Day 35 of 50

READING GUIDE:

• Read today's devotion below and Matthew 14.
• During days 29-35 (at your own pace) read chapters 17 and 18 from Joining Jesus on His Mission.
• After days 29-35, meet with your small group and follow the back-of-the-book discussion guide for SESSION 5.

"And after he had dismissed the crowds, [Jesus] went up on the mountain by himself to pray." (Matthew 14:23a ESV)

It doesn't say in Matthew 14 what exactly Jesus prayed about. But this time of prayer happened after His feeding of the 5,000 plus. Just a guess that their salvation were included on His mind and heart in prayer to the Father.

As Finke mentions at the end of chapter 18, "And what do we do before, during and after we start our missional work of neighboring and putting the 5 Practices into play? We take up the missional gift of prayer." In the Appendix at the end of the book Finke provides a tool to help us with this--a Neighborhood Prayer Map.

My family lives on a cul-de-sac of 12 homes. Before learning about Finke's Neighborhood Prayer Map I've actually prayed this way in my head. With just 12 homes, it is easy to think/pray for each household. And I admit that after 7 years there is still one family out of the 12 that I would add a question mark.

How will you start drafting your map today? It can start with just one household.