Here are the reflection points for the guided time of prayer:
1) Take two minutes to worship God because of who He is, reflecting on what His living Word has spoken to you. Admit that He is in control and believe this is His world, not yours. Trust that He will make everything right.
2) Do an inventory and reflect on specifically how you grasp for control of your own life. The ways in which you fail to recognize that He is in control. The ways in which you try to manipulate and control your environment so that it bends to your broken will, instead of His perfect Will.
3) Confess to God your desire to take control of His world from Him. Then, repent of (turn away from) this sin in your life and turn to walk with Christ again.
4) Think about who you know that needs to be here this week for 7 Days of Prayer. First, pray for them. Pray for God to soften their heart. Pray for them to be open to the work Christ did on the cross. Now pray about how to invite them to this prayer event (or Regen, or church).
"His World, Not Ours"
January 4, 2021 • Wesley News
"His Wounds, Not Ours"
January 9, 2021 • Abby Applegate
Here are the reflection points for the guided time of prayer: 1) Ask God to keep your faith strong when His plan seems just as opposite to your plan as the juxtapositions in this passage. 2) When you come up against these plan differences between you and God, do you have unmet expectations that keep you from a close relationship with Him? Confess those to Him. 3) Meditate on the suffering Christ endured and the glorious promises of salvation because of it. Praise God for the gift of Salvation He’s given to us. 4) Write a request you’re going to commit to praying for this year and stick it on the stage.
"His War, Not Ours"
January 8, 2021 • Ben Weaver
Here are the reflection points for the guided time of prayer: 1) Thank God for winning the spiritual battle and giving you the opportunity to join in His victory. 2) Acknowledge that God is in control of your life and is doing His work in you. 3) Read through Psalm 6. Psalm 6: 1 O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. 2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. 3 My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O Lord—how long? 4 Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love. 5 For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise? 6 I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. 7 My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes. 8 Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. 9 The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer. 10 All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled; they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment. 4) Write down one thing you can do to grow closer to God this year. Place it somewhere you will be able to see it every day.
"His Work, Not Ours"
January 7, 2021 • Caedmon Oakes
Here are the reflection points for the guided time of prayer: 1) Pray for anything weighing on your heart. Pray you will help others around you see God through you. 2) Read Psalm 8. Then, give God all the praise, because He is worthy of it. Psalm 8: 1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings[b] and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 9 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! 3) Read Psalm 9:1-2. Ask God to search your heart and show you the areas where you are seeking your own glory instead of His. Repent and give these areas to God. Is your life honoring you or honoring God? Psalm 9: 1 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. 2 I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. 4) Read Psalm 9:3-14. Give thanks for all the things God has blessed you with and the things He will bless you with in the future. Psalm 9: When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before[e] your presence. 4 For you have maintained my just cause; you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment. 5 You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish; you have blotted out their name forever and ever. 6 The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins; their cities you rooted out; the very memory of them has perished. 7 But the Lord sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, 8 and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness. 9 The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. 10 And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. 11 Sing praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples his deeds! 12 For he who avenges blood is mindful of them; he does not forget the cry of the afflicted. 13 Be gracious to me, O Lord! See my affliction from those who hate me, O you who lift me up from the gates of death, 14 that I may recount all your praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion 5) Read Psalm 9:15-20. Praise God that He is in control and our earthly failures do not stop His plans. Psalm 9: 15 The nations have sunk in the pit that they made; in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught. 16 The Lord has made himself known; he has executed judgment; the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. 17 The wicked shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God. 18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever. 19 Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail; let the nations be judged before you! 20 Put them in fear, O Lord! Let the nations know that they are but men!