Prayer Challenge – Day 10

God’s Big Vision: his vision for your neighbours

People are every neighbourhood’s most important asset. Without neighbours, there would be no neighbourhoods.  Our blocks, streets and suburbs are full of our actual neighbours.  If we are to take Jesus’ command seriously, those are the people we are to love.

Many of us have understood this command outside of our neighbourhoods.  We’ve made it about people who are out there somewhere – perhaps those we run into on the bus, at work or in school.  This isn’t wrong.  However, our neighbours, first and foremost, are the people we live next to.  Whether they are the people across your fence in the suburb, sleeping on the next mat to you in the shelter, or across the back alley in the Elm-lined areas of our city, these are our real neighbours.

The Challenge:

Today, ask God to show you how you can love one of your neighbours.  Perhaps it starts with finding out their name…

“Love your neighbour as yourself.” Matthew 22:39, Romans 13:9

3 times a day 30 days

Prayer Challenge – Day 9

God’s Big Vision: his vision for your neighbourhood

Throughout the bible, God seemed to be concerned with location. Daniel was in Babylon for most of his life and, as we’ll explore later in this series, God helped him prosper in that land. In the very beginning, God created a beautiful garden for Adam and Eve to live in – and called the whole thing very good. Later on he gave the Hebrew people a particular piece land to live on. Jesus came and lived during a precise period of time, on a very specific piece of real estate.

The Message says Jesus “moved into the neighbourhood”. He’s not a God who is disconnected from the land we live on, only concerned with the relational ties to those who occupy it. He also cares deeply about where we live and the places we go. We are, after all, made from the dust of the earth and he called it good. Our streets and alleys matter to him. God likes your neighbourhood, if even if you don’t! He loves Winnipeg, and all of it’s unique areas that are full of people who need him.

The Challenge:

Today, ask God to show you today at least one reason why he loves your neighbourhood. You may want to take a walk and ask him while you’re out.

“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.” John 1:14

3 times a day 30 days

Prayer Challenge – Day 8

God’s Big Vision: his vision for your life

Death by lions is certainly not a pleasant thought.  But Daniel didn’t allow the threat of lions to deter him from his vision.  Don’t get me wrong – the lions were real and Daniel didn’t ignore this reality.  In fact, he prayed with desperation to be delivered from them (6:11).  But even in this intense situation, he prayed in the direction of Jerusalem – a land that encapsulated his long-term hope and God’s promise.  He didn’t let his circumstances dictate his calling in life.

It’s easy to be side-tracked by the “lions” in our lives.  However, we must take them seriously and at the same time hold true to the long-range, big picture that God is calling each one of us to live into.

Today, ask God to help you name your lions, deliver you from them and keep you eyes fixed on that distant land of Jerusalem (whatever that is for you).  You may want to use some of the following movements to fuel your prayer:

  • From arrogance & murmuring towards humility & contentment.
  • From greed & self-advancement towards generosity and compassion.
  • From personal gain towards unselfishness.
  • From personal strength / ability towards reliance on God’s provision.
  • From addiction towards freedom.

“[Daniel] went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.” 6:10

3 times a day 30 days

Prayer Challenge – Day 7

God’s Big Vision: his vision for your life

What do you love?  What dreams do you have that may be from God?  Some of us are afraid to have vision for our life.  Some of us have had the dreams beaten out of us.  But this doesn’t change the fact that God has exciting plans for each of his kids.

Could it be that some of your desires are from God?  The Psalmist sang that if you take delight in the Lord, he would give you the desires of your heart (37).  We have a Father who really wants the best for us – not just what’s good for us (think Buckley’s cough syrup). It’s our job to take delight in him (he already delights in us).

Today, ask the Lord to show you which of your desires are actually his desires.

“He’s always given me what I’ve desired, or rather, He’s made me desire what He wanted to give me.” St. Therese de Lisieux

3 times a day 30 days

Prayer Challenge – Day 6

God’s Big Vision: his vision for your life

Most of us overestimate what we can accomplish in one year and underestimate what we can accomplish over a lifetime.  God has vision for each of us.  He has plans and dreams for us.  Daniel prayed three times a day with his windows opened toward Jerusalem.  He prayed facing his long-term dream of one day returning to his homeland.

What is God’s vision for you?  What does he have for you to accomplish?  What does he see when he looks through the windows of your life?  Today, begin a conversation with God about these questions.

“The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why.” Mark Twain

3 times a day 30 days

Prayer Challenge – Day 5

God’s Big Vision for You: his vision for you today

If God were to speak one word to you today, one phrase or thought, what would it be?  God sees you as you are now, but also as you will one day be.  He sees the future you just as clearly as he sees you today.

Ask God to give you a word, a thought or a picture for today that speaks of who he’s calling you to be.

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” 1 Cor 13

3 times a day 30 days

Gadlang Village Conference

One of the most remote and poorest Vineyard churches in the world just hosted a conference.  The village is called Gadlang and is in Nepal near the border of Tibet.  Amazing things happened as the believers pooled together resources and sought God together.  It’s a story of risk and reward.  Read about it here on the Himalayan Region Church’s website!

Prayer Challenge – Day 4

God’s Big Vision for You: his presence with you today

So many of us rush through our days without any thought or awareness of God’s presence with us.  But the reality is that he is always with us.  Perhaps God’s greatest wish for you today is simply that you are aware of his desire to be with you.  That, today, you would simply be awake to his presence.

Ask God to show how he is with you in the regular, mundane activities of your day.

“Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.” Rev 21

3 times a day 30 days

Prayer Challenge – Day 3

A Big Vision of God: how big is your God?

Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed “who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” when three brave Hebrew men refused to bow and worship him.  They were thrown into a fiery furnace for their disobedience to the king (and for their obedience to God).  When the king saw the three Hebrew men walking unharmed in the flames along with one other “person” walking with them, he changed his tune and exclaimed, “there is no other god who is able to deliver this way!”

When we see that God is bigger than our circumstances, it changes how we see our present situations. He may not take our problems away, but he will be with us, just like he was with those in the furnace.

Ask God to reveal his presence with you in a special way today.

3 times a day 30 days

Prayer Challenge – Day 1 (an introduction)

The vision is to see everyone in WCV walk in a daily awareness and anticipation of God’s presence, and to see that awareness and reality spill out to those around them. We’ll start with a 30-day challenge: Pray 3 times a day for 30 days.

When we set aside time, seek God’s heart, and get a sense of his vision for our lives, our communities and our neighbourhoods, big things can happen. That’s what happened for Daniel. His prayer life set the stage for some life-saving miracles.

For us, there may not be physical lions waiting to devour us, but the call to pray is no less urgent today than it was in Daniel’s time and our lions can be just as deadly. We believe God will do amazing things among us as we devote ourselves to him in this way, together. When his children turn their hearts and attention towards him, he will respond (it’s a promise).

There are three movements of prayer that we’re inviting you to consider during these 30 days.

3 times a day 30 days

3 Times a Day – MORNING, DAYTIME & EVENING

Morning:

Screen Shot 2014-10-31 at 7.16.28 PMThe morning is full of promise for the day ahead. It’s about looking forward into the future. In the morning ask God what his vision is for you today. What would he like to say to you, show you, and invite you to participate in? Throughout the prayer challenge, we will offer suggestions about what to pray for or think about. But feel free to set it up in a way that works for you.

I pray that the eyes of my heart be enlightened to know the hope of my calling.” Ephesians 1:19

Daytime:

Screen Shot 2014-10-31 at 9.10.45 PMThe day is all about the present and living out the vision you received in the morning. This is when we put flesh to our prayers – the “walking it out” part of prayer. Throughout your day, look for signs of what God spoke in the morning, and/or answers to your morning’s prayers. You may want to be very practical and set an alarm at a particular time during the day to pray. There may also be some kind of action that you’ll need to engage in or there may be some kind of prayer that you’ll need to pray. Whatever it is, make it specific.

“The eyes of the Lord move back and forth across the earth, searching for those whose hearts are truly his, so that he may strongly support them.” 2 Chronicles 16:9

Evening:

Screen Shot 2014-10-31 at 7.16.55 PMThe evening is about reflection. After it’s all said and done, look back in gratitude. Thank God for, not only his presence with you today, but for what he showed you, what he spoke to you, how he revealed himself to you. Maybe you have a sense of completion, perhaps something is birthing in you that will take years to come to fruition. Whatever the case, you’re a day closer now. Keep faithful, keep at it, be thankful, write it down – and rest.

 “Whatever was true, fitting, extraordinary, pure, beautiful, won my respect” Philippians 4

“Write it down on tablets.”

Screen Shot 2014-10-31 at 7.17.16 PMThis is what God told Habakkuk to do with his prayers. Something happens when we put our prayers and prayerful thoughts into writing. Consider keeping some kind of journal for these 30 days. We all need a record to refer to. Most of our memories are short, especially when it comes to prayer. So, whether you’re inclined towards pen & paper, painting a picture, a magazine collage, some other kind of creative (or non-creative) reflection, or an actual tablet, make sure you do something. You won’t be disappointed. For today, let’s simply ask God to reveal himself to us over the course of this 30-Day Prayer Challenge!

For today, let’s simply ask God to reveal himself to us over the course of this 30-Day Prayer Challenge!

Stay tuned for corporate times of prayer and worship…

 

 

30 Day Prayer Challenge

Windows OpenThe 30-Day Prayer Challenge is a practical application of our “Windows Open: how to pray like Daniel” series.  Since we’ve been exploring prayer in the life of Daniel, we’d like to challenge all of us to make it real in our lives.

 

It’s a call to pray three times a day for 30 days.

 

King Darius commanded that everyone in the whole empire should pray only to him for 30 days.  It was during this time that Daniel defiantly opened his windows to Jerusalem and prayed, as was his habit, three times a day.  These actions landed Daniel in the lion’s den, which set the stage for an amazing miracle.  As we devote ourselves to walking and talking with God, we too will experience his presence in profound ways.

Next Sunday (Nov 2), we will provide info and daily prayer activities for this challenge.  There will also be daily notifications here on the Vineyard website and email list.

Are you up for it?  Let’s do it and see how God responds!

 

3 times a day 30 days

 

WCV Craft Sale – coming up

Sale Date: Saturday November 29
Time:         10am – 4pm

Another exciting chance for all WCVers to support this important fund raiser to benefit our Nepalese Womens Ministry and our own Worship Arts Community.

Here’s how you can help:
1. Volunteer for a few hours at various stations – Parking/ Cookie Table /Raffle Table /Neechi Food Concession/ Tear Down.
Contact: John Rademaker  204-228-0042   email:  johnrademaker1@gmail.com

2. Tell your family and friends about this unique chance to buy Christmas gifts or things you need.

3. Pray for the event and the blessings of the Lord on all activities and efforts.

Let’s get ready for this event.

Craft Sale Facebook page: www.facebook.com/events/732137810204291/

Website Event Page: www.thirdandbirdevents.com/shoppers/markets/