Prayer is one of the most important resources God has given us for the establishment of a marriage and family. Sunday, May 10th, Pastor Eric Lethco challenged Old Fort Baptist to the 40 Days of Prayer Challenge. This is a challenge for all married couples to pray together every day for the next 40 days. We promise, if you take this challenge, your relationship with your spouse will grow in ways you’ve never experienced. So will you take the challenge? Here’s 3 simple ground rules:
1. DAILY: Make every effort to pray together EVERY DAY for the next 40 days. With all this modern technology, there’s really no excuse not to.
2. OUT LOUD: Pray with and for each other with an audible voice so that you can agree together in prayer.
3. TOGETHER: Whenever possible, be PHYSICALLY TOGETHER, holding hands to symbolize your unity before the Lord in prayer.
So will you take the challenge? Are you ready to grow closer to your spouse and closer to God? It’s not too late to start! And if you do, let us know how it’s going for you and your spouse. Leave us a comment here and share a little bit about how God is changing your marriage through prayer.
This stuff is sweet! I’m not married, but I know if I was, I would totally do this challenge!
FORTY DAYS OF DEDICATED PRAYER
From Tim and Linda Long, members of Old Fort Baptist Church:
For a long time both of us have known that God answers prayer. This piece of knowledge for us has been fairly generalized because, as Christians, we know that this is what God does.
However, when we took Pastor Eric’s challenge concerning “40 Days of Dedicated Prayer” between Mother’s and Father’s Day, this piece of knowledge smacked us right between the eyes in its reality. Because we were “keeping a written record” of answered prayer through our e-mails to Pastor Lethco, God’s response to our combined and audible prayer was revolutionary!
The list continued to grow and grow! Some of our prayers had been lifted to God for years…some for months…some for less than an hour before we received His answer.
For a VERY long time we had prayed for our wayward granddaughter to terminate a destructive relationship in which she had been involved. Before the end of our first week of “praying audibly as a couple”, we received a phone call from her telling us that the relationship was over! Praise God! She also told us that she had returned to school and was furthering her education in the area of dentistry.
During this time, Linda’s cousin was involved in a horrific motorcycle accident. His injuries were unimaginable. But for the Grace of God, Steven would not have survived. Yet, he is still with us and is healing very slowly, but steadily! Thank you God!
Steven’s 6-year-old niece was born with Rett’s Syndrome ( a genetic disorder) that presents physical and mental challenges for those precious little girls who are affected. MacKenzie ‘s situation was deteriorating rapidly and she needed a delicate surgery in order to survive. She, too, is still with us. We are praying for God’s miracle to correct this gene deformity because we know that He can perform it, but we are grateful that she is still here bringing joy to our family!
Another family member was recently diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma (a usually non-survivable cancer). Brad is midway his experimental treatment protocol at M.D. Anderson Clinic in Texas and at last report was responding beyond all expectations. God is GOOD!
Our daughter works in retail and has a work schedule involving all hours on the road. We have prayed for her travel safety. One morning she noticed that her car was vibrating as she drove. A “God Prod” had her stop at the dealership. The mechanic said that he was nervous driving the car as he took her to work. Upon examination, they discovered that all four tires on her relatively new car were worn down to the steel belt….but for the Grace of God.
Before her second attempt at taking her driver’s test, after practicing most of the day, granddaughter Rachael and I prayed for calmness and clear thinking. Rachael is now driving…God sits on her bumper!
In the interest of time, we have not shared all of God’s answered prayer on our behalf…BUT
In closing, I want to tell you that for two years we have been praying for our home in West Virginia to sell. Before Father’s Day…we had a contract. Thank you, God
Please pray with me………