30 DAYS OF PRAYER
As a church community, during the first 30 days of January, we are committing to 30 Days of Prayer. We will do this by reclaiming the ancient way of the early church by praying three times a day, morning, midday, and evening.
Why we are doing this? To declare from the very start of this year, that we are a people of prayer.
That we, are a group of people who long to be with God and hear from God. When the world is racing by at a crazy pace, we want to build into our everyday lives a rhythm of prayer, that causes us to slow down, be intentional about making space for Christ to fill our whole lives, and develop a greater intimacy with Him.
Morning
MIDDAY
EVENING
MORNING PRAYER
For the morning prayer will be using “The Lord's Prayer’. If prayer is something new to you, praying the Lord's Prayer, in reflection and with sincerity, is a great place to start. For those wanting to dive deeper into prayer, we suggest using ‘The Lord's Prayer’ as a thematic guide where you can add your own words, to Christ's words. Below is an explanation of each part of the prayer. Please take some time now to read through this, and perhaps keep it before you as you begin your morning prayer each day.
Our Father in Heaven – As we begin, we open with prayers of adoration. Jesus reminds us here of three aspects of God: God’s majesty, God’s approachability, and God’s restoration. God is “in Heaven,” incomprehensibly powerful and the true source and satisfaction of every human desire. God is also “Father,” so we come to Him not as beggars but as children and heirs to His Kingdom. But, through Jesus, God is more than just my Father, he is “our Father.” In God, everyone — family, friends, co-workers, and even strangers — becomes sister and brother. Here we will pray, thanking God for who He is and what He’s doing.
Hallowed be Your name – To “hallow” means to set aside as holy. Spend a moment recognising God as holy, as the unique One worthy of our affection. You can recognise and name the blessings in your life to connect the gifts back to the Giver, recite a Psalm to yourself, or sit in silence, savouring the presence of God, over all and in all.
Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven – Next, ask for God’s will to be done in your life and world. Releasing your own control, ask for God’s Kingdom to come in your midst. Simply, clearly, and specifically, ask that God’s Kingdom come into every area of your world. Think of friends not in relationship with Jesus, needs in your city and world, situations (professional, social, and personal), and even emotions within yourself.
Give us today our daily bread – Spend some time praying for specific needs and wants in your life or that of our Community—a job, healing, or wisdom to make a decision.
Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors – Take time for confession and time for forgiveness. Ask God for forgiveness for specific areas in your life, and for help to release others into forgiveness.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil – Spend some time praying both against temptation in your life and against any kind of evil (spiritual evil, human evil or oppression, etc.) in your world. Pray God’s deliverance from evil, asking instead for God’s blessing — the divine flow of good things into your life and our Community.
For Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen
MIDDAY PRAYER
Pray for the lost by name. Pause to ask the Spirit to bring to mind people who are far from God. Take a few moments in silent reflection as you let Him bring people to mind.
After this, pray for these people by name. Ask God, the Good Shepherd, to go after them, to restore them, and to bring them salvation.
Pray for compassion. Next, we want to ask God to give us His heart for the lost: seeing as He sees them and loving as He loves them. Take some time in prayer asking God for compassion. As you do this, feel free to confess to God anything that’s getting in the way of having compassion for others. Ask God to soften the hard places in your heart, so that it might be made more like His.
Pray to be sent. Finally, we want to invite God to send us. As we have asked God to pursue our loved ones, we now ask Him to send us out with his empowering presence to the lost around us. Ask God to open your eyes and ears, that you might pursue the lost and pray for their salvation in the way our Good Shepherd does. Ask that He would inspire your imagination with ways to love, bring people to mind you don’t expect, and surprise us with invitations to be his hands and feet.
During the Jewish Passover, Israel would sing a song of gratitude for God’s deliverance in the Exodus called Dayenu. Traditionally, Dayenu means, “it would have been enough.” A more modern translation might sound like, “Thank you God for overdoing it.” Dayenu serves as an historical prompt for giving thanks to God at the close of the day. So, for our Evening Prayer Rhythm, we are going to use this template to reflect on our days with gratitude.
EVENING PRAYER
Review the Day As you begin, take some time to review the events of your day: the people, tasks, messages, meals, demands, and surprises. As you make your way back through the day from morning to evening, give thanks to God for anything and everything for which you are grateful.
Pray 'Dayenu' (Gratitude for God's above and beyond goodness)
Then, move to a time of praying these prayers, in the format of the Dayenu prayer. It might sounds something like,
“God, lunch today would’ve been enough, but you provided me with the resources to choose the type of food I wanted to eat. Thank You."
“God, a normal day at work would’ve been enough, but you gave me enjoyable co-workers with whom to have fun moments today. Thank You."
“God, it would have been enough to just get through the day, but you really helped the kids get along and love each other well today. Thank You."
Close in Gratitude
When you’re ready, close the prayer thanking God for what He's done, for what He's doing, and for how He will continue to be good to us.