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    Day of Prayer & Fasting
April 20th, 2024

Using This Guide

Prayer is the most sublime energy of which the spirit of man is capable. It is, in one aspect, glory and blessedness; in another, it is toil and travail, battle and agony.

- Tim Challies (Prayer Is Hard Work)

Prayer is hard work. I’d hazard a bet that each of us has the desire to grow in consistency, depth, or fervency in our personal prayer time. This guide is designed as an aid to help by giving us scripture to pray through, questions to meditate on, and specific requests to pray for. 

The Pride of Morehead Festival is scheduled to run from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. This guide has four sections, each of which I intend to inform our prayers in 2-hour increments. I would encourage you to set aside 15-30 minutes of each hour to read and have focused prayer for these things. 


On Fasting

“Christian fasting is a believer’s voluntary abstinence from food for spiritual purposes.”

 - Donald S. Whitney

 

Fasting from what?

Food, not water, is the normal object of fasting in the Bible. Stay hydrated! Normally, fasting may be complete abstinence from food or partial abstinence, where you deny yourself a particular meal, full portions, or the delight of additional flavors (think plain white rice, unbuttered toast, etc.). You may choose to “fast” from other enjoyments, but I would encourage us all to join together in a full or partial fast from food.

 

Fasting for what?

Without a spiritual purpose, fasting is just a crash diet. By fasting, we do not compel God to answer our prayers. Instead, we intensify and focus our prayers and tangibly feel our dependence on Him as our bellies rumble. 

 

We are fasting together on this day for a few purposes:

  • That we would grow in compassion for LGTBQ+ individuals and their advocates
  • That the gospel would reach into this particular community
  • That they would be pierced to the heart and granted repentance and faith
  • That these perverse lies would not deceive more in our community and that false teachers condoning these lies would be put to shame

Our Hearts

Hear

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10

Jesus, in His earthly ministry, was called a “friend of sinners” because of who He spent his time with. Take a few minutes to read Luke 5-7. 

Reflect

When you see those immersed in or advocating for the LGBTQ+ community, what do you feel?
After reading these passages, can you imagine who Jesus would spend time with? Do you think you would react like the Pharisees?
We live in a society where it is easy only to engage people who are like us. Who do you rub shoulders with? Are you ever getting out of your comfort zone?


Cry Out

  • Confess any sins where you have hated, demeaned, degraded, or failed to do good to those around you. 
  • Ask for increasing compassion and love for sinners, especially those celebrating and reveling in their sin on this day. 
  • Pray for opportunities to engage and befriend members of the LGBTQ community. How can they hear unless someone preaches? 

Gospel Work

Hear

“He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him.” Hebrews 7:25

The gospel is the power of God to save. No darkness can resist its light. Reading Acts 9:1-31 to remind yourself of the gospel’s power to save even its most avid opponents. 

Reflect

  • Is there anyone or any type of people that you think can’t be saved? Now, is there anyone or any type of people that you act like can’t be saved?
  • When was the last time you shared the gospel with someone? Have you prayed for opportunities lately? Are you consciously looking throughout your day?
  • What were the sins you were given over to before your conversion? Think about what the power of the gospel has done in your own life! 

Cry Out

  • Believers are seeking to proclaim the gospel downtown today. Pray for bold yet winsome words. 
  • Ask the Lord to lead us in engaging this community as a congregation
  • Pray for opportunities to speak bold and gracious words at the Library, MSU’s campus, and throughout Main St. where this lifestyle is celebrated. 

The Lost

Hear

“Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?” Ezekiel 18:23


We are now in the middle of the day when you are likely the most hungry and weak. Let these things remind you that only God can satisfy the soul, and may they lead you to pray even more earnestly for God to make Himself known to the sinner. 

Cry Out

  • Pray for the safety of the LGTBQ+ community. We rightly oppose many public policies that enable and promote these lifestyles in the public sphere. However, we are unequivocally against the propagation of violence against those who rebel against God in these ways. 
  • Read & Pray over Psalm 51 with the LGTBQ+ community in mind. 
  • Read & Pray over Psalm 63 with the LGTBQ+ community in mind. 
  • Meditate and memorize Romans 2:4. Let it inform your prayers, especially for those who have heard the gospel proclaimed downtown today.
  • Do you know anyone who is personally engaged in this lifestyle? Share their name with one another so that we can pray specifically for their salvation. 

False Teachers


Hear

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” 2 Timothy 2:3-4


We should not be surprised at the prevalence of false teachings and perversions of the gospel that exist. We must be on guard against them, warn one another of them, and confront their teachers. 

Cry Out

  • Pray that our children would be protected from the lies the world has to offer concerning gender,  identity, and sexual ethics.
  • Pray that parents would be equipped to instruct them in the way of the Lord and to help their children respond to the lies of the world. 
  • Pray that RCC would guard against any teaching that allows or excuses sin in our midst. 
    There are churches and ministries in our community that reject God’s design of gender, marriage, and sexual ethics. 
  • Pray for the repentance of their leaders and participants
  • Pray for the Lord to thwart their efforts
  • Pray that those who hear would not be satisfied
  • Pray that the true gospel would touch hearts with the bitterness of sin and the sweetness of grace.