We invite you to join with us as a district family in 60 days of Prayer and Fasting.Beginning with Ash Wednesday, February 17 and continuing to our Mission Advance Sunday, April 18, we are asking ourselves to participate in an intensified time of prayer and waiting on the Lord who has called us to Himself and to His mission.
This invitation is both personal and corporate!We will participate as individuals, but we are also being invited to participate as churches, bible studies, cell groups, and other ministry groups that meet for prayer and ministry.Each week we will include some additional resources – such as areas of concern and a specific prayer focus- if you care to use the information.
These 60 days are specifically set aside as a time to “seek God’s face” and to “listen for His voice,” but also to prepare our churches and each of us for the mission to which we have been called.
Will you join us?As one author stated it, “No shopping or gift purchases are required for this sacred journey. Just the resolve to be still in the presence of God.”
What is fasting?
Bill Bright suggests that fasting is the most powerful spiritual discipline of all the Christian disciplines. Through fasting and prayer, the Holy Spirit can transform your life.Fasting and prayer can also work on a much grander scale. According to Scripture, personal experience and observation, I am convinced that when God's people fast with a proper Biblical motive-seeking God's face not His hand-with a broken, repentant, and contrite spirit, God will hear from heaven and heal our lives, our churches, our communities, our nation and world. Fasting and prayer can bring about revival - a change in the direction of our nation, the nations of earth and the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
To ensure that you are not doing physical harm to yourself, please consult with this information from Campus Crusade (click here)
Fasting does not have to mean only giving up a meal or food.It does mean giving something that we love or desire.In addition to a meal, it could include such things as a certain food or liquid type; television; a specific activity; or something that allows your heart and mind to focus and depend upon the presence of God in your life.
Suggestions for the week: April 12 - April 18
Here are some suggestions to follow for this week:
1. Read Psalm 30, John 21: 1-19, and Revelation 5:11-14; and reflect on these passages through the week.
2. Pray for:
A. Yourself - to be instruments of blessing to your family, your friends, and your community.
B. Easter Fruit - the fruit (or the seeds sown) though the special moments of our recent Easter Celebrations.
C. Your church and district - and those in leadership. Pray especially for the NMI Convention, the NYI Convention, and District Assembly (Mission Advance 2010) preparations. Pray for the movement of God in our gatherings.
D. The countries of Haiti and Chile and the people who are
seeking to rebuild as they deal with the grief of lost loved ones.
E. The country of Poland and the people who mourn over the loss of their president, his wife, and many of the top political leaders of that nation.
F. Use this prayer to prepare us for our Mission Advance 2010:
O God, give us the will and the desire to
launch out into
deep waters, and to aim for the goals that are high and difficult; make
us
responsive to great things when they call us; when our own powers are
inadequate, show us where to turn for the help we need. - Theodore
Parker Ferris
Mid-Atlantic District Resource Center . 108 Central Avenue . Glen Burnie, MD 21061
Phone: 443-557-0450 . Fax: 443-557-0455 . Email: manazoffice@gmail.com
