THE PRAYER PRACTICE

January is all about prayer. The concept of “practicing” is central to our approach of becoming more like Jesus. If you’ve ever tried a new sport or hobby, you know you weren’t an expert your first try. But how did you get better? You practiced. 

The goal this month is that we would grow in the depth and delight of our prayer life. 

There are different practices of following Jesus (prayer, scripture, community, sharing the Gospel, sabbath, generosity, serving) This month we are practicing prayer together. And regardless of where you are at, we all want to grow closer to God and become more like Jesus. 


Prayer can feel like a duty. Another thing Christians are “supposed” to do and then it feels forced and obligatory. I think we’ve all felt that. But our goal for this is that our motivation for prayer is to simply delight in His presence. Growing in depth and delight. 

Below are a few key elements of this month’s practice.

Elements of our Prayer Practice

  • This is an incredible resource to help you grow in depth and delight. It connects to the message and discussion from Sunday and is full of great resources. We have printed copies for everyone but you can also snag the digital one here

  • Every Wednesday in January, we are encouraging everyone to do a 24 hour water only fast.

    The ultimate aim of fasting is to get in touch with our hunger for God. Hunger is the state of wanting or needing something you do not have. When we fast, we awaken our body and soul to its deep yearning for life with the Father. We become able to say with Jesus, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” (John 4:32)

    Larissa has brought up some great tips from the physical/nutritional side of things like eating things low in processed sugar leading up to the fast and break the fast with fruit and not with a big meal. The text group will be a help with this as we will be encouraging each other. (If you’re not in the group text, just send Loren a text: (916-715-8983)

    Lastly, don’t feel like you “have” to do this. If fasting is newer to you, maybe just trying fasting one meal. The cool thing is we have four Wednesdays of practice.

    With that said the suggested timeframe is from 8pm Tuesday till 8pm Wednesday.

  • The beautiful thing about our church is we are able to talk about our progress. This means celebrating the steps foward, being honest with the roadblocks, and encouraging each other in the process.

    Simply have in mind that there is a space every Sunday to celebrate and discuss how we’re all doing in this practice. No judgment. No fakeness. Just encouragement, authenticity and love.

    Hebrews 10:24-25 feels very appropriate here:

    And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.