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A Focus on Prayer

By Pastor Brian Wipf

The Lord is convicting me more and more that since God is the true worker of his kingdom plan, we need to be more in prayer. Remember our 3rd heart statement? Prayer is our greatest work. Prayer is our call to God to do what only he can do; it’s our expression of faith in him as the true worker of his gracious plan. It’s our declaration that we are powerless to accomplish the work that must be done for the glory of God to shine in our world.

For three weeks in January, we are going to be focusing on prayer. We are doing this with hundreds of other churches around the country. Our national association of churches called Converge Worldwide (our regional district, the one we connect with more regularly, is called Converge Great Lakes) is organizing churches across the US to dedicate three weeks in January to prayer. I thought that would be a good thing for us to do, too.

Starting Sunday, January 13, I will preach three sermons on prayer. My hope with this little mini series will be to highlight the greatness of our God, our need for his grace, and our privilege to pray to him.

In addition to three sermons for this January emphasis on prayer, we will also be providing you a prayer journal. These prayer journals are designed for us to all have a common prayer for each day of the three weeks we are focused on prayer together. The prayer for each day is taken from some passage in God’s word with additional encouragement and insight to help us know how we should pray. Then, finally, there’s a place for us to all journal what we’ve prayed for and what God is saying to us.

I share this with you now so you can get ready; so you can prepare. One reason why we might stumble out of the gate and not participate to the degree we may initially want is because we’re not ready. So, FBC: get ready! Think about carving extra time and energy to focus on prayer in the month of January. Even though you don’t know all the details, you can still prepare your heart and mind for the coming month. Because here’s something I’m pretty sure of: the Evil One, our Adversary, will be working against our efforts to come together in unifying prayer to God so that he might overthrow sin, unbelief, and darkness in our own lives and in our county.

As your pastor, I want to encourage you to join me in this spiritual endeavor. Prayerfully consider the following:

  1. Make a point to come and worship together on Sundays to hear God speak to us about prayer. I am going to dig into God’s word to find truthful and gracious words to help us connect to God in prayer.
  2. Pick up a prayer journal and use it for three weeks. I’m excited about praying the same prayer of all of you for three straight weeks. I wonder, “What might God do in me and in our church family by all of us praying the same thing together!” I’m hopeful this will bring a greater sense of unity.
  3. Spread the news. Share our plan with others whether they are FBCers or not. You can be an encouragement to other FBCers who might be doubting if this will be worth doing. Or imagine someone from your neighborhood, from your class, from your place of employment joining you in this prayer effort. That would be pretty amazing, right?

I’m excited; I hope what I’ve shared stirs some hope and enthusiasm in you, too. Remember, prepare your heart, FBC, so you’re ready to go.