“We must begin to believe that God, in the mystery of prayer, has entrusted us with a force that can move the Heavenly world, and can bring its power down to death.”
–Andrew Murray
- 1-Minute Devotional thought:
(Luke 11:1-4 ESV) Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And He said to them, “When you pray, say:
“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
In Luke’s Gospel, the “Lord’s Prayer” comes to us in a bit briefer version than Matthew’s. We should note then that Jesus did not prescribe an exact word-for-word prayer to be said by Christians. Instead, Jesus grounded His “Lesson on Prayer” with theologically-loaded phrases which, when reflected upon in the mind of the believer, provide direction to our prayer lives.
The Layman Online provides an entire series of studies on “The Lord’s Prayer” (find them here), but today, simply reflect on that first word: “Father.”
God, the Creator of all things, calls us to speak to Him in the most intimate and familial of terms: “Father.”
He grants this intimacy not because of our worth, for on our own, none of us are worthy to even stand before Him (Romans 3:9-20), let alone approach Him as “Father.” No, this intimacy comes to us as one of His good gifts of salvation. Because of the work of Jesus Christ we are adopted as His sons and daughters.
The Apostle Paul says: “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by Whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!'” (Romans 8:15).
Also, to the Ephesians, he wrote: “He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will” (Ephesians 1:5).
Christian, today when you turn to God in prayer, hear His “Prayer Lesson #1” to you. Jesus says to call Him “Father” precisely because it serves to remind us of the Gospel. Were there no bloody Savior on a cross and risen Savior from the tomb, then there would be no prayers offered up to a “Father.” We would all be slaves to sin and doomed to an eternity apart from fellowship with God. But you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons … and so you pray “Father.”
- As citizens of the City of Man: Pray for the folks who sit on your local government boards – school, library, parks, etc. – which serve to represent the tax-paying constituents who fund these public institutions. In many municipalities, these people serve on a voluntary basis. Pray that they would know how best to set policy and “protect and serve” the public interest. And, if you have lived for any length of time in your community, consider serving on such a board. Don’t like some of the directions you see your community institutions taking? Serve! Or at the least, attend the meetings if they are open to the public.
- Pray for your local Pro-life ministries. Seek out local adoption and foster care agencies and ask them how you can help meet their ongoing needs. In comparison to pro-abortion groups, those who promote the sanctity of human life are greatly underfunded.
- Pray for the Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) ministry taking place on the campus of Georgia Southern University – led by Ro Taylor:
Ro was born and raised in Jackson, Miss., and graduated from Mississippi State University in 2005. After graduation, Ro worked for three years as a teacher and coach at a high school in Charleston, S.C. He then went to seminary, graduating from Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson in 2011, where he worked with college students with RUF at Mississippi College. While in seminary, he met and married Anna Griffith (from Hattiesburg, Miss.) in July 2010. Ro and Anna moved to Statesboro in 2011 where Ro is serving at Georgia Southern as the RUF campus minister. They are enjoying life in the ‘boro with their first son on his way in December!
- Using the new 2013 “watchlist” produced by Open Doors, we pray for the persecuted Christians of a different country each week.
Teachers/parents, consider this a great way to introduce geography into the weekly lessons. Show students where the nation is, then pray for Christians in that place.
This week we pray for the Christians of Yemen, which ranks No. 10 on the watchlist:
There is some religious freedom for foreigners here and there are a few official churches for several thousand Christian expats and refugees in Aden, but in the north, no church buildings are allowed. The country is very unstable and large numbers of expats have left the country. Evangelism is prohibited and conversion is forbidden. Yemenis who leave Islam may face the death penalty. The few hundred Christians from a Muslim background face persecution from authorities and family, and extremist groups use this threat to pressure them to recant.
Pray: That isolated believers will find ways to meet together. That vocational training programs supported by Open Doors will help Yemeni believers to stand strong. Suicide bomb attacks killed over 100 in 2012. Pray for peace in this deeply divided country.
- Prayer for the nation – focusing this week on the state of Delaware. According to recent religious surveys, Delaware citizens claim that they are nonreligious (33 percent), very religious (33 percent), or moderately religious (34 percent).
- In 2013, we will pray together by name for Christians in 50 nations, Christians in all 50 states and all the presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and the emerging new Reformed body, ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbytreians. You are encouraged to add specific pastors, lay leaders, congregations, missionaries, new church developments and other ministries to the list by posting a comment to the blog. (Please do not publicly post the names of missionaries serving in contexts where exposing their identity would cause them harm or bring harm to those they serve in Christ’s name.) Let us kneel before the Father and ask His will be done.
- Prayers for the PCUSA: Pray for the presbyteries of the Synod of the South Atlantic: Central Florida, Charleston-Atlantic, Cherokee, Flint River, Florida, Foothills, Greater Atlanta, New Harmony, Northeast Georgia, Peace River, Providence, St. Augustine, Savannah, Tampa Bay, Trinity and Tropical Florida.
Prayers for Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC): the Alleghenies (Bruce Allison, stated clerk).
- Prayers for the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA): the churches of the Suncoast Florida Presbytery.
- Prayers for ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians.
- Prayers for The Fellowship of Presbyterians.