Pray First

21 Day Prayer Initiative 2026

In collaboration with Church United

Week 1: Come

This week, let us come to the Father for our every need, trusting his heart and believing his words to us, his children.

Day 1: Come and Find Rest

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30

Come Before Him in Worship: As we enter this 21-day prayer journey, kneel before Jesus (if you are able) in a posture of worship and submission. Praise him that His heart toward you is gentle and lowly and that he desires for you to find rest in him. Offer your whole heart to him for this journey! Trust him to awaken any piece of it that has fallen asleep. Take time to allow him to speak into this praise and surrender.

Reflect: Maybe you remember the day that you accepted the invitation of Jesus to come to him for salvation. You understood that you came as you were, with all your cares and burdens and he gently took you to himself. Take a moment to remember that wonderful feeling of freedom! This is still Jesus’ call to us today as his children. He tells us to come and exchange our heavy burdens for the light and easy yoke that he wants to carry for us. Jesus came for us because he loves us and knew we needed Him. That hasn’t changed! We are entirely dependent upon him for this divine life within us. It is only as we come to him daily to receive the needed provisions of this divine life, the manna for today, that he joyfully meets us in our need, quiets our souls, and makes us strong!

Prayer Response: Have you inadvertently started to carry your own burdens? What burden do you need to give Jesus for Him to carry? Your reputation? Your success or finances? Your children or marriage? The state of our world? Your sin or addiction? Is there a struggle in your soul to believe that you can release your burdens to Him?

Gracious Lord, when I came to you, I was so grateful to hand you my life! Thank you that you came to save me! Now Lord, I confess… Thank you for your promise of rest….

Day 2: Come and Be Still

He says “Be still (or cease striving) and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth!” The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Psalms 46:10-11

Come Before Him in Worship: Still your soul as you come into God’s presence. In prayer or worship, everything depends upon God taking the chief place. We must honor God as the one to be exalted while we bow low in faith and adoration. Knowing who he is makes it possible for you to be still. Take a moment and praise him for that.

Reflect: To be still means to be calm and sedate, to tremble no more. God’s people are to know that he alone will be exalted. He will maintain his honor, fulfill his counsels and support his own interests in the world. We can leave it in his hands. And as his people, he stands with us! He is on our side and is our refuge. By him and in him, we are sheltered and satisfied. As we trust him our fears are stilled, knowing that he secures our welfare even when there is fighting all around us.

Prayer Response: Are you striving to make something happen in your life? Are you fretting over the state of the world around us?

Day 3: Come Receive Your Inheritance

But he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.’
Luke 15:29-31

Come before Him in Worship: Come in silence and awe before God our Father who has called us his children! Enter into his presence understanding that, in Christ, you have access to the very heart and love of the Father.

Reflect: In this passage, the Father assures the eldest son of something that he had either failed to fully appreciate or believe: the high privilege of being his heir. He lovingly and gently promises his angry son that he is always with him, that he constantly lives in the light of the Father’s favor, and all that he (the father) has is his, for that is the birthright of a true child of the father. It isn’t something earned or deserved. This is the cry of God’s heart to us, his children. He would have us live every moment in the full light of his favor and trust his heart toward us, knowing that all that is his, is ours! And not by our efforts! But by the free gift of grace through faith in the person and work of Jesus.

Prayer Response: Have you fallen into the trap of dutifully trying to “earn” what you want to receive from God, or have not believed that you could ask him for your needs (or desires), and trusted in his promises to you? Have you seen his gifts as the goal? Can you believe that the presence of God is truly the prize? Ask God to show you if your unbelief in his love for you, his power, and the truth of his promises is robbing you of what is rightfully yours as a son or daughter of his!

Day 4: Come and Be Restored

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Isaiah 55:7

Come Before Him in Worship: Consider, as you come before our holy God, what Jesus went through to reconcile us to himself. Thank him for his great love and that by his death and resurrection he has broken the power of sin and death for us!

Reflect: From this verse, we understand that our sin causes separation in fellowship with our God. We are the ones that turn away from God. David says this about his sin with Bathsheba, “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.” Our sin should bother us and cause us to be unsettled! But see what God desires. He calls us to turn from it and to come to him in repentance! For, in doing so, we will find his compassionate and abundant pardon. In him, we find the fountains of living waters that, in our sin, we leave behind for the broken cisterns of this world. (Jer. 2:13)

Prayer Response: Have you held on to some sin that is even now causing your strength to be sapped and your soul to be burdened? Maybe it is simply unbelief that we talked about yesterday. Would you go to God now with your hands open, even if it seems hard to give it up, and ask him to take it and forgive you? Will you ask him for the strength to conquer that sin today?

Day 5: Come and Believe

And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest, if not to those who disobeyed? So, we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
Hebrews 3:18-19

Come Before Him in Worship: This passage is a reference to the people of Israel whom God delivered from slavery in Egypt and then brought to the edge of the promised land. Consider the greatness of our God who came to rescue his people from slavery and took them right out of the powerful hand of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, intending for them to live a life of victory, rest and abundance in the promised land. Thank him and praise him that he has taken you out of the hands of the enemy, who would have kept you bound and in slavery.

Reflect: God had miraculously delivered his complaining, doubting people from the Egyptians, from hunger (with manna and quail), from thirst (with water from a rock), and brought them all the way to the edge of the promised land. This land flowed with milk and honey, and promised rest, abundance, and victory. But they refused to go in because they did not believe that God was able to help them conquer the giants in their way. It was simply unbelief that kept them out of the land of promise. Unbelief is the mother of disobedience, sins and shortcomings. It is at the heart of all our waverings, in that we distrust that God is faithful and able to do what he has promised to do. If we want to enter into God’s life of victory and rest, we must understand the roots of unbelief that lie in our hearts and prevent God from doing his work in us. We must trust him to help us dig them out.

Prayer Response: What is the giant in your life that you cannot believe God can conquer? Is there a promise that you would like to stand on but your obstacles feel too big? Will you make a decision to believe that God wants to and has the power to give you this life of abundance and rest?

Day 6: Come and Stand Firm

Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Exodus 14:13-14

Come Before Him in Worship: As you come into God’s presence today, be in awe of how the Lord is your shield and your defender, the One who goes before to fight your every battle! Thank him that his heart is for you to trust him and not be afraid of the great battles on every side, because he is willing and able to deliver!

Reflect: The Israelites in these verses had just been delivered from Egypt and were directed by God to encamp against the sea. God knew this would entice the Egyptians to come after them and planned to use it to gain the final victory over Pharaoh and the Egyptians. In doing this, he would bring glory to his name and the Egyptians (and the Israelites) would have no doubt he is the Lord. Our battles may not be against armies but they are still hard! They include sin and unbelief as we have talked about this week. But they also include hard circumstances like the death of loved ones, job issues, and financial woes. We also fight internal battles of loneliness, fears, insecurities and disappointments. But just like the Israelites battle, if the Lord leads us into trials, he will, himself, make the way to bring us out again. Be comforted and confident that as we stand firm in trust, he will come for us in deliverance. And in so doing, we will recognize that the trials he brings are also the instruments he uses to accomplish his purposes in and around us for our good and his glory!

Prayer Response: [Personal prayer and reflection time]

Day 7: Come in Surrender

But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
Isaiah 64:8

Come Before Him in Worship: Lift your heart in praise to our Father who holds us in His hand! Wait before him, understanding the need to yield to his forming, as he is the one who will mold us into something beautiful!

Reflect: We have just spent 6 days pondering our Father’s heart and what he wants for us. He wants our lives to be ones of victory, rest, and abundance, that he is glorified in and through. If a person went to a world-renowned physician for an illness that no one else could cure, they would gladly put their life in his hands and follow his directions explicitly. Like this patient, and the clay, for God to be able to do his work in us, we must be totally surrendered to him, we must put ourselves totally into his hands, to will and work in us to his good pleasure. We must turn over our lives, spirit, soul, and body to do as he pleases. The will of God for us is better and sweeter than health, or friends, or money, or fame, or ease, or prosperity. Can you trust him enough to give yourself entirely to him?

Prayer Response: [Personal prayer and reflection time]

Week 2: Be Filled

The need of our souls is to be filled with the Spirit of God. This week we will focus on what that looks like and how to obtain that filling.

Day 8: Be Filled with the Spirit

“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,”
Ephesians 5:18-20

Come Before Him in Worship: Gracious Lord, we thank you that you have made it possible to be filled with all the fullness of God, that we could overflow with hymns and songs and thankfulness to all around us!!

Reflect: Think of the Spirit as being oxygen to your spiritual life. If you’re able to breathe only a little oxygen, you may have enough to stay alive, but not to truly live! So it is with the Spirit. Paul says that we’re not to have just a little of the Spirit, but to be filled with the Spirit. This is a command that our Lord gives us and is necessary to live the kind of victorious life that can conquer sin, self, and then overflow with blessing to others. God has told us to be filled and he stands ready to do it, he wants to do it for us! Let’s pray this week for God to fill us with all his fullness and to show us if there is anything hindering that filling.

Prayer Response: [Personal prayer and reflection time]

Day 9: Faith for the Filling

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Hebrews 11:6

Come Before Him in Worship: Come and bow in deep faith before God; a quiet faith, knowing the mighty, holy, and loving One is near. Yield yourself in perfect trust to the lover of your soul who is working all his purposes in you.

Reflect: Everything in the spiritual life comes to us through faith. We are people who walk by faith and not sight (2 Cor. 5:7). We know this as a principle of salvation, but can lose sight of it when it comes to living the Christian life. Paul tells us in Colossians, “As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith,” (Col. 2:6-7). Jesus has told us that whoever believes in him, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water,” (John 7:38). Paul tells us that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, (2 Cor. 3:17). These are promises given to us as followers of Jesus! Let us put our whole will into believing them, not with a passive faith, but with an active faith that firmly says, “I will believe.” And let us trust if this is not our experience now, that as we continue to seek him and follow where he leads, he will bring us to this place of filling.

Prayer Response: [Personal prayer and reflection time]

Day 10: Empty Yourself to be Filled

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
Matthew 16:24-25

Come Before Him in Worship: Come to the Lord and ponder Christ’s life in you as a power that will mold you into his likeness. Offer yourself as a living sacrifice for him to do all he wants in you today, trusting him to do what is impossible for you. Ask him to make you willing and able to give him your all.

Reflect: Two opposite things cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Your own “life” and the life of God cannot fill your heart at the same time. Your life hinders the entrance of the life of God and must be cast out, so the Spirit of God can fill you. This “life” is the self-life, with all its varied forms of self-seeking, self-pleasing, self-confidence, and self-exaltation. As long as you and I are still something, Jesus Himself cannot be our everything. This is a difficult tenet of our faith! But as we recognize our helplessness to do this, and in humility offer ourselves willingly, the Spirit comes to help! Through God, all things are possible! Recognize the hindrance of the self-life! It sets itself in the place of God, always seeking, pleasing, and honoring itself more than God. And if we let it stay, it will rob us of the fullness of God.

Prayer Response: [Personal prayer and reflection time]

Day 11: Ask for the Filling

For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Luke 11:10-13

Come Before Him in Worship: Kneel in awe at the gracious heart of our God, who longs to give us good gifts! Thank him for this wondrous gift of the Holy Spirit, God with us!

Reflect: In this passage, Jesus is teaching his followers both how and for what to pray. He teaches that we are not only to ask, but also to seek, to “second” our prayers if you will, with our efforts, and then to continue to knock on the door, persevering in prayer until he answers. In so doing, he assures us that we will eventually prevail! Jesus then gives us the example of an earthly father who simply cannot deny the pleas of his child for his daily provision of food. Then, comparing that food to our daily need for the Holy Spirit, he says, “how much more will the heavenly Father (who is infinitely better than any earthly father) give the Holy Spirit to those (amongst his children) who ask him.” Like a little child, we are fully dependent upon him for this provision. And he is fully inclined to answer our pleas.

Prayer Response: [Personal prayer and reflection time]

Day 12: Pursue Holiness to Be Filled

Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
1 John 3:24

Come Before Him in Worship: Praise the Father in heaven that he has done everything to break down the barrier between us and the power of sin in our lives so that he can more fully abide in us and with us! Thank him for his great love that has accomplished all for us!

Reflect: Jesus calls us to obey him. He tells us that if we love him, we will keep his commandments (John 14:15). In this verse and the one cited above, we see the direct correlation between obedience and abiding in God. But God would not call us to something that he would not then come in power to help us achieve. Jesus came and by his death and resurrection broke the power of sin in our lives! Obviously, this side of heaven, we will never be perfect, and this one requirement alone can be enough on certain days to make us lay down in defeat! Dear brother and sister, Jesus said, whoever sins is a slave to sin, (John 8:34), and he wants us free! Do not think that you are forever stuck in your addictions and the things that trip you up. We are more than conquerors through him who loves us! Confess your sins to him now (and daily!), the big and the small. Ask him to search your heart so that you can come completely clean before him. He tells us to confess our sins and he is faithful to forgive (1 John 1:9). Do not doubt his faithfulness to you! With your whole heart, give him the things which have come between you. Maybe it is bitterness, unforgiveness, envy, divisions, idolatry, impurity, or anger. These are desires of the flesh and are in conflict with the Spirit. Ask him to make you willing to hand it all over. If there is something in my house that I wish to have taken away, but it is too heavy for me, I call for help and say, “take this away.” Like this, God will help you in your weakness and cleanse you from all your uncleanness and idols (Ezek 36). Now ask him to achieve that surrender for you throughout the day. Jesus honors the heart that desires to be obedient and will come in the power of the Spirit to help. Trust his heart to set you free!

Prayer Response: [Personal prayer and reflection time]

Day 13: The Fruit of the Filling

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23

Come Before Him in Worship: [Personal time of worship]

Reflect: When we are filled with the Spirit, we do not look like the world. Only God can make us people who overflow with love for all, even our enemies, without thought for how it serves us. People of joy and supernatural peace when everything around us seems to be falling apart. People who respond with patience, kindness, and goodness in the face of mistreatment and wrongs. People to whom faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control flow naturally. This list also helps us to identify when we are NOT filled with the Spirit. When we recognize that this is not our experience, it is good to examine what it is in us that perhaps has quenched or grieved the Spirit in us, like quenching a fire by covering it with dirt or water. It may be that we’ve given into the flesh in some way, even in our thought life which is just as real before God as our actions. Or maybe letting anxieties rise up and steal our trust or letting a lie of the enemy take root. Stay close to Jesus throughout your day, asking him to help you learn how to walk in the fullness of the Spirit!

Prayer Response: [Personal prayer and reflection time]

Day 14: God Will Fill You

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Mark 11:24

Come Before Him in Worship: [Personal time of worship]

Reflect: This week we have asked God our Father to fill us with the Holy Spirit. As we’ve seen, this is a prayer our God delights to answer! We studied how he has specifically told us to ask (Luke 11:13). This filling of the Holy Spirit provides the supernatural power and presence of God that then enables us to live the life he has called us to. This is the same power that transformed the disciples from simple and fearful fisherman, to fearless proclaimers of Jesus before the rulers and authorities of the Jews who then sought their lives. They healed, performed miracles and brought thousands out of the darkness and into a saving faith in Jesus in the power of the Spirit. Do you believe that you can have that same power in you today? This is the heritage of the children of God! Come and let the love of God overwhelm you! Let us be people who stand in faith on every word that God has told us and wait expectantly for him to prevail and achieve in us more than we could ever ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20)!

Prayer Response: [Personal prayer and reflection time]

Week 3: Go Out!

As Christians, we are called to live our lives for others, as Jesus did. This week we will prayerfully consider how to do that!

Day 15: Go Out in the Overflow

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
John 7:38

Come Before Him in Worship: [Personal time of worship]

Reflect: Jesus made this claim on the last, most important day of the Feast of Booths, when Israel remembered God’s miraculous intervention during their time in the wilderness by bringing water from the rock (Exodus 17:1-7). Not only is Jesus calling us to come and “drink” for our own life, but he is telling us there is in him a power of life which, when quickened by faith, flows forth from within us as a river, carrying life and refreshment to others. We have nothing to offer this world, but the overflow of the filling we have been given. Let’s focus this week on how and where to go out in his power.

Prayer Response: [Personal prayer and reflection time]

Day 16: Go Out in God’s Will

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:1-2

Come Before Him in Worship: [Personal time of worship]

Reflect: We know as Christians that we are to serve. But this can be intimidating! The options are endless, the need is great, and sometimes we fear our own inadequacies. There is so much pressure in the world today to forge our own identities and to make our lives significant. But as we come to Jesus daily in surrender and for filling, we also present ourselves for the work of his kingdom that he wants us to do. It is his job to move us throughout our day, bringing people and opportunities to us as he desires. As we look to him for guidance and wisdom, he will make his will known. We are not called to do everything, only what he has designed and purposed for us! As we step forward in faith, following where he leads, we trust him to work despite our mistakes and to perform the supernatural work through us that only he can do! In this, we find fulfillment and freedom in our service!

Prayer Response: [Personal prayer and reflection time]

Day 17: Go Out and Find Your Place in the “Body”

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-13

Come Before Him in Worship: [Personal time of worship]

Reflect: This is one of many passages that speaks of gifts being poured out on individual Christians for the good of the body of Christ. God puts you in a church body for a reason. You have been given something your church body needs. Others have been given gifts you need. If you are not participating in the body, attending, serving and being served by others, and using your gifts where God leads, both you and your church suffer. It is as we build each other up and strive toward a unity of faith, knowledge of the Son of God and maturity, that we come closer to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ! Find your place in the body so that our churches will be filled with the fullness of Christ!

Prayer Response: [Personal prayer and reflection time]

Day 18: Go Out to Do Good

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Isaiah 58:6-8

Reflect: These verses address the outward righteousness of the people in Isaiah’s day, as they went to the temple, obeyed God’s laws, and fasted. But the Lord, who sees the heart, is not impressed with the external trappings of religious rituals. Isaiah’s point is that fasting as an outward expression of piety is of far less concern to God than a righteous lifestyle with sincerity of heart and worship. True righteousness will be shown by our commitment to justice and to helping the poor and oppressed, not by fasting insincerely. As we go out to do good, his concerns should be our own. When we seek his kingdom first, our light will break forth like the dawn, our healing shall spring up speedily and the glory of the Lord shall be our rear guard!

Prayer Response: [Personal prayer and reflection time]

Day 19: Pray and Then Go Out

And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
Mark 9:28-29

Come Before Him in Worship: [Personal time of worship]

Reflect: The disciples had previously had great success in casting out demons. So when this father brought his demon-possessed son to them, they approached the problem with great confidence and assurance. However, they then proved unable to cast the demon out. Clearly this was a demon of greater power, which, of course, was no match for Jesus. He tells them “this kind” can only come out by prayer. In essence, he is saying, “You failed there because you did not have sufficient power. You will never be able to deal with ‘this kind’ unless you go to God for the power which he alone can give you. You must understand your complete helplessness without it.” Do you feel the darkness around you growing? Do you understand that what we are confronting, the power of the enemy in this world, can only be shattered by the power of God? We must as the Church stand together in prayer asking God to pour out his Spirit on us, so we are sufficient to go out in his authority, for revival!!

Prayer Response: [Personal prayer and reflection time]

Day 20: Awake, Put on Strength and Go Out!

Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.
Isaiah 52:1

Come Before Him in Worship: [Personal time of worship]

Reflect: It feels as if the past couple years, with COVID, financial hardship, isolation, the political divide in our country, etc., have been one long season of winter. Has your passion for God and his kingdom diminished? Has spiritual complacency set in? Let’s examine ourselves for such things and then bring whatever we find before the Lord in repentance. God makes it clear in his word, that the might with which he works in the world through his Church varies according to the Church’s receptiveness and faithfulness. If God’s arm seems to slumber, it is because his church sleeps. A person’s capacity to receive determines the amount received, and a person’s desire determines his capacity. Jesus said, “According to your faith, be it done to you.” God gives as much as we will, as much as we can hold, as much as we use, and far more than we deserve. The story of Elisha and the widow teaches us that as long as we will bring our empty vessels to God, the oil will flow. And as many as we have faith for him to fill, he will fill (2 Kings 4:1-7)! So it is with the Spirit in us. So let us rouse ourselves from our sleep! We are engaged in a fight for the world around us! Let us put off any “filthy garments” we’ve acquired and clothe ourselves with the “beautiful garments” of his strength. Let us with passion, put on garments that are consistent with that of a holy nation and a kingdom of priests!

Prayer Response: [Personal prayer and reflection time]

Day 21: Go Out and Declare

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1 Peter 2:9-10

Come Before Him in Worship: [Personal time of worship]

Reflect: Peter is speaking here to people who were being persecuted for their faith. He reminds them of all the blessings and the privileges they have received from God. They are a people specifically chosen by God! God has placed his holiness upon them and separated them as a special and treasured possession! They have a call from God and find themselves in the center of God’s will even in the midst of persecution. Their job in it is to stand firm and to declare the praises of the one who has taken them from darkness and into his light! We have tremendous value! For WE are the light of the world! WE are the ones who push back the darkness as we shine with the light of his glory! Church, in 2026, let us go forth in the fullness and power of our God! Let us put away all that hinders and reflect his great glory as we declare to a world that is dying around us the beauty and wonder of our great God and his power to save!

Prayer Response: [Personal prayer and reflection time]