Day 1 of "27-Day Prayer & Fasting Journey with Rev. Adam Snell

Greetings in the name of Christ.

My name is Adam Snell and I am one of the pastors of Cedar Grove Methodist Church in Deale, Maryland. I also serve on the Prayer Team of the Northeast Conference of the Global Methodist Church. Welcome to Day 1 of 27 Days of Prayer as we prepare for our Annual Conference gathering on May 8-10 in Cortland, NY.

What I love about our conference is how this geographic place has been the birthplace of many great spiritual awakenings, a place where, for centuries, people who have yearned to draw closer to God have been drawn. The Puritans, seeking religious freedom, landed on the shores of what would become New England; the First Great Awakening spread throughout the region through people like George Whitfield and Jonathan Edwards; Francis Asbury, sent from England by John Wesley, landed at Philadelphia, ministered in Delaware during the Revolutionary War, and gathered the Methodists at the famous Christmas Conference in Baltimore, Maryland in 1784. Cortland, New York, where we will soon be gathering for our Annual Conference, is in the region where Charles Finney, and his prayer warrior, Daniel Nash, brought many to Christ during the Second Great Awakening. God’s Spirit has historically been on the move in the Northeast.

Thank you for your willingness to journey together in prayer. Throughout the pages of Scripture, God has mightily moved when his people faithfully turned to him in prayer. During these next 27 days you will hear from the Presiding Elders who serve God’s people in all the churches of the Northeast Conference. They will name the churches in their districts and share what they love about being part of this new movement of Methodism in this part of God’s Kingdom. A passage of Scripture will also be read, as well as a relevant prayer. Please pray for each of these named churches each day. At the end of our 27 days of prayer, the people of every one of the churches in our conference will have been included in prayer.

I am eager to see many of you at Annual Conference in May. I encourage you to use these days of preparation to hear God’s Word and pray together as we prepare to fan the flame that the Holy Spirit has kindled in us all.

Here is today’s focus Scripture passage from 2 Chronicles 7:13-14:

13  “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people,  14  if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Today’s Prayer Focus

Center your prayers this day on the current state of Christ’s church. Reflect on ways that there has been “no rain” in the past. Consider ways in which “locusts” and “plagues” have come upon God’s people. At the beginning of this season of prayer and fasting, today is a day to humble yourself, seek his face, and turn from your own role in the church’s brokenness.

Today’s Suggested Prayer (based on Psalm 130)

1  Out of the depths I cry to you, LORD;
2      Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
    to my cry for mercy.
3  If you, LORD, kept a record of sins,
    Lord, who could stand?
4  But with you there is forgiveness,
    so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
5  I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits,
    and in his word I put my hope.
6  I wait for you, LORD
    more than watchmen wait for the morning,
    more than watchmen wait for the morning. Amen.

You can find this prayer, and all the other prayers of the 27 Days, on the Conference website, northeastgmc.org.

May the Lord richly bless your faithful prayers. Amen.