Intercessory prayer is the purifying bath into which the individual
and the community must enter every day.
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
and the community must enter every day.
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
Before You Ask
And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6:7-8)
Many people think their prayers won’t work if they don’t utter them clearly enough, or fail to explain to God exactly what they mean, or don’t speak loudly enough to him with sufficient earnestness. But when this happens, prayer becomes so exaggerated that our Savior even forbids it.
Obviously Jesus does not want to discourage us from praying. His point is that when we pray we must have a sense of proportion. Once we have prayed, we must be quiet. We need to be like the farmer who has sown his seed. Help will come only when you are quiet in faith. Also in your sickness or with other needs, learn to be still and look to the Kingdom of God.
We can share our needs with the Father in a few words, without making a fuss, and rest assured that God already knows what we need and what he will do to help us. We don’t have to explain our requests in great detail to God, or try and make quite sure that he knows our needs. God knows about even the smallest matters and takes them straight into his heart. We can turn to him by glancing Heavenward, with no words at all. We can do this even when we pray about something concrete and tangible, or about something that specifically troubles us. We may realize that what we thought we needed is actually not necessary and that we can find a way right in the midst of how things are now.
This doesn’t mean that we just let things happen – as if everything will come of its own accord without our longing for it. Nor should we just cast a brief and hurried request at God’s feet. When this happens, we too easily lose sight of God, assume that everything comes to us without his help, and we forget to thank him. Then we cease to have a believing heart and are consequently not true children of God.
Jesus said, “Before you ask him.” Therefore we do need to make our requests known to him, otherwise many things will not be given that could have been given. It never displeases God when we come to him with our heartfelt requests. A real child asks for everything, knowing God has an ear for him. We should bring all our burdens and needs to him, for at the very least this helps to make us ever more aware that in all things God is the giver.
God always has our interest in mind. He carries our various needs with fatherly concern, eagerly waiting for us to come to him. He has not forgotten us. And when we feel tempted to think so, then all the more we should remember that he knows it all and cares for us. In fact, he knows much more about us and our needs than we do. Simple, childlike prayer is enough to move his heart, give you something out of the fullness of his compassion, and save you from all sorts of fear and trouble.
(Johann Christoph Blumhardt)
(The God Who Heals, Words of Hope for a Time of Sickness)
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Julia
Prayer For Love
O thou, who has so loved my soul, make me a lover of souls. Fill me with an unwearied, unclaimative love, of keen perception and strong fiber, that shall help others to do and be their best. Help me to be an advocate for the absent, and cast out from me the dumb spirit of nervousness or self-absorption, which hinders me from showing the love I feel. Heal my heart of all uncontrolled affection, that being inwardly cured and thoroughly cleansed, I may be made fit to love, steady to persevere. Let no sickness or cross accident, no employment or weariness, make me ungracious to those about me, but in all things make me like unto thy Holy Jesus. (Author unknown)
Amen.
Received: July 2, 2018
Julia
Prayer To Prepare For The Ministry of Intercession
Prepare the hearts of all those that have been called into the important ministry of intercession, so that they may be equipped to stand as intercessor between man and God and act as watchmen on the wall. May their ministry be approved of God so that they may offer up earnest pleadings for the souls of those that are lost, knowing that without the saving blood of Christ to wash them clean of sin, there shall no flesh be justified before almighty God.
Give them a heart that is also prepared to plead that the Body of Christ as a whole, that she may mature in the faith and grow into a deeper knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ both corporately and individually. May these men and women intercessors be approved of God, so that they may show forth the love of Christ, to a lost and dying world.
Father we pray for all those that have been called to the all-important throne ministry of intercession, and ask that they may be led by the Holy Spirit of God to pray into His perfect will and to come into a deeper understanding of God's perfect plans and purposes for this lost and dying world. We pray that you would guide their intercessions and prayers, so that they may pray in spirit and truth, to your praise and gory, in Jesus name we pray, Amen.
(Knowing Jesus)
Received: June 30, 2018
Julia
A Prayer for Church Planters, Pastors, and Missionaries
We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us. And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety. (2 Corinthians 1:8-11)
Dear Heavenly Father, these words from the Apostle Paul remind us of the importance of praying for our friends in vocational ministry. Stories of being “crushed and overwhelmed” aren’t the private domain of church planters, pastors, and missionaries; but their stresses are great, regular, and often involve intense spiritual warfare.
Father, first, and foremost, we pray that your servants will be kept fresh and renewed in the riches of your grace. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we pray the gospel will be powerfully at work in their hearts: Witnessing to their sonship; granting them an unprecedented awareness of your presence and kindness; revealing the beauty and love of Jesus; granting them joy, wisdom and freedom in the midst of multiple challenges and spiritual assaults.
Father, grant them thick skin and big hearts: Thick skin—to protect them from a barrage of criticism and unrequested suggestions; and to buffer them in the emotional roller coaster of the highs and lows in ministry; Big hearts—to enjoy the various gifts of dear people, festive moments, sovereign goodness you grant them; and to prepare them when some of those same dear people disappear and move on.
Lastly, Father, grant them enough fruit to keep them encouraged, enough laughter to keep them soft, enough refreshment to keep them sane, enough grace to keep their teams from imploding, enough money to keep them from stressing, enough courage for facing death—in all its forms, and a supernatural endowment of hope, to keep them convinced that their labors in the Lord will never be in vain. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’s triumphant and tender name.
Amen.
(TGC)
Received: June 29, 2018
Julia
A Prayer for Righteous Speech
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” - Ephesians 4:29
Heavenly Lord, may the words of our mouth and the actions of our heart reflect only the grace you have demonstrated to all mankind. Our words have the power to harm and to heal. Whenever we speak, let us demonstrate the gentleness and charity you showed to all. Amen.
(crosswalk.com)
Received: June 29, 2018
Julia
Irenaeus of Lyons's First Prayer for the Gnostics
Therefore I myself also call upon you, Lord God of Abraham, and God of Isaac, and God of Jacob and Israel, you who are the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God who, through the abundance of your mercy, is well pleased with us, that we might know you, who have made Heaven and Earth, who rules over all things, who are the sole and true God, besides whom there is no other God; also grant, through our Lord Jesus Christ, the gift of the Holy Spirit; and give to every reader of this book to know you, that you are God alone, and to be strengthened in you, and to shun every heretical, Godless, and impious opinion. Amen.
Received: June 29, 2018
Julia
A Prayer for Faith
Heavenly Father,
Since the day I first invited Christ to come into my life,
I have wanted to know your will and to follow it,
But frequently this has been on my terms and not on yours.
In spite of my protestations and testimony to the contrary,
My personal ambitions, desires, and striving to achieve have
Dominated my life more than I have been willing to admit.
Although I accepted Christ to be my Lord and my Savior,
It was still much about me and my perpetual desire to achieve.
Over the years, although I never intended to waver or become
A marginal believer, in more ways than I care to admit,
This is exactly what I became, despite my outward denial.
On the inside, where it really counts, something inside of me winced.
Instead of being a strong, bold, courageous, and immovable force for you,
I became timid, hesitant, and demurring—almost as if my faith
Could only be expressed in safe places and with safe people.
In the deepest recesses of my heart, I know that this is true,
And I need to confess my timidity openly and honestly before you.
I also need to acknowledge that this is not who I want to be,
Nor is it who I intend to be from this day forward.
Instead, I want to steadfastly assert that I will not be ashamed
Of you, of your Son, of your Word, or of the Gospel that has
The power to penetrate the darkness and transform it into light.
I will not be ashamed to be the person you have called me to be,
And I will not be ashamed to stand strong for you, for my family,
And for our mighty nation, the United States of America.
For as many of my numbered days as remain to be lived,
I intend to use each of them to be the salt that is required
To counter our depraved, corrupt, and decadent society.
My purpose will be to relentlessly and consistently transform
Our beloved nation into the "city on a hill" You desire for it to be.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, which is necessary to strengthen,
To sustain, and to lead me, this is my commitment to you today,
Amen.
(In God We Trust)
Received: June 29, 2018
Julia
A Prayer for the Feast Day of St. Peter and St. Paul
Almighty God, whose blessed apostles Peter and Paul glorified thee by their martyrdom: Grant that thy
church, instructed by their teaching and example, and knit together in unity by thy Spirit, may ever stand firm upon the one foundation, which is Jesus Christ our Lord; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Received: June 29, 2018
Julia
A Prayer for the Victims of the Earthquake in Guatemala
We mourn the death and destruction in Guatemala, O Lord,
And we pray for those who died in this recent disaster.
May their souls rest in peace.
May their families be comforted.
We pray for the living survivors.
Be with them, Lord, in this traumatic time.
May they experience your healing,
In their spirits as well as their bodies.
We pray for the communities affected.
May they come together in solidarity
To rebuild and to affirm new life
Amid the ancient stones.
Amen.
(Education For Justice)
Received: June 28, 2018
Julia
Prayer for an End to Human Trafficking
Oh God, we didn't see them. But you did. The hundreds and thousands of human beings trafficked each year to join the millions who are trapped in modern-day slavery.
Under terrible conditions, they work in factories, plow fields, harvest crops, work quarries, fill brothels,
clean homes, and haul water. Many are children with tiny fingers for weaving rugs and small shoulders for bearing rifles. Their labor is forced, their bodies beaten, their faces hidden from those who don't really want to see them.
But you see them all, God of the poor. You hear their cry and you answer by opening our eyes, and breaking our hearts and loosening our tongues to insist:
No mas. No more.
Amen.
(Catholic Relief Services)
Received: June 28, 2018
Julia
A Prayer for Andrew Brunson
Gracious Father, Lord of the nations, you are the only wise and good sovereign of our times. We praise you for your greatness and mercy.
While you have not yet granted what we have asked —for Andrew’s release— we trust you still that you are at work in ways beyond what we can see or understand.
Righteous Father, we bow before your throne of grace asking that out of your mercy and grace you would strengthen Andrew. Root and establish him in love that he may grasp how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ is for him.
Let your Word be a spring of living hope, the presence of Jesus an oasis of joy, and the power of the Holy Spirit Andrew’s constant source of wisdom and comfort.
Grant him words to speak and the boldness and peace to speak them.
Sustain Andrew in body and mind. Expose and confuse all the lies that stand against him. Break the power of evil and cause truth to prevail. Let accusers become advocates. Set our brother free.
Cause your gospel to spread widely. Grant endurance and comfort to Andrew and his family. Glorify the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, by whom we pray.
Amen.
(Christ Community Church, Montreat, North Carolina)