Are You Praying For Next?
Okay so you registered for Next. Now what?
Let me suggest that you start praying for the conference. What should you pray? Let me give you three suggestions.
_Pray that God works deeply in you.
The truth is, everything at the conference could be perfect and you could still leave the conference unchanged. Without God Himself working in you, nothing will happen at the conference. It will be three days of tiredness, fast food, and maybe some good times with friends, but no heart change.
The good news is that God wants to meet you at Next. He wants to change you. He wants to help you love Jesus more. He wants to open your eyes to see more of His glory. So start praying these words now: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” (Psalms 119:18)
_Pray that God would give you deep fellowship with other believers.
The conference presents a unique opportunity for you to deepen friendships with other Christians. For three days, you’re hanging out with other believers in a wonderful, God-centered environment. Ask God to use those informal hangout times in your life. Ask God to give you the heart of the psalmist, who said, “As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.” (Psalms 16:3) Ask God to deepen your friendships at Next.
_Pray that God would help you serve others.
News flash: Next does not exist to make you happy. I’ve often gone to conferences with a very self-centered mindset. “What can I get out of this conference.?” Or, “How is this conference helping me?” In reality the Next conference is a great opportunity for you to serve others. You can serve others by finding places for everyone to eat, taking an interest in those who came alone, praying for a fellow believer, or asking your roommate what God has been teaching him. Ask God to give you a servant’s heart at Next.
Start praying now that God would meet you then.
Page 1 of 1 pages
Thanks, Stephen! What a helpful reminder this has been to me this morning. It’s so easy to be excited about the conference and completely forget to pray. I desire to humble myself before the Lord and seek Him. Thanks for pointing us in the right direction!
WAO! THANKS Stephen for this reminder. Between worrying about the airplane tickets, the hotel reservations, or simply wondering what the weather is going to be like in Baltimore in May, it’s very easy to forget that the most important thing is to prepare our hearts in prayer so we can be open to what God wants to do in our life and ask Him not to let us leave Baltimore unchanged. May God help us delight in Him while we wait for NEXT!
Thanks for the reminder!
Thank you for writing this! Encouraging to see your thoughts on this topic. I have already began to pray for NEXT in May. I pray that others who would go, would see God’s glory and how He can change a heart and make it beautiful.