Category Archives: prayer

Terrific Prayer to Start the Day

October 29, 2014 By in prayer Tags: , , Leave a comment

Began my day with this from A Way to Pray:

Inspire us to work the works of him that sent us while it is day, since the night comes when no man will be able to work. Whatever good our hands find to do, let us do it with all our might. For there is no work in the grave where we A Way to Prayare going (emphasis mine). Let us never be slothful in any good business of yours. Enable us to be fervent in spirit as we serve you, our Lord. Train us to be fixed in purpose, undeterred, always abounding in the work of the Lord, since we can be confident that our labour will never be in vain in the Lord. John 9:4; Eccles. 9:10; Rom. 12:11; 1 Cor. 15:58.

Lord, let us be zealous for every good work. Whatever we do, let us do it wholeheartedly, for we are not serving men, but the Lord Christ. Enable us to do the work of every day in its day, just as the duty of the day requires. Help us make full use of every opportunity, since we live in an evil age. When our Lord returns, let him find us busily doing the work he has commissioned us to do. Gal. 4:18; Col. 3:23; Ezra 3:4; Eph. 5:16; Luke 12:43.

Amen and amen.

One Word Prayer Requests of Pastors

October 28, 2014 By in prayer Tags: , , 2 Comments

pray-for-us-560x374Earlier today I wondered how I could reach out to encourage some of my pastoral counterparts fighting the good fight (1 Tim. 6:12). The trick with this kind of thing comes with realizing that pastors fall into the crazy busy category. None of us relish the idea of getting spam-like texts, n0 matter how well intentioned.

So the Lord gave me what I think amounted to a pretty sweet idea. I texted this to a bunch of guys:

One word from you please? Pray for my _________________ .

So far I have received the following in reply:

  • words
  • faith
  • daughter
  • inner being (OK, cut us some slack. Pastor-wordsmiths struggle with brevity, this one included)
  • exercise
  • heart (spiritually speaking)
  • children (painful story attached to this one)
  • efficiency
  • niece (getting married)
  • wisdom (um, that would be mine)

Not a huge sample by any means. But, I would suggest we can distill some takeaways from it for building a prayer list for our pastors.

One, pray for our hearts. Jeremiah 17:9 warns us of their default condition. We may know that better than most as we day-in and day-out attempt to minister to others’ hearts. Unbelief can plague our dispositions more than we care to admit.

Two, pray for our families, immediate and extended. Before we are shepherds to our flocks, we are shepherds to our households. Your pastor may carry greater burdens than you ever imagined about the state of his marriage and the welfare of his children.

Three, pray for our health. I battle constantly the temptation to sacrifice self-care, like exercise, on the altar of pastoral demands. Some of that comes from my struggle with ministry idolatry, but not all of it. Most of us labor under excessive demands, feeling the weight of the responsibility upon us. Neglecting things like walking, running, and working out in some way over time can easily lead to weight of another kind.

Fourth, pray for our ministries. We want to be efficient/effective on every front. We need massive doses of wisdom for pastoral care dilemmas that occasionally boggle the mind and seemingly defy solution. We long to bring words of life in preaching, teaching, and shepherding that flow like a fountain of life in the lives of our people (Prov. 10:11).

Bottom line? “Brothers and sisters, pray for us” (1 Thess. 5:25).

 

 

 

You Alone Can Help Us

August 8, 2014 By in prayer Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Concert of Prayer

In thinking about this month’s Concert of Prayer on Sunday night at 6:00 PM, I got quasi-inspired and wrote the following:

You Alone Can Help Us

To the tune of “You Alone Can Rescue”

Who, O Lord, will pray with me
Storm the throne of grace
Bring to You our many needs
In simple hope and faith

Who, O Lord, will heed the call
To ask and seek and knock
Who, O Lord, will join the cause
To plead for your dear flock

You alone can help us
You alone can save
You alone can loose our binding chains
If we do not ask You, we will not have from You
Free us from our self-reliant ways

Who, O Lord, will pray with me
Come in Jesus’ name
Who, O Lord, will use this means
Promote the Savior’s fame

Who, O Lord, will feel the need
Souls lost near and far
Who, O Lord, will make the plea
Melt the scarred and hardened heart

You alone can help us
You alone can save
You alone can free the captive slaves
When you answer for us, we will bless and thank You
We’ll glory in your kind and giving ways
We’ll glory in your kind and giving ways

Bridge

We call on Your name
We call on Your name
You’re the Giver of gifts
We call on Your name
We call on Your name
You’re the Giver of gifts

Hoping for a number of intercessors to do all of the above each and every time we call a time of corporate prayer.

A Way to Pray

July 14, 2014 By in prayer Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

A Way to Pray

When someone gifts me a book, I tend to pay close attention. Books change lives. A new title added to my library, prompted by someone’s concern that it might enrich me, makes me want to read the thing with very few exceptions.

That certainly was the case with my recent sabbatical when a dear friend of mine sent me this gem of a read. Most people know the Puritan Matthew Henry for his massive commentary on the whole Bible. Rarely do I prepare a sermon that I don’t reference this classic as part of my study. What I didn’t know until receiving a copy of A Way to Pray and reading its introduction by O. Palmer Robertson, is that the man never finished the commentary without help. He considered the publication of this work a greater priority.

A Way to Pray consists almost entirely of Scriptures arranged topically and put into the language of prayer to help guide the believer’s intercessory life. Robertson revised the 300 year old work to put it into language suitable to the modern day.

Here’s what Robertson says in the introduction about the significance of this approach to prayer:

Prayer in this form is nothing more and nothing less than what the old Puritans called ‘pleading the promises’.  God has made promises to his people.  His people respond by redirecting those promises to the Lord in the form of prayer.  How could a God who is faithful to his word fail to answer prayers of this kind?  He has promised.  He will honour that promise.  If Christians would join together and form their prayers with the maturity and insight provided by Scripture itself, the impact on the world could not be measured.”

Robertson also goes on to say, and this strikes me as no insignificant testimony, that, “Next to the Bible it has been the most read and the most influential book in my life.”

As I have begun to work through the various sections – praise, confession, petition, thanksgiving, intercession, etc., I have found A Way to Pray to provide a richness to my spiritual disciplines which I regret not adding to the mix a long time ago. You can purchase a copy here. Or you can access a free online version here.

In working through the section on confession this morning, I prayed this from p. 54:

In the multitude of our words there never has been a lack of sin, for man full of talk will never be justified. While the lips of the righteous feed many, our lips have poured out foolishness and spoken perversity. Much corrupt communication has come out of our mouths. We are guilty of foolish talk and jesting, which are always out of place in your presence. We have spoken little of things useful for building up; others in the faith. We have failed to speak words that could minister grace to our hearers.

If we must give account for every idle word that we have spoken, we stand condemned. If by our words we shall be justified and by our words we shall be condemned, then woe to us. We are ruined, for we all have unclean lips and live among people with unclean lips. What would happen to us if you should turn our tongue against us?

Here’s to prayer that impacts the world beyond measure.

Praying Without Ceasing

January 12, 2014 By in prayer Tags: , , 2 Comments

pray without ceasing

This morning’s message, “The Jewelry of Grace,” from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 is now on the web. You can listen to the audio here.

Following the service, someone approached me about the sermon. She called the yearly emphasis on prayer “inspiring” and “overwhelming.” I appreciated the honesty and vulnerability. Then she asked me if I could recommend any practical resources by way of follow up that might help with making prayer as a spiritual discipline more real in her life. I did and actually lent her the book from my library.

That got me thinking today about the best books on prayer I have read and their value to me. I don’t mean to imply that other resources don’t exist that perhaps equal or even outstrip these in value. But these have meant a lot to me.

Paul Miller’s A Praying Life. The final section where he gets down to the nitty gritty about making prayer practical has numerous helpful suggestions. It was this book I spoke of above.

E. M. Bounds’ Power Through Prayer. For an inspirational resource on prayer, this can hardly be beat.

D. A. Carson’s A Call to Spiritual Reformati0n. Carson examines the prayers of the Apostle Paul as a template for praying specific, biblical prayers as a follower of Jesus.

Dick Eastman’s The Hour That Changes the World. The author explains how to spend an hour alone with God without it feeling like the time will never pass.

Andrew Murray’s With Christ in the School of Prayer. A classic. Enough said.

John Piper’s A Hunger for God. This is the best treatment on prayer and fasting I have ever read.

R. J. Short’s, The Diary of George Muller. For a biography of a praying man, this will convict and inspire.

Jason Mandryk’s Operation World. No Christian with a global heart for God and missions should be without this definitive prayer guide for the nations.

I certainly have read my share of books on prayer. Now if I will only learn actually to pray more.

Another Prayer for New Year’s Eve 2013

December 31, 2013 By in prayer, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

aprayerforthenewyear

Scotty Smith has already posted his. Not sure anyone does this kind of prayer writing better than he does. His example prompted me to offer my own version.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-16

Lord who wills all things great and small, this particular “mist” reflects at the end of another year mindful that You have graciously granted him once again length of days free from cancer or any other potentially life-ending threat. My times remain in your hands and You have seen fit in Your mercy to extend them a bit longer for Your purposes. I continue to praise You that I am immortal until Jesus has finished with me. And that You will perfect that which You started some forty-one years ago until the day of Christ Jesus (Phil. 1:6), for this too I am so thankful. For all the ways I have acknowledged Your sanctifying influences this past year, as well as the many I have missed, it means everything to me that You relentlessly work all things together for my good that I might be further conformed to the image of Your beloved Son,  (Rom. 8:28), my older Brother, who is not ashamed to be so called (Heb. 2:11).

I praise you, Father, for keeping me from the evil one and causing me in 2013 to continue to stand in the glorious gospel which I received and by which I am being saved (1 Cor. 15:1-2). While I have not always greeted the hard providences of 2013 or any year before it with a rejoice always, pray unceasingly, in everything give thanks disposition (1 Thess. 5:16-18), I revel in a gospel that wholly makes up for those shortcomings and every other crime I commit against Your goodness.

In a year when I felt the temptation to abandon my charge more than I can ever remember, You graciously steadied me with Col. 4:17 and Douthat’s Bad Religion. Where would I be without Your Word and good books that come to my rescue in just the nick of time? That you have gifted me as well with a wife I can’t shake, a staff I don’t deserve, a church by all human accounts I shouldn’t have, and a calling to which I never ultimately measure up, these gifts take my breath away and make me want, by your grace, in 2014 to be a better husband, better co-worker, better pastor, and most of all a better follower in practice of the way, truth, and life (John 14:6).

For what I do anticipate awaits me in 2014 in the way of ministry, travel, family, continuing education, and every other detail of life, I ask You to keep me from presumption by reminding me to qualify all expectations with a thoughtful and careful “if the Lord wills.” I do not know what tomorrow will bring or any other day of the new year. However, I resolve with Your help to leave what lies behind and advance forward to what lies ahead in the upward call in Christ Jesus banking on these, among other, exceedingly great and precious promises (2 Pet. 1:4):

  • You are for me and not against me (Rom. 8:31).
  • No weapon fashioned against me will succeed (Isa. 54:17).
  • You dwell in the heavens and do whatever pleases You (Psalm 115:3).
  • You will direct my paths (Prov. 3:5-6).
  • You will hear and answer my prayers (Psalm 116:1-2).
  • Your power will work mightily within me (Eph. 3:20).
  • I will not be subject to a spirit of fear but governed by a spirit of power, love, and self-control (2 Tim. 1:7).
  • You give grace to the humble and exalt at the proper time (1 Peter 5:5-7).
  • Nothing, absolutely nothing can or will separate me from Your love (Rom. 8:31-39).

Finally, One who was and is and always shall be, whatever time I may have left in these headed-for-the-finish line days of mine, whether one year or ten or more or less, as You will, may I be able to say with the apostle when all is said and done “I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith, I have finished the race” (2 Tim. 4:7).

Amen.

Why Pray for the Persecuted Church?

November 9, 2013 By in prayer Tags: , , , Leave a comment

IDOP-2013-international-day-of-prayer-for-the-persecuted-church

Tomorrow brings us to another International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. We will devote exclusively our monthly concert of prayer on the evening of the 10th at 6 PM in F5 to interceding for our brothers and sisters in chains. Why does it matter that we do this? Here are several reasons.

  1. Jesus suffered much at the hand of a host of persecutors. He identifies completely with their weakness (Heb. 4:15). So should we.
  2. Multitudes of believers worldwide, some 200 million, pay a great price for their faith, even martyrdom. The sheer extent of the need cries for our attention. More Christians were martyred in the 20th century than in all previous centuries combined (International Journal of Missionary Research). 
  3. Scriptures command us to remember their plight as if incarcerated with them (Heb. 13:3). How better to remember than in prayer?
  4. The most frequent prayer request by the persecuted is that other believers would pray for and with them. Can we possibly refuse?
  5. When one member of the body suffers, all suffer (1 Cor. 12:26).  Sixty to ninety minutes of prayer is a small price to pay to identify with the suffering of dear saints around the globe.
  6. Praying for one another imitates the model of Jesus who prayed for Peter in advance for his strength in the face of persecution sure to come (Luke 22:32). What would Jesus do?
  7. God answers prayers for the persecuted in miraculous ways.

One reason why I read Voice of the Martyrs’ monthly newsletter is that it includes countless reports of how God miraculously encourages saints under duress as a direct result of the prayers of God’s people on the other side of the world. Join us on Sunday evening.

Part of me wants to say this: if you don’t come to any other of the eleven concerts of prayer OGC hosts, come to this one. Remember the persecuted. In the sovereignty of God you and I could just as easily find ourselves today holed away in a North Korean prison camp for our faith as opposed to luxuriating ourselves in the affluent West. Enough said.

For a look at the World Watch list top 50 restricted nations for 2013 click here.

Whatever Happened to Prayer Meeting?

September 4, 2013 By in prayer Tags: , , , , , 2 Comments

Today at lunch I met for the first time with my new men’s ministry partner for this quarter. Right out of the chute my brother asked me, “What makes you feel alive?” And off we went!

We agreed to get together again. So much to learn about a fellow member of the body of Christ. I planted a seed with a question for our next lunch. “What puzzles you?”

I admit much puzzles me, particularly in the pastoral ministry. Among the things that baffle me most is the difficulty believers have, including me, with prayer. We often think of that only in terms of individual prayer. This truly is a dilemma. But equally puzzling to me is the challenge to motivate God’s church to participate in corporate prayer. No meeting of the church presents bigger issues in terms of ownership by its people than the corporate prayer meeting.

This is indeed puzzling when you consider, among other things, the testimony of the New Testament church. For example, we have Acts 1:14 – All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. And then in response to persecution, the church gathered for prayer with Acts 4:31 noting this outcome: And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. Acts 13:1-3 tell us that the first missionaries, Barnabas and Saul, got commissioned and sent out from Antioch during a time of corporate prayer and fasting.

Ben Patterson wrestled with this puzzle in an article I discovered recently. He places the blame for the woeful lack of corporate prayer in the local church in a couple of strategic places including this one:

American individualism has taken its toll. If churches fancy themselves self-sufficient, it’s because their members share the same conceit. We like our lives to be self-contained. For many, the prayer meeting is unnecessary as long as individuals are praying in their own homes on their own time. What is missed is that most of what the Bible says about prayer is addressed to groups, people meeting together, to pray. The Bible’s great book of prayer, Psalms, was written largely for use in the congregation of Israel.

You can read the rest of the article, including other reasons for the malaise of the missing prayer meeting here.

I fear we have become far too conformed to the world in our individualism when we consider how many of us take corporate prayer so lightly. It seems we treat it as an optional accessory to our lives rather then the vital necessity it truly is.

I don’t write this post out of a desire to motivate from guilt. That won’t cut it. I appeal to all of us at OGC, especially with another monthly concert of prayer coming up this Sunday night at 6 PM at the church in the conference room, to take our cue from Jesus in John 17. There, before He did His saving work of atonement on the cross, He poured out His heart in prayer that was corporate. He prayed with His disciples on so many fronts before His passion. Let us be imitators of Jesus, loving one another well by praying with one another.

Hope to have to move the meeting Sunday night from the conference room to a bigger venue.

In Prayer

January 24, 2013 By in prayer Tags: , , Leave a comment

This Sunday I continue my series of New Year’s messages, Lord willing, beginning a two-part sermon on prayer from Luke 11:1-13 entitled With Christ in the School of Prayer.

By way of reflection in preparation for this Lord’s Day, I offer you this Puritan prayer from the Valley of Vision collection:

O Lord, in prayer I launch far out into the eternal world, and on that broad ocean my soul triumphs over all evils on the shores of mortality. Time, with its gay amusements and cruel disappointments never appears so inconsiderate as then.

In prayer I see myself as nothing; I find my heart going after Thee with intensity, and long with vehement thirst to live to Thee. Blessed be the strong gales of the Spirit that speed me on my way to the New Jerusalem.

In prayer all things here below vanish, and nothing seems important but holiness of heart and the salvation of others.

In prayer all my worldly cares, fears, anxieties disappear, and are of as little significance as a puff of wind.

In prayer my soul inwardly exults with lively thoughts at what Thou art doing for Thy church, and I long that Thou shouldest get Thyself a great name from sinners returning to Zion.

In prayer I am lifted above the frowns and flatteries of life, and taste heavenly joys; entering into the eternal world I can give myself to Thee with all my heart, to be Thine for ever.

In prayer I can place all my concerns in Thy hands, to be entirely at Thy disposal, having no will or interest of my own.

In prayer I can intercede for my friends, ministers, sinners, the church, Thy kingdom to come, with greatest freedom, ardent hopes, as a son to his father, as a lover to the beloved.

Help me to be all prayer and never to cease praying.

The Need for “Frontline” Prayer

January 12, 2013 By in prayer Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

That’s what one writer calls concerted prayer for the cause of the revival of true religion among God’s people. It normally includes intercession for three things to see God move by His Spirit across a church and/or region:

  1. For grace to confess sins and humble ourselves.
  2. For a compassion and zeal for the flourishing of the church and reaching of the lost.
  3. For a yearning to know God, to glimpse His face, and see His glory.

For these things and more we will pray this Sunday evening in our monthly concert of prayer from 6 to 7:30 PM in the conference room at the church. Dear ones, these precious realities will not likely come our way unless we earnestly ask, seek, and knock at the throne of grace for God to bring them.

My challenge in 2013 is that we zero in on praying for these precise things in our private prayer times and our corporate ones. Also, may I ask that each of our households make it a goal that someone from the family would attend at least one of our monthly concerts of prayer?

There is power when God’s people come together to pray!