Our Prayer Guide for

40 Days of Focused Prayer

Click here to download this Prayer Guide in .pdf  format

HOW TO USE OUR PRAYER GUIDE: This Guide provides needs and topics to assist you in a focused daily prayer time. This guide is not an exhaustive list of concerns for which you may pray.

PREPARATION FOR PRAYER: As you begin each prayer time, spend a few moments preparing your mind and heart for your encounter with God.

Begin with Adoration. Praise God for who He is, for His greatness, for His holiness. Praise Him for forgiveness of sin and for the salvation He provided us in Jesus. Move to Confession. Confess your sins against God and against others. Be specific and name them. Ask for God’s forgiveness. Commit to obey Him completely.

Now Thank God for what He is doing in your life today. Name your blessings.   Move now to Intercession. Use this guide as you begin to pray for other people, our church, and other ministries.

Day 1: Ask God to make us equal to the task of rebuilding our ministry facilities. Pray specifically for God to give wisdom, knowledge, and direction to our building committee, finance subcommittee, construction subcommittee, publicity subcommittee, interior design and furnishings subcommittee. Ask God to grant them His strength, ability, and perseverance to complete their tasks.

Day 2: Pray for a smooth transition into our new facilities, that we can be patient and understanding with each other as we adjust to the new environment. Petition the Father to help members of our church family become more sacrificial in their life choices, placing the good of others first, that we might be known as servants of Christ in our homes, church, and community.  

Day 3: Pray for the families of our church and community. Ask God to strengthen and empower our church families for effective ministry. Earnestly pray for God to strengthen marriages and build unity of heart and mind between husbands and wives. Ask God to make the home a sanctuary of peace and blessing for our families.

Day 4: Pray for parents and grandparents to understand how to effectively nurture children in the love of God. Pray that Christian parents will teach godly precepts in their homes and live godly examples before their children. Ask the Holy Spirit to convict un-churched parents of their children’s spiritual needs and the need to have them involved in church.

Day 5: Pray for our Sunday and Weekday preschool ministries. Ask God to fill the heart of each worker with an abiding love for preschoolers and to give them sufficient understanding to meet the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual needs of our preschoolers.

Day 6: Pray for our ministry to children. Ask God to help our leaders understand the impact of their life example and ministry upon the life of each child. Pray for our teachers’ ability to make their weekly preparations necessary to teach God’s Word effectively each Sunday. Pray for their ability to genuinely love children.

Day 7: Pray for our youth ministry. Pray for the wisdom and direction of our Student Minister Search Team as they seek out God’s minister for our youth. Ask God to enable our youth teachers to communicate effectively as they teach God’s Word. Pray for our youth leaders’ ability to understand youth culture sufficiently to help our students become passionate followers of Jesus and effective witnesses to their peers. 

Day 8: Pray for our adult bible study classes. Ask God to create a class environment that motivates adults to become personally involved in ministry to others. Pray for God to encourage and empower our adult teachers as they seek to nurture their class members toward godliness.

Day 9: Pray for your ministry vision. Ask God to give you direction for spiritual growth and for your personal involvement in ministry through your church. Pray for a spirit of cooperation with fellow believers in ministry opportunities.

Day 10: Intercede today for your ministers. Ask God to provide Bro. LaRue, Bro. John, and Mrs. Brenda with wisdom, discernment, vision, understanding, and the knowledge necessary to give effective leadership to our church family during this pivotal period in our church’s life.

Day 11: Intercede today for our church office support staff. Ask God to give Karen and Michelle the ability to minister effectively to people through the services of our church office. Pray for their wisdom, understanding, and clarity of thought as they deal with the many requests of a growing church family.

Day 12: Pray for our stewardship committee as they manage our financial resources and ministry budget. Ask God to give them wisdom, insight, and the knowledge necessary to anticipate and develop an effective ministry budget through our transition into new facilities.

Day 13: Pray for the timely sale of our downtown property at full market value. The sale of this property would allow us to eliminate all debt and to begin phase two of our rebuild master plan. Ask God to connect us with the right developer that would add value to our community life.

Day 14: Ask God to bring glory to His name through our His Church Rising stewardship campaign. Pray for each member of our church to respond obediently, sacrificially, and joyfully to our God-given opportunity to provide a comprehensive ministry campus through which the gospel can be shared with our city and world.

Day 15: Earnestly pray for God to bring a spiritual revival to you, to your family, and to our church family. Ask Him to renew in your heart a passion to see people saved. Pray for an increased desire to follow God in joyful obedience and in humble service to others.

Day 16: Pray for God to raise up more leaders for the expanding ministry needs of our church. We will need additional ushers, greeters in the parking lots, more greeters at the entrance doors, additional staff for the audio/visual team, and teachers for all ages in our Sunday School and in our Discipleship ministries.

Day 17: Pray for our music ministry. We need additional Children’s Choir leaders. We need a church pianist and for more people to join the worship choir and the youth choir. Ask God to continue His ministry through our Praise Team.

Day 18: Ask God to guide the planning and to work out the details for His name to be blessed through the following events: our Children’s Choir musical April 20^th, our Women’s Ministry event April 24^th, our Youth Choir musical May 4^th, our Parent/Child Dedication service May 11^th, and our Baccalaureate service May 18th.

Day 19: Intercede for the Women’s Resource Center. This ministry provides free pregnancy testing and counseling for persons who may be considering an abortion. They help those in a crisis to make godly and biblical decisions about their personal life and the life of their unborn child. Pray for this ministry as it seeks to preserve the sanctity of human life.

Day 20: Intercede for The Center for International Seamen and Truckers. Bro. Charles Cory and his volunteers minister to truckers and ship crews that visit the Port of Gulfport. The Center and its volunteers provide Bibles, phone cards, shopping trips and, most importantly, a Christian witness to their guests. Ask God to provide volunteers to expand this ministry.

Day 21: Pray for the work of our Baptist Student Unions at the Perkinston, Jeff Davis, and Jackson County campuses of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. These groups impact the lives of countless students each day through recreation, bible study, leadership training, missions opportunities, and Christian friendship.

Day 22: Pray for The Good News Jail and Prison Ministry and Chaplain Joe Collins at the Harrison County Adult Detention Center. Ask God to provide volunteers to teach Bible Studies in their Life Learning Program. Petition the Father to lead more churches to support this ministry financially and with volunteers.

Day 23: Pray for the Long Beach Community Food Pantry and their ministry to those who are struggling to provide food for their family. Ask God to give them wisdom and the ability to minister in a Christ honoring way to each client. Pray for more churches to support this ministry financially and with volunteers.

Day 24: Pray for our Sequoia Men’s Club ministry to be effective in its ministry to men. Ask God to give wisdom, insight, and the knowledge necessary for the leadership team to plan ministry that connects men to God and that motivates men to become devoted followers of Jesus. Pray for a spiritual awakening among the men of our church and that they would provide godly example and leadership in their home and workplace.

Day 25: Intercede for our children’s missions organizations (R.A.s, G.A.s, and Mission Friends) to be effective in teaching missions to our children. Ask God to grant each worker with wisdom and adequate knowledge for their role in leading our children to understand how He is at work around the world. Pray for our children to hear God’s call to their life mission.

Day 26: Pray God’s blessings on David and Patti Baldwin who direct the Katrina Rebuild efforts of our Gulf Coast Baptist Association. Ask God to continue to provide money and volunteer work crews as they touch lives for Christ through the repair and rebuild of damaged and destroyed homes.

Day 27: Pray for Gene Williamson, David Warren, Gerald Glascoe, Robert Wilcox, and their spouses as they assist David Baldwin in our post-Katrina rebuild ministry. Their participation will greatly enhance our ability to minister effectively. Ask God to prepare and lead volunteer teams to the gulf coast for rebuild and evangelistic ministry.

Day 28: Intercede for the volunteer ministry teams that continue to come alongside us in our community rebuild ministry. Ask God to grant adequate finances for their team’s needs and for God to grant safety in their travels and work.

Day 29: Ask God to provide Rick and Lynn Shepler, our coordinators for volunteer ministry teams, the wisdom and ability to coordinate our volunteer teams for maximum blessing. Pray for their ability to match team skills with the repair needs.

Day30: Pray for the 300 youth and adults who will be on the Gulf Coast June 7 – 14 to participate in World Changers. This group of Southern Baptist youth will be repairing and remodeling homes in East Biloxi. Pray for their safety and for their witness to be received by each family to whom they minister.

Day 31: Ask God to anoint with His presence our Vacation Bible School scheduled for June 2-6. Pray for each worker as they prepare for their ministry role. Ask the Holy Spirit to draw the children of our city to this ministry and to prepare their hearts to receive the gospel. Pray for families to be drawn to God through VBS.

Day 32: Ask God to create within our church family a vision for new and expanded ministry opportunities. Pray for our ability to discern and to understand the needs of our membership and community so that our ministries can effect significant positive change in people. Ask God to give guidance as we seek effective ways to minister to single women and men.  

Day 33: Earnestly seek God’s counsel concerning your role in expanding the ministries of our church to our community, state, nation, and world. How might you extend your life witness beyond the walls of our church house?

Day 34: Pray for God to do whatever it takes to make you His hands, feet, ears, eyes, mind, and heart. Is your goal complete surrender to God for His purpose and use in ministry to others? Earnestly ask God to make your life count for Him.

Day 35: Pray for God’s guidance as our ministers, building team, and public relations team plan for our last worship service in the middle school gym (anticipated July 6^th), for our first worship service in our new facilities (anticipated July 13^th), and for the dedication of our new facilities on August 24^th.

Day 36: Earnestly pray for our church to develop a global impact vision that creatively connects us with the unreached people groups of our world. Ask God to lead us in the development of ministry partnerships with missionaries around the world and with struggling churches in our nation.

Day 37: Pray for every adult Sunday School class to adopt a national or international missionary for the purpose of supporting them through correspondence, prayer, financial gifts, or going to minister alongside them. Pray for our preschool, children, and youth Sunday School departments to creatively connect with a ministry outside our church for support and personal involvement.

Day 38: Intercede today for those persons inside and outside our churches who need but lack for Christian counseling services. Ask God to give us direction in starting a Christian Counseling ministry for our community. Pray for those hurting because of broken marriages, depression, chemical addiction, abuse, guilt, unprocessed grief, and many other real life struggles.

Day 39: Pray for the preparations necessary for us to enter our new church home: installation of furnishings, relocation of the Weekday Preschool, relocation and set up of offices, orientation and training of church leadership, final city inspections and receipt of the Certificate of Permanent Occupancy, etc.

Day 40: Pray for God to be honored and respected by the way we use His new facilities. Earnestly pray 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.” To God be the Glory! Great things He hath done!