Day of Prayer and Vision

You are my dearly loved son, in whom I am well pleased! Then the spirit sent him out at once into the desert, and there he remained forty days…”
Mark 1:12,13

It’s not easy to walk through a desert – real or spiritual. It’s dry, hot, and dusty, and you long for your thirst to be quenched. This path is designed to help guide you as you seek the Lord in a Day of Prayer and Vision.

Take a look around you. There are many possible conditions that may be contributors to the desert you are now passing through. You undoubtedly need to gain perspective. Sharing with someone will help you understand ways that these conditions are affecting you.

Often guilt accompanies spiritual dryness; the sense that you aren’t measuring up. Do you feel some of that? Guilt will weaken you spiritually and emotionally, and sap you of effectiveness in ministry. Don’t let this happen to you!

Perhaps you have had an exceptionally stress-filled year. Don’t underestimate the impact this can have on your spiritual life! We all know the damage stress can do. Cross-cultural ministry has unique stressors that can cause problems and irritations: language study; discouragement; loneliness; burnout; and/or depression are a few of the most common. Identifying and understanding stressors in your life is a first step toward walking through – and out of – the desert.

Journaling is an extremely important discipline for you. You need to journal your thoughts and feelings. The Lord wants to hear your deepest concerns; he is your closest companion on this journey. Cry out as the psalmist did; God is listening and desires to comfort your heart. Through your day of Prayer and Vision journal, your experience will be enriched by capturing thoughts, recording insights, and creating a reference for the coming days and weeks. You undoubtedly already journal – at least occasionally – so you may want to use your own notebook, or start another just for this experience.

There are times in life that defy analysis. Sometimes sinfulness, stress or environments conditions are not the issue. When the well runs dry, and you enter these “dark nights of the soul,” it is like being in a cloud of unknowing; you almost feel like you have lost your bearings. Everything that seemed so certain before is suddenly called into question. Tried and true patterns of devotion and spiritual refreshment seem to yield little result. If these words describe you, this is the path for you; click “Next” and proceed. If not, you will want to click on one or more of the other buttons to check out alternate paths for your Day of Prayer and Vision.