Quotes:
"Remember,
before all else fails, you can pray"
MJ Flack
Scriptural
Reference:
"And
pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers
and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying
for all the Lord’s people"
Ephesians 6:18
"And
pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers
and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying
for all the Lord’s people"
Ephesians 6:18
"First
of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions,
and thanksgivings be made for all people"
Timothy 2:1
“Watch and
pray, that ye enter not into temptation”
Matthew 26:41
"Likewise
the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us
with groanings too deep for words"
Romans 8:26
Reflection:
Prayer has many uses and many applications. We can pray for strtength
when facing a conflict. We can pray for the health and welfare
of others. We can pray for our elected gavernment officials. Indeed
we can pray on and for many crucial topics that we face each day.
But do we respect the power of prayer? Do we recognise the source
of the power of prayer?
I have rwrotten
before about the need to pray and to pray consistantly So this
scriptural reflection shouldn't come as a surprise. What might
be new is the concept that;
1) One prayer
doesn't fit all challenges. If we pray a single prayer without
considering what we are asking for and just hope the prayer will
somehow fit the new challenge being faced, our rayer will not
afford an answer. Each prayer really needs to be expressed with
an earnest heart and desire that is focused on what is needed.
If we are to consider how to pray we should first consider a short
list of where our prayer is going and to whom we should give our
thanks.
2) Praying
in an automated format doesn't work if your heart isn't in it
and your mind is somewhere else. There are some who will say the
Lords' Prayer is the only prayer we should make. While there are
those who will make a list of requirements that need to be fulfilled
to make a prayer that will get answered. In both cases I would
say there's a fatal flaw. The Lords' Prayer is important and very
useful as a communial prayer by the church; but when it comes
to individual prayers we need to bring a personal prayer not a
formated script. As for those who say there is a list of requirememts
that need to be fulfilled? I would remind them of the Scribes
and Pharasies. Their prayers fell to the ground. As any formulated
prayer lacks scincerity. Jesus Himself warned us not to copy the
Pharasies when they pray. By using a mutlitude of words and public
gestures they get their reward from thers who seem them. But not
from God.
I remember
in a house I shared with other Christians we had a brief prayer
list, This image shows what such as prayer list could look like.
It is very similar to the one that we used. We would write down
the prayer that we asked others in our little house community
to pray for. We than kept the prayer going until we were able
to write how the prayer was answered. It was not always answered
in ways we had expected or perhaps hoped for; but it was answered
and for that we gave thanks to God for hearing our prayers.
This of course
is just a suggestion. By no means would I suggest that it was
a one size fits all prayer journal or list. Each Christian will
want to sit down with those they will be praying with to decide
what is most important to include or exclude from the list.
In closing
it is perhaps important to remember some of the things we learn
from the BIble regarding our prayers and our prayer life.