Church family, thank you making the unified commitment to seek the Lord during our Urgent Gospel 36 hours of prayer+ fasting from 7pm October 14th-7am October 16th.Below are the 5 prayer sessions we are asking you to partake in during this period of 36 hours. You can choose to pray alone, with family, or with others (small group) during each session. No matter whether at home, work, school or wherever you find yourself please just make the commitment to pray during each session. Also below are some notes on fasting for those who are new to this spiritual discipline. You’ll also be able to join Pastor Dave live if desired for an introduction to each of these sessions through social media during the 36 hour pray+fasting period.
Prayer Sessions
Prayer Session #1 (Tuesday evening): GLOBAL CHURCH - Pray for Christians around the world, specifically those right now who are experiencing severe persecution for Jesus Christ and His Church.
Prayer Session #2 (Wed morning): CHURCH IN AMERICA - Pray for the Church in the U.S., that God would wake us up from complacency and use us mightily in this critical time in our nation to be urgent with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Prayer Session #3 (Wed afternoon): LOCAL CHURCH - Pray for TBC, that God would unite us as a local body to reach out into our communities to see Jesus transform lives through our unified mission to develop followers of Christ.
Prayer Session #4 (Wed evening): FAMILY UNIT - Pray for the family unit in our world and nation, that God would strengthen the fabric of His design for families as revival begins in our homes.
Prayer Session #5 (Thursday morning): THE LOST - Pray for the lost at large that God would use His Church to be urgent with His gospel, including pray by name individuals the Lord puts on your heart during this period.
Notes on fasting
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Unlike the ordinances of communion and baptism, fasting is not a command of Christ in Scripture for His Church.
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With that said, Jesus fasted (Matthew 4), taught on it, and the apostles and others modeled fasting as a healthy spiritual discipline.
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Jesus taught that fasting (Matthew 6:16-18) should not be for a public show (self-righteous pharisees), but a humble discipline of prayer before the Lord.
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We see in Scripture fasting almost always was connected to setting aside meals/food in order to devote that time to prayer.
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Fasting+prayer was a discipline done often in groups, including when big decisions/moments were at hand for the Church (Acts 13:2-3, Acts 14:23, Mark 2:18).
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The main focus of fasting is not so much what a believer is giving up (food/something else), instead it’s the dedicated time commitment one is sacrificing in order to fix their eyes/heart/mind on the Lord for a specific purpose in prayer.
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Whether you fast the full 36 hours, for one meal, or not at all due to physical/other limitations, please make it a priority to most importantly join us in prayer for each of the five prayer sessions.
