Inviting our congregation into this Summer Prayer Project (combining the sermon series, a prayer guide, and prayer groups) was planned long before we knew anything about COVID-19, sheltering in place, or social distancing. It felt like a God thing even then. By that I mean it felt like the kind of Holy Spirit inspired idea that comes more as gift than from our thinking and planning. Like a seed planted that we get to water and tend and trust God to grow.
As we head into that last few weeks of the project, I am so very grateful for the gift of it in my life. I love my prayer group and the opportunity to connect weekly in this way has been such an encouragement to me in what's turned out to be a tumultuous season. Praying weekly with my group has been a like an anchor in the storm.
While I confess I haven't done every activity every week, I love the prayer guide Beth developed. I'm grateful for range of spiritual disciplines and how diverse the song selections are. (I might never have experienced Jonathan Maracle's "Tears" without Beth's inclusion of it in the week of Lament.) I really do think you could reuse this prayer guide over and over again.
Is there a personal practice, group prayer, song or sermon that has been most meaningful to you? I would love to know that or any other way God has been at work in your life during this season. I would only share it if you invite me to do so.
Read on for some reflections from others and then send yours to me, Terry Jaurena.
Daphne Saul
I have twelve women from the Thursday Morning Bible Study who have been true prayer warriors, and praying with them is my favorite time of the week. Our prayer time is focused on times of praising God for who He is, confessing sins both individual and corporate, thanking God for many answers to prayers, and bringing our concerns to Him. Throughout the week, the women text each other additional prayer concerns, so the prayers continue even when we aren’t praying via Zoom on Thursday mornings. We’ve seen God at work in so many ways, and we have grown closer to each other through this prayer time.
This prayer focus has been a blessing for so many. I’m glad that our church is doing this!
Marsha Wilson
My Sister and I pray on Saturdays in the afternoon. It is a time that we love and enjoy. Because it is just the two of us (3 because Jesus said where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name he is in the midst of us) we don’t have to worry about the amount of time that we spend in prayer. The first Saturday we prayed for 50 minutes. The 2nd meeting we prayed for 68 minutes; and the 3rd meeting we prayed for 75 minutes. It doesn’t feel like we are praying that long, time just flies by.
We use the Lord’s Prayer as our guide, and we are both blessed talking to God and listening to God in our moments when we are quiet. We also pray for the things that are going on in our society, praying for a spiritual revival and awakening. We also pray for the lost that they will have an opportunity to see the Love of Christ in and through us so that people will ask us about the hope that is in us. That the Holy Spirit will guide and direct you as you share. For it is the Holy Spirit that draws all men to himself.
We want to continue beyond August 31st in our prayer gathering on Saturdays. God Bless you
Barb Grunwald
Jim and I have been praying since before I retired the end of March that God would show us something we can do now that we have more time. We have also been praying, since the pandemic delayed our plan to take our first long trip with our fifth wheel, for guidance on when a good time would be to travel.
In the meantime, a dear friend in the Midwest has been figuring out that her husband has some major issues. He moved out earlier this year, and she was still living in their home with their three small children. Something she found out recently (she didn’t say exactly what, except that it made her call both the police and CPS) was so scary that she left home with the kids and has been hiding from him since then.
We briefly thought about loaning her the fifth wheel for a while, but that wasn’t practical long-distance, and then she said what she really wanted was our company. She asked if we could come and take her and the kids camping for a while.
We believe that this opportunity is God answering both of those prayers. We don’t know what we can do to help, other than spend some time with her, and it’s scary to not have any idea what will happen after we get there. But I remember Roger Minassian saying that he didn’t have any idea he would end up starting Hope Now for Youth, but God was faithful in providing guidance for the next step along the way, so we trust that God will do that here.
We left on July 27, and on the way we’re even getting to do some of the things we had planned to do on our long trip!
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