40 Days of Prayer INTRODUCTION. Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Colossians 4:2(NIV)

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1 40 Days of Prayer INTRODUCTION Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Colossians 4:2(NIV) A common theme is ringing out at State College Christian Church (SCCC) as we begin In reading the scriptures together at our first elders meeting this year we realized SCCC needs to make some adjustments if we are to be devoted to prayer. We made a commitment that very night that prayer needed more attention and it needed to start with us. A few weeks later at the Leadership Retreat, we worshipped, prayed, read scripture, brainstormed several ideas, shared plans etc. One theme continued to surface in all of our minds. We need to be devoted to prayer. In response we rearranged the church schedule for the next several weeks to develop new habits in our prayer life. The result is the 40 Days of Prayer. We believe 40 Days will change us forever! Colossians 4:2 is the cry of our heart. That you would devote yourself to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Devotion is defined as being loving and committed, feeling or showing great love, commitment, or loyalty to somebody or something, especially over a long period of time. We start our 40 Days of Prayer journey with the realization that we are all at different stages in our devotion to prayer. Where you begin is not the concern. What matters is where you end up. Let s not miss the opportunity to communicate with God. Colossians 4:2 tells us to be devoted to prayer and to be watchful. Being watchful is precisely what happens when we pray. We see things no one else sees -- even before others see them. Prayer gives us God s view. It heightens our awareness and enables us to perceive spiritual realities. When we are devoted to prayer, we become first-class noticers. We see the things God wants us to notice. The more you pray, the more you notice. The less you pray, the less you notice. It s just that simple. Our prayer is that we become first-class noticers of the things that matter to God! Because it Matters!

2 Day 1 February 21 "This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Matthew 6:9 (NIV) Hallowed simply means respected, regarded with great respect or reverence. Jesus starts this model prayer with a reminder that Our Father in Heaven is to be respected, revered. In the busyness of our lives we often forget to slow down and give God the respect He deserves. Let s start a new habit as we begin our 40 day prayer journey. Don t let a day go by that you don t intentionally hallow the name of God. Slow down and FULLY appreciate the beauty that is right before your eyes. It s there, you just need to look for it. Leonardo Da Vinci once observed that the average person: looks without seeing, listens without hearing, touches without feeling, eats without tasting, inhales without awareness of odor or fragrance, and talks without thinking. I wonder how God feels about that. The first disclosure of God in Genesis is that of a creator. The first recorded reaction to His creation is God stepping back and at the end of each day looking at what He had made. His reaction? God saw that it was good! On day six God steps back and the Bible tells us this: God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. Awe is a natural response to our Creator and His creation. When was the last time you stopped what you were doing to stand in awe of what the Creator has made? When we stand in awe of creation, when we stand in wonder at His work, it is a godly reaction. It is hallowing Him! Give it a try, stop what you are doing and hallow our Father in Heaven. Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?-- Corrie Ten Boom

3 Day 2 February 22 My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever. Psalm 145:21 (NIV) What are the priorities in your prayers? Do your prayers reflect praise to God for the blessings He has placed in your life? How do you think your prayers would change if praise became the priority? Sometimes the obstacles and challenges in our lives not only take over our prayers but also our perspective. The references to praising God throughout scripture are too numerous to mention! In your prayers today, make a conscious effort to first list every blessing God has placed in your life and give Him praise for each one. Take your time and carefully think about how many ways He has blessed you, your family, your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers, etc. You will find his blessings are more abundant than you ever imagined - give Him the praise He deserves!

4 Day 3 February 23 Let them praise your great and awesome name he is holy. Psalm 99:3 (NIV) Speaking with God, the creator of the universe, who made time and space that constrain our perceptions but does not restrict Him, is not a natural activity. It is supernatural. So how do we transition from a groggy and reluctant awakening by the alarm clock, the pressure of a two-exam school day, the distraction of a crowded grocery store, or the expectations of a small group prayer time to genuinely communicating with our heavenly Father? One way is to begin by recognizing and acknowledging His unique character. Psalm 99 provides a powerful depiction of God and His splendor. He is sovereign, He is mighty, He is just and He is holy. Verse 3 says Let them praise your great and awesome name he is holy. This attribute of God stands in such stark contrast to our surroundings that reflecting on God s holiness is just what we need to extract us from the natural into the experience of the supernatural. When we skip this acknowledgement, we run the risk of blurring our prayer time with the natural and thereby failing to appreciate the incredible privilege of being allowed, invited, and encouraged to approach the throne of the one and only God.

5 Day 4 February 24 O God, we meditate on your unfailing love as we worship in your Temple. As your name deserves, O God, you will be praised to the ends of the earth. Psalm 48:9-10 (NLT) How often do we take the time to really meditate on God's unfailing love for us? In this psalm, David is referring to the favor (unfailing love) that God has bestowed on His people, the Israelites. Even though they did not deserve it, God protected them and gave them victory in battle. He also made their land fruitful and blessed them with wealth. Like the Israelites, we also do not deserve His unfailing love, but He loves us none the less. In the book of John, it states that God loved us so much, that while we were yet sinners, He sent His son to die for our sins. If God can afford to lavish that much love upon us, the sinners, then the least we can do would be to daily offer Him the praises that He deserves. If you're like me, you've probably struggled with this part of prayer. Sometimes it feels as though we are flattering God, so that He will look favorably upon our prayers. The fact of the matter is, we cannot flatter God. He already knows how great He is. There is nothing we can say that could make Him feel any greater than He already is. He wants to know that we know how great He is. He wants to know that we know how awesome and how wonderful He is. It is really about us, and where our hearts are. Do we really appreciate all that God has done for us? Here are a couple of verses that help me to reflect on God's unfailing love. I hope they help and encourage you to offer Him the praise He deserves. John 3:15-17, Psalm 36:5, Psalm 63:2-4

6 Day 5 February 25 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Psalm 139:13-15 (NIV) Touch your eyelash. Go ahead! Isn t that cool! You can actually feel it. Our Creator did an incredible job of putting our bodies together. I recently finished reading Mark Batterson s book, Primal. I d like to share a few paragraphs from his book that I believe will help us as we praise God today: Nikola Tesla was on of history s most prodigious inventors. Tesla was granted more than a hundred U.S. patents. His most famous for alternating current is the power system that supplies our homes with easy access to electrical power via outlets. Every time you flip a switch, you owe Tesla a thank-you. Telsa had an idiosyncratic personality, but one ritual in particular is both revealing and inspiring. During thunderstorms, he would sit on a couch near a window in his home. Every time lightning struck and thunder clapped, Tesla would rise to his feet and applaud God. It was one genius, lowercase g, giving a standing ovation to another Genius, capital G. For the record, there are approximately two thousand thunderstorms somewhere on planet Earth at any given time. And there are approximately one hundred lightning strikes per second, or 8.64 million lighting strikes per day! That is a lot of standing ovations. But according to the psalmist, the angels shout, Encore! after each one. 1 When was the last time you cried or clapped for the Creator? When was the last time you gave Him a standing ovation? When was the last time you thanked God for a baby s smile or a child s laugh or a spouse s touch? When was the last time you were so awed by the night sky or autumn leaves or snowcapped mountains or ocean waves that you worshiped the Creator in wide-eyed wonder like a little child? The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Psalm 19:1(NIV) MAKE TIME TODAY TO PRAISE THE CREATOR WITH WIDE-EYED WONDER! Our ordinary views of prayer are not found in the New Testament. We look upon prayer as a means for getting something for ourselves; the Bible idea of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself. --Oswald Chambers 1 Batterson, Mark, Primal (Multnomah Books, 2009) p