Dear Watermark Family,
As our 21 Days of Praying and Fasting comes to a close tomorrow, we hope you have been encouraged by the ways the Lord is currently leading and moving. Over the last 20 days, we have had 9,500+ people sign up for the daily prayer prompts, held eight prayer gatherings in the chapel during the week, and hosted 2,036 attendees at the first Night of Prayer and Worship on February 1. Praise God for His faithfulness.
God Stories
It has been encouraging to see how God has moved during this time. I want to share a few stories from our church family of the ways the Lord has impacted their hearts over the past several weeks:
- “I have enjoyed the reminder to depend on the Lord in and for everything while we have been celebrating the 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. My time has shown me how I tend to look at things of this world for satisfaction instead of God. Over the last several days, God has kindly opened my eyes to this unhealthy sin pattern in my heart.”
- “I've really enjoyed fasting alongside the guys in my community group. A year ago, I wouldn't have imagined we would be coordinating days to fast and pray together.”
- “I have been faithfully praying for my friend’s salvation who lives in a different state. She is currently living with her boyfriend who is also a non-believer. On day four of the 21 days, I woke up to a text from her watching Watermark online. She expressed how she desires to have a relationship with the Lord and requested prayers for her boyfriend to find salvation in Christ.”
- “One of our volunteers has been walking through a stressful season balancing work and single motherhood. I checked on her today, and she said, ‘There has been so much stress from work and balancing everything out. It gets really hard and overwhelming for me sometimes as a single mom juggling everything, but the fasting and prayer have been so refreshing, and I am in a good place now.’”
- “In asking the Lord to move in power and freedom from sin that has marked many years of my life, this question was brought to mind, ‘Why do you keep asking me for freedom when I have already set you free?’ This felt like the chains I had been buried in for years fell off me right at that moment. The Lord gave me a new hope, and Galatians 5:1 finally really sunk into my heart. I am already free from sin because Christ set me free, and I do not have to submit to its authority anymore. I don’t need to fear sin’s power over me because it has none. My community group has been fasting and praying for me in this, too, and it has been powerful seeing God answer those prayers! I am so grateful for this intentional time of deepening my relationship with the Lord alongside my church and am hopeful for the fruit being produced because of it.”
- “I have enjoyed the chair method of prayer. I now listen to God for 15 minutes every night.”
- “At Watermark Health, we saw a patient in a hard situation start a journey of healing through a Watermark ministry. That was a direct answered prayer we invited volunteers to be praying for.”
- “I am fasting from social media and making a conscious effort to ‘scroll my text messages’ over Instagram and actually connect with my people. Using the scrolling to ask for prayer requests, check in on something in their lives, share encouragement, and hopefully love them more than a ‘like’ does on an app. I have been so encouraged by the way the Spirit has moved in me and changed my heart posture for my people!”
- “My husband and I have been praying for the Lord to provide a job for him over the last six months. When we entered into this time of prayer and fasting, we boldly asked the Lord to provide a job within these 21 days. By day nine, the Lord showed up and provided a job for my husband.”
- “I have learned that fasting has increased my intentionality to pray.”
Next Steps
Similarly to the stories above, the Lord may be moving in your own life. If you have sensed the Lord open your eyes to areas in your life where you need recovery or healing, re:generation may be your next best step. For those who do not have a church home and have jumped in with us over these last 20 days, maybe the next step is to start the membership process here at Watermark and join a community group. Or maybe your heart is heavy for those who do not know Jesus. If so, connect with our Global team or check out the Joshua Project and download the “Unreached of the Day” app, where you can pray for a specific group of people in the world who have never heard the gospel.
The truth is that God is and always has been on the move, not just during these 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. So do not stop now! Here are some practical next steps to continue praying for and with your church family:
- Sign up for the Watermark Family Prayer Newsletter. Each week, we collect prayer requests from our body and ask members to pray for one another.
- Submit a Prayer Request. Our church would love to pray for you. These requests are prayed for in our weekly prayer service and shared in the Watermark Family Prayer newsletter.
- Attend our Sunday Prayer Service. Every Sunday at 5:30 PM, we host a smaller gathering of corporate prayer in the chapel.
- Serve with the Notes Ministry. Encourage members of the body by responding to their prayer requests with handwritten notes.
Join us for the next Night of Prayer and Worship
Join us tomorrow night at 7 PM for one final Night of Prayer and Worship to celebrate our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting together. I hope to see you there.