Go Beyond At Home
28-Week Prayer Guide
Sabbath and Solitude
Hey friends, I am so grateful to be able to share this week’s prayer guide with you. What a gift it is to pray for our own hearts and intercede for our Church and one another! This week, we continue to focus on spiritual disciplines, and specifically, the practice of sabbath and solitude. As we enter this week, I encourage you to prayerfully consider what it could look like for you or your family to personally practice sabbath or solitude in your own home. Maybe you take a full day to unplug from screens and media and have an intentional meal as a family or with friends. Maybe you celebrate what God has been doing in your life and others by taking time to share out loud. Maybe you take a morning without distraction and devote it to prayer and listening. What might God do if we position our hearts and minds to rest, delight, and hear from our Father? As Romans 15:13 says, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Week 24
Day 1
August 11
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your city gates. For the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.”
— Exodus 20:8-11
REMINDER: Many years ago, God commanded His people to practice sabbath rest- to trust in His provision, love, presence, and promises. Today, we are just as in need of that. Practicing sabbath can look like:
Stopping what we are doing and trusting that we have all that we need (Psalm 23:1).
Resting to the Lord rather than just numbing out from the responsibility and hardships in life (Exodus 35:2).
Delighting in God, His creation, and His people as it restores our soul (Psalm 23:2).
Practicing gratitude by slowing down to worship, praying, having intentional conversation with others, and physically slowing down the pace and speed we are so accustomed to running.
TODAY’S PRAYER:
– Thank God that He gives us rest. What might God say to you about your own need for rest?
– Ask God to show you how to experience rest in your heart and life this week.
– We live in a busy world: Pray for those who are burdened by the pace and expectations of the world that they may know God’s true rest over their hearts and life. If you are feeling burdened, pray for you and your family as well.
