National Day of Prayer

Tomorrow, Wednesday, May 5 is National Day of Prayer!

Strategic Renewal, an organization that has been helping people for years by focusing on Transforming Prayer which Transforms Lives. They shared the history behind the National Day of Prayer…

In 1775 the Continental Congress allocated a time for prayer in forming a new nation. Over the years, there have been calls for a day of prayer, including from President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. On April 17, 1952, President Harry Truman signed a bill proclaiming the National Day of Prayer into law in the United States. President Reagan amended the law in 1988, designating the first Thursday of May each year as the National Day of Prayer. (source: https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/national-day-prayer)

In fact, they will be hosting on Facebook Live a time of prayer that you are welcome to join in on tomorrow at 9:00 am or 6:00 pm. This will be a wonderful time to grow in prayer, honor this national day of prayer and join with others as we intentionally PAUSE.

Just go to their Facebook page at the times listed above or, potentially, any time after to participate.

Blessings on your day,

Pastor Tim

Fasting

The purpose of fasting is to give us to more moments with Jesus.

That is why the Lord says,

“Turn to me now, while there is time.

Give me your hearts.

Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. - Joel 2:12 (NLT)

Typically in scripture they fasted from food, but there are so many things that we “love” that if we paused them for awhile it would help us to focus on Scripture and Prayer.

What are some examples?

• The preparation, eating and cleaning up of a meal takes a significant amount of time. Skipping a meal each day during this time would give more time to Pause.

• Social Media takes a lot of time and so cutting it out or limiting it will allow us to spend more time with our Father.

• Maybe it isn’t a specific item, but a block of time. Perhaps, you set an alarm on your phone to remind you to stop whatever you are doing in order to focus on God for an extended period of time.

• Distractions can be healthy, but during this time it might be good to eliminate a little (or a lot of) TV, play less video games or stop crushing the candies for a few weeks in order to dial in to His Word and Prayer.

Whatever it may be… choose it, follow through with it and depend on the Holy Spirit to give you strength to stay committed to it.

Blessings,

Pastor Tim

Pause Info

Life can be crazy... home, work, school, kids, hobbies, and so much more can come together and makes us want to just press pause on life. What if we did? What if we purposely stopped something we love and spent that time focusing on prayer and scripture. We would still be working, caring for our family and more, but spending more time focusing on what God wants from us.