Here are links to resources you can use as we pray for and seek the salvation of our neighbors. We start Day 1 on Sunday, 3/15.
Who’s Your One? Prayer Guide Download
Who’s Your One? Prayer Guide YouVersion Link
Who’s Your One? Family Devotion. I recommend using this four day guide on Sunday evenings (3/15, 3/22, 3/29, and 4/5).
Wayne Grudem gives some good advice in his commentary on 1 Peter 4:7, “Christians should be alert to events and evaluate them correctly in order to be able to pray more intelligently. Peter’s words also imply that prayer based on knowledge and mature evaluation of a situation is more effective prayer (otherwise there would be no relationship between being ‘sane and sober’ and one’s prayers). TNTC, 57
Main Point: Praying together is an essential part of family worship.
If four bankers live in a home, does that make that home a bank? No. In order to be a bank, those people must engage in banking there in that place. If four Christians live in a home, does that place become a Christian home? No. In order to be a Christian home, those people must engage together in the worship of God.
Jason Helopoulos asks these penetrating questions about bankers and Christians in his book, A Neglected Grace: Family Worship in the Christian Home (page 26). Jason writes, “A few Christians living under the same roof does not make a place a Christian home any more than two or three bankers living in a house makes it a bank. A Christian home will seek to be centered upon Christ, and if it is centered on Christ, then it will be filled with worship. As a Christian’s life should be marked by setting time apart for secret worship, and just as our gathering together as the Christian community should be centered upon corporate worship, so should the home of a Christian family be marked by family worship.”
So, what is worship? Put simply, worship is a right response to God. Worship is the right response to God who is revealed perfectly in Jesus Christ. Worship includes listening, singing, praying, obeying, working, eating, and drinking. Whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31). John Piper helps us here when he writes, “This is worship: to act in a way that shows the heart’s valuing of the glory of God and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Or…worship means consciously knowing and treasuring and showing the supreme worth and beauty of God” (Expository Exultation, 27).
Read, sing, pray,
Think, work, rest, play,
Eat, drink in such a way
That faithfully puts on display
The infinite worth of God.
Gather together in such a way that displays your joy in God.
Piper labors in his book, Expository Exultation, to prove that worship is not simply something we ought to do; worship is something that is fitting to do. We were made to live in glad dependence upon God because we are weak, and he is strong. We are empty and God is overflowing with sufficiency. We are darkness and he is light. We are are marred by death and God is eternal life. We are ignorant and God is all-knowing. Psalm 33:1 says, “Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him.” It is right to worship God because he is good and does good.
Psalm 78:4 says, “We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.” And why will we be bold and joyful in our telling of God’s greatness? Yes, it is so that our children and grandchildren can be saved. But deeper still, we are bold and joyful in our telling of God’s greatness so that the children and grandchildren of this church will worship God.
Family worship provides a daily opportunity for moms and dads to gather the family to listen to, sing to, pray to, and work out obedience to God. I offer this call to families to worship together because it is fitting for the upright to praise the God who is there and who is good. I want to narrow our focus now and issue a more specific call to pray together as a regular part of your family worship.
I can only introduce or remind you of these ideas, but I want to strengthen the foundation of family prayer by giving reasons to pray to God, reasons to pray through Jesus, reasons to pray by the Holy Spirit, and finally, reasons to pray together as a family.
Our call to prayer comes from Ephesians 6:10-18
Let’s start with this simple question: What is prayer to God? Prayer to God is talking to God about his Word and your situation. And we pray because
God knows everything. God knows the number of hairs on everyone’s heads (Mt 10:30). God knows the number of hairs on all the feral pigs in Texas. God knows your thoughts and your plans and your hopes (1 Chron 28:9; Ps 139). God knows your words before you say them (Ps 139:4). The beginning of all things is in the knowledge of God and the end of all things is in the knowledge of God (Is 46:10).
And God knows how everything is made to work. The Creator of all things made all things for a purpose. The Maker of male and female knows how we males are to live and how you females are to live. God made sexuality, marriage, work, rest, music, logic, church, and government. Listening to God’s Word, we look at our circumstances, and we talk to God. God speaks to us through the Bible and we speak to God through prayer. We pray because God knows, and we pray because
Believing 1 Peter 5:7 is essential for prayer. 1 Peter 5:7 calls us to cast all our anxieties on God because he cares for us. But how do we know God cares for us because often it feels like he does not? What are the unchanging proofs of his love? Jesus tells us to look at the sunrise each day and know that sunshine is evidence of his love (Mt 5:45). The rain falling is proof of God’s care for us all. So, don’t look to your Christmas list as reason to pray; look at the sun rising and pray. God is doing that for us all.
Deeper still, look at the cross as evidence of God’s love. Romans 5:8 points us to the cross, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 8:32 calls us to pray in secret, in our homes, and together as the church, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things.” Pray to the God who has already given you his best. Surely, he will give you what is good.
We pray because God cares for us and wants to do good to us. We pray in order to ask for those things and we pray because we often don’t understand why God hasn’t given us our requests. “Why, O Lord?” and “How long O Lord?” are prayers of faith to the God who cares.
Now, what underwrites God’s knowledge and God’s care is God’s sovereignty. We pray because
As a person who is glad to affirm the sovereign rule of God over every square inch, there are two passages that help me understand God’s sovereignty and prayer. Philippians 2:12 says, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Ephesians 1:11 tells us God works all things according to the counsel of his will.
The Bible paints a picture of God drawing us, giving us ability, teaching us, opening our eyes, enlivening us, and giving us new hearts. So, God is working around us and in us so that we willing choose to go his way. We can fight against him, as we do each time we sin, but God is working his plan and will bring his plan to his intended goal.
In light of God’s sovereignty, prayer is not meaningless but is exceedingly meaningful because it is through prayer that I become aligned with God’s will. Through the Word (God speaking to me) and prayer (me speaking to God), I become aligned with God’s will the easy way. When I talk to God about all things and when I measure all things against God’s will revealed in God’s Word, then sin is more easily avoided, and obedience is more easily identified. I pray because I would rather God work my hunger for righteousness according to the counsel of his will then for God to work my disobedience according to the counsel of his will.
God has a plan and God will surely accomplish his plan. The question is if you will fight and lose or if you will pursue and gain the good? Through prayer we pursue God and gain the good. So, pray and lead your family to pray.
And, what is prayer through Jesus? Prayer through Jesus is a person’s clear, intentional, and explicit dependence upon Jesus for the ability to live life with God. Jesus is the vehicle, credentials, and sonship through which we have access to life with God.
John 14:6 tells us that Jesus is the only way to the Father, no one gets to the Father except through Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5 tells us that there is only one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
The reason you and I pray to the Father through Jesus is because there is no other way to pray to the Father. We pray in Jesus’ name because he is the only mediator for humanity. Mary, the mother of Jesus, cannot get you a hearing with God. There is no saint who can get you a hearing with God. We go to the Father in Jesus’ name because Jesus is the beloved and therefore heard Son of God.
You cannot get to Barak Obama, but Malia can get to him. You cannot get to Donald Trump, but Donald Jr. can get you in. This is because of the access of family. Jesus is the only Son of the Father. Our access, our sonship, our rights as children of God, are based solely on the person and work of Jesus. The only way to get to God the Father is through God the Son. Depend on Jesus. Pray in Jesus’ name knowing
James 5:16, “the prayers of a righteous person are powerful and effective.” So, the prayers of an unrighteous person are powerless and without effect. We need to be made righteous! Isaiah 59:2 says, “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”
We pray in Jesus’ name because we need him to make us righteous. Praying in Jesus’ name is believing he alone is the reason you are heard. Jesus took your iniquities that separate you from God and Jesus took your sins that keep your prayers from being heard. In Jesus, believing in Jesus, trusting Jesus means you are depending on him for righteousness. We pray through Jesus because he is the righteous One who makes us righteous. Being righteous with Jesus makes us capable of prayers that are powerful and effective.
Every now and again, after you hear your children pray “in Jesus’ name. Amen” ask them what they mean by that. Teach your children why we pray in Jesus’ name and teach your children
Jesus promises us, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” That’s John 14:13. Jesus said something very similar in John 15:7, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
Access to the Father through the Son and being clothed in the powerful and effective righteousness of the Son, are both for the purpose of lining us up with the Father’s plan to glorify the Son. God saved you to make much of Jesus. Salvation is for worship.
Think about your job. The owner of the company does not hire you so you can do whatever you want. You are hired to help accomplish the mission. Think about what it means to be made in the image of God and through salvation to be brought back more and more into an accurate reflection of the image of God. God has not redeemed you so you can do whatever you want but so that you will live as an accurate reflection of the image of God.
We are distorted and small image bearers; Jesus is the perfect image of God. What I am saying is, God’s plan is for you and me to listen to his Word and through prayer be made more and more like Jesus. God wants us to pray about our fear, anger, and selfishness so that we will look more like Jesus.
Through prayer we are made to look more like Jesus. Through prayer we confess our sin and ask for his righteousness. When you and I become like Jesus we put his glory on display. We glorify Jesus when we love like Jesus and serve like Jesus and pursue the right like Jesus.
Lead your family to pray in Jesus’ name and lead your family to pray to become more like Jesus; by this the Father is glorified in the Son. We pray because of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So, let’s think about
First, what is prayer by the Holy Spirit? Prayer by the Holy Spirit is the sheer grace of God by which the Spirit prays to the Father according to the knowledge of God’s will for ignorant fools like me. We need the Spirit because
Talking to a teenager, a common answer is, “I don’t know.” The work of the Holy Spirit is evidence that we really never grow out of that ignorance. Romans 8:26 says, “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.”
I haven’t done this with my children but studying God’s Word shows me that I need to teach my children how to pray for the Spirit’s help when they don’t know how to pray. God has graciously given us the Spirit because the Spirit knows the will of God and will pray for us and lead us according to the will of God. When you begin praying, ask for the Holy Spirit’s help. We need help because we are ignorant and
Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Yes, if your diet is terrible and you’re tired then you will have a hard time keeping up with God in prayer. But Jesus is pushing us further than “eat right and go to bed on time.” There are spiritual resources to help our weaknesses. When you find yourself falling asleep, ask for the Spirit to give you strength and power. When you feel your heart is cold or numb, pray for the Holy Spirit to work in you to love the things of God. The Spirit has been given to you to help you pray; depend on him.
Parents, we are right to tell our children to trust Jesus because we can do nothing without him. Let’s do the same with the Holy Spirit. Let us lead our children to depend on the Spirit to lead us according to the Son to the Father. Let’s pray together in our homes. Here are
Psalm 78:5 says, “God established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach their children” These fathers teach so that ultimately this generation and generations to come “should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.”
Ephesians 6:4 says, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord.” You see, this is gloriously more than spank your disobedient child. This is teach your child to set his hope in God and be mindful of God and obey God. Fathers, we want our children to worship God. Lead your family to worship.
What then is family prayer? Family prayer is that time when we gather together to praise God for who he is, thank him for what he has done, confess sins we have committed, and ask God for his help. Here are some reasons to pray together as a family.
The person who never worships is the person who has never seen God. To feel one’s needs and to see God’s sufficiency is to be led to pray. The teaching and confession part of family worship sets up the prayers. Seeing our needs and God’s sufficiency leads us to pray. We should pray together as a family because we are looking at God together as a family. I hope this point has already been established, here is a new reason to pray together as a family
This is the day of silent suffering with each family member in solitary confinement with a screen or earbuds. To gather together to pray with and for one another is to necessarily hear one another’s joys and sorrows. A need voiced in family prayer is then taken individually into each person’s secret prayer. Conversations begin and encouragement can be offered. We pray together as families because we know one another, love one another, and care for one another. How can a Christian family do this but through prayer?
To put the truth another way,
I used Ephesians 6 as our call to prayer. I end with it now, “pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.” Fathers, your prayers for your children are necessary. Let them hear those prayers. Mothers, your prayers for your children are necessary. Let them hear those prayers. Children, your prayers for your parents are necessary. Let them hear those prayers. We are each daily in a battle. May our homes be filled with fighting as we fight for one another in prayer. Conquerors are formed in secret prayer, corporate prayer, and family prayer.
Let us each make progress. Start by praying together and for one another before a shared meal. When that prayer is common, add a short Scripture reading. When prayer and a short reading are common, add a song of praise. When prayer, reading, and praise are common, add a brief word of explanation. Fathers, bring your children up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord. Lead them in family worship.
Prayer
God we praise you because you know us, you care for us, and you are sovereign over all the details of our lives. Help us. Help us to pray depending on Jesus. He is with you and you cherish him. We come to you in Jesus’ name. Make our prayers powerful and effective. Make our prayers for the salvation of our children and grandchildren powerful and effective. Make our prayers for love and unity in our homes powerful and effective. And please give us the Holy Spirit so we can know what to pray for and what to do. Give us the Holy Spirit because we are weak. In all of life we thank you that we are no longer slaves but you call us sons, daughters, and friends. Amen.
If we would deliver the testimony of the risen Christ, characterized by the boldness of clarity and courage, we need right convictions concerning God, concerning His Son, and the constant reception of power by the inflow of the Holy Spirit. The last is the issue of the former. It is God, who is the sovereign Lord, All-wise, actually governing, to whom we must ever turn. It is Christ, who is sinless, the anointed and appointed Messiah, who accomplished through death the purpose of God, to whom we must go. In proportion as we are submitted to Christ, and wait in prayer upon God, there will ever come to us that inflow of the Spirit which will make us bold to proclaim the evangel; and great results may and must follow where the Church is thus convinced and Spirit-filled.
G. Campbell Morgan on Acts 4:23-31
Text: Matthew 9:35-38
Main Point: Pray for more kingdom workers
There is often a difference between what a person aspires to be and what a person actually is. I aspire to eat healthy and exercise, but yesterday I slept in and ate a banana split. I have aspirational values and actual values. As a church, we have core values. The question is if these core values are actual or aspirational.
For years I would say that the core value of prayer was more aspirational than actual. We say we value prayer more than we actually pray. Thankfully this is shifting. Prayer is becoming more of an actual than an aspirational value. I think we are more faithful in prayer for several reasons.
First, we devote our 2nd and 4th Sunday prayer gatherings to praying Scripture. We are actually more fruitful in prayer because we are learning to pray according to God’s will. Second, as a church we are growing in humility. Proud people don’t ask for help. Proud people think they can do things by themselves. Humble people pray. The more we grow in humility, the more we will devote ourselves to prayer. Third, we are growing in our desire to know and obey God’s will for the church and not our own plans for the church. Collectively, I can see us moving away from our preferences for the church and toward God’s will for the church. Walking according to God’s will requires prayer.
So, it is with great joy, in 2019, that I hope to keep the ball rolling. As we devote this day to returning to the power of prayer, I am glad I can bring a message of encouragement instead of a message of correction.
Open your bible to Matthew 9 and let’s learn how to continue growing in our devotion to God through prayer. I’ll read Matthew 9:35-38.
Matthew 9 and 10 are transitional. Here we see Jesus’ ministry transition from being all Jesus while the disciples watch, to the disciples learning how to live like Jesus. The disciples learned how to do life by imitating Jesus. As disciples, let’s devote ourselves to
The first thing we notice in verse 35 is
Look at verse 35, “Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.”
In verse 35 we see three aspects of kingdom ministry. Do you see them? Jesus was teaching the truth, preaching the gospel, and ministering to people’s needs.
Jesus is all in. He is taking every opportunity to teach, preach, and minister, likely in the area around Capernaum. He is going through all their cities and villages. There, he enters the synagogues where the first 39 books of the Bible would be read and explained each Sabbath. He is taking the opportunities in front of him to teach the truth. He explains who God is and how life is meant to be lived by faith. This is big picture, all of life teaching. Jesus went through the cities teaching in the synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
The gospel of the kingdom is basically the good news that the king has returned to restore his kingdom. Think Lord of the Rings and Return of the King. The true, right, and powerful king has come. No more selfish shepherds. No more self-seeking stewards. The king has come in strength!
The proof of the return of the king is the miraculous banishment of disease and affliction. Jesus is teaching what is true, proclaiming the truth of the king’s return, and proving his message by healing all sicknesses and disease.
This is our pattern: teach the truth every chance you get, proclaim the good news that the king has come, and work to alleviate suffering. That is what Jesus was doing. Now, how he was doing it.
Look with me at verse 36, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
Jesus saw the suffering of the people and it tore him up. It was gut-wrenching to see them struggling through life. But what was going on with the people? What does verse 36 say? They were harassed and helpless. They were distressed and dispirited. They were faint and scattered. They were weary and dejected. The suffering of the people was something Jesus could not ignore.
And what was the problem causing their suffering? They were like sheep without a shepherd. This is the problem explained in Ezekiel 34 when the prophet condemns the selfish priests who exploited the people and increased the people’s suffering so that the priests could live in ever-increasing ease. The problem of selfish priests is addressed with the promise of a coming shepherd, a shepherd like David, who will protect, feed, and serve the people.
Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise of a great shepherd in Ezekiel 34. Jesus was a compassionate shepherd who knew the people and met their needs. Knowing people and meeting their needs is an overwhelming task. Ministry requires prayer so,
There are many reasons to pray. We pray because God is glorious and we long to worship, celebrate, and praise him. We pray because God has done and is doing great things, so we pray and thank him. We pray because we have sinned and long to be forgiven and restored to the joy of our salvation. We also pray because we are missing something. We pray because there is a lack. There is a need. Let’s explore verses 37 and 38.
In these verses Jesus delivers the unexpected. Read verse 37, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” In light of that fact, what would you expect Jesus to say next? Imagine your boss comes in and says, “There is a lot of work to do and there are not a lot of workers.” What is your boss going to say next? Likely it will be, “Get to work!” That’s how I often approach a busy schedule or a big job; get to work! But Jesus doesn’t command his disciples to get to work. Instead, Jesus commands his disciples to pray. That’s unexpected and we need to leave no rock left unturned.
What has led Jesus to make the pronouncement about the harvest? He has been engaged in kingdom ministry and he has experienced first hand the needs of the people. Jesus has been working in the harvest. His conclusion is that there are a lot of people ready to be brought into the kingdom. There are a lot of people ready to respond to the gospel and be restored to God. The harvest is plentiful. There is no shortage of people to be saved.
But there is a problem in this massive harvest. The problem is the workers are few. There is a big harvest to bring in but a small crew to do the work. The answer is to pray. Pray earnestly is the translation of the word often translated as beg or entreat. In light of the great harvest and the small work force, keep asking God to send out more workers.
Look around. We need workers who will teach the truth and preach the gospel to our children. We need workers who will teach the truth and preach the gospel to college students. Look at your family and neighbors. They need the gospel. They are hurting and need help. We pray, “Lord of the harvest, send workers. Lord of the harvest, send me.”
Now, look at the one to whom we pray. Pray to the Lord of the harvest. God is the one who rules over the salvation of souls. It is his harvest. We plant and we water but it is God who gives the growth. Ask him to give the growth. Pray specifically for conversions. Tuesday we are going into the fields by helping the Baptism Student Ministry serve lunch to college students. Pray for conversions and pray for workers.
Jesus commands the disciples to pray to the Lord of the harvest pleading with him to send more workers. The needs are great. The numbers are great. We need more workers. God send workers. We don’t need watchers. We need workers. God, we want people to be healed and restored. You have chosen to do this work through people. Send more workers. This is the way Jesus did ministry. Our goal is to
Remember, chapter 10 is a transition point in the life of Christ. Between chapters 9 and 10 we see a transition from Jesus doing all the work to commissioning the 12 apostles to join in the work. After his resurrection, in Matthew 28, Jesus transitions from a small group (the 70) to every member a disciple and every disciple a worker. If you are a Christian, then you have been called to work in the harvest. God’s will for your life is to go make disciples. There are people in your house, on your street, and at your work that will be saved if you will patiently teach the truth, preach the gospel, and minister to their needs. The Lord of the harvest guarantees the salvation of the elect.
Teach the truth is a call to explain this world that God has made and redeemed through Christ. Write songs. Paint pictures. Fix cars. Teach math. Find cures. Clean things. Grow things. Write things. Code things. As you do good work you will have opportunities to teach the truth. Every day is full of opportunities for you to explain God and his ways.
Our culture is buzzing with news of New York passing the late term abortion bill and anti-conversion laws. Without judgment, without using harsh words, without pride, we Christians can engage this evil and teach what is true. God wants you to engage in kingdom ministry where you are with the gift you have been given. God wants us as pastors to equip you to do the work of the ministry in your home, on your street, and at your work.
Bring us your questions. I guarantee we under-shepherds love to think, teach, and talk. We have to work on not talking too much. Don’t keep your questions to yourself, learn, and teach the truth. This world is confused and hurting. Reasoning well, explaining the world as it is, helps us as we preach the gospel.
If we are going to reap a harvest you must preach the gospel. I want you to understand that engaging in kingdom work means you must explain the good news of reconciliation to God through faith in Christ Jesus. The righteous life, atoning death, and victorious resurrection of Jesus is the way to life with the Father. Tell your children, tell your parents, tell your friends at school, tell your coworkers, come with us on Tuesday to the BSM lunch and tell college students.
Come and learn with us. Jesus was able to send out the twelve in chapter 10 because he spent chapters 3-9 teaching and modeling kingdom ministry. We want to show you how to teach the truth, share the gospel, and minister to people’s needs. Christian, you have a gift. How can you use it to help the people around you? The gift of faith and the gift of administration are both equally necessary for the harvest. There is work for you to do and there is a way to do that work.
I think if the parable of the good Samaritan were told today we would hear the priest and the Levite say as they pass the bleeding man, “Not my circus. Not my monkeys.” But imagine those words coming out of Jesus’ mouth when he sees the bullied and beaten crowds, “Not my circus. Not my monkeys.”
Maybe you have adopted that mindset toward your coworkers or your neighbors. Maybe you’ve adopted that mindset toward immigrants. I’m all for strong and fair immigration policies; maybe a wall will work. But if all you can muster for the harassed and helpless is an angry, “Go away!” You need to repent. Listen, I’m not advocating open borders. I’m advocating for compassion. And let’s be honest, compassion is hard. Being hard-hearted and self-centered is easy. Serving others is costly.
Now, make the connection between verses 36 and 38. Jesus saw the needs of the crowds and prayed for help. Jesus looked at the needs of the people and the group of disciples and said, “We need help. Pray to God to send helpers.”
One reason compassion is hard is because compassion is costly. Another reason compassion is hard is we are too proud to ask for help. With great stupidity we think we can meet needs by ourselves. Think of what could be. Imagine a church full of members asking one another for help, praying to God for help, and actively offering to help. That’s a healthy church; walking in humility, praying for help, and offering to help. Teach the truth, preach the gospel, meet needs, be compassionate, and pray
The harvest among the next generation is plentiful. Pray for workers. The harvest among the older generations in nursing homes is plentiful. Pray for workers. The harvest among empty-nesters who have gained the world and found it empty is plentiful. Pray for workers. The harvest among college students is plentiful. Pray for workers.
I am convicted that I am asking for workers. I am pleading for you to work in the nursery, AWANA, with college students, and among our homebound. I am asking you, but am I asking God? He’s the Lord of the harvest. He’s the one who sends workers. He’s the one who causes the growth. Let’s give ourselves to praying to God to cause gospel growth in our children, in our neighbors, and in our coworkers. God cause the growth! Now for specific prayers.
We will use these prayers during the Lord’s Supper. So listen, knowing that I am giving you a framework for prayer that you will be encouraged to use as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.
Just like we do in our worship gathering, we will follow a simple outline of praise, thanksgiving, confession, and intercession. Your daily prayers should include each of these types of prayer: praise, thanksgiving, confession, and prayer for others. Our first specific prayer is
We praise God for who he is. Our God is the sovereign Lord of people’s lives and hearts. He works in us. No one is like our God. No one loves like our God. No one has the power of our God. Think about who God is and praise him.
We thank God for what he has done. Thank God for your own salvation. Thank God that he sent laborers to you. Some planted and some watered but God caused gospel-growth in you. Thank God for sending those laborers and thank God for working in you. Then think about the ministry you are doing. Thank him for not giving up on your family and your neighbors. Thank God for gospel-opportunities. Then
God hasn’t given up on the harvest but maybe you have. Confess your sin of not praying. Confess your sin of not laboring. Confess your sin of laboring and praying with bitterness and not with compassion. Search out those sins that are getting in the way of you entering the harvest. Maybe it’s fear, maybe it’s laziness, confess your sin and believe the gospel. Ask God to show you your sin and turn from what he shows you. The Lord’s Supper is the great reminder that Jesus has done everything required to restore us to God. Believe Jesus who forgives all your transgressions. Confession is for forgiveness and forgiveness is for reconciliation with God. And finally,
Pray Isaiah’s prayer, “here am I, send me” (Isaiah 6:8).
Pray for the harvest in your fields. Pray for the children in the church. Pray for your neighbors. Pray for college students. Then pray for more laborers to join you in the harvest. Pray for your pastors and for more pastors. Pray for your missionaries and for more missionaries. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Let’s pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
Lord of the harvest, we praise you. You are sovereign over every soul. You give mercy to whom you choose to give mercy. You are ruled by no one and everything you do is right. It is our joy to praise you. And we thank you for the harvest. Thank you for saving us. Thank you for parents and friends and church members and pastors and coworkers who proclaimed the gospel to us. Thank you for the gifts and opportunities you have given us to teach and minister to others. Help us to do the work to make disciples. Forgive us for being fearful. We are often afraid of what people think and what people will do. We are often lazy and distracted by much serving. Reset our priorities. Show us Jesus who forgives us, Jesus who restores us, and Jesus who equips us for harvest-work.
And Father, please send laborers into the harvest. Raise up evangelists from among us. Raise up teachers and pastors and missionaries. We need workers among our children. Please give them to us. We need workers among the college students. Please send laborers. We want to see children and students and adults healed and helped because King Jesus has come and is coming again. Help us understand and preach the gospel of the kingdom. And we ask it all according to Christ. Amen.
Truth78 produced an excellent resource to help us pray for the next generation. I plead with you to download this resource, read it, and alongside the church directory app, pray for the children of Mambrino Baptist Church.
Specific prayer requests
Questions for Reflection and Application:
Let’s take a quick inventory of where our prayer life is today. Are you praying regularly for God to help you live the gospel well? Are you asking God each week to help you grow in your witness? Are you praying daily and specifically for any unbelievers or asking God to introduce you to an unbeliever?
Are you still battling fear and/or insecurity in sharing the gospel? If so, are you willing to ask God each week to increase your desire to share Jesus with others?
Are you proactively partnering with God in prayer or is there someway you can be more diligent in this area?
From Alvin Reid’s book Sharing Jesus without Freaking Out
Here is a list of promises. Read through until you find one that catches your attention. Be sure to practice the 20/20 rule before you claim it as your own. Read the 20 verses ahead of, and the the 20 verses behind, the promise. Understand it and apply it accurately and with hope.
https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/gods-promises-verses-in-the-bible/
Consider these facts
The mirage of autonomy and self-sufficiency is effectively cutting us off from God’s abundant resources through the Word and prayer. Our busy lives are not the problem. Our pride is the problem.
By and For the gospel 