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 to Keep God at the Center During the Holidays
Lord, we worship you during this Christmas season. You are our wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. We choose to put you at the center of our family life as we celebrate your birth. Keep us from distractions and help us to invite you into all our family activities. Teach us to pray and help us to glorify and worship you in our family during this busy time of year. Give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation that we might know you better. Thank you for being Immanuel, “God with us.” Open our eyes to realize this each day as we interact with others. Help us to be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as you forgave us. Show us creative ways to love and care for those outside our home. Fill us to overflowing with your love for the lost. Teach us to do acts of kindness to those who are in need at this time of year. May our family be a refreshment and light to others. We ask you to touch with salvation those in our family who do not know you. Open their hearts to your great love for them. Help us to share your Truth and be your light. You are the Savior of the world.
We love your Word and choose to make it central in our family life. Your Word is alive and active – it’s sharper than any double-edged sword – It judges the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts. We long to align ourselves spiritually with you and your Word every day. We want to pray your Word with your authority and with greater faith and obedience in our lives as we approach this New Year. We rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. We meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. We delight in your decrees. We will not neglect your Word. Open our eyes that we may see wonderful things in your law. We run in the path of your commands, for you have set our hearts free.
Lord, we want to be passionate about the things you are passionate about. Help each member of our family to be a student of the Bible. Teach us to pray your Word out loud in our family devotions in such a way that we see mighty spiritual breakthroughs in our home, friends, school, and workplace. Help us declare prophetic promises and decrees from your Word. We want to experience the life-giving power of your Word on a daily basis in our family. Show us truth in your Word, and bring it to life through our prayers. Open the eyes of our hearts that we may be enlightened in order to know the hope to which you have called us, the riches of our glorious inheritance in you and your incomparable great power.
Amen.