21 Days of Prayer and Fasting

PRAYER GUIDELINES Prayer is most effective when it isn’t something we do every now and then, but when it’s a lifestyle we cultivate. To understand how to have a lifestyle of prayer, we can look at the example Jesus gave during His life on earth. HAVEA CERTAIN TIME •Jesus got up early in the morning to spend time with His Heavenly Father. Make a daily appointment with God —whether it’s first thing in the morning, at lunch, or in the evening —and faithfully keep it. HAVE A CERTAIN PLACE •Jesus had a specific place He went to pray. Having a designated place to pray helps us remove distractions and frees us to worship and pray out loud. HAVE A CERTAIN PLAN •When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He gave them a prayer outline. We call it “The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13).” As we pray every day, our plans for our prayer time can vary, maybe including worship music, Bible reading, and quiet time to listen to God. It doesn’t always have to look the same; it just helps when we have a plan for connecting regularly with God. During the fast seek God on the following topics-both for yourself and our church. Daily Personal Prayer Focus 1. Lord examine me (Psalms 139:23-24)2. Forgive my sins (Psalms 66:18; 1 John 1:9)3. Fill me with your spirit (Ephesians 5:18)4. Restore and strengthen me (Isaiah 40:30; Psalm 51:12; Ezekiel 36:26)5. Grant me wisdom (James 1:5)6. Protect my mind (Proverbs 23:7; 1 Corinthian 2:16)7. Stifle Satan (James 4:7; Matthew 16:23)8. Suppress unbelief and supply faith (Mark 9:24; Luke 17:5)9. Guard my behavior (1 Corinthians 10:32; Mathew 6:13) 10. Arrange significant divine appointments (Proverbs 16:9)11. Enlarge my sphere of influence (1 Chronicles 4:10)

Weekly Corporate Prayer Focus WEEK 1: HEART FOR THE HOUSE We believe our local church has an incredible opportunity to reach and serve our community. As we begin this new year, and move toward Easter, take time to pray for our congregation. •Pray that we would be a place of love. •Pray that no hypocrisy would slip into our church family. •Pray that there would be a deeper commitment of service from our church body to our church body. •This is also an important time to pray over the church’s resources. •Pray that this new year would see financial stability and growth. We must all learn to be good stewards of the time, money, and resources that God has given us. We do all of this for his kingdom and his kingdom alone! WEEK2: FILL THE HOUSE We believe that we will see our House filled to capacity by Easter. For this to be a reality, we must be a people of prayer asking the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of men, women, and children so they might have new life in Christ. We believe this for our neighbors, co-workers, families, and friends. •Pray for opportunities to invite people to Wake and for the opportunity to disciple someone this new year. We believe that a move of God only happens through the power of prayer from his children who have hearts postured in humility and repentance. Together, let’s trust that God will fill the house! WEEK 3: AWAKENING We refuse to be a people who fall into a spiritual slumber. In this new year seek God to spiritually awaken you in areas of your life that might be asleep. Together let’s pray that God would wake us up to see the beauty of who He is so that anything in ourlives that does not have value would fall away. Getting rid of worthless, sin-filled desires only happens when we truly delight in Christ. So wake up, enjoy God and be alert for the mission that God has called us to in our city and community.