This past Sunday, we began our current message series, “Vertical – Talking to God.”  We are going to spend six weeks learning about prayer and how we can grow our faith by relating to God through prayer.  If you missed the first message, click here to listen to or view the message.  As a part of this new series, we are entering a 40-Day Prayer Challenge.  By way of reminder, the 40-Day Prayer Challenge was 3-fold:

1. Be at each Sunday service to hear the messages in our “Vertical – Talking to God” prayer series (or listen online)
2. Set aside at least 10 minutes each day for a CHAT with God
3. Pray and ask God to do something in our church and community that only He could do.

One of the challenges of completing the Prayer Challenge is that your progress may be a little hard to track.  Unlike the New Testament Challenge earlier in the year, you don’t have any kind of a bookmark that can tell you if you’re keeping up or lagging behind.  I would encourage you to have a lot of grace with yourself in this challenge.  Do your best to pray each day.  If you miss a day, don’t sweat it.  Don’t beat yourself up.  God isn’t going to condemn you.  He just wants you.  He wants you to connect with Him and grow deeper.  So, if you “get behind”, just jump back into it when you realize your off track.

Also, I wanted to remind you of the CHAT prayer guide I briefly went over with you on Sunday.  It’s a great prayer starter for those who don’t feel like they know “how” to pray, and it’s also a good guide for the more seasoned prayer warrior. Here it is:

C – Confession: Spend some time confessing your sin, expressing your need for God’s forgiveness, asking for and RECEIVING that forgiveness

H – Honor: Spend some time reflecting back to God the honor He is due. For example, “God you are holy. You are perfect. You are so loving.  You are amazing.  You are a God of justice, but also of grace.” Statements like these are acts of honor/worship back to God.

A – Ask: This is “request” time.  Pray for your needs.  Pray for others.  Your family.  Your work.  Your country.  Your community.  Your church.  Pray and ask God about whatever.  He delights in hearing our requests.

T – Thanks: Take some time to thank God for the blessings in your life.  Thank him for answers to your prayers.  Thank him, in advance, for the prayers that He will be answering.

So keep on praying.  Approach God with confidence, knowing that Jesus’ death and resurrection has opened the way for us to come to God.  God loves us more than we know.  Spend that time seeking him and enjoy being His child.  God honors prayer.  I look forward to seeing and hearing what God does in and through us the next 40 days!