24 /7 PRAYER

Just to remind you, we place a great emphasis on prayer here at Southside. We have a 24/7 prayer chain going, where you can commit yourself to a 1-hour prayer slot each day. There seems to be a special significance about one hour. We see that in the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus goes to pray, and his disciples fall asleep. Jesus said could you not pray with me for one hour? The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And then He adds watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. Doesn't that sound like most of us? Pretty significant for you and me, don’t you think? At this time of the year its good to review how we went over the last year with that and how consistent we really were. I have found it invaluable in my life. It keeps me honest and reminds me to keep the main thing the main thing. I'm not really into new year resolutions, as such. They very rarely work. How many take-out gym memberships in Jan, and they soon lapse from non-use? But this is a good time to maybe change your hour slot if your circumstances have changed, or if you haven’t put your name down to fill a slot. If you are in any form of leadership or you are serious about being a disciple of Jesus, I would suggest it’s a must, not some optional extra.

There is no question that to be a true disciple of Jesus, we need to strengthen our prayer life after all its all about relationship, and relationship can only happen by hanging out with Jesus in prayer. A 2-minute prayer rolling out of bed each morning, to be honest, doesn't just cut it. Rasela is in charge of prayer, so contact her about what slot you want to do, so she knows if every hour is covered. Also, I would strongly encourage all hub leaders, especially to be at the Sun night prayer gathering at 6pm at Jeff's. It's where you learn to grow in the discipline of prayer.