could have.

*Our discipleship class resumes this Sunday afternoon and we will be walking through the book of Ephesians. Pray that we will learn and be transformed by God’s truth.
*Pray for a couple of people who recently prayed and invited Christ into their lives through one of our elders, that they will grow in their faith as we disciple them.

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3).

To better grasp our verse for the day, we must look at verses 1-6. Every believer came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ through the invitation and convicting work of the Holy Spirit. Irrespective of your race, gender, age, accomplishments, or failures, the same Holy Spirit dwells in each one of us in the same measure. The Holy Spirit brings us into one body – the body of Christ.

The things that we share together because we are one body are the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ our Lord, God our Father, one hope, one faith, one baptism. This baptism is not the immersion into water, but rather it is what the Holy Spirit did – bringing us together to become the body of Christ. We are the different parts of the body all plugged and united so we can function. Jesus Christ in John 17 prayed that the believers will be united and be one as He and the Father are. Jesus’ prayer was answered when the Holy Spirit came and baptized us into one body and remains in us.

The challenge we have is to maintain the unity already brought about by the Holy Spirit. We are not being asked to come together and be united; rather, each one of us is to work hard to maintain unity through yielding to the Holy Spirit and the Word. The effective work of the Holy Spirit in us leads to harmony, which is peace. But He needs your cooperation and mine.

The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the praise he receives. Pro. 27:21.

Welcome to this New Year and I lend my voice among many others to wish you a blessed and Happy New Year. I will bet that at any time you will choose a gift of refined gold or silver over its raw form which looks like dirt or ordinary rock. This metal is melted under extreme heat which also burns all the particles and impurities that will not burn are sieved out. What is left is pure gold or silver whose value is high and only a few can afford it. The way a person responds to praise is what reveals his character – whether he is gold or the dross that burns up or sieved out.

Recall when the women in 1 Sam. 18:7 praised David and Saul. This praise revealed the ugly jealous character in Saul and for more than ten years he hunted David down to kill him. Recall also the praise King Herod received in Acts 12:21-23. He believed that he was a god and had no room for the real God, but he did not live to see the next day. What about King Nebuchadnezzar who could not wait for people to praise him but went ahead to praise himself? He revealed his proud heart and he ended up in the forest like a wild animal.

Apparently, the first sin ever committed is the sin of pride through Lucifer. He wanted the praise that was due to God alone. As this year rolls on, let us be on the lookout regarding the praise we receive or desire.

Author: Rev. Sunday Bwanhot
Rev. Sunday Bwanhot is a missionary with EMS/SIM. He pastor’s ECWA Chicago, serves as ECWA USA DCC Chairman and Team leader of SIM Culture Connexions.

ECWA Theme for 2022: “Look, He is Coming with the Clouds.“ Revelation 1:7

“Look, he is coming with the clouds,”
and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
So shall it be! Amen.

Revelation 1:7

After Jesus gave His disciples the Great Commission, “he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight” (Acts 1:9). As the disciples stood there, gazing after the Lord, two angels appeared and told them, “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (verse 11).