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Day 1: Let Us Pray

Thank you for joining our journey of 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. I am anticipating all that God will do in our lives and church community. C. H. Spurgeon once said, “Whenever God determines to do a great work, He first sets His people to pray.”

I pray as we journey through the next 21 days that these devotionals will encourage you and your faith journey. Each devotional will start with a thought, then onto a time of reflection and journaling. We have a natural tendency to remember what we should forget and forget what we should remember. I have found that journaling is the best antidote to spiritual amnesia. Following our reflection, we will follow prayer points for our Willow Park community and beyond, and of course pray for our three prayer points.

As we begin our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting, we decide on our three specific prayer requests, three areas that will help us pray with purpose. The Lord is encouraging us to pray bold prayers. He is encouraging us to come before Him in holy anticipation, to be specific - so that we can point the glory directly to God. Prayers for the seemingly impossible. Let’s focus our 21 days on the unseen realm and get our headlines from His word. It’s no coincidence that being watchful and prayerful are coupled by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Colossians: “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” When Paul uses the word watchful, he refers to the ancient watchmen on the walls, who saw first and looked out across the horizon. As we enter this focused prayer time, let us see ourselves as His watchmen. In the words of theologian Walter Wink, “History belongs to the intercessors.” That’s us! We are given a unique opportunity to change His-story.

We are all familiar with the challenging verse, “Be Still and know that I am God.” But we often stay there. If we continue to read, we find this encouragement: “I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Tyler Stanton writes, “That’s the destination of this prayer, the promise we become aware of in holy stillness.”

Be still. Remember who God is. Remember who you are in Him.

Lord, we dedicate the next 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting to You. Help us to focus each day. Speak to us your truths. We are expectant and know You are faithful and will answer. Amen.

Reflect and Respond

• Write down the three areas of focused prayer, keep them in your Bible, post them on your mirror, set them as your screen-saver!
• Name and commit your three areas before the Lord. Wait on Him and ask for the gift of faith and promises over your three areas of prayer.
• What does the challenge to “Be still and know that He is God” mean to you?

WPC Prayer Focus

• Ask God to show you your next step to go deeper in prayer.
• Pray that each of our monthly WillowOne Worship & Prayer gatherings across the network will grow and testify to an abundance of answered prayers.
• Pray for each community and ministry that a culture of prayer will exist.
• Pray for the city that churches across the region will hear a call to pray.
• Pray for your three prayer points.