State Convention of Baptists in Ohio 9000 Antares Ave Columbus Ohio 43240 For additional resources on prayer and fasting, or an online version of this booklet, search www.scbo.org/pray
10 Days of Praying and Fasting for Ohio _____________________________________ Dates Matthew 9:15 Jesus said to them, “… The time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, then they will fast.”
Welcome to “Ten Days of Praying and Fasting for Ohio,” the January focus for our 2014 prayer initiative for Ohio. The goal is to enlist people to participate in praying and fasting for Ohio. First, let me say you do not have to fast for the entire ten days, unless you choose to do so. The choice is yours as to the level of your participation. Some may want to pray and fast for the ten days, others for seven, others for three, and others for only one. You may choose to fast for three days, but to structure your plan to fast on Day One, Day Six, and Day Nine. I think you get the freedom in the structuring your plan. What we really want is for people to pray and fast, asking the Lord to pour down His power on all the people of Ohio. This booklet is a guide for you to use as you pray and fast. We hope all who join us during January will pray with a strong and direct purpose and mix in the fasting days as you feel so led. Use this guide during your morning devotion and dedicate the rest of each day to praying for the specific purposes listed in this guide.
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This statewide army of praying and fasting warriors will be lifting Ohio up to the Lord praying any ten consecutive days in January. Some will begin Wednesday, January 1 and all will conclude by Friday, January 31. When God’s people band together to pray (and fast) we can be assured His power and purpose will be evident!
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To inspire you, many wise followers of Christ are quoted throughout this guide and related Scripture is shared. Several Scriptures include a Word about fasting. Visit www.scbo.org/pray click on resources to find downloadable documents on fasting and praying. The Scripture I consider most instructive when I fast to intercede is Isaiah 58. In his book, The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer, he prays, “O God, quicken to life every power within me, that I may lay hold of eternal things. Open my eyes that I may see; give me acute spiritual perception enable me to taste Thee and know Thou art good.” My experience with fasting and praying is Tozer’s prayer answered in my life! Even creation – trees – flowers – sunrise and sunset – and most of all the hearts of those for whom I am praying are like a part of my mind – my heart. This is an awesome experience you will want to repeat as often as Jesus calls you to fast as you commit to pray for Mission Ohio, one million believers in
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P R A Y
Day Ten
two thousand twenty churches by the end of 2020. I have marked my calendar for the first ten days.
Yield Self, Give All Glory and Praise to God 1. End these ten days of prayer and fasting by once again telling God how much you love Him, need Him, and rely on Him. 2. Thank God for His answers to your prayers and the prayers of many others who joined you during these days that were set aside to fast and pray for Ohio. 3. Pray that a great revival and a great awakening would happen in our country and ask God to start that here in Ohio. 4. Once again surrender yourself to Him and ask Him to reveal His plan for your future. 5. Thank our Lord for the existing churches in our state convention. 6. Write out what you have learned and what He has shown you during these ten days.
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Please contact Charlotte Barbo,
[email protected] or 614-8271804, and let SCBO know that you have decided to participate, and the number of days you plan to fast. This is to give us an idea of the number of people praying and fasting on which day. I plan to give a shout out to Charlotte on January 11 to share my experience, please consider contacting Charlotte after your experience so we can record what God is saying to His Buckeyes. Thank you for your dedication and your desire to see God stir the hearts of many in Ohio that will result in at least five thousand salvations and baptisms, one thousand new groups*, at least fifty church plants, and transformed lives throughout the Buckeye State! State Convention of Baptists in Ohio,
Brian Bruce Cathy Dwayne Dave Tim Duane Jack K. Jack H. Quinton Steve Amanda Ashley Ashleigh Charlotte Dan Joyce Kevin Linnett Sam Wendy
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[email protected] or 614-827-1804, and give her permission to share with others in our state and beyond. “There is no power like that of prevailing prayer. It turns ordinary mortals into men of power. It brings fire. It brings life. It brings God.” - Samuel Chadwick “Shout joyfully to God, all the earth! Sing about the glory of his name; make His praise glorious.” - Psalm 66:1-2
* New Group – 2014 newly formed Bible Studies, Sunday School, or small groups that meet anywhere, anytime for ongoing Bible Study. For more information or to register your new group, contact Dwayne Lee,
[email protected] or 614-827-1824
“The work of praying is prerequisite to all other work in the Kingdom of God. By prayer we couple the powers of Heaven to helplessness, the powers which can capture strongholds and make the impossible possible.” - O. Hallesby “”As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate Barnabas and Paul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them out.” - Acts 13:2-3
Praise God and Give Him Glory
P R A Y
Day One
P R A Y
1. 2. 3. 4.
Tell God how great He is and how much you love Him! Thank Him for your salvation. Sing praise to Him. Sit still for a few moments, be totally aware of Jesus, and feel His presence. 5. Write to God telling Him how much He means to you: _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ 6. Spend the rest of the day pausing and expressing praise for His love shown through His mercy and grace. “God is beginning to do a great work among His people! More and more churches and individuals are taking prayer seriously. In those people and churches, God’s power is beginning to be released in phenomenal ways.” - Greg Frizzel “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you, oh God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God.” - Psalm 42:1-2
Ask Specifically for at least fifty Church Plants in 2014
1. Ask God’s blessing, grace, comfort, strength, and power to be with all of the new church plants in Ohio. 2. Ask for the Lord to bring the same blessing, grace, comfort, strength, and power to the church planter and his family. 3. Ask Father to call out at least fifty more church planters to plant in Ohio. 4. Ask the Lord to fill the hearts of pastors and church members across Ohio with a hunger to see new churches planted. 5. Pray for the Lord to provide the resources these new church plants will need. 6. Pray that at every new church plant, salvation will be taught as only through Christ and His Word will be honored. 7. Ask God if He wants you to plant a new church or lead your church in starting or sponsoring a new church plant. 8. Pray for all the new planters and 2014 plants.
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Day Nine
It is our duty, for the glory of God, to live and pray and that our prayer can be answered. For the sake of God’s glory let us learn to pray well. - Andrew Murray “Even now-this is the Lord’s declaration – turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.” - Joel 2:12
P R A Y
Day Eight
Ask Jesus Specifically for at least Five Thousand Salvations and Baptisms
P R A Y
Day Two
Repent, Personal Purity, Ask God for More Faith and Dedication
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1. Call upon the Lord to increase your faith. 2. Ask Him to teach you how to be more faithful and trust Him more. 3. Ask Him to reveal to you how you can share the Gospel more often and more effectively. 4. Plead with Him to give you greater wisdom and greater understanding of His purpose. 5. Ask God for the ability to love those who are lost and without Christ. 6. Call on Him to show you where you need to be (reading His Word, tithing, attending church, joining a small group, witnessing to the lost, etc…). Now ask Him to give you the direction, correction, and strength you need to grow more in these areas. 7. Write to Him asking for more faith to surrender to His Lordship. _____________________________________________________
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1. Call upon the Lord for at least five thousand unbelievers in 2014 to surrender their life to Jesus and to be baptized. 2. Pray for churches who have not baptized anyone, or very few, to experience God’s power, and for baptisms to become a normal activity. 3. Ask the Lord to continue to bless those churches that salvations and baptisms are expected and common. 4. Ask the Lord to mature and disciple the new believers and recently baptized, that they will grow strong in faith and lead many others to Jesus. 5. Thank Him for His answer as you give Him praise with a pen. _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________ “Fasting is the only discipline that meets all the conditions of II Chronicles 7:14. When one fasts, he humbles himself … One could read the Bible, pray, or witness for Christ without repenting of his sins. - Bill Bright “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. - II Chronicles 7:14
Extra writing space on following page. “Faith is the gaze of a soul on a loving God.” - A.W. Tozer “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In God’s great mercy He has caused us to be born again into a living hope, because Jesus Christ rose from the dead.” - I Peter 1:3
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P R A Y
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Areas of Ohio
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Ask for Specific Blessings on the Smaller Towns and Rural
1. Lift up to the Lord the smaller towns of Marietta, Oxford, Bryan, Ashtabula, Bucyrus, Waverly, Cambridge, Findlay, Portsmouth, East Liverpool, and Coldwater. Ask God’s presence to sweep over these towns turning the residents to Him. 2. Pray for the pastors and churches in small towns like the ones named above. Ask for unity, mercy, and God’s power to be present with them. 3. Ask for our Lord to start great revivals in small towns in Ohio that will spread to neighboring small towns and then to cities. 4. Pray for neighborhoods and small town wherever you are driving today, like a prayer drive. 5. List other small towns and ask God to bless them in a supernatural way that only He can.
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Day Seven
“In the early church… prayer was the way bold men and women went to battle in the heavenly realms. It was never the territory of a few; but the constant practice of the many.” - Gary Mayes “So we fasted and pleaded with our God about this and He granted our request.” - Ezra 8:23
P R A Y
Day Six
Ask for Specific Blessings on the Cities of Ohio
P R A Y
1. Present the major cities of Cleveland, Akron, Toledo, Columbus, and Cincinnati to the Lord. Ask Him to stir the hearts of the churches and leaders in these cities. Pray for the great number of lost in these cities. 2. Present other cities including Canton, Youngstown, Sandusky, Hamilton, Bowling Green, Mansfield, and Warren. Ask God’s power to work in amazing ways in these places. 3. Pray for the suburbs that surround these cities. 4. Pray for the inner cities of each of these locations. 5. List any other city in Ohio that God is leading you to lift up in prayer. Ask for His revival power to hover over these named places and that many will come to know Him.
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Day Three
Ask, Specific Requests – Prayer for the churches in the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio 1. Pray for God’s mighty power to sweep across all of the churches in our state convention; to fill them with His mercy and grace; to give them a clear focus of their mission. 2. Ask Him to open the eyes and the hearts of all church members so they see the vast fields of lost harvests around them. 3. Pray for a Christ-centered unity to be evident in all these congregations. 4. Ask the Lord to bind the evil one and to banish him from the churches. 5. Call upon the Lord that these churches would grow spiritually, in faith, and in numbers. 6. Write out your prayer to God for the churches throughout Ohio.
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“We fast not to obligate God to do something, but because our hunger and desire for food.” - International Mission Board of the SBC “… the fast I choose: To break the chains of wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke to set the oppressed free, and to tear off every yoke.” - Isaiah 58:6
“Praying churches and praying church members are always the forerunners of a movement of God” - E. M. Bounds “When they had appointed Elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” - Acts 14:23
P R A Y
Day Four
Ask, Specific Requests – Pray for Ohio Pastors and for at least one thousand new groups* in Ohio
P R A Y
1. Lift all our pastors in the state convention up to the Lord. Ask Him to fill them with power and strength as they preach each Sunday. 2. Pray that each pastor will live a clean life that is honorable to the Lord and not be a stumbling block to anyone. 3. Ask the Lord to encourage those pastors that may feel discouraged. Ask Him to renew His call on them and to fill their lives with His refreshing, living water. 4. Ask God to remind all of the pastors that they are powerless. 5. Call upon the Lord to protect the families of each pastor. 6. Ask for God’s mighty power to be evident in each pastor; that His Mighty Works will be done in their church. 7. Write out a prayer for these special pastors.
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[email protected] or 614-827-1824
“Prayer has its rise and deepest source in the very being of God. In the bosom of Deity nothing is ever done without prayer – the asking of the Son and the giving of the Father.” - Andrew Murray “So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petitions, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.” - Daniel 9:3
Ask Father to reveal Himself to Buckeyes Without Christ and to call at least five thousand into His Kingdom 1. Ask for God’s mercy, comfort or conviction upon those in Ohio who do not know Jesus personally. 2. Ask the Lord to bring at least five thousand in Ohio to Him during 2014. 3. Call upon God to lead you to several people who need to hear the Gospel message, and that you will have the boldness, wisdom, and compassion to tell them of His saving grace. 4. Ask for a great revival to sweep across Ohio churches – so much that it spreads from church to church. 5. Spend the rest of this day praying for those you walk past and those you see as you go about your daily routine. 6. Pray for neighbors whose neighborhoods you drive through on your way to shop. 7. Use this space to list those whom you know need to experience the saving grace of Jesus.
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Day Five
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“Whenever God determines to do a great work, He first sets His people to pray.” - C.H. Spurgeon “Announce a sacred fast; proclaim a sacred assembly! Gather the relatives and all the residents of the land at the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.” - Joel 1:14
