52 Days of Prayers Intro

I'm so excited to be able to talk to you about the new youth resource that we have been writing for young people for 252 Challenge. It's taken us some time but we are getting there, and we are starting this tomorrow.

52 Days of Prayers is a series of Bible readings that will take us on a journey through the Bible. It's been written for young people, but all the resources are going to be freely available on our website and anyone can follow along. I've already heard that somebody's granny might be doing it with us as well so it's really quite exciting.

The plan is that five days a week, we will ask you to read a short passage in the Bible. It's a prayer, that's been recorded in the Bible, and we recommend that you read it in the morning. It should only take you about 10 or 15 minutes so maybe just try and set your alarm clock a little bit earlier.

Then five nights a week, we will post a video, or maybe do a live event something like Facebook Live. It will just be myself, or Jess, we will just share our thoughts on that Bible reading in the evening.

Then, once a week, we are going to host an online event where young people can join together and chat about the week's readings, and that's the place where you can come and bring any of your questions and talk about anything that you found particularly difficult in those Bible readings. So DM me if you want the links.

Then at the end of the week, we've left space for you to be able to spend some time reflecting on the week's readings, and just to do that in your own personal time. Because if you simply read the readings and listen to us in the evening, it can become a bit of a tick box exercise, it can become a bit of a, 'I've done that I'm doing all right.' But you know you won't actually learn very much from that. You won't get much out of it. But spending say 30 minutes or so at the end of the week just thinking a bit more deeply about what you've read and what you've heard, you'll be able to identify some of the themes that are emerging, and you could maybe make some decisions about anything that needs to change in your life.

Don't worry if you've never read the Bible before or if you think it is going to be difficult. We recommend that you read the Bible passage, maybe a couple of times. And then ask yourself the following five questions and you might find it good to have a piece of paper and a pencil just to jot down your answers to these, to these questions.

So the first question is, what do I find good about this Bible passage? So you can think there about what's good about it, what you like about it, but also what really stood out to you.

Then the second question is What didn't you like? So it's just the opposite. What did you like? What didn't you like about it? What did you find difficult? What did you find hard? What really would you struggle with? And then if you've got questions in there that you found difficult, make a note of those and bring those along to the to the group meetings.

The third question is, what does this Bible passage, tell me about God? So, from this Bible passage can you identify maybe some of the character of God? Can you identify some of the principles that he lives by? Anything that it can tell you about God, what can you learn about God there?

Then the fourth question is What does this tell me about me? So, just have a think, does it reveal some of your character traits? Does it reveal some of your nature? Or can you actually identify with any of the people that are in the story that you're reading about?

And then the final question is, What do I need to go and do about it? Now, I believe that the Bible is God's word to us, and that He speaks to us through it, that he encourages us, that He corrects our wrong thinking, and that he actually guides us through our life through His words. And so if we believe that, then we have to expect that when we read the Bible, that things have to change in our lives. And so, we must always finish by saying, What does this mean to me? What do I need to go and do after reading this?

So those five questions. Again, it's,

1. what do I like?

2. What don't I like?

3. What does this tell me about God?

4. What does this tell me about me?

5. And what do I need to go and do about it?

I hope that is helpful to you.

So tomorrow we're going to set out on this journey over the next 52 days, and explore some of the prayers that are in the Bible.

So please stay in touch with us, and feedback to us with any recommendations, and don't forget to share things, and use the hashtags #252challenge, and #52daysofprayers.

Make sure you stay up to date and follow along by following or subscribing to the 252 Challenge social media channels. Follow along using the calendar that we've already posted on social media, and I'll see you tomorrow night at 7:30pm on the 252 Challenge Facebook page for a Facebook Live where we're going to be thinking about Abraham's prayers for Sodom.