Pray KNCSB

Only those who pray prove that they are God-dependent. Each of us who prays prove to ourselves that we are not self-sufficient. Each church that prays prove its desire not to be self-dependent.

Once upon a time, Southern Baptist churches gathered on a week night to pray and pay attention to their personal walks with God in a group setting. It seems this is less so today than it used to be. Sure the whole church was not present on the day of the week designated for the church to pray but there was a sense that the church must pray corporately. Is this true of us today? I know we are busy. I know life has become more complex. All the more reason corporate prayer is necessary. Does it seem strange to you that a fresh call for the church to gather to pray has become necessary?

Blessed is the pastor who teaches and models to his people how to pray. Prayer is taught. Jesus taught his disciples to pray. However, he did not tell them about prayer when he taught them. He actually prayed in their hearing and thus modeled (taught by example) the way to pray. Church leaders must regain that sense of caring for souls as one of the major aspects of their work.

If you are reading this prayer of the week it’s because you are interested in prayer. Perhaps you are shepherding a flock of God’s people. Perhaps you lead a small group or class. Perhaps you sit on a committee. Or …

It is not sufficient that you bathe your own personal life in prayer. The church of the New Testament gathered regularly to pray corporately. At the head of the gathering was the shepherd of the flock leading, teaching, modeling how to pray.

Prayer is the single most important thing we do. The reason for making such a statement in such a matter of fact way is because only in prayer, modeled from the Word of God, do we have the means of knowing God and knowing what God expects of his people.

So how about it? If there is no regular corporate prayer time in your church, talk to your pastor (it may be self-talk) and spearhead one. If you have the freedom to do so, gather your small group together for the sole purpose of praying. By doing so, you are expressing to God, in the surest way possible, that you depend on him as a church. By modeling your need to depend on God and less on yourself, you would be walking in the shoes of every “saint” that ever lived and living in imitation of our Lord and savior Himself. By teaching the need for corporate prayer and modeling how to pray in the presence of others you would be following the example of every God-fearing people group and every New Testament church.

I was prompted to remember and reflect slowly on this poem by John Donne this week:

No man is an island,

Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manner of thine own
Or of thine friend’s were.
Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

In light of the tolling of the bell for all, I thought it appropriate this week to reflect and pray in light of eternity and my character development. In light of eternity, my goodness as a person who follows Christ matters most. How shall I live to add to without diminishing others? The determination came once more that I ought to live as I pray, and pray as I ought to live. I have formulated these prayers to guide my reflections on certain character issues in the next little while. Perhaps you will find them helpful.

Integrity: Lord Jesus, help me to practice what I preach in every area of my life.

Kindness: Lord Jesus, help me to speak ill of no one and good of everyone.

Boasting: Lord Jesus, help me to sing others’ praises, never my own.

Humility: Lord Jesus, help me to be willing to readily admit my mistakes, slow to find them in others, and ask forgiveness of anyone I sin against.

Preferring Others: Lord Jesus, may it never be that I should lift myself up in order to put others down.

Respect: Lord Jesus, help me to manipulate no one, especially those I lead.

Contentment: Lord Jesus, help me to be thankful for all I have, and to be content with the state I’m in.

Generosity: Lord Jesus, grant that my hands shall always be open to those who suffer want.

Holiness: Lord Jesus, I ask that what holiness is in me, attract rather than repel.

Flexibility: Lord Jesus, allow that I would not force my goodness on others, or protect it with rigid laws that push others to conform to it.

You alone are supremely good, Lord Jesus, and all my goodness is from you. So let my life be what my prayers are. Amen.

War has been the way we, human beings, gathered as nations, have settled our differences with other nations. Individually, as our forefather Cain did, we violate our way out of conflicts, real or imagined. One day we anticipate that war shall be no more as the Prince of Peace teaches us how to lay down weapons of death and pick them back up again as pruning hooks. One day the lion of war shall lie down with the lamb of peace. Meanwhile, back at the farm, war is a reality we must contend with. Contend we must and a way we contend is to pray.

Our nation is in the throes of wars and peacekeeping and peacemaking. More starkly, our young men and women are sacrificing precious lives in the belief that freedom is worth dying for and for the sake of justice rolling down like streams, that right must prevail over wrong, that self-sacrifice is oppression’s answer whether on our own soil or on foreign soils.

It’s true that nations have no friends but only interests. But interests can be the greater common good (of our nation and of the rest of the world). So we fight in the hope of gaining ground over the forces of evil. But we must not only fight. We must also pray. Long ago, God instructed his people to pray and work for peace. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And pray also to become peacemakers.

So let’s pray.

Dear God, we confess that our dependence is on You who sees humanity as the object of his love.

Dear God, we pray that Your kingdom of peace will be established upon the earth as You promised.

Dear God, we pray that Your will prevail on earth as it is in heaven.

Dear God, we pray that the hope of doing good by young men and women will not give way to despair.

Dear God, we pray that the loved ones of fighters would be able to lay their anxieties at the feet of the Prince of Peace.

Dear God, we pray that those who enlist to achieve dreams of goodness in the world, would have their dreams come true.

Dear God, we pray that those who give up their lives in the fight for freedom and against oppression would be convinced that greater good occurs when we engage the enemies of goodness and justice rather than when we are indifferent to the plight of humanity.

Dear God, we pray that we learn war no more as we sit at the feet of the Peacemaker.

Dear God, we pray that the work our soldiers do in the name of justice would not go in vain.

Dear God, we pray that in our brokenness we are relieving the greater brokenness of the world.

Dear God, we pray that American soldiers would fight with dignity and preserve the dignity of others.

Dear God, we pray that the hand of Him who is our Peace would heal the damages and ravages of war on the soul of men and women, children, and parents.

Dear God, we pray that the nations and men of war would cease to roar and wage war.

Dear God, we pray that every opportunity for peacemaking would be thoroughly exhausted and humility prevail.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us.

War has been the way we, human beings, gathered as nations, have settled our differences with other nations. Individually, as our forefather Cain did, we violate our way out of conflicts, real or imagined. One day we anticipate that war shall be no more as the Prince of Peace teaches us how to lay down weapons of death and pick them back up again as pruning hooks. One day the lion of war shall lie down with the lamb of peace. Meanwhile, back at the farm, war is a reality we must contend with. Contend we must and a way we contend is to pray.

Our nation is in the throes of wars and peacekeeping and peacemaking. More starkly, our young men and women are sacrificing precious lives in the belief that freedom is worth dying for and for the sake of justice rolling down like streams, that right must prevail over wrong, that self-sacrifice is oppression’s answer whether on our own soil or on foreign soils.

It’s true that nations have no friends but only interests. But interests can be the greater common good (of our nation and of the rest of the world). So we fight in the hope of gaining ground over the forces of evil. But we must not only fight. We must also pray. Long ago, God instructed his people to pray and work for peace. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And pray also to become peacemakers.

So let’s pray.

Dear God, we confess that our dependence is on You who sees humanity as the object of his love.

Dear God, we pray that Your kingdom of peace will be established upon the earth as You promised.

Dear God, we pray that Your will prevail on earth as it is in heaven.

Dear God, we pray that the hope of doing good by young men and women will not give way to despair.

Dear God, we pray that the loved ones of fighters would be able to lay their anxieties at the feet of the Prince of Peace.

Dear God, we pray that those who enlist to achieve dreams of goodness in the world, would have their dreams come true.

Dear God, we pray that those who give up their lives in the fight for freedom and against oppression would be convinced that greater good occurs when we engage the enemies of goodness and justice rather than when we are indifferent to the plight of humanity.

Dear God, we pray that we learn war no more as we sit at the feet of the Peacemaker.

Dear God, we pray that the work our soldiers do in the name of justice would not go in vain.

Dear God, we pray that in our brokenness we are relieving the greater brokenness of the world.

Dear God, we pray that American soldiers would fight with dignity and preserve the dignity of others.

Dear God, we pray that the hand of Him who is our Peace would heal the damages and ravages of war on the soul of men and women, children, and parents.

Dear God, we pray that the nations and men of war would cease to roar and wage war.

Dear God, we pray that every opportunity for peacemaking would be thoroughly exhausted and humility prevail.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us.

It is no secret to anymore that the Christian faith has stopped spreading in the West (Europe and North America). However, Christianity is gaining ground on other continents. A plethora of prophets have given a plethora of reasons for this lackluster advance of the Christian faith to keep up with the increase of population in the West. Many blame a lukewarm faith in the church, a loss of first love for God and for people. Frankly speaking, the blame game is not a solution nor does it pave the way to a solution. Truth be told, holiness among us and among all the people of God of all times has always been in short supply. Recent polls of the holiness of the people of God, if we are to trust the polls to some extent, confirms the paucity of holiness among us. Our holiness is mediocre at best and “Be ye holy as your Father in heaven is holy” is foreign language to many of us. This problem is perennial. For generations on end, we have taken a minimal approach to living our faith. We have satisfied ourselves with so little of God and so much of us. We have settled for the least we can do, the least morality, the least devotion, the least intimacy with God. We do just enough to get by. I am being confessional, not accusatory.

Is there hope for Christianity to come back from the grave of irrelevance? Can we rise again from the ash heap of compromise to new heights of living for and with God? Will we know again a movement of the Holy Spirit that will transform our hearts, and our communities once more? The answer is of course yes. But not by human might nor by human  power but by My Spirit says the Lord. The Holy Spirit did it before time and again. We too, in our generation, as generations before us did, must raise desperate voices to our Mighty God who is able to reform, re-awaken, and revive his people.

There is urgency to this call. How long shall we wait to see the next generation of Christ’s people team with new life from the moment they enter the kingdom of the heavens? How long must we hope, O God, for a fresh visit of your unmistakable Spirit? When will we notice that if you left us, we would continue our work without noticing your absence? How long will we blame society for being lost when we’re no longer willing ourselves to be found?

We are your people, the sheep of your Nebraska and Kansas pasture. We are tired of not seeing the maximum good you can do for us, in us and through us. We are your people, and we are tired of grazing on dry grass when green pastures are promised. We are your people; called by your name, now bow before you in humble confession. We have not cared, as we should. We have not prayed, as we should. We have not sacrificed, as we should. We have not died to ourselves, as we should. We’ve carried the feather cross of convenience when the weighty cross of repentance and prayer are needed. We have exchanged the real cross for a pretend, shadowy cross of our own invention.

What shall we do to live again? We mustn’t pretend we have answers. We have none. We mustn’t be sure of our solutions, You alone know the problem. So our first task in being awakened, revived, and transformed is to wait on you with some measure of hope, some seed of faith, some anticipation that we are still in your plan of expanding Your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Cast us not, O Gentle Savior, hear our humble cry. While on others You are waiting, do not pass us by. This we know, this is our plea: You are The Answer, Our Friend, and you have the Answer. Blow like the mysterious Wind, Savior, Savior, blow in the Wind. We claim as your people claimed so often before us that those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, they run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind. We rest in this: You desire to transform us more than we do. We hope and pray, we cling lest we drown from the weight of our sin. Have mercy on us, O Lord.

May the confession of my lips and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O God of mercy. Amen.