To kick off the new year, we are inviting everyone at Sound City to a month of dedicated, collective prayer. Each week, we will have a different area of focus as disciples: 1) relationship with God, 2) relationship with self, 3) relationship with the church community, and 4) relationship with the unbelieving world around us. Please set aside time each day to pray along the lines of the guidance provided below. The focus of this week’s prayer is our relationship with unbelievers
God, it’s so easy for me to focus on the things of this world; would you help me to keep my mind on Christ and his mission to a lost world. Open my eyes to the opportunities you have placed before me to share your goodness with those who don’t yet know you. Use me in your ministry to those around me, according to your will, that I can offer a humble and non-anxious presence as you minister your grace through me.
Day 22 (Jan 23) focus: overflowing gospel zeal and joy
Today’s prayer focus is that God would grant us a zeal for the gospel that overflows to those around us. The good news of Jesus, our savior and redeemer, is our source of joy. Praise God right now as you reflect on the debt of sin that you could not repay and the incredible truth that Jesus paid that debt in full, once and for all time.
For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. –John 3:16-17
Pray for opportunities to meet new people who need to know about God's love
Ask the Spirit to fill you with joy for sharing the gospel. Pray that you would begin to see it as an opportunity to look forward to and not a duty to feel guilty about.
Day 23 (Jan 24) focus: unsaved family and friends
Today we are praying for our unsaved family and friends. Before you go to prayer, sit silently for a few minutes and ask God to bring names and faces to mind. Consider writing them down so that you can continue in persistent prayer for those he brings to your mind.
There is no other God but me, a righteous God and Savior; there is no one except me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is no other. –Isaiah 45:21-22
Pray by name for the people in your life who don’t yet know Jesus.
Ask the Holy Spirit to awaken people to seek him.
Pray that God would use you in the lives of your unsaved family and friends to showcase his goodness and grace.
Day 24 (Jan 25) focus: the truth of the gospel against false belief
Today we are praying against false belief. Sometimes we can be swayed by the appearance of wisdom and the gospel can become distorted. One way this can happen is when God’s word is taken out of context. If you aren’t already using a Bible reading plan, consider finding one that will eventually walk you through the whole Bible.
Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ. –Colossians 2:8
I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. –Galatians 1:6
Pray for yourself and for your brothers and sisters in the faith, that you would not confuse the gospel with any human philosophy, ideology, or politics.
Pray for those who do not yet follow Jesus to begin to see the emptiness and frailty of the human traditions they have previously accepted.
Pray that your peace and steadfastness in Jesus in the midst of an ever-shifting culture will minister to the non-Christians in your life in such a way that they will be drawn to him also.
Day 25 (Jan 26) focus: sharing the gospel through good deeds
Today’s prayer focus is that we would share the gospel, not in word only, but also by the way we serve others. The gospel is a message that needs to be communicated, but we know that the gospel is not words alone but also actions that accompany the message. Let’s pray that God would help us not just to know and share the gospel, but to also demonstrate it by imitating our savior in acts of servanthood.
You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. –Matthew 5:14-16
Pray that you could follow Jesus' example of doing the Father’s will in the service of those who do not yet know him.
Ask the Holy Spirit to keep your motives pure, that your service would be for God’s glory alone and not your own.
Pray that you would shine like a light and be an ambassador of Jesus’ renewal in your community.
Day 26 (Jan 27) focus: boldness and kindness as we tell about Jesus
Today’s we are praying for both boldness and kindness as we spread the word about Jesus. The gospel makes us humble because the cross shows us that our sins deserve punishment and alienation. This motivates our kindness because we know that apart from Jesus, we would be lost. The gospel also gives us confidence because it shows us how loved we are when we see what Jesus was willing to do for us. This motivates our boldness because we know what we are worth to him!
Do not fear them or be intimidated, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do this with gentleness and reverence... –1 Peter 3:14-16
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you fight timidity and fear of man that would keep you from sharing the gospel.
Pray that God would show you opportunities to share with others and empower you to take risks in bold evangelism.
Pray that you would graciously identify with the lost, neither judging or pitying, but remembering that you were like them once and were saved by grace alone.
Day 27 (Jan 28) focus: perseverance against apostasy
Today’s prayer focus is for perseverance against apostasy. At times we may need to renounce unhealthy elements of our own church traditions and human ideas about God. However, we will never leave behind our need for repentance and renewal, and may we never abandon the gospel of Jesus. Spend some time in silent prayer asking God to bring the truth of the gospel to bear on your heart more deeply.
Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching. – Hebrews 10:23-35
Pray that Jesus and his love for you would become more precious to you with each passing day.
Pray that our church, though imperfect, would always point people back to Jesus.
Ask the Holy Spirit to use each of us in encouraging and prodding one another in our walk with the Lord.
Day 28 (Jan 29) focus: God’s kingdom to come in the north sound
Today’s prayer focus is for God’s kingdom to come in the north sound region. It is our hope that God would save many people in this region and do a work of renewal in our communities. Consider going for a prayer walk around your neighborhood today as you pray for his kingdom to come and his will to be done.
I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. –1 Timothy 2:1-4
Ask God to bring many people to a saving faith in Jesus.
Pray that the way we love, serve, and submit to one another within the body of Christ would draw the watching world to come to Christ.
Pray that Jesus would return and make all things new.