Continuing the Mid-year checkup theme, from Thomrainer.com, here's the next point that was listed:
Are you praying daily? Are you praying regularly and recurrently (1 Thess. 5:17)? Do you pray for those in authority, including government and church leaders (1 Tim. 2:2)? Are you praying by name for other believers to speak the gospel boldly and clearly (Eph. 6:18-20, Col. 4:2-4)? Do you pray for your enemies (Matt. 5:44)?
Seems overwhelming, doesn't it?
May I suggest that you do it in pieces?
1. Write down the names of those in your family, those in authority over you, those leaders in your church, and others you want to pray for.
2. Star the ones who are really important to you, who you want to pray for each day (such as your spouse, children, etc).
3. Divide the rest of the list by 7.
4. Create 7 new lists, 1 for each day of the week.
5. Include the starred name each day.
6. Include 1/7th of the list each day.
Example:
Sunday - Spouse; Children; Pastor; People 1-3
Monday - Spouse; Children; Boss; People 4-6
Tuesday - Spouse; Children; President of USA; People 7-9
Wednesday - Spouse; Children; Governor of your state; People 10-12
Thursday - Spouse; Children; Mayor of your city; People 13-15
Friday - Spouse; Children; Courts; People 16-18
Saturday - Spouse; Children; Legislators; Enemies 1-3
wait a minute - are you suggesting we take the charge to pray for our enemies seriously? But, if we do that, then we might have to think about them differently - then where would we be?
ReplyDeleteIsn't that great how God works that out.
ReplyDelete