Skip to main content

Prayer Requests

           With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of His calling, and that by His power He may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.  (II Thessalonians 1:11-12)

          Ever wonder what to pray for someone? Do we all have some standard “and God bless” requests? There’s nothing wrong with the God bless prayers. They’re good prayers, but sometimes I feel that sort of prayer becomes thin and weak as I pray it for person or group after group. At the same time, I feel invasive if I start barging into someone’s life, asking them to lay bare their souls so that I can pray for their “real” needs. I know when someone asks for prayer for a third party – and another person asks for details that weren’t given, I get irritated. A prayer request isn’t meant to be an opportunity for gossips to give out or collect material for their grist mills.

          Today’s passage includes three good options that run between the vague and the nitty-gritty, invasive details. The first is that God may count the person you’re praying for worthy of His calling. This is a great place to start if someone is either not yet saved or is backslidden. It’s a good prayer for everyone else, as well, because many of us know we aren’t worthy. There’s no one out there who is incapable of proving their unworthiness.

          The second prayer is that by His power, God may fulfill their every good purpose and every act prompted by faith. Can you imagine? I can’t, but that just means I need prayer. God fulfilling your every good purpose? God fulfilling every act you make that is prompted by faith? Wow. Of course, part of the problem here is that we tend to think of “fulfilling every good purpose” and “fulfilling every act” in terms of big things, while God may see them as things we hardly notice.

          The third prayer is that the name of the Lord Jesus would be glorified in them, and they in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, we tend to think of glory as big things, but someone can go away glorifying the Lord without our ever knowing. They may not realize they’re glorifying Him as they simply respond with gratitude, awe, or longing without saying a word to us or giving us a smile. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more