Corrie ten Boom said, “Any concern to small to be turned into a prayer is to small to be made into a burden”. What concerns you? What burdens haunt you daily? What do you care about so much about that you pray for it daily or more than daily?
What are you Praying for?
January 14, 2013 By 9 Comments
Every morning my wife and I pray for our kids who are now grown, and in college and careers, that they would be drawn more and more to God, that they would whole-heartedly follow Jesus and become like Him. We ask that God would protect them and forgive their sins, and bless them. We pray that for ourselves as well.
Lord, HELP Me! I left my wife of a short time because it was better to walk away…she wanted revenge, all martial assets and custody of the children you gave her of a previous marriage. I said take me to court. They arrested me on false charges, held me and mentally abused me. The prosecutor offered me a plea bargain…I said no. I wanted a trial…I was given a public defender…I ask him, Mr. Duchardt, Jr. How many cases have you won? One in all of his years of practice. That was not good. He appointed a woman attorney that just passed the Bar. She would look good defending me. She did not know what to do when against the skill of the prosecutor, Douglas Noland. Mr. Noland told the jury before trial what to do…No objections. I, the defendant, was objected to when I openned my mouth to testify on the witness stand. I was not allowed to testify. The accuser cleared me of all accusations the jury convicted me. Like they always have done because no poor man has ever been acquitted in Clay County, Liberty, Missouri. Where was you Lord? I took you at your word…Your promises too me Lord written in your book called the Holy Bible that I was forced to Affirm or swear upon to tell the truth, the whole truth, so help me God. Where was you God when they beat me, put me into a coma and all of those days and nights I cried for you to help me…Where was you, Lord? When they mentally abused me? When they Phyiscally abused me? When they verbally abused me? Where was you, Lord when I was stuck by blunt force traume at the base of the skull? or the spinal cord injuries? How about when they messed with my internal organs, Lord, Where was you? I need Help Lord. No Lawyer will take my case and my Constitutional Civil Rights have been Violated. Where are you Lord? I can not get a place to live, find shelter,, a place to work full time, I can not get the benefits I have earned form all of the years I worked and served my country with Honor. Where are you Lord? You Promised…Vengeance is Mine, I will repay! When Lord? In i Peter 5: 9-11 you made more promises…When Lord? In Psalm 23..Thou I walk through the valley of Death, I fear no evil. I have not feared the thugs because I believed in your word, Lord, why have you let me down? What have I done to deserve even one of these that I have suffered? Why ME? Help Me, Lord because so many are suffering and nobody cares about the poor. the veteran, and the man.
I pray for your peace.
I pray often for peace. Peace for myself, but also peace for people I see that are hurting. One example would be a co-worker. She is often under a lot of stress and it comes out as anger and rude/demeaning language. Years ago I used to just think she was just a crazy jerk and I had to “fight back”. But thanks to God, He opened my eyes that we could treat our perceived enemies with kindness. From that I found out that her behavior (although still not appropriate) was understandable given her situation. So instead when she starts “flying off the handle” I take a deep breath and let Jesus take the wheel. I pray for her constantly that she can have the same peace the Holy Spirit has given to me and because of this, I have more peace.
I pray regularly for peace of mind.
All the earth has to give and/or take away is like human waste (garbage) compared to the blessing of having a constant meaningful, intimate personal relationship/fellowship with God. Remember, Christ on the cross said “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” and the Lord says “My strength is sufficient for you”. Job said: “the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed is the name of the Lord”. You have suffered greatly but think of the martyers who were burned at the stake or suffered death in numerous ways for Christ. The Bible says the Lord lifts up the lowly and brings down the higher ones. Also, the Lord said “Vengence is mine”. God provides trials and tribulations in this life for our spiritual growth and preparation for Life with Him in eternity. Our job in life is not to complain to God about how we are treated or beg Him to help us but to praise God for His glory and righteousness and accept what happens to us in this life. Sooner or later in one way or another all things work together for good for those who love God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength and are committed to obey His will through thick and thin (paraphrase of Romans 8:28).
I ask God to love my wife and my children through me. But I always start by thanking God for His love which is so undeserved. I thank Jesus for His sacrifice on the cross. I thank the Holy Spirit for the continual work He does daily in my life and leading me continually in God’s truth. I use the structure of the Lord’s prayer but do not mindlessly repeat it but truly make it my own personal prayer and conversation with God. I pray for my pastor and other staff of my Church as well as our body. I pray for my friends and their wives and children. I pray for my co-workers. I ask God to keep and continually teach me to be humble and to think of others as better than myself. I always feel that I am forgetting or neglecting something when I pray or that there is someone else I should be praying for. But I do believe that what is important in my thoughts are prayerlike that God knows about.
When you pray for someone, do you think you inform God of something He does not know or think you have a better plan than He adopted before time began or do you simply not believe in His soverign rule or that He should be more compassionate or wiser or more loving than you are? Or do you not believe Romans 8:28? Your job is to simply praise God for all that He does and in total humility, love and obedience, accept and glorify Him for His will, His wisdom, His plan, His timetable, His love and allow the Holy Spirit to work His will.
Thinking about what Bruce said, I am reminded of something I heard a pastor friend say once. Even as Christians we many times ask ‘why’. Yet God says, “Why not?” What makes you different from anyone who’s ever lived on earth?” Instead of ‘why’ we should ask ‘what’. What do You want to teach me? What should I be learning from this? With your guidance, what can I take away from this to get closer to You? We have His Word in Psalm 91:15 that He will be with us in trouble, in Hebrews 13:5 that he will never leave us or forget us. The classic example of this in the Old Testament is Joseph. The late Scottish evangelist Oswald Chambers taught much about prayer; here are two of his thoughts that I pray might help to put fellowship with God in proper perspective: “Think of the last thing you prayed about–were you devoted to your desire or to God? Determined to get some gift of the Spirit or to get at God.” and “The meaning of prayer is that we get hold of God, not of the answer.”