Pray with Us! Mimic Jesus with Us! 40 Days of Prayer to Prepare for Easter

View fullsize

The season of Lent is a season of copying Jesus. Every Easter, we celebrate that Jesus' resurrection means we'll also be resurrected, that Jesus' victory over death ensures our own victory over death, that what happened to Him is going to happen to us, that one of these days we're going to imitate His greatest miracle. So for the 40 days leading up to Easter, we do everything we can to imitate Him. In particular, this year we're going to spend those 40 days in prayer and fasting to imitate Jesus spending 40 days in the desert praying and fasting.

Would you commit to spend 15 minutes per day for the next 40 days praying with us?

Praying every day is one of the best ways for you to become like Jesus. It's a great way to grow in your faith, and it's probably the best way to grow as a human. It'll bring you joy. It'll bring you transformation. It'll make you like Jesus. Who wouldn't want all that?

Now, you may not be used to praying for that long. That's ok. We're going to help you by providing daily guides. We'll organize them by week and post them here.

Here's our plan (these will become links as they become available in the coming weeks):

1. February 10-13: Praying with Jesus in the desert
2. February 14-20: Praying for God's glory
3. February 21-27: Praying for God's kingdom on earth
4. February 28-March 5: Praying for our needs
5. March 6-12: Praying for forgiveness
6. March 13-19: Praying for God's help
7. March 20-26: Praying with Jesus before His crucifixion

Here are a few more tips on making the most out of this prayer time:

• Try to devote 15 minutes to this, and make them focused, uninterrupted minutes. (Personally, I need to put my phone on airplane mode.)
• Stealing 15 minutes is doable for the vast majority of us. If you take a break at work, spend that time praying with us. If you can get up a few minutes early, do it then. If you can skip a few minutes of Stephen Colbert (or Jimmy Fallon, if that's your bag), do it then.
• Try speaking out loud. If you need to be quiet, you can mutter under your breath, but sometimes actually saying the prayer can help you stay focused. If you can't speak out loud, you can also try writing your prayers out by hand.
• On the days you don't feel like doing it (which may be a lot of days!), do it anyway. Prayer is a discipline, but it's a discipline that results in both pleasure and transformation. It'll be worth it. Stick with it. Fight through your distractions and excuses. Keep praying!
• Use the Bible to help you pray. Pick a passage (we're going to provide one every day to help you) and read through it slowly, praying as you go. Ask God questions about what you're reading. Ask Him to do for you what the text is talking about, or ask Him to help you with what the text is saying you need to do. Got to the end of the passage? Go through it again. Pick apart the phrases. Roll them around and try them out. Why this phrase and not another? What does that mean? Your 15 minutes will be up in no time.
• Text your HUB group. Encourage them to pray, every day. Keep pushing them. Keep rallying them. Be their voice of support when they don't want to keep going.