50 Days of Prayer

We've been doing strategic planning at New Life Lincoln Park this summer and one of the things that has become apparent is that we want to become a church that highly values prayer. We don't want to be people who pray just because it's one of the Jesus things to do. We want to be people who have prayer as part of our core DNA. We are not going to be a church that does a bunch of stuff and then asks God to give it an OK. We are going to seek Him, follow Him, and join Him in what He is doing!

The only way to become a people like that is to develop a daily habit, a daily discipline of prayer. In light of this, today at church we kicked off "50 Days of Prayer"

Over the next 50 days we as a church family are committing 15 minutes a day to read scripture and pray.  If you are part of New Life Lincoln Park, here's the details that you need to know:

• Tell me you are committing to do this! I'd love to hear who is on-board with the 50 Days! Can you send me an email and let me know you are committing to the 15 minutes?
   
• Pick when you're 15 minutes will be: 5 minutes to read scripture, 10 minutes to pray. It is important to nail down a time when you are going to do your 15 minutes so that it will more likely happen. If you don't put it in your schedule then your schedule will push it out. Make it happen by scheduling it! It might mean waking up 15 minutes earlier, going to bed 15 minutes later, cutting out a show or something - but for make the 15 minutes happen. Maybe your train ride on the way to school or work is the best time for you - make it happen!
• Download the weekly prayer calendar for the 50 Days of Prayer: Link is HERE. On it you'll see suggested scriptures to read and various prayer focuses.
• Read Scripture for at least 5 minutes every day: There are suggestions on the prayer calendar for each day. You don't have to do all four of them, but pick at least one. You don't even have to do one of those, just read something in the Bible! If you have a smartphone, go grab the Faithlife app and read along in that. The link to get it is HERE. Use coupon code "free" in the space in the middle of the page. Once you get the app, join our Faithlife group HERE.
• Pray for at least 10 minutes every day: There are four different things we'll be praying for each day: ourselves, New Life Lincoln Park (NLLP), our whole church of New Life, and all our neighborhood, city, and global things. See the prayer calendar for daily prayer focuses
• Share on Facebook or Faithlife: The link for our Facebook is HERE. The link for our Faithlife page is HERE. Share scripture with others, share your own prayer requests with others, and dialogue with others over the next 50 days in regards to what you're praying about.
• Pray together: tonight we had an all church prayer time from 5-6pm. We'll have these every other week, the next one being Tues, July 31st from 5-6pm. On the off weeks we'll all commit to stop and pray on Wednesday at noon. The first time we'll do this is Wed, July 25th. More details will come out in email about these corporate gatherings. If you don't receive emails from the church and would like info about stuff coming up, send an email to lincolnpark@newlifechicago.org 

This is going to be a powerful thing for our church family! Join in! Read! Pray!

But most important...expect Him to listen, to answer, and to love!