How to Participate in for His Name 56 Days of Praying

Leader’s Notes…

How to Participate in “For His Name…”—56 Days of Praying

From The Beginning in Genesis 1:1 to the last verse of Revelation 22, the Glory of the Lord is on display—the Honor of His Name. He is enthroned in glory, revealing His glory in the creation, in the covenants Old and New, and ultimately in Christ and the church. It is right to live for and pray for His Name to be honored. That is not so in many lives, in much of our nation, even in many churches. God is at work to reveal His honor and glory in this world. He invites us to join Him. One of the clearest doorways is that of prayer—personal, family, corporate, even community-wide, state-wide, nation-wide. God is inviting us in many ways, even through the calamities around us, evidence of a measure of remedial judgment. These are days of urgency for Jesus Christ, the Righteous One to be heard, believed, and obeyed. In these days, with evidence of a hand of judgment, we have not lost hope. God’s Hand of Mercy is also extended (Lamentations 3:19-25). There is still hope. Literally, we still “have a prayer.” Many calls to prayer are surfacing. “For His Name…” is one of those calls to prayer.

“For His Name—For My Neighbor—For Our Nation”—A Prayer Call to 56 Days of Praying—September 16—November 10, 2012. These dates cover eight Sundays leading up to Election Day. This is an opportunity to focus attention on the Lord, our neighbors, our communities, and our nation as we speak His Word in our worship services, our small group times, our various in-reach and outreach events, and our individual and family times.

There are several ways to Participate in “For His Name…”—56 Days of Praying. These include Personal Prayer, Family Prayer, Prayer Partner

Prayer, Congregational Prayer, and Community-wide Prayer.

Individual (see the “For YOU Personally” page on the back of the “For His Name…” Prayer Calendar)

1—First, the 56-Day Prayer Calendar is designed to give a specific focus each day grouped around one of seven focus points. The Seven Points are Glory—Purity—Authority—Family—Security—Economy—Eternity. The explanation is given on the “For YOU Personally” page of the Prayer Calendar along with further details.

2—A Second opportunity for any individual (or together with others) is a Day of Prayer and Fasting and/or a Personal Day of Prayer. To sign up for one of the 56 days go to www.flbaptist.org/56DaysofPraying. You will also find free downloads of Guidelines on Prayer with Fasting or the prayer help How to Deal with Sin, as well as the booklet How to Spend a Day in Prayer.

Church or Group

1—Take a Day to Pray, One of the 56 Days—To help further focus our prayers, we are encouraging individuals, churches, associations, and other ministries to take a 24-hour Time of Prayer on one (or more) of the 56 Days—Prayer Times “For His Name… For My Neighbor… For Our Nation.”

How? Simply choose one of the 56 days, September 16—November 10. … Go to www.flbaptist.org/56DaysofPraying, select your Day and sign up as a church, group, association, or ministry.

How does one conduct a 24-Hour Time of Prayer? Each church can fit its Day(s) of Prayer to the burden the Lord gives each one. For several suggestions, see the one page resource How a Church Can Pray a Day a free downloadable one-page Guideline at www.flbaptist.org/56DaysofPraying.

2—Prayer Wave… A local church Day of Prayer could be part of a Bigger Prayer Wave across an Association, a County, or a Community in which several churches join together in a Wave of Prayer, one church after another covering a 24-Hour period, handing off “the baton” to the next church as all join in praying “For His Name”… “For My Neighbor”… for one another, for neighbors, for the community, the Association, and “For Our Nation.” Where we have seen a Wave of Prayer, we have seen God do many wonderful works. For guidelines on this see How to Have a Community-wide “Prayer Wave” at www.flbaptist.org/56DaysofPraying .

3—PrayerEveryWhere. Consider prayer walking the streets, homes, schools, businesses, and recreation areas around your church. Draw a one mile, two mile, etc. circle around your place of ministry. Then begin prayer walking that area during these 56 days. Include praying for the Voter Locations. For free downloadable Guidelines go to www.flbaptist.org/56Days ofPraying and Click on the one-page PrayerEveryWhere and/or the booklet Prayer in Motion (Prayer Walking).

4—Eight Sundays of Outreach… One of the focus points in this 56-Day time of Prayer is “For My Neighbor.” People are dying for a word of Hope. Many are very anxious about the economy, the nation, the elections, even the world scene. Many are also still empty, though they have tried to fill the void in their lives with many different things. This Fall—these 56 Days—could be a time to give Hope, give Answers from the God of the Word, and show Love “For My Neighbor” in prayer and in sharing the message of Christ. These 56 Days of Prayer cover eight (8) Sundays and could be a focused time of prayer and ministry for each local church. Seek the Lord for how He would lead you in your church in praying and reaching your community with the Gospel.

One option is an eight-week series matching the Seven Points—Glory, Purity, Authority, Family, Security, Economy, Eternity with an Introductory Sunday to begin the series. For example, these seven elements are found in the Disciples’ Prayer (The Lord’s Prayer)—Glory (He is our Heavenly Father, marked by glory in every dimension)—Purity (His Name Hallowed as it should be, thus our emphasis… “For His Name…”)—Authority (His Kingdom coming)—Family (His will done on earth as in Heaven)—Security (His supply of daily bread to do His will and honor His name and to deal with sin His way, finding forgiveness and grace to forgive others)—Economy (His is the kingdom and power for life God’s way)—Eternity (His is the glory forever in every dimension). There are other series that can focus attention on Him such as how Jesus taught on and served as an example of each of these Seven Points. THE Point is to honor His Name… “For His Name”… to pray and seek the good of, to be “For My Neighbor”… and to pray and speak the truth “For Our Nation.”

Consider a Series on Revival and Spiritual Awakening in September and October. For excellent resources such as “Preaching Toward Revival,” “Revivals in the Bible,” “Marks of True Revival,” “Spiritual Awakenings in North America,” plus much more go to www.onecry.com/church-resources/sermon-resources/.

5—Options for a Forty Day Period of Prayer and On-going Prayer in 2012. Several ministries have developed a 40-Day Plan of Prayer for seeking God for personal and national revival and spiritual awakening. Here is a partial list of some excellent plans for Forty Days of Prayer. These can be adapted to your church schedule and to the specifics of your ministry.

Ø “The 40/40 Prayer Vigil”—The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and the North American Mission Board (NAMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention have teamed up to bring “The 40/40 Prayer Vigil.” It includes guidance for 40 Days of Prayer concluded by 40 hours of intensive prayer. To read or download this free resource, go to www.erlc.com/4040/prayer_guide_download/.

Ø Forty Days of Seeking God for Revival, Elections, and Key Leaders by Greg Frizzell is a resource is a personal and church-wide journey for seeking God. This book is a valuable tool available for churches to purchase at discounted rates. This resource will also be available on Kindle in August 2012. For more info Email . Greg Frizzell also has a downloadable 40-Days of Seeking God Prayer Guide available at our website, www.flbaptist.org/56DaysofPraying.

Ø Harvest Prayer Ministries has a plan for 40 Days of Prayer—September 28—November 6. One of the key resources is Desperate for Change by Dave Butts, chairman of America’s National Prayer Committee. This is a 40-Day devotional guide to seeking God for our nation (available late August). To view this and several other resources available for individuals and churches go to www.harvestprayer.com.

Ø The Intercessors for America ministry has several resources for ongoing prayer involvement now. Go to www.ifapray.org for further info.

6—One Cry is a nationwide call to prayer for spiritual awakening. Several resources are available for personal prayer as well as for church wide prayer. Go to www.OneCry.com to look over these helps and resources and select those useful to you and your church. Three core resources are Draw a Circle, Praying for Spiritual Awakening and Building a Revival Culture (in the local church). Go to www.onecry.com/onecry-resource-library/core-resources/. Scroll to each of these resources to click on the free PDF download.

7—Creative Options. God delights in being creative, in giving His people, His leaders, His churches creative ways to reach out to others, to minister in His Name, to show Himself, His love, and His call to repentance and faith. Seek the Lord about His call to you, to your church. As we seek Him, He can be very creative in guiding us in reaching where He has placed each of us.

This is about thinking and praying and reaching out with a heart and mindset of…

Bowing Downward—Calling Upward—Reaching Outward—Kingdom Forward!

Prayer and Spiritual Awakening Team

Florida Baptist Convention