"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Philippians 4:6-7
In my prayer time this week, I felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to have a day of prayer and fasting in our sanctuary. This is a time of great sadness for people, and each day we are talking to those who are struggling and suffering in very real and painful ways. This is a time of great anxiety for many, who are overwhelmed by the conflicts around the world and the state of politics in our nation. This is a time people have turned away from God, and are lost and alone. This is a time of crisis in various aspects of our society, which means a sad reality for a lot of people. This is a time when the Church is being pressed in on many sides and is needing to discern how to truly follow Jesus together.
A few weeks ago, we had a time of prayer in the sanctuary on Sunday morning, where the Lord met us in powerful and life-giving ways. We wanted to extend another time for you to come and pray, and we wanted to invite you to fast with us. The Bible teaches us to seek God in times of worry and distress. Jesus taught us to humbly come in prayer, expecting God to answer. We are told to fast and pray before the Lord, in order to have our senses more attuned to God’s voice. Fasting from food is a response before God in a time of grief or to prepare ourselves for a sacred moment. We give up our regular eating patterns in order to present ourselves before God free from our reliance on anything but Him, which we are hoping you will join us in.
This day of prayer will be in the sanctuary on October 24th, from 6:00am-6:00pm. You are invited to come anytime and pray or you can set aside an hour to do so at home. There will be various times during the day where pastors will be available to pray with you at the altar as well, which we will post. We will provide scripture prompts and writing materials, in case you want to write down your prayers. We will then end with worship in the sanctuary at 6:30pm, at the Thursday evening service, where Pastor Helen will be preaching on the Transfiguration, a moment when heaven and earth came together in a miraculous way.
What an amazing thing that we have a God who invites us to seek and to knock and to ask. We have a God who invites us to join Him in interceding for the needs around us. We take this invitation seriously and hope you will join us for the day of fasting and praying.
~Pastor Colleen, for the entire pastoral staff
(if you are physically not able to fast from food, we recommend you to let go of a daily aspect of your life that you rely upon, in order to be fully present to God’s Spirit.)