Below is an article found and shared by our Prayer Team.
This week and this year each of us will face many different experiences. Problems will arise, burdens will come. Decisions will need to be made and many are life-altering. You might be facing some today. If not today, then soon.
What will we do? If we are serious followers of Jesus, we know we must pray, because only prayer brings God into the middle of our circumstances. God has created us in His image. As such, we have a certain level of control. We can decide to do things without God, or prayerfully invite Him in.
If we try to handle life alone, we will quickly discover that our mere humanity will fail us.
We all want to pray effectively. No one desires to lift some flimsy, selfish prayer that accomplishes little, but the "effective, fervent prayer" that “accomplishes much," of which James 5:16 speaks.
Jesus, as always, gives us the answer for effective prayer. He models for us the perfect prayer to pray in any situation—the prayer that is always rewarded: "Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” (John 12:27-28, emphasis mine)
Lord Jesus, my prayer life has fallen woefully short of Your example as You yielded Yourself to the will of the Father in the garden. Your word says that when I am weak, that is when You are the strongest in my life. Please look on the situation I am in, the people I am praying for, and all that I should be bringing to You in prayer that I have decided I have the right to fix myself. Remind me that You, the Almighty God, are on the other end of my prayer, seated on the throne of heaven, and that You alone have the authority to dwell in that place. It is not about seeking my own solution or answer, but Yours. Father, help me to see that You alone are to be glorified in the midst of my prayers!
---Adapted from Prayer with No Intermission by Bill Elliff. This book is available at prayershop.org.
Prayer Points
Praise God as the one who will soon crush Satan under your feet (Rom. 16:20).
Thank him for revealing the mysteries of his salvation to you (16:25-27).
Asking God to show you your sin, confess any ways in which you have been involved in causing divisions in Christ’s people or have put up obstacles that impeded the spread of his Word (16:17-18).
Commit yourself to being “wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil” (16:19).
Pray for workers to go into the harvest fields of the world. Ask God to prompt his people to abundant contributions of finances, prayer, and encouragement to send these missionaries.
Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend. This book is available at prayershop.org.
Connection (Devotions for Everyday Life) © 2024 is a free devotional published daily by Harvest Prayer Ministries.