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 5
August 15
“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he got up, went out, and made his way to a deserted place; and there he was praying.“
— Mark 1:35
REMINDER: We see a habit in Jesus’ life of withdrawing away from people to get alone with the Father in prayer. In Mark 1:35, when Jesus went to the “deserted place”, that is the word “eremos” in Scripture and can be translated to mean “wilderness”, “desolate place”, or “the quiet place”. As Jesus made a habit of getting alone with the Father to “the quiet place”, we should to. Whether early in the morning, finding a spot where you can get completely alone, or waiting until the house is quiet at night, spend time today with the Lord in your own “eremos”.
TODAY’S PRAYER:
– Talk to God about what He is teaching you this week in regard to sabbath and solitude. What would it look like for you to have a regular habit of getting alone with the Father in your “eremos”?
– As you have repeatedly sought to quiet your mind and heart this week, is there anything that continues to come up you need to give to God? Maybe you’re finding it difficult to get still and truly rest for a few moments. Or you’re feeling like it’s hard to stop thinking about your to-do list for the day. Surrender your heart and allow God in His grace to meet you where you’re at.
– If you feel led, pray for others as they alone with God to their own eremos. Pray that they would hear and receive from their Father and that would lead to true fulfillment in Him.
