Practical Prayer Helps

Here’s a devotional brief video on the Lord’s model prayer (Matt. 6:9-13). Courtesy of DesiringGod.org

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
May they prosper who love you.
Peace be within your walls,
Prosperity within your palaces” (Psalm 122:6,7).

“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:1-4 NKJV).

Jewish Voice Ministries International has produced a one page summary of intercessory information about Israel. Here is their guide in PDF: http://www.jewishvoice.org/prayer/prayer_infographic.pdf
from Jewish Voice Ministries International
P.O. Box 81439 | Phoenix, AZ 85069-1439 | 800-299-9374 | jewishvoice.org

“Want to make a difference for our nation? Pray.

Focus on the Family is calling on all our faith-filled friends including you to stand with us in 31 days of prayer for our nation. Prayer is especially important in advance of the November election. Please commit to pray with us daily from October 1-31. Pray for healing . . . for God’s will in the elections . . . for our schools . . . for our courts and so much more.”

Download the 32 day Prayer Guide in PDF.

– by Paul Kingsbury

… Paul says in Romans 8:26, “…but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us.”

Thank God for that blessed conjunction but, we have an inability to produce results in prayer, and we don’t know what to pray; but the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us. Great, but what does that mean? I’m glad you asked, let’s look at the different aspects of praying in the Spirit.

God Led Prayer

Acknowledge your inability to produce results, the fact you don’t know how to pray. Ask for His help, His guidance, and listen to what He has to say.
The amazing thing about partnering with God is you always know what to pray when to pray, and how long to pray for if you’re letting God lead.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “Always respond to every impulse to pray. The impulse to pray may come when you are reading or when you are battling with a text. I would make an absolute law of this – always obey such an impulse.” Continue reading

Since our Lord prayed for the unity of His people, we need to cultivate cooperation (John 17:20,21). “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven” (Matt 18:19). When we follow this Prayer Points guide, we are expressing unity in praying God’s heart for as lost world.

Matthew 18:19 gives special assurance in prayer when we “agree”. The Greek word translated “agree” is “sumphoneo” which also provides a word in English for a musical symphony (orchestra). As we follow this prayer guide we are like many instruments harmonizing under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matt 18:20).

– JBW

“Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last. Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” – Mark 15:37–38

The veil separated the people from the temple’s Most Holy Place, and it had done so for centuries. According to tradition, the veil—a handbreadth in thickness—was woven of seventy-two twisted plaits, each plait consisting of twenty-four threads. The veil was apparently sixty feet long and thirty feet wide.

The fact that it was torn apart from the top down indicated that the tearing was an irrevocable act of God in Heaven that gave people access to Him. This tearing reflected the rending of Christ’s body on the cross. He had just breathed His last. Death by suffocation, death on the cross — it was finished. Yet it was also the beginning — the commencement of a new kind of intimate relationship between God and His people. Christ’s death on the cross removed every obstacle that has separated — and could ever separate — people from God. Our Most Holy God is now accessible to everyone through Jesus Christ. It is we ourselves who erect any barriers that exist between God and us.

What barriers are you choosing to let stand? Jesus died to bring them down.

Excerpted with permission Being Still with God Every Day by Henry Blackaby and Richard Blackaby, copyright Thomas Nelson 2014.

[This is an excerpt from Being Still with God Every Day. In this 366-day devotional, each day features a scripture and a short, meaningful devotion to set minds and hearts on practical, godly living every day of the year.]

Reading of the Acts of the Apostles you will easily note the evangelistic growth of the early church. The expansion of the church was accompanied by extraordinary praying. This is the type of praying that must be returned to the people of the pews, but we must pray beyond the pews and walls to the multitudes of those who know not Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

Since ultimately all evangelistic activity seeks to “make disciples of all the nations (Mt. 28:19)”, it is met with intense resistance by Satan.  This resistance causes effective evangelism to be carried out in a climate of warfare.  Thus the intensity of need for intercessory prayer.   continue reading…

“Celebrating our independence and reflecting on the great sacrifices made to secure our freedom of religion is a good exercise for all of us, especially in this day of disappearing freedoms. Watch the short video below highlighting the National Day of Prayer celebration we hosted in May. Tommy Nelson challenged us all to pray, and we are reminded this week of the many lives and fortunes that have been sacrificed for this freedom.”

From Strategic Renewal:

IT’S A WONDER THAT WITH ALL OUR SLEEK AND INNOVATIVE MINISTRY MODELS OUR CHURCHES ARE STILL DECLINING—UNTIL WE READ ACTS 6:4, “BUT WE WILL GIVE OURSELVES CONTINUALLY TO PRAYER AND THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD.”

After a long, sometimes trying ministry journey, Daniel Henderson was relieved to discover what the apostles knew from the start: The main thing must stay the main thing. It worked in their pagan times, and it will in ours.

Our churches don’t need fresh models and fancy things; they need the Holy Spirit, who works powerfully when we pray and proclaim the word. Read Old Paths, New Power and follow God’s master plan.

Old Paths, New Power: Awakening Your Church through Prayer and the Ministry of the Word calls us back to the tried-and-true: pray and proclaim the word.

[For a video book trailer and to download a free excerpt, visit Strategic Renewal.]

Many of us travel quite a bit and sometimes loneliness tags along. One of the biblical titles of God is “The LORD is there”–Jehovah Shammah (Ezek. 48:35). Because God is omnipresent, we can pray for His help around the world, and right where we are. Hear the promise given to commander Joshua: “Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).