Simply speaking, prayer is talking to God; having a conversation with God. It involves crying out, petitioning, listening, waiting, praising, worshipping, asking, interceding. Wow, why does it include waiting? Well, it ought to be continuous and God works in His own timing. While we wait, we continue to serve God, we continue to ask Him for deeper intimacy with Him. We might think that we’re all prayed-out; that there’s not much more we can ask for as God already knows and sees all we and the people around us need. Yes, God knows everything, but we should still continue communicating with Him. Only God is independent in nature, we are eternally dependent on God, otherwise we cease to live, believe it or not. Having said that, we can see why we need to talk to Him about everything. Here are some prayer points that we can take to God:
1. Pray for desire of God’s Word – Pray that a desire to read God’s Word will overshadow our souls, pray also that His Spirit will open our eyes to understand His Word. Psalm 119:18
2. Pray for our hearts – Pray by the power of God’s Spirit our hearts will be inclined to receiving and applying God’s ways in our lives. Psalm 119:36
3. Pray for immediate obedience – Pray that we will not do what Jonah initially did, run from God and His command, but instead do what Jonah eventually did. When God told Peter to cast his net, Peter though through his experience didn’t see how he’d catch any fish at that hour of the day, obeyed Jesus’ command. The Bible shows no evidence of Peter grumbling at Jesus’ command, and though this does not mean he did not grumble, due to the silence of the Word in this regard I choose to accept Peter’s response was immediate. Ultimately, it is important that we obey God’s command. So if there is an area in our lives we know we are disobeying God, today we can ask God for forgiveness and heed to His Word now.
4. Pray for our fellowship group or church – Pray that we will not give up meeting together as some are in the habbit of doing. Pray we will build up and encourage each other.
5. Pray for those who do not know Christ – Either at your place of work or study, family members or friends. Pray for their salvation. Pray that they will respond to God’s callings and will not harden their hearts towards His opportunity of grace.
6. Pray for the persecuted siblings in Christ – And there are many. North Korea and Egypt are some major ones. Find out more at http://www.worldwatchlist.us/. Pray that they will not give up hope but will remain steadfast in their faith in Jesus Christ.
7. Pray for boldness – A boldness that the Spirit of God granted the Apostle Paul. Pray that we will use our gifts to share the gospel with others. Remember what Jesus said in John 9:4 (“As long as it is day, we must do the works of Him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.”), also remember His last words to us before going back to heaven (Matthew 28:19). To be frank, I believe He means to say: go tell everyone about Me!
8. Pray for Bibles – There are actually people who are craving a copy of the Bible, craving for His Word. Pray that those with the means (even ourselves) will not hesitate to donate Bibles to those needing to hear the truth that comes from Him. [Read more]
That is by no means a finite list. Every area of our lives is completely dependent on God. We cannot do anything without Him.
Ultimately, let’s just pray that we will understand how much God loves us and we ourselves will love Him more. The more we love God the better servants we are to His people which brings about His glory. God is truly worthy of all our love and devotion. He is our entire hope..and I do not say this lightly. God IS our ENTIRE hope.
May the peace of God be with you all.