Why does New Life Church make an effort to pray? Why is prayer the main focus of most of our all-church initiatives? I'm sure there are many reasons, but Matthew Henry motivates me: "When God intends great mercy for His people, the first thing He does is set them a-praying." I want nothing more than God's mercy for our church, so I want to join God in setting you a-praying.

Leonard Ravenhill was influential to me as a young man. I read excerpts from his book, Why Revival Tarries. He hits close to home when he says, "A man may study because his brain is hungry for knowledge, even Bible knowledge. But he prays because his soul is hungry for God." I teach theology at Western Seminary so I care about knowledge. But the church is more than knowledge. Together, our ambition is to hunger after God. So we pray.

Our December prayer focus will be to pray 15 minutes a day for the week of December 2-6. I hope you will find out that 15 minutes is doable, and I hope you will discover that 15 minutes is not enough time. 

I think you will enjoy and benefit from this prayer focus. I will send daily encouragement by email to help you. We'll have activities to complete each day, we’ll pray for our country during election week, we’ll have a teaching on the theology of prayer, and we’re planning giveaways at the end for those who participate. We will do something like this again in December. You can sign up below.

I believe God intends great mercy for the people of New Life Church. Please join me in prayer!