FACING FORWARD Twenty-One Days of Prayer / January 8–28, 2024 The Church of God of Prophecy around the losers. It is only when they implement a the world is once again beginning the system of continuous small improvements new year with 21 Days of Prayer. Imagine that they achieve a different outcome. a great multitude praying together from Perhaps you share the goal of having every nation, tribe, people, and language. power with God and with men, as Jacob did We may not be in the same room, the same in Genesis 32:28, yet the system needed to city, or even the same nation, yet we can arrive at your goal is lacking. You read where pray together with one voice, united in “one Daniel prayed three times a day, yet you Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and can’t seem to find your spiritual rhythm. The Father of all, who is over all and through all good intentions you have to pray regularly and in all” (Ephesians 4:5-6). are frustrated by lack of follow-through. Your Scripture describes these prayers of participation in 21 Days of Prayer can help God’s people as “golden bowls full of you implement a consistent system which incense” (Revelation 5:8). Filling these can lead you to your goal. Tim Coalter golden bowls is not the task of any one Presiding Bishop individual. Each prayer that we pray is mixed Second, it will reignite a hunger for more with the prayers of God’s people around of God. the world. When you pray for a lost loved one, you are A few years ago, Lay’s Potato Chips launched the not praying alone. When you pray for healing, you are not advertising campaign: “Bet you can’t eat just one!” More praying alone. When you pray that God will heal our land, than just a clever slogan, it’s true. It is difficult to eat just one you are not praying alone. When you pray that the world will chip. You open the bag and, before you know it, you have be reconciled through the power of the Holy Spirit, you are somehow eaten the whole bag. not praying alone. Every prayer that you pray is multiplied Prayer has the same effect. The more you pray, the more exponentially by the prayers of God’s people everywhere, as you want to pray. The more you eat at his table, the more together, we fill the golden bowls with incense. you want to eat. The more you drink of the invigorating, Consider these two benefits of engaging in 21 Days of refreshing, thirst-quenching living water, the more you want Prayer: to drink. The familiar worship lyric by Jesus Culture captures this spiritual craving for more: First, it will reinforce the practice of spiritual rhythms. Set a fire down in my soul As the calendar rolls to the start of another year, it is not That I can’t contain, I can’t control uncommon to make New Year’s resolutions, to set goals I want more of You, God that we hope to achieve. In his book Atomic Habits, James I want more of You, God Clear explains the difference between systems and goals, If you are hungry for more of God, I suggest reading saying, “Goals are about the results you want to achieve. The Practice of the Presence of God, a book of collected Systems are about the processes that lead to those results.” teachings by Brother Lawrence, a 17th-century monk who He goes on to say that winners and losers have the same was preoccupied with cultivating a keen sensitivity to the goals. We concentrate on the people who end up winning presence of God in everyday life. Practice the presence of and mistakenly assume that ambitious goals led to their God. Seek him, and you will find him. Hunger for him, and success, while overlooking all of the people who had the you will be filled. The more of God you get, the more of him same objective but did not succeed. Every Olympian wants you will want. to win a gold medal. Every candidate wants to get the job. During these 21 Days of Prayer, make it your If successful and unsuccessful people share the same goals, determination to join with the saints in filling the golden then the goal cannot be what differentiates the winners from bowls of incense! 4
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