2012 is the Year of Prayer–YOP.
We kick it off with a 21-Day prayer challenge from January 10-31. If you want to be part of it, whether you are an NCCer or not, you can sign-up for a daily devotional delivered via email @ theaterchurch.com/circlemaker.
Why 21 days? Well, there is nothing magical about it, but that is the generally accepted number of days that it takes to establish a daily habit. And that is the goal. That is also how long Daniel had to pray through to experience his breakthrough. Honestly, it doesn’t really matter whether it’s 20 or 22 days, but we chose 21 days.
What are you committing to? That’s up to you. You need to make a personal commitment to pray as you feel led. And if you the Holy Spirit to guide you He will. We’ll have corporate times for prayer in the evenings and the mornings at NCC, but this is also about cultivating a personal prayer habit. That might be an hour a day for 21 days. It might mean a Daniel Fast coupled with prayer. It might mean praying through the gospels or epistles. One word of advice: fasting without reading Scripture is called a diet. You need to not just subtract physical food. You need to add spiritual food. If you need help on the fasting front, pick up a copy of Jentezen Franklin’s wonderful book, The Fasting Edge.
If it helps, here is my plan. I’m doing a complete fast for 24 hours to kick it off and close it out. I’ll do a Daniel Fast in between. My goal is to pray an hour a day for 21 days. That is inspired by the question Jesus asked the disciples: “Could you not tarry one hour?” I’ll also try something I’ve never done–a full day of prayer with just my Bible and my prayer journal. Finally, I’ll read through the epistles because I feel like that has been missing from my spiritual diet.
For the record, I think it’s less about your plan and more about your motivation. If you are desperate to know God more He will honor your plan.
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