Prayer Guide for Our Unbroken Prayer Chain

The church where I serve as Lead Pastor, Faith Baptist, is doing an unbroken prayer chain where participants take turns praying for an hour alone in the church. I prepared the following guide to help focus the participants in their prayer time. If you aren't able to make it to the church to participate, but want to join us in praying, I would invite you to spend some time praying through this guide.

Thanks again for participating in the Unbroken Prayer Chain!

I know that it can be a little daunting to think about praying for a whole hour, but the time flies once you get started. Prayer is a conversation with the God of the Universe. It is a two way street whereby you speak with the Creator and he speaks with you in the quiet of your heart. There are no magical phrases to use in prayer and you by no means have to rigidly follow this (or really any) guide. Just talk to God and listen for His guidance.

The best teaching I can point you to about how to pray comes from Jesus himself and its found in Matthew 6:7-15:

When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

The prayer Jesus taught us gives us a model which we can follow in our own prayers. If you get stumped, please feel free to use the guide below to get focused.

“Our Father in heaven…”

• “Father” - He is the creative source of us and all things.
• “Our Father” - We belong to a family of like persons created in His image.
• “in heaven” -  God is positioned in heaven, above everything. He is above all the kingdoms, governments, and powers on Earth. He is absolutely sovereign and controls everything everywhere.  

“hallowed be your name.”

People in ancient times called God by different names depending on the context in which they were addressing Him. Each of these names reflects a different aspect of God’s character. While God is each one of these things all of the time, He sometime reveals to us different parts of His nature depending on our situation. Reflect on these biblical names of God and consider what part of His nature he is revealing to you in your life right now:

• Jehovah Jireh (Gen 22:13,14) the Lord will provide (El Shaddai) The all sufficient one
• Jehovah Rapha (Exodus 15:26) the Lord that heals (Elohim) Strong One
• Jehovah Nissi (Exodus 17:15) the Lord our banner (Jehovah Sabaoth) Lord of Host
• Jehovah Shalom (Judges 6:24) the Lord our peace (El Elyon) Most High God
• Jehovah Ra-ah (Psalm 23:1) the Lord is my shepherd (Adonai) Lord
• Jehovah Tsidkenu (Jeremiah 23:6) the Lord our righteousness (M’Kaddesh) Lord My Sanctifier
• Jehovah Shammah (Ezekiel 48:35) the Lord is present (El Olam) The Everlasting God

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

 Remember, we are praying first and foremost for God’s perfect will to be accomplished in our lives, not our own. We are called to build God’s Kingdom, not our own. Jesus even prayed in this manner when he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-56). Jesus was asking the Father if there was any way he could accomplish the work of redeeming us from sin without suffering his death on the cross. He finished this prayer by saying, “nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

• Pray that God’s kingdom will come to you, to each member of your family, to your friends, to our church and to our community.
• Pray for God’s will to be done in every area of your life.
• Praise God for His kingdom, power and glory manifested in our world.

“Give us this day our daily bread,”

This is where we make out petition to God for the things we need and desire. Remember the counsel we find in James 4 when making these petitions. “You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” We must ask in order to receive, but we must ask for things for the right reasons.

• Pray specifically for God’s daily provision for your family.
• Pray specifically for those on the church prayer list.
• Pray specifically for provision for you church, and other ministries. (Including our upcoming events and our effort to revitalize the ministry of our church)
• Pray that God would send laborers into His Harvest.

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Luke 10:2)

• Specifically ask God to speak clearly to each one of us at Faith about His plans for our church. Ask Him to lead us to have vibrant worship services, meaningful small groups, and an engaging student ministry.
• Praise God for His promised and demonstrated provision of daily bread.

“and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

• Ask God to search your heart and reveal to you anything that is displeasing to Him just as David did.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24)

• Confess (agree with God about) those areas the Spirit has convicted you of, ask God to forgive you, and ask Him to cleanse you of them.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

• Release anyone who has wronged you by vocalizing forgiveness in God’s presence. Ask God to help you see if there is anyone you have been withholding forgiveness from that you need to forgive and then ask Him to help you forgive them.
• Take time to reflect on the forgiveness you have received and thank God for His forgiveness.“Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil”
• Pray that the Lord leads you to avoid all the temptations of your own flesh and that he would deliver you from the traps of the enemy.
• Thank God for leading you thus far by His Grace.

Please feel free to worship freely and pray over anything the Lord leads you to pray about, Just make sure you spend time listening to him.

Testimony???

"They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death." Revelation 12:11 (ESV)

If you have spent any amount of time in a Baptist (or any other evangelical Christian church) you have no doubt at least heard someone refer to their "testimony." In more modern churches may talk about someone's "story" instead of using the word testimony, but they are referring to the same thing. In Christianese your "testimony" or your "story" is the tale of how God brought you to faith or did some other work in your life. We spend much time and energy focusing on our testimony, writing it out, polishing it, learning how to share it in under three minutes. We are taught and we teach others that God will send someone into their life that needs to hear their testimony and that God will use their specific story to do something in this other persons life. I agree that this is true, I have seen it work out right before my own eyes, but what if this is only part of the bigger picture?

This morning I was listening to a Christian radio station in the car and, as often there is on these stations in the morning, there was a talk show on about family issues. I didn't notice which show it was or who was being interview, but this couple (a pastor and his wife) were sharing their story of how God saved their marriage after five or six years of decline. The wife shared how she had been out of town and ran across a pamphlet stuck in her Bible and how the Lord convicted her. She shared how she repented and came home and confessed to her husband. The husband shared how at first he wasn't convinced but after a while God worked one him. . . I didn't stick around to hear the ending, I've been around this church culture long enough that I can already guess how it ends. The husband comes around by the Grace of God, repents, forgives his wife, she forgives him, all is good and everyone is happy. Right? Sound familiar?

Don't get me wrong, I am sure that God has worked in the lives of both of these people to bring about change, transformation, in their lives that has resulted in a stronger marriage. I am also sure that God can use this situation and this couple to encourage others and to bring about change in the lives of others in some mysterious way. What I have an issue with is the way in which we present these "stories" and "testimonies." We stuff them into radio segments and Facebook posts so that we can "encourage" others and "spread the word." I think that this form of sharing actually does more harm that good. I know that runs counter to what we have been taught in our Sunday school classes and evangelism seminars, but stick with me for a minute.

Our experiences with God, our testimonies or stories, are no doubt meant to be shared. But, they are meant to be shared with people with whom we are already sharing life with! When I listen to these neatly packaged stories of God's work in other's lives I sometime find myself thinking, Why can't God work like that in my life? Then I realize that God doesn't work like that in anyone's lives! Life just isn't that simple, it is a MESS! These pre-packaged testimonies fail to take into account the fact that life is complex and sometime the help that people need is in these small details.

So go ahead and be prepared to share your "testimony" or "story" or whatever you want to call it, but be prepared to share you life with it was well. This Christian life is not meant to be lived alone.

Great Commission Going and Acts 1:8

I have seen Jesus’ words as recorded in Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (ESV), applied to the mission work and priorities of the local church in several different ways. One of the most popular applications is to something along the lines of equating Jerusalem with the church’s local community, Judea with the region, Samaria with the United States, and the “end of the earth” with international missions. I can definitely see the logic and usefulness of this application, but I think there is a more biblical way to look at our missions priorities through the lens of Acts 1:8.

The application that I offer is that Jerusalem represents the people with whom we already have established relationships, Judea represents the people with whom we are acquainted and share lots in common with, Samaria represents those with whom we are acquainted, but traditionally have been alienated from, and the “end of the earth” represents everyone else.

The direct audience of Jesus’ words recorded in Acts 1:8 was his disciples, Jewish men whom were deeply aware of and entrenched in the customs of the day. These men found their closest relationships, friends, family and those with whom they interacted on a daily basis, in Jerusalem. The people of Jerusalem would have looked, talked, and dressed very similar to these men and Jesus was encouraging His disciples to be His witnesses first to those with whom they were the closest.

Judea was a larger state that encompassed the city of Jerusalem and maintained many of the same cultural marks. The disciples would have no doubt had connections, albeit less intimate, with people throughout Judea. They would have been fairly comfortable in speaking with those people throughout Judea and these people were a natural next step in the disciples work as Gospel witnesses.

Samaria was a different story. For those not familiar, Samaria was the name given to the area north of Judea and was inhabited by Samaritans. The first century Jews looked down on the Samaritans and would not have established relationships. These folks were not just strangers, but the kind of people whom the nominal first century Jew would never be acquainted with.

It seems to me that when Jesus speaks of “Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth,” He is speaking more relationally than geographically. The whole of biblical witness indicates that God is less concerned with geographic boundaries, which are temporal and subject to change, and more concerned with the relationships people establish in their hearts. This principle is seen in 1 Samuel 16:7, “man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (ESV). Man is concerned with the outward, those things that we can see, touch, and understand. However, God is concerned with matters of the heart, complex and uncharted territory for most of us. God is not looking to win territory; God wants to win the hearts of men.

The application of this principle to the indirect audience of Acts 1:8, you and me, is that we should begin to share our faith with those closest to us. This includes the people with whom we interact on a daily basis, our friends, family, co-workers, etc. In addition to the strong bonds we have with this group, these people will have already seen the effect of Gospel transformation in our own lives. Those closest to us represent our Jerusalem.

Our Judea is all of the people with whom we interact with on a daily basis, but are not that closely acquainted with. This may include the casher at the gas station you visit every morning, the waitress at your favorite restaurant, you neighbor, or that co-worker down the hall. While the people in this group may not know your name, they are people with whom you are already sharing life.

Samaria represents those with whom we would not normally associate.  This can take many forms in the life of the modern day follower of Christ. Witnessing to the Samaritans meant reaching across traditional cultural division for the first century Jesus follower. To us this can mean reaching across socioeconomic lines or racial divides. It can also represent reaching out to those whom have wronged us in the past (remember Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 5:43-48). Make no mistake about it, being Jesus’ witness in Samaria is much more that taking a one day mission trip to the “other side of the tracks.” It is a lifestyle of acceptance with a long-term goal of building relationships with those whom the secular world would not expect us to have relationships with.

The “end of the Earth” is not much different for us as it was to Jesus’ original audience. It represents carrying the Gospel light to the farthest places on the planet. What most modern day Christian’s miss out on is the fact that this part of the commission is for every Christian, not only those called to serve as vocational missionaries. While not everyone is called to travel internationally and serve, we are all called to support international missions. Modern day Christians are called to support God’s work abroad through prayer, giving, and going.

The Great Commission is equally applicable to us as modern day Jesus followers as it was to those who herd Jesus deliver it first hand. As you go into the social circles you already have (in your Jerusalem), grow closer with existing acquaintances (in your Judea), reach across cultural divides (in your Samaria), and reach out globally, remember that you are not alone, Jesus has promised to go with you.