DBC Prayer Week Outline

1. DBC Prayer Week Outline Sunday 15th9.30am, 11.00am Teaching on Prayer Monday 16thFasting (an optional time of fasting for those who are able, from dawn until the 9.00pm service) Monday 16thCommunity Prayer Experience (sheets will be given out with prayer points and options, to take around 1 hour to be done in your own time) Monday 16th9.00pmGathered Time (a chance to review the prayer experience, to discuss hopes and prayers and fasting, followed by communion together and breaking of the fast with supper together) Tuesday 17thPrayer Triplets (you should meet up in your threes for prayer particularly for one another, at any time of the day) Tuesday 17th7.00pmChurch Prayers (we’re going to write new church prayers based on old ones, spend time praying together) Wednesday 18thPrayer Space (available for prayer all day, the church sanctuary will be set up for silent and private prayer, including a prayer wall to write prayers on and several prayer stations) Thursday 19th7.00pmListening in Prayer (we’ll meet to discuss how to listen to God in prayer and then space will be provided for people to pray privately and ask God questions and listen for His voice) Friday 20th7.00pmPrayer Walking (meeting at the church stairs, since youth club is on, we will take a number of walks through the town praying for our community) Friday 20th7.00pmOffering Prayer (we will make ourselves available for prayer on Argyll Street for anyone who wants it) Saturday 21st7.00pmPrayer and Praise Night (along with other churches we will gather for prayer and praise, with people available for prayer in the church) Sunday 22nd9.30am, 11.00am Review and Looking to the Future (we’ll use the adult class and service to evaluate our week) DBC Prayer Week Programme

2. DBC Prayer Week Programme Listening in prayer is about you engaging directly with God. It helps us be certain that He is there and He hears us, and it helps us build a real two-way relationship with God. The plan is to work through a series of questions and hear what God might say in response. We can tackle pretty heavy issues, God can handle it. Here is a list of questions, alongside each are Bible passages you might meditate on, in order to hear a response from God. There might be other questions you have instead, ask them too, but read His Word for a response. Before you begin ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what the Father would want you to see. Lord, what do you think of me? (Read Psalm 139, Ephesians 1v3-2v10) Lord, will you reveal more of who you are? (Read Isaiah 6v1-8, Revelation 1v10-20) Lord, will you remind me of what you have done specifically for me? (Read Psalm 103) Lord, why can we not hear your voice? (Read Job chapter 38, 40 and 42v1-6) Lord, what do you think of the church? (Read John 17v20-24, Revelation chapters 2 and 3) Lord, how will we find your plans? (Read Jeremiah 29v10-14, 2 Corinthians 1v16-22) Lord, why is it so hard to live by faith in this community? (Read Romans 1v18-25, 1 Peter 3v3-18) Lord, what is the big plan, the big picture? (Read Ephesians 1v9-14, Ephesians 5v25-27, Revelation chapters 21 and 22) Lord, what do you want us to do? (Read Philippians 4v4-9, Micah 6v6-8) Lord, can we get closer to you? (Read Jeremiah 33v2,Isaiah 64v1-5) Ask Him some other questions and make some notes on His responses. (Read Luke 18v1-8, Hebrews 10v19-25) Sunday 15th9.30am Adult Bible Class on Prayer The Adult Bible Class on Sunday morning is an opportunity for interactive discussion on prayer. Wilson Blair will lead our Bible time and open up the idea of stretching your prayer times and investing more in prayer. There will be tea and coffee and a bacon roll. Your Part: Come along and join in the discussion, think about what you could do to invest in prayer this week. Sunday 15th11.00am Church Teaching on Prayer In church this Sunday we will look at what the Bible teaches about prayer. We will look at credible ways of seeing growth in prayer as a church, in small groups and as individuals. This should lead into the opportunities available to us this week. Your Part: Come along and listen to the Bible teaching and make a plan for the week. Monday 16thFasting Fasting is taking the opportunity to set food aside to show God that you are serious about spending time with Him. In the Bible people fasted for a particular reason, to give God control over some part of their lives and to ask for His guidance. In our modern lives some people struggle to fast from food and will take the opportunity to set aside some other distractions to focus on God. We are going to take today and fast until the service at 9pm and we will invest that time in God and seeking His will. Your Part: Decide the particular reason that you will spend today fasting. Don’t eat anything and only drink water. Use the times where food would normally happen to pray. Come to the service tonight for prayer, to discuss the Community Prayer Experience, for communion and to break our fast together. Monday 16thCommunity Prayer Experience (sheets on the following pages) The Community Prayer Experience is a programme where everyone goes away and works on a programme of prayer by themselves and then we come together and discuss how it went. Your Part: Work through the programme of prayer laid out on the following sheets. It should take round about 1 hour. Make notes on your experience and come together later to discuss it. Monday 16th9.00pmGathered Time We will get together for a chance to review the prayer experience, to discuss how fasting has gone, to share communion and have supper to break our fast. Your Part: Come together to break your fast, discuss the CPE and communion. DBC Prayer Week Listening in Prayer

3. DBC Prayer Week Programme The Community Prayer Experience is an opportunity for us to share in prayers together without the awkwardness of praying in front of everyone. This guide will give a number of sections and times and help us all follow a similar pattern. We’re going to use a set of Psalms to help us pray. Start by finding the right place to pray. It can be difficult to get free from all the things that surround you all the time. Find somewhere quiet, without distractions and preferably somewhere you can speak out loud. Maybe you want a view of nature, maybe you need no view so you can focus. 5 MinsStart by spending 5 minutes in silence. Silence can be very powerful, though it’s not always easy. Maybe you can think about opening the door to heaven and standing in God’s presence, being there before God. A useful Psalm might be Psalm 24. 4 MinsLet Creation Draw Your Attention. Psalm 19 tells us that creation speaks of our creator. Let some thoughts of creation lift your attention, whether the vastness or the intricate detail, God has done marvellous things. Praise Him for His great work. Maybe you could also look at Job 37. 5 MinsTry and have a heart focussed on praise. Continuing with praise gives perspective to things, try and think of words to describe God. Speak them out to Him and tell Him what He’s worth. Psalm 111 is a psalm of praise to God. It talks not just of creation but of justice and wisdom. Speak out to His glory. 5 MinsSee yourself in that perspective. Just like Isaiah in chapter 6, when we get a perspective of the greatness of God it reminds us how small and unworthy we are, yet God let us come into His throne room. Sometimes we need to let God search our hearts, like Psalm 139. Ask Him to reveal who you are in the light of Him. 5 MinsLet Him clear out what needs changed. There a couple of important things in Psalm 51, as we see ourselves in God’ light. There will be things that need fixed, confess them to God. He knows already and He is not angry, but wants to help you change. Don’t dwell on them, but let God cleanse you and make you clean. 4 MinsSee justice from His point of view. One of the difficulties we face with prayer is that we attribute to God the sort of justice we would choose. God doesn’t pander to our whims and it can often look like this world is a mess. Let Psalm 73 remind you that you need an eternal perspective, we need to see justice from His point of view. If that’s not enough try Job chapters 38-42. 25 MinsPray for understanding to know what’s right. Just to read through Psalm 119 takes 25 minutes but the Psalmist reminds us that our focus is on God’s word, His wisdom, His truth. Read the Psalm aloud in praise to God, asking for guidance to know His Word more, to have knowledge and wisdom. continued… Friday 20th7.00pmPrayer Walking & Offering Prayer We will meet at the church stairs (while youth club is going on) and gather into groups. One of those groups will take placards and go and stand on Argyll Street making themselves available for prayer. I understand that this can be daunting but for some who wish to stretch their faith it might be a great encouragement. The other groups will walk around various parts of Dunoon, praying for neighbours and friends they know and praying for the micro-communities and God’s place in all these small areas. This prayer doesn’t need to be obvious or spoken aloud, but we’ll ask God to be part of our town. Your Part: If you are able to get around come and join us for the prayer walk. If you’d like to sign up and take a risk, join those on Argyll Street, otherwise join another group as they walk around town. Just pray as you walk and think what God could do in our communities as He leads us forward. Saturday 21st7.00pmPrayer and Praise Night On Saturday night we will gather with other churches to praise God and continue in prayer. There will be times of worship and times for response and we will use our new church prayers to unite in prayer together. At the sides of the church we will make prayer available for anyone who wants it. Your Part: Come along and share in prayer and praise. If you would like to, make use of the opportunity to have someone pray for you. Encourage others to come too. Sunday 22nd9.30am Adult Bible Class on Prayer The Adult Bible Class on Sunday morning is an opportunity for interactive discussion on our prayer week. Wilson Blair will lead our Bible time and open up the review of the prayer week. We’ll talk about things we would like to do regularly, or might enjoy doing again. We’ll also talk through things we find difficult and things we got frustrated about and where we go from here. There will be tea and coffee and a bacon roll. Your Part: Come along and join in the discussion, think about what you experienced this week and evaluate events. Consider what might be a good thing to do again. Sunday 22nd11.00am Church Teaching on Prayer In church this Sunday we will look further at prayer, considering that all of our lives depend on that one little thing. We’ll do some review of our prayer week and we’ll think of longer term goals in how we seek God in prayer. Your Part: Come along and listen to the Bible teaching, consider how we can maintain a prayerful spirit and let God be Lord of our lives. DBC Prayer Week Community Prayer Experience

4. DBC Prayer Week Programme Tuesday 17thPrayer Triplets You can sign up for prayer triplets up to Sunday the 15th at the church. The idea is to meet up as a group of 3 people at a time that is convenient to you all to pray together. There’s no plan or structure, the key is that you pray for and support one another. This is not to solve the world’s issues, but personal ones and to keep an eye out for one another. Hopefully if you continue in triplets over the following weeks you’ll become more concerned for one another. It should be the people in your prayer triplet who notice if you are at church or not. Your Part: Sign up for a prayer triplet and give it a try. People we pray with are those we support and encourage, the ones we keep in mind. Take the chance to find a time that suits and meet and pray. Tuesday 17th7.00pmChurch Prayers We’re going to write new church prayers to be used in services. We’ll split into groups and each group will put together a prayer. We will use other Biblical and traditional prayers as a basis for ours and then we’ll pray through them all together. Your Part: Come along and suggest what might be helpful in church prayers. There’s no pressure too pray out loud or have all the answers, just come and share. Wednesday 18thPrayer Space From 9am to 9pm the church sanctuary will be set up for silent and private prayer. There will be several stations for you to work your way around in your own time, each with prayers or activities for you to do. There will be quiet music in the background and a prayer wall where you can write up any personal or reflective prayers. Your Part: Come and make use of the prayer space. At any time of the day that suits you, come on in to the church sanctuary and spend time with God. Make use of the stations to feed your prayers but pray however you are led. As with most of these events there is no pressure to pray out loud in front of people. Thursday 19th7.00pmListening in Prayer On Thursday night we will meet together to try and spend time listening to God in prayer.If you are unable to come, join us in your own time praying through the prayers on the following pages. One of the keys to listening to God is asking questions. On the sheets there are a number of questions you can ask God along with Bible passages where God speaks. We will separate and spend time in private prayer, asking God questions and listening for answers. At the end we will have a short time if anyone wishes to briefly share what they have heard. Your Part: Come along and spend time with God’s Word. Ask Him questions and look for an answer, give Him time and opportunity to speak to you. If you are happy to share what you have heard at the end then take that chance. DBC Prayer Week Community Prayer Experience Continued… 5 MinsRecognise His comfort and guidance too. Asking for wisdom is good, but the key to wisdom is letting God be your God. Read Psalm 23 and remember again the peace of knowing Him, that in His hands there is fullness of joy. 3 MinsAsk for help in standing, sitting and walking. Psalm 1 shows us that we should watch where we walk, stand and sit. As we ask for things, first let us start with guidance in what we do, where we should go and what we take our stand in. 12 MinsLet your requests be known to God. When God is Lord of everything and we can come to Him, like Esther we can enter the throne room and ask for anything. Hebrews 4:13-16 reminds us that we can approach the throne of grace with confidence, so ask for mercy and grace and find it. Ask Him for anything. 2 MinsTake 2 minutes in silence. Stop and see if God has anything to say into your life. Listen, ask some questions and try and seek answers. Allow God some chance to respond to your openness with His flood of grace. 8MinsDon’t forget to be thankful. Often we start with thanks but in finishing with it we remember that all our requests are heard by God and we have so much to be thankful for. Psalm 103 reminds our souls, our emotions, not to forget to be thankful and full of appreciation for our God. Use the space below to make notes on your prayers, what did you find useful? What did you not connect with? Have you heard answers from God? Come tonight and we’ll share some of our experiences and share communion together, 9pm. ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________