“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.”
– 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).
Cars, fashion, technology–we see everything changing. But this can make our lives seem insecure and unstable. As men, we need security and stability to provide and protect our loved ones. This confidence comes from centering our lives on God, in whom is no variation or shadow of turning (James 1:17). “For I am the LORD, I do not change…” (Malachi 3:6).
Here is a PDF document from Navigators:
Praying-the-Names-of-God-The-Navigators.
by Daniel Henderson
Over the last two decades I’ve known the incredible joy of leading scores of prayer experiences that we call “Prayer Summits.” These are multi-day gatherings, usually away at some kind of retreat center, featuring unscripted, Scripture-fed, Spirit-led, worship-based prayer. (Some have suggested that we call them “Bible Summits” because of the centrality of God’s word in prompting and guiding most of the prayers.) Because God is always faithful and creative, and His word alive and active, these experiences are always profound.
Our Most Effective Prayers
By conviction and experience I have concluded that the most creative and effective prayers spring from the inexhaustible treasury of the word of God. Thousands of times I have watched the Bible expose hearts, guide language, unite diverse interests, and create powerful moments of remarkable prayer impact. There is nothing more thrilling than watching a diverse group of Christians brought into unity and transformation as eyes and hearts are opened to pray from the Scriptures.
Finding our language in the Scripture through focused and measured prayers allows everyone to discover an entry point. The Bible provides handles for mature saints and struggling neophytes. It is a wonderful thing to observe this dynamic. This is at the heart of teaching people how to truly pray.
Prayer in Proper Context
Eugene Peterson said it well: “Prayer is language used to respond to the most that has been said to us with the potential for saying all that is in us . . . Prayer is dangerous . . . it moves our language into potencies we are unaccustomed to and unprepared for . . . We restore prayer to its context in God’s word. Prayer is not something we think up to get God’s attention or enlist his favor. Prayer is answering speech. The first word is God’s word. Prayer is a human word and is never the first word, never the primary word, never the initiating and shaping word simply because we are never first; never primary . . . the first word everywhere and always is God’s word to us, not ours to him.” (Working the Angles, Eerdman Press)
Peterson’s insights remind me of a lesson I’ve learned over the years about the value of letting the Bible shape the vocabulary of prayer. It’s sad, but somewhat humorous, to observe what happens in a prayer time that is based in stale human vocabulary rather than the fresh foundation of God’s word. Too often we just engage in a rapid-fire discharge of superficial thoughts, explaining to God all that we think He needs to do in order to structure the universe according to our specifications for a happy and comfortable life. Once we run out of our instructions for the day, our prayer concludes with a thud.
Of course, it is important for us to share our hearts with God when we pray. However, it is primary and essential that we allow Him to share His heart with us. This happens as we pray, first and foremost, from His word.
A Brimming Experience
John Piper has said, “Where the mind is not brimming with Scripture the heart is seldom brimming with prayer.” In his autobiography, George Mueller describes how for many years he did not begin his prayers in the Bible and confessed that his mind wandered. He goes on to testify that once he learned to pray from the Bible he was able to pray effectively for decades to follow.
Recently, one of the women attending a Prayer Summit pulled me aside to comment on her experiences. She said, “I never realized how simple but meaningful this kind of prayer can be. My prayer life has been stagnated for many months but through this experience I gained practical tips on how to kick-start my prayer life with new energy. The Spirit was really at work and I love learning how to pray straight from the Bible.” One pastor commented, “I’m convinced that the best way to apply God’s word is to pray it.”
Jonathan Edwards wrote, “The Spirit who causes men to have greater regard for the Holy Scriptures and establishes them more in their truth and divine inspiration is certainly the Spirit of God. . . It is this word that God has given to be the great, the standing rule for the direction of His church in all spiritual matters and for all concerns of their souls in all ages. A spirit of delusion will not incline persons to seek direction from the mouth of God.” (The Spirit of Revival by Archie Parrish and R.C. Sproul)
“Seek direction from the mouth of God.” What a focus! This is the key idea and the central passion of Scripture-fed prayer. Today, as you seek to spend time with God, open the Bible. Discover the truths that spring from the text about the His character, His works, and His names. Give Him praise based on these truths. Seek the admonitions of the text. Ask the Spirit to apply these truths to the very fabric of your life. With an open Bible, make it your cry: “Lord, teach me to pray.” He will be faithful to do so as you learn to talk to Him in His own words.
Copyright © 2015 Daniel Henderson. All rights reserved.
reposted from:
Practical Prayer Helps 