Cruising on Autopilot + Three (VERY) Practical Ways to Pray
Dear church,
As we near the end of our summer and shift into the start of school, oftentimes it’s the start of many new rhythms, habits, and schedules. We start getting up for school. We start planning our calendars around college and pro football games. We start enforcing a curfew and bedtime in the evening. Weekdays are filled with school, homework, and sports, and before we know it – we’re on autopilot.
You know what autopilot is, right?
It’s where you go cruising through your day or week without really giving thought to the different portions of the day. Moments are lost. Time passes without intention. We arrive at our destinations – be it work or school or church or the grocery store – and we’re wondering…how did we get there in the first place?
Living with intentionality to make every moment count as Paul encourages us in Ephesians chapter 5 takes some forethought to establish new patterns and rhythms that will encourage our way with God. I want to provide three practical ways to set a new pattern and rhythm for prayer in your life.
Practical Way to Pray #1
I want to encourage you to intentionally pray for students, teachers, and parents as they return back to school.
Often times I meet with parents and their children, and I’m struck by the enormity of the challenges that our young people face every day. For those that are part of our church family, I’m so encouraged that they attend our services, that they have loving teachers and helpers on Sunday that teach and love them so well, and that they have a youth group that they can be involved in. Yet I am fully aware that the few hours a week that they are in a service, or children’s class, or youth group is vastly outnumbered by the number of hours the enemy of our soul works to steal, kill, and destroy the good things in their life. For those of you with grown children, think back to those days when your kids were in school. Remember the challenges they had as students? Remember the frustrations you faced as parents. To that end, we’ve put together a Back-to-School Prayer Guide this year for – not just children going back to school or their parents – but for all of us as a church family. I want to encourage you to use this daily. Find a time that works well in your schedule to pause and pray for our students, teachers, and parents. You can pick up a copy this Sunday as we celebrate Back-to-School Sunday or click here to find it on our website.
Practical Way to Pray #2
I want to encourage you to intentionally pray for the churches, the pastors, and other followers of Jesus Christ in Douglas County.
A comforting thought for us should be this – we are not in this alone. There are so many good churches in our community. I’m privileged to have dear friends in our community that serve as pastors at many churches in Douglas County. In fact, most Thursday mornings you can find me at a local coffee shop here in Roseburg having a cup of coffee with three other pastors in our community. We’ve done this for years and I’m so encouraged by their heart for their church and our community. There are numerous pastors I meet with regularly like this and when we get together it is so joyous to embrace the reality that we are not in this alone – we have the support and prayers of other followers of Jesus Christ. With the help of our own Terry Madsen, our local fellowship of pastors in Douglas County (Be One Umpqua) has begun to publish a monthly newsletter that will highlight churches in our community, their pastors, and how we can practically pray for them. The first Be One Umpqua Prayer Partners newsletter will be released in the next few days and we will be distributing it this coming Sunday, August 28th. In the newsletter, you’ll find that each week you’ll find the name and photo of a pastor in Douglas County. You’ll also find some information from them, in their own words, of ways you can pray for them and their church family. Jesus reminds us in John’s Gospel that “your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” What better way to display the unity we share in Christ than by lifting one another up? Will you begin to use a day during the week to pray for these churches and pastors? The Apostle Paul modeled this so well for us in the New Testament. Here he tells us how he prayed for the churches…
Practical Way to Pray #3
I want to encourage you to intentionally pray for our services on Sunday morning.
This last Sunday was really special. Let me tell you how it started. As I was settling into my office a little after 8 AM, I received a text that our pianist wouldn’t be able to make it to church because of a massive power outage on that side of town. Come to find out, it also reached the area in which our communion meditation provider and our drummer also lived. Meanwhile, while we were sorting out how to proceed for the Sunday, we realized that one of our computer monitors wasn’t communicating properly to the large screen televisions at the front of the church that normally displays our lyrics and verses to our sanctuary and also to our live stream audience. Once the worship team met we came up with our plan B if we were unable to have all of our personnel and (VERY gratefully) we didn’t need a plan B because the power came back on. While the worship team practiced a little later than normal, they were prepped and ready to go and our communion meditation provider was able to make it to church as well! On top of that, after several of us checked and rechecked and rechecked every cable and connection we could think of, the computer monitors and screens all began to work properly. Whew! All this happened first thing in the morning!
So, why was this Sunday so special, you might ask?
Well, in spite of all the chaos leading up to the service, God worked in people’s hearts. We had one individual that came to our church service for the very first time after watching us online for two years. We had another family contemplating a big move for them and their extended family and I was able to pray with them afterward. I had a young person come up to me and share with me that there was an area of their life that wasn’t consistent with their faith and asked for prayer as they seek to yield to the Holy Spirit’s leading. And then on Monday, earlier this week, I spoke on the phone with people that are in the middle of making a decision for Jesus and they shared with me how their hearts were moved by the service on Sunday.
I share all that to make a request of you: Would you intentionally begin praying for our services on Sunday?
If you regularly attend our services on Sunday, they may seem routine week-to-week. They may seem normal. But there are powerful spiritual battles being fought every week and your prayers would make a difference.
Beginning Sunday, October 2nd, we will start having a dedicated space and time for you to pray for our Sunday Morning service. Our Sunday Morning Prayer Time will begin at 9:45 AM in the church library (located in the rear left of the sanctuary) and will last about 15 minutes. There will be someone leading the time of prayer, so you won’t have to pray aloud or by yourself. You’ll also be given some details of the service that you can pray for with intention. Imagine…what could happen if we gathered together in prayer with intention on Sundays with others?
It's a time to get back to school with normal schedules and normal rhythms.
While we are doing that, let me encourage you and your family to be sure to incorporate these three new prayer rhythms.
I love you church,
Pastor Daniel
(In upcoming issues of ‘Dear church’ we’ll talk about three guest speakers that will come to FCC in the coming months, my favorite part of family reunions, and why we don’t eat twenty-one meals at the same time)
