Explaining the 7-Point Prayer Pledge

First, you’ll commit to hitting your knees first thing every morning. This practice changed my life. I mean first thing. Roll out of your bed, onto your knees, and simply lift your eyes to God. This can be as short a prayer as you'd like, and then run to the bathroom! This simple act of submission sets the tone for your day and directs your energy and focus onto his power and not your own. This act is what many participants in this project say had the biggest impact on their life. I’ve been doing this for so many years I can't get out of bed any other way.

Next, you'll come up with ten impossible prayers, meaning they're impossible to do without divine power (you can come up with more than ten if you'd like). These should be prayers that scare you a little. They can involve your marriage or your kids; your health or your finances; your character or your courage; sin strongholds or forgiveness. These are things that you might have stopped believing are possible for you. Maybe you're afraid to get a broken heart if hope is deferred once again. It's not that you don't believe it's possible, but maybe you don't believe it's possible for you or yours. Here is my encouragement for you: a broken heart isn't so bad. I'd rather get my heart broken chasing my dreams than see it slowly break over years of disappointment and discouragement because I failed to stretch my faith.

Next, you'll review your miracle prayers every day and commit to praying for these things throughout your day. Don’t pray in the morning and forget about them as you go about your day. Your father is ALWAYS working. This project is about seeing what he is doing on a daily basis. You'll learn to pray as you walk along, and as you sit down. You'll daydream about your miracles, and you’ll imagine their arrival. This is what the Bible calls keeping in step with the Spirit. Talk to him and listen to him as you go along the path.

Next, you’ll begin to take measurable steps toward your miracles everyday. As you watch and pray, the Spirit will nudge you with thoughts, ideas, and answers, but you must move when he stirs you. When you have the thought to reach out to someone or to make a move on God's behalf, now is the time to act. Then you'll get deliberate about moves you can make to show God that you're paying attention. When you make one move, God makes two. Now you are gathering momentum.

Next, you will begin to journal regarding the evidence you find that God is working on your behalf. I call this searching for God's fingerprints. This is a huge part of the process. Over your forty days you will develop the habit of treasure hunting, as you look for God's reply to your requests and desires. Journaling is becoming a lost art, but it is so powerful when you practice it. I believe it becomes real to you when you write it down, and I think your Father likes it when it becomes real to you. As you record evidence you begin to search for more, and then you'll begin to notice him everywhere.

Next, you will keep your heart pure and soft by repenting as the Spirit shows you things along the way.. It's not that God stops working when we fall, but rather we can't see him when our hearts are covered up and becoming hard through sin's deceitfulness. Keep your side of the street clean and you will begin to see him more clearly. When I am stuck in guilt or shame my eyes become focused on myself and I can no longer see others around me as clearly. Guilt can be a motivation, as it involves feeling bad about something I've done. However, shame is more destructive because it involves feeling bad about who I AM. Simply see the wrong and make it right. We can’t allow shame to be a part of this game.

Next, you will begin the process of shifting back into a state of gratitude when you catch yourself complaining, blaming, or making excuses. These are all strategies for failure. These mindsets steal your power and take your eyes off of God and his work in your life. Gratitude in the midst of suffering is a powerful energy and keeps the door wide open. When you develop a habit of gratitude you open up the floodgates of blessing into your life. When we focus on all the reasons that we are miserable we continue to find evidence of the same. What you focus on expands and we find what we look for.

If you’d like to put your prayer life on steroids, I recommend that you get a prayer partner for this endeavor. Accountability is very powerful when you desire it. You’re attempting to break old habits that do not serve you and replace them with new ones. This is not easy as your brain will stubbornly hold onto habits that you have developed over time. When you have someone in the battle with you it will give you strength when you feel like taking a day off from your spiritual training. If you’re going to commit to this project, then do it with all your heart. Who knows, maybe your prayer partner needs you as much as or more than you need them. You can also take it one step further. Get your family or small group to do this as a project

 

Cummings, Kit. 40 Days of Prayer:Seven Steps to a Spiritual Breakthrough: Illumination Publishers Intl., Feb. 25.2015, pp. 8 -10.