Set Your Sights On Things Above
We so quickly get our eyes off God. Let's get back into
perspective.
perspective.
Prayer is one of the most neglected areas of our Christian life, as well as in the life of the church. We could all improve in the skill of talking with God. We all know of the power of prayer, but how often have we actually experienced it? I have been doing a personal Bible study on prayer, and knowing that one of the most important things behind the power of our prayers is obedience, one of the first things I wanted to do was to find a list of things that we are commanded to pray for. How can we say we are obedient, if we are not even following God's command to pray for certain things? The following is a list of thirteen things that we are commanded by God to pray for every day. Use them to create your daily prayer list, and obey God in the area of your prayer life.
1) Pray for your leaders “That they may offer sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons.” (Ezra 6:10) The people of God are commanded to pray for their leaders, whether we like them or hate them. In this season of contentious political contests, we would do well to remember that our president needs prayer. I Timothy 2:1-3 says, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;” This command to pray extends to all our leaders. Senators, congressmen and women, city council leaders, mayors, and police chiefs all need our intercession before the Lord. Make a list and pray for them by name. 2) Pray for the peace of Jerusalem “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.” (Psalm 122:6) This one comes with a promise – Pray for the peace of Jesrusalem and love her, and God will prosper us. Who doesn't want that? “And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. (Jeremiah 29:7) This one also comes with a promise. Praying for your city to have peace will cause the peace to “spill” on you. We all need more peace! 4) Pray for your enemies “and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” (Matthew 5:44e) This one I have trouble with – I always end up “forgetting” it when I am in conflict with someone else. But God commands us to pray for even those that persecute us. But it does help us to avoid anger and bitterness, and to have the right attitude about life. 5) Pray for missionaries “Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. (Luke 10:2) We should be praying for more laborers for the harvest of souls, because there are not many to bring in the great harvest of souls that God wants to reap. Careful! Praying for this one every day may cause you to realize God is calling you to be one of those laborers! II Corinthians 8:4 says, “Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.” We should pray for our missionaries, and how we can give of our time, talents, and treasure to participate in the fellowship of ministering to the saints. 6) Pray that you enter not into temptation “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mt 26:41) We are supposed to pray that we do not enter into temptation. Being tempted is one thing, but indulging in it will cause us to stumble, because our flesh is weak. We definitely need the power of God to resist temptation every day! 7) Watch and pray for the Rapture “Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.” (Mk 13:33) Because we do not know when the Rapture takes place, we should prepare ourselves for Christ's imminent return every day by prayer. 8) Pray for your fellow church members This one is a big one, and has several facets. Luke 22:32 says, “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” We should pray for our fellow church members, so they can strengthen other church members. Who knows when we will need to be strengthened by someone we have made a habit of praying for? Ephesians also tells us to pray for all the saints, everywhere. Chapter 6, verse 18b says, “and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”. We are also to pray that fellow church members are completely in the center of God's will. “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.” (Colossians 4:12) This, among other things, helps promote unity in the church of God. We need to pray that our church family's faith is growing in the sanctification process. “Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?” (I Thessalonians 3:10) Pastors should pray for the members of their flock. “I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,” (Philemon 1:4) Pray for the afflicted, the sick, and the backslidden in your church. “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (James 5:13-14) We are supposed to be tending to the care of our fellow church members, and this can best be done by first praying for their needs. If we care enough to be involved to where we know their needs, we will also care enough to meet their needs. 9) Pray for your deacons “Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.” (Acts 6:6-7) Praying for your church's deacons helps to promote the work of the church – seeing more souls saved. 10) Pray for your Pastor “And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.” (Acts 14:23) As our spiritual leader, our Pastor needs our prayers more than anything else. We should be spending time daily praying for him. 11) Pray for the spread of the Gospel “Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:” (Colossians 4:3) Souls are the heartbeat of God, and we should be spending time daily praying for the Gospel's spread. I Timothy 2:4 says, “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” Souls should be a major topic of our prayer life. 12) Thanksgiving for our food “which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” (I Timothy 4:3c-5) We should always thank God at every meal for the food He has provided. Some countries pray after they eat, some before they eat, but we should acknowledge His provision at every mealtime. 13) Ask for wisdom “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” (James 1:5) How many of us have all the wisdom we will ever need? Then we should be praying for it every day. When God told Solomon to ask for whatever he wanted, he asked God for wisdom. (I Kings 3:5, II Chronicles 1:7) God blessed Solomon with much more than wisdom, because he asked for that which pleased God. Oh, that we would ask for the wisdom that we need every day! There are many things that we could ask God for in our daily prayer life. But these thirteen things should be on our prayer list every day. Let us transform our prayer life by our obedience to God's command. If we ask for what He tells us to ask for, will He not give it? |
AuthorI'm Sherry Chamblee, aspiring author of Christian fiction, mom of six, wife to a cool dude, and caregiver to his granny. Besides that, I am just little old me - it's just a phrase, I'm not really old, honest. Check out my new release!
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December 2019
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