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Our Vision:
10 Days of Prayer in the Spring
A Community of Prayer in the Pioneer Valley (Western MA)
Promoting Unity and Maturity in the Church through a Culture of Worship and Prayer
10 Days of Prayer in the Fall (“A Time to Mour”n)
Expanded Vision for the Fall 10 Days (also called, “the Days of Awe”, “A Time to Mourn”)
(Mat 9:15 ESV) And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
Call: In 2004, I (Jonathan) was in a season of fasting based on Daniel 10 focused on 1) praying for John 17 Unity in the church and 2) receiving an assignment from the Lord. On the last day, the Lord encountered me with these words: “Babylon refuses to mourn.” I answered back, “But your people will mourn before you return.” That night, the Lord gave an assignment to call the Church to fast, pray, and repent (turn from unbelief to faith) during the 10 days from Rosh HaShannah to Yom Kippur. There was a secondary assignment to pray during the 10 days leading up to Pentecost.
This call: to call the church to these two 10 day periods of time has been part of the core-culture of Wisdom Way.
Vision for the Fall 10 Days: An annual, worldwide rhythm of fasting and prayer focused on “longing for and hastening the day of the Lord” (2 Pet. 3:12) and preparing the way for His return to earth (Is. 40:3).
What does this look like? Three Models
· Simple: Pray and fast during this time as an individual or in small groups
o Have special gatherings to mark the beginning, middle, and end
o Normal life-rhythms are mostly uninterrupted
· City Wide: Joins churches across a city or geographic area in this time of consecration
o Have a central location (s) for 24/7 prayer or ongoing prayer
o Host nightly gatherings at different locations throughout city
o The vision of the fall 10 days was given in response to prayers for John 17 unity—uniting as a city is a tangible way to pray for and live out that unity
o Normal life-rhythms are significantly changed by nightly meetings and ongoing prayer
· Set-Apart (Compatible with a city-wide or retreat setting)
o Participants rest from work, ministry, media, entertainment, etc.
o 10 Days is set apart exclusively to minister to the Lord
o Normal life-rhythms are replaced by a “throne-room” daily rhythm (Rev. 4-5)
o Most effective model for personal spiritual preparation/growth. This is a powerful discipleship tool that causes believers to internalize spiritual realities in a relatively short time frame.
Who is this for? Anyone who desires to see Jesus’ return and be the “faith on the earth” that He will find on his return. When the Lord spoke this in 2004 the sense was that this was a call to the world-wide Church.
Dates for 2011: September 29th (evening) to October 9th (evening).
Meaning of the Timing: Paul says that Jewish festivals “are a shadow of things to come, but the reality is Christ”. These festivals are a prophetic image of things to come. In particular, the 3 fall Jewish Feasts are shadows pointing to the return of Christ.
In the Spring, liturgical churches review the acts of Christ at his first coming through Lent, Easter (fulfilling Passover), and Pentecost (fulfilling the Feast of Weeks). This rhythm is like Lent, however, instead of looking back at what Christ has already done, we are prophetically looking forward to His return which is “shadowed” in these feasts.
Theological Focus: 3 Kinds of “Mourning”
The English language lacks a word to adequately describe this kind of mourning. In 2004, this was the word the Lord used and he chose it for a reason. By the word “mourning”, we mean specifically:
· Intentionally seeking repentance at the heart level—turning from unbelief to faith in Jesus
o Mark 1:15 “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news.”
o The result of authentic repentance from the heart is joy, peace, and righteousness that comes from a revelation of who we are to God and how much He loves us
· Concerted Intercession to prepare the way for Jesus’ return (As in Dan. 9 and 10)
o The Scripture makes it clear that many things must take place before Jesus’ return
§ The Gospel of the Kingdom must go to the entire earth (Matt. 24:14)
§ The Jewish People must welcome their Messiah (Rom. 11:12)
§ The Antichrist must be revealed/there must be a great falling away from the faith (2 Thess. 2:8)
§ The Bride must be prepared (John 17:20-26, Eph 4:13, Eph 5:27, Rev. 19:7)
o We confess to God that all is not well in the world and through prayer “do for others what they cannot do for themselves”
o We partner with God in arranging Jesus’ return by preparing the way in prayer that agrees with His purposes as stated in Scripture and revealed to us by the Holy Spirit
o We position ourselves to be “wise virgins” with lamps full of oil at His return
o The ultimate goal is to partner with the Father in His stated goal of sending Jesus back to earth and initiating the “age to come” (“Your Kingdom come on earth…”)
· Longing for the Bridegroom and the Age to Come
o This is the most important of the 3 kinds of mourning
o Developing a love-sick heart in the Church that can only be satisfied by the return of Jesus
§ Causing the desire of the Bride for uninterrupted union to match the desire of the bridegroom
§ As we grow in appreciation for the present gift of the Holy Spirit, we intentionally grow in desire for the fullness that will come with Jesus’ return
§ We are longing for our “adoption, the redemption of our bodies”—our joy will be greatly increased when our mortal bodies “put on immortality”
§ These days are fundamentally about receiving from God a passionate longing for the return of Jesus—this is our appropriate response to His promises
§ The cry of the Bride at Jesus’ return is simply, “Come” (Rev. 22:17) These 10 days are devoted to becoming a bride who cannot stand to be separated any longer from her husband
o This quality among Jesus’ disciples is called:
§ “Mourning” (Matt 9:15, Matt 5:4)
§ “Groans and labors of child-birth” (Romans 8:23-24),
§ “Eagerly waiting” (Rom. 8:25, 1 Cor. 1:7),
§ “Watching and Praying”, (Matt. 25:13,
§ “longing for and hastening the day” (2 Pet. 3:12)
§ “Making ready/Preparing” (Rev. 19:7, Eph 5:27)