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
A Prayer for Unity in Our Church Family
I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. (I Corinthians 1:10)
Our Father, we thank you for our church family. Thank you for calling each of us to serve your kingdom through this wonderful church. Thank you for using our individual gifts and talents to manifest your kingdom here on Earth as it already is in Heaven. Lord, we are thankful for the freedom to worship you, our God. Thank you for your bountiful blessings. Thank you for increasing your presence, power, anointing, and abundance in our church family. You are great and greatly to be praised. The Earth is yours and everything in it; the world and all its people belong to you. You laid the Earth’s foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths.
Loving Father, we declare that we will love you with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. As a church family, we confess that we will love one another, as ourselves. As your children, we proclaim that we have all put on Christ, like putting on new clothes and we will walk in unity and love with one another. It is because of this love that we exhibit for each other that people will know that we are your disciples. Your Word tells us that if we love you, we must also love our Christian brothers and sisters, too. Therefore, we declare that we will not look out only for our own interests, but we take an interest in each other’s needs. We declare that we will live in harmony with each other and resist division. We will be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. We declare that as a church family we will turn away from evil, and do good; we will search for peace and work to maintain it. We confess that we will encourage and build each other up. Above all things, we decree that we will put on love which is the bond of perfection.
Holy Spirit, we ask you to fill us with the knowledge of your will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Help us to walk worthy and fully pleasing before you. As a church family, help us to be fruitful in every good work and to increase in your knowledge. Teach us how to live together in unity. Walk us through the steps of rebuilding loving fellowship between us. Help us to continue to obey your command to “love our neighbor as ourselves” so that we will not self-destruct by backbiting and devouring one another. Give us a willing heart to allow you to guide our lives so that not do what our sinful nature craves. Show our leaders how to mend the broken relationships and restore balance to our church family. Please strengthen us and help us to represent your kingdom in the Earth. Holy Spirit, synchronize the heart of every church member and unify our spirits to receive and submit to the vision for our church. Please empower us to give of our talents, gifts, and resources to manifest kingdom change in our city.
Merciful Father, forgive our many sins. We admit that at times we have sinned against you and against one another. Forgive us for holding onto grudges and for seeking vengeance upon our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Forgive us for leaning toward our own understanding and failing to acknowledge you in all our ways. Forgive those amongst us who are being false witnesses, pouring out lies, and sowing discord in our church family. Forgive those of us who have stood by passively allowing sin and deception to go unaddressed. Forgive us for not heeding the warnings of the Holy Spirit and being hesitant to obey your commands. Lord, forgive us for all sins that we have committed. Holy Spirit, remind our church family of those they need to forgive and help them to be quick to forgive. Help us to release past and present offenses and to be willing to forgive one another just as God has forgiven us. As for me, Holy Spirit, bring to my remembrance those I need to forgive.
Noble Father, as a church family, help us not to yield to temptation; but deliver us from the evil one.
Sovereign King, You are the visible image of the invisible God. You existed before anything was created and you are supreme over all creation. Through you, everything was created in the Heavenly realms and on Earth. You made the visible as well as invisible things. Thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world were all created through you and for you. You existed before anything else and you hold all creation together! In Jesus’s Name, Amen.
(The Prayer Institute)