WEEK 1 | WEEK 2 | WEEK 3 | WEEK 4
WEEK 2 CHALLENGE - PRAY
This week your challenge is to do One Hour Prayer at least one time. Renewal, revival, and breakthrough are always preceded by prayer. Find further encouragement and instruction in this week’s devotional (below).
+ Read. Don’t forget to keep reading your bible! Click here for the full 28 Day Luke Reading Plan or find the link at the end of the devotional. ♥️ 📖
_________________________
WEEK 2 DEVOTIONAL - “Pray”
Prayer is everywhere.
A Gallup poll states that in America more people will pray this week than exercise, drive a car, or go to work. Nearly everyone tries to figure out prayer during their life. Muslims pray five times a day. Buddhists practice meditative prayer. Politicians hold prayer breakfasts. Parents pray with their kids at bedtime. Countries pray before war on both sides for their military victory. Historically, people have prayed for crops, for rain, and for protection. Today people pray for peace, health, and for their favorite football team to win. 🏈
Prayer.
Is.
Everywhere.
And yet if we’re honest, prayer is still a mystery.
Perhaps that is why the key question that the disciples asked of Jesus in Luke 11:1 was, “Lord teach us to pray.” They wanted to know about prayer. The disciples had a front row seat watching Jesus pray and they wanted to understand it. Scriptures show us that Jesus often withdrew by himself to pray. Hebrews 5:7 says, “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.”
Jesus lived a life of prayer.
Jesus was always leaning into prayer.
And when we lean into Jesus…we will lean into prayer.
So let’s consider the words in Hebrews 5:7, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears. Do you have any fervent prayers or petitioning cries to God?
What is the cry of your ♥️?
Most forms of prayer in today’s world are last ditch efforts, empty rituals, or watered down prayers to bless our food or give us good days. Yet, God wants to hear the cry of your heart! God ultimately desires to form your heart and the things you are most fervent about, but to do that it begins with where you are today. What is the cry of your heart, right now? God does not grow tired of hearing you and He wants you to keep coming to Him, no matter what! Chances are you need to be encouraged in prayer as we begin 2022:
- Don’t give up in prayer!
- Prayer builds your friendship with God.
- Lean into prayer!
- Prayer precedes the breakthrough!
- Prayer comes before the miracle!
- Prayer is the pathway to God’s presence!
- Prayer is the doorway to God’s power!
- Prayer will build you up! 💪
- Prayer will deepen your faith!
- Prayer will shape your future!
- God will grow you through prayer!
This week our 28 Days of Renewal Challenge is for you to lean into Jesus by committing to an extended time of prayer. We call it One Hour Prayer at OKC Community. There’s no requirement for it to be literally one hour, we’ve just created a time frame that we believe stretches many of us beyond our normal routines of prayer and creates a clear way to enter into prayer. However, please understand that you can pray for less or more than an hour…it’s up to you!
Many of you have done One Hour Prayer and seen the spiritual fruit, so don’t grow weary in prayer, but instead lean into the renewing work of prayer and the hope we share by contending for God’s revival in our city. May we be the house of prayer Jesus called his people to be!
HERE’S HOW IT WORKS
1. Choose a time.
Look at your schedule and set aside one hour for prayer.
2. Choose the place you will pray.
We highly encourage utilizing the Prayer Room as the place you choose to pray. You can certainly pray anywhere, but we created a prayer room as a place to help people grow in their passion for prayer. The Prayer Room provides an environment and resources to help you do that. Plus, there is something very real about making the commitment to come to a specific place to pray and connect with God that elevates the importance of this time during your week and increases your expectations.
- To reserve a time in the Prayer Room sign up here.
3. What do you pray about?
Once you choose the time and place, you may be wondering, “what do I pray about?” This is where the cry of your heart comes in. We’ve created a One Hour Prayer Guide that leads and helps you focus on a few important things during prayer, including a time to lift up what is in your heart. Feel free to pray however you want, the One Hour Prayer Guide is simply a resource.
- Download the One Hour Prayer Guide
+ In addition to One Hour Prayer this week continue your daily reading through Luke 📖 (Days 8-14)! May this week be a powerful week of you getting present in the presence of God. Grace and peace. 🙏