Week of Prayer & Fasting

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Week of Prayer & Fasting Harmony Bible Church // March 20-26, 2016 This is Holy Week, the days leading up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday. To increase our focus on the most special week of the year in the Christian calendar, Harmony’s leaders are calling for a week of fasting and prayer. This is what we hope you will take the opportunity to do: 1. Take one evening during the coming week and fast from a normally legitimate activity (food, electronics, social media, kid’s activities, etc.) and spend especially focused time in the Bible and prayer, focusing on preparing for Easter weekend. 2. Fast over lunch on Friday and take the time you would have spent eating to devote yourself to prayer. You can do one or both of these on your own, with your family, with a friend, or with your small group. Below is a prayer guide that you can use to help direct your prayers this week. Scripture Readings • For an excellent and free devotional guide for Holy Week, go to http://bit.ly/holyweekreadings. These 8 reflections by John Piper will guide you toward thoughtful worship each day of Holy Week. Prayer Suggestions • Confess your sin to the Lord. Read Psalm 51 to hear what brokenness over sin and God-focused restoration sound like. After confessing your sin, remind yourself of 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” • Pray that your heart is overflowing with awe, joy, and thanksgiving at the perfect life, substitutionary death, and vindicating resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. • Pray that your focus on Jesus will result in the Holy Spirit making you more like Jesus. • Pray that the people of Harmony would be “filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:9-10). • Pray for our Good Friday service that the music, message, communion, and other elements will make us a church full of more humble and holy worshippers of God. • Pray for people to coming to saving faith in Jesus Christ this weekend. • Pray for Harmony folks to be prayerfully looking for family, neighbors, co-workers, classmates, and friends to invite to come with them on Easter Sunday. • Pray for those people who irregularly attend Harmony to become vitally connected in the relationships and ministries of the church. • Pray for the staff and volunteers who are vital to serving and leading our services. • Pray for family relationships that are strained to be restored as people come together this holiday weekend. • Pray for other churches in our neighborhoods and region to be faithful to the Bible in the preaching of the Gospel this weekend. • Pray for our field partners and field staff throughout the country and around the world as they minister and worship this Easter.