Keep Us Thankful in Prayer

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

We know that we’re not to worry, but to trust God (John 14:1). The answer to living this way is to not let our minds drift into worry or anxiety. Let’s pray that God will give us a special sensitivity to worry, so that we can immediately turn our anxious thoughts to prayer. We can and should seek God’s help (Matthew 7:7-9; James 4:2-3), praying without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), but always with thanksgiving. We’re to thank God in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18) and for everything (Ephesians 5:20).

Why? Because when we pray this way, we put our focus on God and not on our problems. Such prayer indicates our faith in Him, which pleases Him (Hebrews 11:6). Constant prayer helps us fix our eyes on Jesus, and reminds us of what is really important—things that are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:17-18), fruit that lasts (John 15:16), treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21). This is not positive thinking, but living by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Such faith carries its own reward—the peace of God which guards our hearts and minds, the peace that comes from Christ Himself (John 14:27). What a powerful witness we can be to the world when the peace of God rules in our hearts (Colossians 3:15); it’s one of the ways we demonstrate that we are in the world but not of the world (John 17:15-16).

Grace and peace to us all!

May Christ Be Glorified in Us

We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you…. (2 Thessalonians 1:12)

The Apostle Paul prayed this verse for the Thessalonians, and we pray it for ourselves because our most powerful and effective witness to the world is Christ in us, our hope of glory (Colossians 1:17). Those in the world around us need to see Him as the anchor of our soul (Hebrews 6:19), our new life (2 Corinthians 5:17). Christ, the light of the world (John 8:12), should radiate from us (Matthew 5:14). The fruit of His Spirit should flow from us like rivers of living water (John 7:38).

When it is His life and power that fills us, everything we do attracts people to Him:

"And so we keep on praying for you, that our God will make you the kind of children he wants to have—will make you as good as you wish you could be!—rewarding your faith with his power. Then everyone will be praising the name of the Lord Jesus Christ because of the results they see in you…." (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12, TLB)

Are people seeing the results of Christ’s life in us? Is He evident in our lives, not just on mission trips or in other areas of service, but all the time? Shouldn’t we be praying that He is? Because when He is, His presence and power ignites our lives and everything we do has Kingdom value. When He is glorified in us, He can transform our families, our relationships, our ministry and service.

May others praise the name of the Lord Jesus because of the results they see in us!

May God Strengthen Us with His Power

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge....(Ephesians 3:17-19)

Why should we ask God to strengthen us with His power? Certainly one reason is that Jesus promised His disciples that they would be clothed with power from on high, that the Spirit would impart His power for witnessing (Luke 24:45-49). We rely on that power as we go forward in obedience to His Great Commission (Matthew 28:20).

But we need the Spirit's power for more than ministry. This is something Paul realized and prayed for the Ephesians. He asked God to strengthen them with power through the indwelling Spirit so they would grasp the width, length, breadth and height of Christ’s love and would “know [personally experience, in increasing measure] this love that surpasses knowledge….” (Ephesians 3:14-19, italics added)

Is this a surprising thought, that we would need the Spirit’s power to grasp and experience the enormity of Christ’s love? Why would that matter to Paul? Why should it matter to us? Perhaps because our call is not to ministry, but to Christ, to a love relationship and personal fellowship with Jesus.

Some of us may never have known unconditional human love, and find it difficult to relate to such love from Christ. Though we may intellectually understand divine love, it is only the Spirit’s power within that can make that love real in our experience. We don’t serve a distant and uncaring King, but the lover of our souls. How much greater is our service when His love fills our hearts—how much farther we can run, how much higher we can climb, how much more joy can we experience.

Let us pray that God will strengthen us with His power to know, to experience, Christ’s love.

Keep us faithful to pray for each other.

Keep us faithful to pray for each other. (Ephesians 6:18)

Why should we this verse for one another? Because even though we know it’s important to pray for each other if we’re honest, most of us will admit that we have little time or energy for prayer. The time that we do have is likely to be first of all focused on the needs and circumstances of our families and those who are personally close to us, and rightfully so.

But just as Paul so frequently asked for prayer for his ministry and service from those who served with him, we need one another’s prayers too. He exhorted them—and he exhorts us—to “pray always for all of the saints” (Ephesians 6:18), and he lived that way. He prayed for his fellow workers:
…constantly (2 Thessalonians 1:11),
…thoughtfully, specifically (1 Corinthians 14:15),
…earnestly day and night (1 Thessalonians 3:10),
…with joy (Philippians 1:3-5),
…with thanksgiving (Colossians 1:3).

Paul knew that people who were serving with him were in need of much prayer, as he was. They were all spending themselves for God’s kingdom, busily leading people to Christ, planting churches, discipling believers. Paul and his fellow workers needed constant, thoughtful, earnest on-going prayer for one another.

Do we need it any less?

May we trust in the Lord. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6, NKJV)

Why does this verse make such a powerful and essential prayer? Because we need God to direct our paths!

We live in tumultuous times, often confused with several choices before us, not clear on the direction we should take. In such times without realizing it, we can begin to trust in our own effort and energy, our own common sense and experience. We wouldn’t put it that way, but what’s the evidence of our lives? Are we ever scrambling to meet deadlines with too much to do, charging forward to do the next thing, leaning on past experience, the way we’ve “always done it”? In our haste, we may fail to be still (Psalm 46:10), to seek the Lord (Jeremiah 29:13).

This verse goes on to say that in all our ways we are to acknowledge the Lord. This means more than acknowledging His presence. The root word is yada, meaning to know God through personal experience. Whose path does the Lord direct? The one who trusts Him with all his heart, leans not on his own understanding, who knows and lives in a close personal relationship with Him.

Lord, may our trust in You never waiver!

May We Not Grow Weary in Doing Good

Help us not to grow weary in doing good…. (Galatians 6:9)

Why this verse? Because the rest of this verse promises “we will reap a harvest if we don’t give up”! We all need to remember this when we’re worn out, when things don’t seem to go right, when we can’t see our way clearly: if we keep on, we’ll reap a harvest!

In those times when we want to give up, we come to our God “who is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8) In all things at all times, having all that we need, we will abound. What a wonderful old-fashioned word, brimming with energy.

Be encouraged when you feel overwhelmed, for our Lord promises “He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them.” (Hebrews 6:10) And, “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.” (2 Corinthians 9:10)

Our Lord supplies what we need, and He brings in the harvest. He doesn’t forget our hard work and the love we have shown Him as we help His people. What wonderful promises for those who don’t grow weary in doing good.

Help Us to Pursue Righteousness

Our prayer for each other: Father, help us to pursue righteousness. (1 Timothy 6:11)

Why this verse? Because there are so many promises related to righteousness! Scripture tells us the Lord loves righteousness and those who pursue it (Psalm 33:5; Proverbs 15:9). He watches over the way of the righteous (Psalm 1:6), His eyes are on them, His ears are attentive to their cry and He hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles. (Psalm 34:15, 17) And when we seek Him and His righteousness, He meets our needs (Matthew 6:33).

It’s true that we are righteous in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), that our righteousness comes by faith (Romans 9:30). But it’s practical righteousness that we’re to pursue, choosing to live upright lives, setting our hearts to conform to God’s will in thought and deed. We pursue right living, as best we can in His strength (Philippians 4:13). When we fail, we confess our sin, and God in His mercy cleanses us of our unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

Let’s pray for ourselves and our loved ones that we will pursue righteousness, for the prayer of the righteous pleases God; He hears their prayers (Proverbs 15:8, 29). Those who sow righteousness, reap a sure reward (Proverbs 11:18).

Father, help us to pursue righteousness—in Your strength and by Your grace.