Dear Brothers and Sisters,

You are cordially invited to the Wednesday evening prayer meeting (7:00 PM Wed., LHF time).

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

Come and pray for the Church. Eph. 1:22,23 says, "And God placed all things under his (Jesus') feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way."

These verses say that God placed ALL things under Jesus' feet and made him head over EVERYTHING. Why did he do this? According to these verses, he did it for the church! The church must be very important indeed. And it is! Verse 23 says that the church is Jesus' body -- and that it is the fullness of God who fills everything in every way.

In case you don't know what the significance of the "fullness of God" is (I didn't.), I'll tell you what I found out. I looked up the Greek word for "fullness" in several lexicons. Here are some of the meanings:

• "full contents"
• "full measure"
• "what is beyond measure"
• "wealth"
• "overflowing amount"
• "abundance"
• "full and perfect nature"
• "fulfillment"

I also looked up the word "fills" and found out that it also means "completes" or "fulfills". In order to convey more fully the meaning of the phrase "the fullness of him who fills everything in every way", I made an "amplified" translation using the lexicon definitions of "fullness" and "fills". Here it is:

The Church is "the overflowing abundance, the wealth beyond measure and the full and perfect nature of him (God) who fulfills and completes everything in every way."

This is what God says the church is. (And I didn't add to what the Bible says. I just gave the full meanings of the words.)

In John chapter 14, Philip said to Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered, "Don't you know me Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." In view of the fact that the Church is the overflowing abundance, the wealth beyond measure and the full and perfect nature of God who fulfills and completes everything in every way, If anyone says to you, "Show me Jesus," you should be able to say, "Look at the church. If you've seen the church, you've seen Jesus." If you're not sure about this, then come on Wednesday and pray for the Church.

Grace and peace,
Dean Svoboda

PS: You can also bring you own prayer requests and pray for them with your brothers and sisters in Christ (i.e., with the Church). Bring your requests to God with thanksgiving and receive his peace.