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)
Request a prayer and pray for others
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You may add your prayer request to this prayer wall using the form below. Once your prayer request is received, I will share it according to your instructions. Feel free to submit as many prayer requests as you like!
Julia
We pray for British freelance journalist Philip Kleinfeld who was expelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo because of his reporting on inter-communal violence and its effects on the civilian population. He has documented systematic rape of women in South-Kivu Province and mass graves in the Kasai region. (IRIN)
Received: May 14, 2018
Julia
Prayer for Ascension by Bernard of Clairvaux
To complete your seamless robe, and so to complete our faith, you ascended through the air into the heavens, before the very eyes of the apostles. In this way you showed that you are Lord of all, and are the fulfillment of all creation. Thus from that moment every human and every living creature should bow at your name. And, in the eyes of faith, we can see that all creation proclaims your greatness.
Amen.
Received: May 14, 2018
Edmund Krzeminski
[We read] In the King James Bible, Ezekiel 22:30: "And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none."
O God, please help us and teach us to build a wall [of prayer] around the USA, Canada and Poland. Are you ready to stand in the gap, where God is the Helper and Teacher?
Please pray that Poland, the USA/Canada would overcome for: (The Acts 26.18).
* Poland, pray for freedom from dead religion to saving faith of Jesus Christ as the Saviour and the Lord by faith only,
* the Church in the USA, Canada – Pray for repentance and cleansing of the church--Matt. 3.12 "Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
* my family:
1. Stir up the hearts of my family for ministry for me, my wife Dorothy, our daughter Ann, and our sons Peter and Daniel - "..but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" Joshua 24.15
2. Pray for God's will, wisdom, discernment, revelation and recognition for me and my family; I ask God for great wisdom in school for Daniel, and for Edmund’s work situation, for Dorothy and Peter (also God's direction for his life) and Ann (God's protection over the company where she works),
3. God's order in my work. I ask God for great wisdom at my work. Blessings and the knowledge of Jesus Christ for my bosses. Thank God for the continuation of my work.
Edmund & Dorothy Krzeminski
Received: May 13, 2018
Julia
We pray for the safety and rescue of all children in the Philippians who are being exploited by the cybersex trafficking industry there. (IJM)
Received: May 9, 2018
Julia
As risks rise in Burundi, refuge in Tanzania is no longer secure
There are now some 315,000 refugees in Tanzania, more than 230,000 of whom fled Burundi since the political crisis there erupted in 2015. The government of Tanzanian President John Magufuli appears to be toughening its stance on refugees. This includes a halt to the naturalisation process and a message urging more recent Burundian refugees to return home, deeming their country safe enough to do so despite reports of widespread human rights abuses. A few months earlier, Tanzania stopped granting automatic refugee status for those arriving from Burundi.
We pray for a resolution of these matters.
(IRIN)
Received: May 9, 2018
Julia
We pray for the Anglican Bishop of Makurdi, Nathan Inyom, who was been attacked by gunmen as he travelled along the Zaki-Biam Road at Kera, near Gondozua Village in Nigeria’s Benue State on Sunday. The bishop, his wife Becky, his chaplain, the Revd Cletus Iorliam, and two other people with the bishop were not injured in the attack, which happened on Sunday. The bishop’s car was stolen in the attack.
Last month two Roman Catholic priests, Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha, were killed when herdsmen stormed St. Ignatius Quasi Parish in Ukpor, as they celebrated Mass.
Received: May 9, 2018
Julia
Pope Francis invites the world to pray the Rosary for peace in May
Throughout May the Pope will go to the Shrine of the Madonna del Divino Amore, on the outskirts of Rome, where he will recite the Rosary, praying especially for peace in Syria and in the entire world. Furthermore, he mentioned North and South Korea and told the pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square that he was ‘accompanying with prayer the positive outcome of the inter-Korean summit.’ Then, the pope called for peace in Nigeria.
Received: May 9, 2018
Julia
May the God who listens to our hearts and enters into our pain bless us and all who are in need with the comfort and quiet of her gentle presence, now and always. Amen.
(Marchiene Vroon Rienstra)
Received: May 9, 2018
Julia
ASIA/PAKISTAN - The first Catholic nun of the Kacchi Kohli tribe
Hyderabad (Agenzia Fides) — The Catholic Church in Pakistan welcomed the first nun of the Kacchi Kohli tribe, after 70 years of mission among those tribal peoples in Sindh. Here the Dutch Franciscan friars begin their ministry of apostolate among the tribal groups in 1940, under the guidance of Fr. Farman OFM and with the support of two catechists.
Sister Anita Maryam Mansingh, of the Congregation of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (PBVM), took her perpetual vows together with another nun in a celebration held in recent days at the Joti Cultural and Educational Center of the Catholic Diocese of Hyderabad. Her uncle, Fr. Mohan Victor OFM, was the first Catholic priest and Franciscan friar from the same tribal group of Kacchi Kohli.
Sr. Anita was born on 8 September 1989 in Tando Allahyar, a small town near Mirpur Khas, and joined the religious community of the nuns of the Presentation in September 2008 after completing her university studies in educational sciences. She made her temporary profession on September 14, 2011. During the period of her formation she worked in several communities in Rawalpindi and Hyderabad.
Speaking to Fides, Sister Anita said: "My uncle Fr. Mohan Victor inspired me to choose religious life and helped me to discern my vocation. I am grateful to my parents and brothers for always supporting me in this choice."
The Sisters of the Presentation began their apostolate in Rawalpindi in 1895. A group of nuns came from Chennai (today India) and opened schools to serve the children of British and Irish soldiers. Today there are 60 nuns of the congregation engaged in Pakistan in the fields of education, health care and pastoral work.
Bishop Samson Shukardin, at the head of the Catholic diocese of Hyderabad, told Fides: "It is a joyful moment to see a Catholic nun from the Kacchi Kohli tribe. The tribal people express the beauty of our Church in Sindh. I encourage the nuns to be a hope for the abandoned and the most vulnerable people. I thank them especially for the service they offer, providing quality education to the people of Pakistan in the provinces of Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to students of every culture, religion and ethnicity." (Agenzia Fides)
Received: May 8, 2018
Julia
We need your prayers now.
This concerns Colorado cake artist Jack Phillips and his faithful stand for truth. His case—Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission—was argued in December.
At the heart of Jack’s case is whether we have the right to peacefully live and work consistently with our most deeply held beliefs.
Please pray for justice for Jack. His stand for religious freedom could provide a critical victory that this country needs to protect the First Amendment. If the Court rules in Jack’s favor, it would be a win for every American who values freedom!
(Alliance Defending Freedom)