40 Days of Prayer _ Youth Devotional Day 1
INTRO
Dear Alliance family,
Welcome to 40 Days of Prayer! This prayer guide features daily devotionals and prayer prompts that are designed to lead you into the presence of God, to cry out to Him in prayer, and to listen for His still, small voice. It’s not enough to hear about prayer, read about it, or even just learn about it. During these 40 days at the beginning of 2022, we need to engage in prayer—to perhaps do so with a frequency, fervency, and focus that is not normal for us. This year’s theme is Reawakening to Christ. The aim of this 40-day focus is to fix our gaze on Jesus: remember who He is, what He has done, what He has given us to do, and what He will do in the future.
Look around at all that is happening in our nation and world. It is time to pray and to sur render to Jesus! Could it be that this 40 Days of Prayer could change us, change our prayer lives, change The Alliance, and even transform our nation and world? Let’s step into this prayer experience with the anticipation that we will encounter the living God and fix our eyes upon Him. Let’s pray with a spirit of expectancy that the Spirit of God will do great things in, among, and through us to the glory of Jesus Christ.
Keep the faith!
Terry D. Smith
Vice President for Church Ministries
WEEK 1
REAWAKENING TO THE
GLORY OF CHRIST
During His Incarnation, the glory of Christ is often veiled, and we see His humility. But His glory has existed from eternity past and will continue into eternity future. Even during His Incarnation, His glory is seen from time to time. This week’s devotionals unpack various aspects of the glory of Christ so that we will find ourselves caught up in worship.
DAY DAY DAY DAY DAY DAY DAY
01DAY
THE ETERNALITY OF CHRIST JOHN 1:1–4, 14
Have you ever thought about the fact that Jesus didn’t just come into existence when He was born? He existed from the very beginning, and He has continued to exist even after His physical death—Jesus is eternal!
If you’ve ever played peek-a-boo with a young child, you’ve witnessed a developmental theo ry at work called object permanence. This is the ability to know that an object still exists even if it cannot be seen. Infants who haven’t yet developed object permanence will become upset when an object is hidden from sight because they think the item has vanished.
In the same way, if we are not developed enough in our faith to know that Christ is eternal, we can become upset when bad things happen in life because we think that He’s vanished, that He’s left us. But Christ is eternal, and it is a glorious promise to know that He has always been there and He will always be there with us. We can rest and confidently live life know
ing that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (see Hebrews 13:8). He is worthy of all our affection!
PRAYER POINTS:
1. Ask Jesus to show you moments where He’s been beside you in the past and the present. Does Jesus’ presence change anything? Spend time praising Him for this revelation!
2. Have Jesus show you where He desires to be beside you in the future. Does His presence change anything? How? Journal your thoughts, and date the page. Commit these moments to Him so you can look back on it later.
3. Find a way to declare/express Isaiah 9:6—through calligraphy, art, writing poems or songs, declaring truth, dancing, journaling, etc.
»by Abi Arkawa