5 Days of Prayer & Fasting

Our church family is embarking on a time of prayer-filled fasting October 7th through the 11th. Here are the points of focus for each day.

October 7 | Prayerful dependence

• Confess sin regularly to God and one another, seeking reconciliation and offering forgiveness
• Confident in God’s love and power
• Depend on God to move more than we trust ourselves to ‘fix things’
• Constant communication with God; “abide in Christ”
• Dependent, hopeful, honest, persistent, joyful

► Psalm 143:7-10 | Answer me quickly, O LORD! My spirit fails!
Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD! I have fled to you for refuge.
Teach me to do your will, for you are my God!
Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!
► Matthew 6:7-15 | And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.


October 8 | Missional living

• 10 people would turn from their old life and put faith in Jesus’ atoning sacrifice
• We would see Jesus as our only hope in life and death; not conform to the culture’s offerings of hope/salvation
• Greater burden for the lost, leading to intentional relationships and conversations
• ARK events and community meals hosted by the community groups
• Pray for specific lost people you know using the prayers on the back of the Oikos document

► Matthew 28:18-20 | And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
► Acts 1:8 | But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
► Romans 12:1-2 | I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
 
October 9 | Weekly gatherings

• 60 attendees at Sunday gatherings by the end of 2019
• Take initiative to serve our visitors and one another
• Each one would prepare his heart before the gathering, anticipating God would move by convicting us of sin, mutual encouragement, and conforming us to his Son’s image
• See God as holy and worthy of all praise
• Love God, his Word, and his people

► Mark 12:30-31 | And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
► Matthew 20:28 | even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
► Acts 2:42 | And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.


October 10 | Wise stewardship

• Internal giving would grow to 60 percent of our budget by the end of 2019
• Release our time, talents, and treasure for God’s use 
• Grow in generosity toward our neighbors and God’s worldwide mission
• More families and churches outside RMCC would give toward God’s mission in KC

► 1 Chronicles 29:14 | “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.
► 2 Corinthians 8:9 | For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
► Matthew 6:21, 33 | For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also … seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
► 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 | The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.


October 11 | United in Christ

• Point one another to the sufficiency of scripture and the gospel 
• Bear one another’s burdens
• Enjoy, love, and serve one another
• Discipleship; intentional training and passive imitation of mature saints
• Seek reconciliation when we sin or are sinned against

► John 17:22-23 | The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
► Galatians 6:1-2,9-10 | Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. … And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
► 1 Corinthians 11:1 | Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.