Welcome! We are so happy you are here to pray with us! CU Church is a praying church. We believe God calls us to take part in His transforming work and promises that we will be transformed in the process. As we celebrate the 5th anniversary of the launch of CU Church, we are joining together for 28 days of prayer. It is our desire to pray communally, according to God’s will, knowing that God hears us, loves us and that our prayers matter.
What does it mean to “pray according to God’s will?” It means, simply, to put our personal desires and interests aside and focus on God’s Word and what it teaches us about God’s desires. First John 5:14-15 says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”
A few things to note:
- This prayer guide corresponds to our sermon series on Ephesians. Each week, the guide includes the scripture for the coming week’s sermon. As we study Ephesians, we want to use the scripture to deepen our understanding of God’s desires and to inspire our prayers throughout the month.
- We will use the T.A.C.O.S. acronym (Thanksgiving-Adoration-Confession-Others-Self) to organize our prayers in alignment with Jesus’s teaching in The Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 6:9-13.
- When we pray for the “O” (others), you’ll find a table categorizing our prayers into three groups: CU Church, Community and Global Church. We’ll ask that you pray with us to find God’s desires for CU Church as we move into the future. We’ll suggest groups to pray for in our community and on our school campuses that God’s Spirit and scripture lead us toward. We will pray for the global church, missionaries, and people in other countries who need our prayer support.
- All scripture is from the English Standard Version (ESV) of the bible unless otherwise noted.
If you are new to prayer, don’t be overwhelmed! There is no right or wrong way to pray. The prayer guide is intended to make your experience accessible and uncomplicated. If you have been a lifelong pray-er, the prayer guide can serve as a starting point. Whether you can spend 5 minutes or 50 minutes, we ask you to join together and pray for our church, our community, and our world.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
“I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.”
1 Timothy 2:1 NLT