40 Days That Will Change Your Life!

   As many Bible readers know 40 days is mentioned several times in scripture during times of preparation. In studying the passages concerning 40 days there are two that normally stand out. They are the stories of Moses on top of the mountain as God gives him the Ten Commandments and Jesus being led into the wilderness for 40 days where he is tempted by Satan. There are several others however. For instance when God judged the world with the flood, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, Goliath challenged Israel and their god for 40 days, Jonah told the people of Nineveh that they had 40 days before God's judgment, Elijah ran to the mountain of God in 40 days, and Jesus showed himself and taught his disciples for 40 days after his resurrection, to name a few.

   As I have been studying these passages I have seen that these 40 day experiences always produced the same results; there is a purification of sin, preparation for God's people, and a clear manifestation of God's presence and power.

    In Genesis chapters 6-10 we read about how God flooded the earth as a result of the great sin that was overtaking the world. Only one family, Noah, his wife, 3 sons  and their wives, had not turned from God. The 40 days and nights of rain was the way God chose to purify the sin that was taking over world and make a way to preserve a people that would serve him. After the 40th day Noah was able to open the window of the Ark showing that God had saved him and his family and set them apart to be a people that would follow God.

   Moses was up on the mountain not just once but twice for 40 days and nights without bread and water. God gave Moses the 10 Commandments for the purpose of preparing the people of Israel to be the chosen people of God. He demonstrated his presence and power as he talked with and provided Moses with the 10 Commandments. The second time, Moses was pleading for God to forgive Israel for sinning against God. God's presence and power was more apparent to those around him than any other man, apart of Jesus.

   I could continue to demonstrate the results of purification, preparation, and God’s presence and power manifested to his people in all of the examples I have given but there is much more to discuss than this blog would do justice so I will high-light a few more and provide you with passages to look up if you would like to study this more for yourself. 


   Goliath challenged the children of Israel and on the 40th day God used the faith of David to deliver Israel. 


   Jonah warned of God's judgment that would come in 40 days and the people repented. As a result the largest revival recorded in the Bible took place. 


  Elijah ran 40 days during which time he was ministered to by angels and at the end had an amazing encounter with God.

   Finally Jesus was led into the wilderness for 40 days where he was tempted by Satan and ministered to by angels. At the end of this time his earthly ministry began and showed us what we, who were created in the image of God, were meant to be like and how a life completely surrendered to the will of the Father and filled by his Spirit, could truly be. After his resurrection he spent 40 days preparing his followers for the Birth of his Church and the coming of his Spirit to all that would believe and follow him.

   In 2008 I asked many of you if you would join us in 40 Days of Prayer. Many of you accepted and God responded in many amazing ways! When we started the 40 days we were still lacking $2,000 in the funds that we needed to make the journey to Africa to establish our first NDCM branch and preach a revival in Uganda. The Lord worked through many wonderful people and the funds came in time. When we arrived in Kenya we were greeted by the members of our first church start, NDCM Mogoko. They had been waiting for us to arrive for hours but continued waiting until we arrived. We are all very happy and grateful the Lord had brought us together over so many miles. After spending several days establishing Mogoko we traveled to Uganda to preach the revival we had been praying and preparing for. In the 5 days of the revival 40 people came to Christ. The revival continued for the rest of that month and by the end of the revival 150 had come to Christ. God has continued to grow and expand the work. From '08 to '09 we had 14 NDCM branches established and from '09 'till now, another 11 branches have been established. During the 40 days several of you wrote and shared all that God was doing in your lives as you joined in on the 40 Days of Prayer. The first 40 days prepared the way for God to do more than we could have hoped or imagined, in not only our lives, but in the lives of all of those who participated and countless others, as God responded in more ways than can be shared or expressed. God is indeed moved when we pray and seek to encounter the presence and power of God, he truly does respond mightily on behalf of all who call out to him. 

   Just like in '08, we are in desperate need of God to work miracles in our lives. We have a little over 40 days until we leave for Kenya and we are still lacking $3,500 to even be able to buy tickets for Africa, let alone funds for the work while we are there. We are seeking God’s wisdom as we prepare the lessons and we are seeking God’s Holy Spirit to go before us and prepare the way. Heather and I have committed to set 40 days apart to pray for the Feb mission trip to Kenya and now I am asking  if you would be willing to spend 40 days praying for God to bring to you, Heather and I, and the members of NDCM across Africa, a time of purification, preparation, and encountering the presence and power of God. If you are willing to set apart time each day and join with us for the 40 Days of Prayer beginning on Dec. 26^th   , please let me know by commenting below and I will send you a lists of prayer requests that we will be praying for during the coming 40 days.

We will begin our 40 Days of Prayer on Dec. 26th but if you did not receive or read this in time that is ok, you can get started on the day you read this.

God Bless,
David Ingram
New Day Christian Ministry
Isa.43:18-21

P.S. These chapter's below would be a benefit to you if you're interested for further study.

Exodus 24 & 34 Deut 9 & 10 , Numbers 13 & 14, 1 Samuel 17, 1 Kings
19, Ezra 4, Jonah 3, Matthew 4 and finally Mark 1.