I received permission from Jon Graf to post the daily Connection! prayer devotions on Pray.Network. These devotions are available as a free e-mail subscription from the Harvest Prayer Ministries website at http://connection.harvestprayer.com/.
I have found these devotionals to be not only inspirational but also great equipping for my own prayer life. There aren't many devotionals that are actually about prayer - most have a quick prayer at the end and that's about it. But this one has prayer as its focus. I thought others on the Network might be interested in it. I will attempt to post each one daily - although I'll inevitably miss here and there.
I have previously written a Spotlight blog post on the Connection! devotional; if you're interested, check it out here: http://www.pray.network/profiles/blogs/praynetwork-spotlight-connection-devotional.
I hope you enjoy and benefit from this devotional as much as I have.
--Andrew
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June 02: Seek Unity in Prayer
“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 15:5-6).
Because of our love for God and our desire to see the kingdom advance, we must passionately pursue unity in our prayer lives. The testimony of many Christians around the world today is that prayer has brought them into a greater unity with other believers than they ever thought possible. It begins by simply asking the Lord to give you a desire for unity. But it will not end there. He will hear and answer your prayer. Opportunities will begin to open up for you to pray with other Christians. It requires no compromise on doctrinal issues to pray with someone else. Let God be God! Seek unity in prayer and see what He might do in and with you.
Lord, would you give me the passion for unity in Your body that You have? Help me to lay aside anything in me that hinders unity. I pray, Lord, for the complete unity in the church that will allow the world to see You more clearly.
Prayer Points
Praise God for the forgiveness of sins. Give thanks for God’s marvelous promise that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9). Confess your sins to God. Commit yourself to living in the joyous assurance that your sins are, indeed, forgiven (Ps. 103:3). Ask God to help you sincerely forgive others who have wronged you (Mt. 6:12).
Ask God to ease the tension of racial conflict in our cities and on some campuses. Pray for repentance and forgiveness to heal neighborhoods and communities. Ask God to protect and empower believers who are working for reconciliation.
–Adapted from Pray like the King: Lessons from the Prayers of Israel’s Kings by David and Kim Butts. This book is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount on the book.
–Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend.
June 01: We Are Not Our Own
“Christ in us, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
I believe there are two foundations for lifelong service. The first is our desire for God Himself. This desire must be cultivated. It is not automatic. Without this desire, everything else becomes mechanics…merely “how-to” courses in the spiritual life. Psalm 63 is a great example of a leader (David) who had cultivated desire in his life. One of the most helpful things we can do is to pray Psalm 63 as a way of developing this desire for God. The second foundation to a consistent life of service is an awareness of Christ living in you. As we go through the day, whatever the tasks ahead of us, we must always keep before us this amazing truth: The Lord of the universe has come to take up residence within us. We are not on our own. Jesus lives within.
Father, I long for all that You are to be part of all that I am. Develop a deep desire within me for greater intimacy with You so that serving others will be a natural result of our relationship.
Prayer Points
Praise the God who supplies all your needs. Give thanks for the many material blessings you enjoy in this life. Confess any dissatisfaction or jealousy you have felt about God’s provision for you. Commit yourself to living a truly thankful life. Ask God to give you today your daily bread (Mt. 6:11).
Pray for those who lack the necessities of life. Ask God to provide for specific needs of which you are aware.
–Adapted from The Life of Prayer for the Life of Service by Dave Butts, written by Forgotten Power: A Simple Theology of a Praying Church available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount on the book.
–Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend.
May 31: The Nature of Forgiveness
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love…Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me…Save me from my bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me” (Psalm 51:1a, 11, 14a).
David’s ability to ask for forgiveness is rooted in the very nature of God. It is because of the Lord’s “unfailing love” and His “great compassion” that those of us who follow Christ today can, as David did, boldly ask the Lord for forgiveness. It is in the nature of God to forgive. Because we are made in His image, it is important that we too have the nature of forgiveness: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12).
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The prerequisite to being forgiven in the kingdom of Jesus is to forgive others! “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14).
God of Forgiveness, give me the grace to love others as You love them so that I will forgive those who sin against me. Help me to have the courage to ask others for their forgiveness when I sin against them. Give us unity in love as we minister together for the sake of Your kingdom!
Prayer Points
Praise your Father for his perfect will (Mt. 6:10). Give thanks that nothing occurs in life that God does not cause to happen. Confess those times when you’ve doubted that his will was best for you. Commit yourself to living by Ps. 40:8: “I desire to do your will, O my God.” Ask that God’s perfect will may be accomplished in your life.
Take a global perspective. Pray for God’s will to be done on earth even as it is in heaven. Ask that Satan’s dark dominion will be exposed by the pure light of the gospel.
–Adapted from Pray like the King: Lessons from the Prayers of Israel’s Kings by David and Kim Butts. This book is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount on the book.
–Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend.
May 30: Called to Intercede
“Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
I see and hear of many churchgoers who seem to feel they have the spiritual gift of criticism. Accusing their fellow believers is pretty much a weekly event. Would it shock them to know they are doing the accuser’s “ministry”? Our job is to pray for our brothers and sisters, not to criticize them. Intercession is what Jesus is doing. Accusation comes so easily to us. We don’t have to decide to be critical. The people around us do plenty of things that warrant criticism. We all carry around enough flaws to attract accusation. What is critical for us to see though, is that accusation is the job of Satan, not the job of the Christian. We’re called to intercede, not accuse.
Father, help me to see that accusation and criticism only damages Your Church and the work of Your kingdom. Help me to join Your Son in the ministry of intercession so that You will be glorified.
Prayer Points
Praise King Jesus, who today rules and reigns over his kingdom (Mt. 6:10). Thank him for including you as a citizen of his earthly and heavenly realm. Confess any disloyalty you’ve felt as one of Christ’s much-beloved subjects. Commit yourself to serving as an agent of peace in God’s kingdom. Ask that all of Satan’s attempts to overthrow this divine government will come to nothing.
Thank God that his kingdom has no end (Dan. 7:27) and that it extends to every corner of the map (Ps. 103:19). Pray for revival in countries where the church is weak and has lost its way.
–Adapted from The Devil Goes to Church (Prayer as Spiritual Warfare) by David Butts. This resource is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount on the book.
–Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend.
May 29: Blank Checks
“Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete” (John 16:24).
By offering to let us pray in his name, Jesus is offering an amazingly great privilege. It’s as if he is giving us blank checks to be drawn on his account, knowing we will use them for his honor and his advantage. Jesus is demonstrating great trust in us. He is trusting that his honor and his interests are safe in our hands. Consider what it would mean to place your estate in the hands of another person: your credit cards, your home, your investments, your automobiles, your responsibilities, everything. You’d pick that person very carefully, wouldn’t you? You’d really be giving that person control over your life and your future. That’s essentially what Jesus did when he authorized us to use his name in prayer. He gave us authority over his accounts. He asked us to exercise control over his estate—the kingdom of God.
Lord Jesus, thank You for the powerful privilege of using Your Name to accomplish Your purposes in and for the kingdom of God. May I be a good steward of all You have entrusted to me.
Prayer Points
Praise the name of God (Mt. 6:9). Thank God for revealing his name to you through his Word and Spirit (Ex. 3:15). Confess times when you have misused the name of God in word or deed. Commit yourself to living in a way which hallows God’s name. Ask God to glorify his majestic name in all the earth (Ps. 8:1).
Pray for Christians working in public service. Ask that they will have the courage to hallow the name of God without compromise in their daily work.
–Adapted from Love to Pray: A 40 Day Devotional for Developing Your Prayer Life by Alvin J. VanderGriend. This book is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount on the book.
–Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend.
May 28: Silence in Heaven
“The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand” (Revelation 8:4).
In Revelation chapter eight, we see the incense burners and the smoke, which John says represents the prayers of the saints. He says when they are offered up there is silence for thirty minutes. Why? Because something is about to happen, the magnitude of which we don’t even begin to know. Everyone is breathless and watching. After the silence, the angels move into place and the rest of the Book of Revelation unfolds – with all the thunder and lightning and all the destruction, as well as the redemption, with the saints rising up and showing themselves to be overcomers and victorious through it all. The rest of the Book of Revelation is the answer to the prayers of the saints.
There is silence in heaven because God is about to answer the prayers of the saints beyond what any of them had dared to dream or believe was possible. They’ve had foretastes to be sure. But there is even more to come and somehow in the divine economy, what God does in the rest of the Book of Revelation is related to the prayers of His people, including your prayers this very day. The implications of the supremacy of Christ for our life of prayer are significant. As Paul says in Ephesians 3:20-21, He whose power is at work in us is willing to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. “Now to Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever.”
Father, breathe Your life into my spirit, so that I might see the supremacy of Jesus in all of life – past, present, and future.
Prayer Points
Praise your Father in heaven (Mt. 6:9). Thank him for including you as a son or daughter in his family. Confess moments when you’ve acted like an orphan, turning your back on God’s fatherly love. Commit yourself to deeper fellowship with your Father. Ask him to reveal his abiding love in your life through his Word and Spirit.
Think of one friend or coworker who has not experienced God’s fatherly love in a redeeming way. Pray for an opportunity this week to speak to that person of the hope that you have (Eph. 2:12; 1 Pet. 3:15).
—Adapted from a message by David Bryant entitled, A Christ Awakening and the Movement of Prayer, given at “The Christ Awakening” Conference, held in Terre Haute, Indiana, October 23-25, 2003. Used by permission. Click on the link to read the entire article.
–Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend.
May 27: Ever-Increasing Glory
“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Jesus wants to change us into His image. Believers who grow deeper in their faith understand that. The Christian life is one of constant change, constant refining, constant reshaping. Every experience that comes into our lives has a refining purpose, an “ever-increasing glory” purpose. We join the process to an even greater degree if, through prayer, we surrender and open ourselves up to it.
Father, I know You want to transform me into the image of Jesus. I want that in my life. I surrender to Your work in me. Please sanctify those areas of my life that continue to need refining. I want to be kept blameless until the coming of Your Son. Even if it is painful, Father, keep drawing me into a greater walk with You, into a deeper faith and experience of Your Son. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Prayer Points
Glorify the Son of God as one who is worthy to receive all power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and praise (Rev. 5:12). Thank him for having given up all this to die on a cross in your place. Confess any times when you have put your own interests above those of God and others. Commit yourself to being a faithful disciple of Jesus, finding your life by losing it for him and the gospel (Mk. 8:35). Ask Jesus to help you understand what it means to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow him.
Pray that family and friends will be kept from a materialistic lifestyle that serves money rather than God (Luke 16:13).
–Adapted from Praying Like Paul (Learning to Pray the Kingdom for Those You Love) by Jonathan Graf. This resource is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount on the book.
–Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend.
May 26: Lifestyle Transformation
“Against you, and you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge” (Psalm 51:4).
Confession is simply agreeing with God concerning our sin. Like the parable of the lost son, we must say to the Lord, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you” (Luke 15:21). Then we will hear Him say lovingly to us, “For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (Luke 15:24). As soon as we confess with a repentant heart, we have His forgiveness! Repentance is when we determine to make a change in our mind and our will that comes out of deep sorrow for sin. It leads to a transformation of lifestyle! David certainly determined to live a life worthy of God’s call upon his life. Read Psalm 51 to hear his heart on the matter.
Loving Father, help me to keep short accounts with You from day to day, so that I am not overcome with sin. May Your Holy Spirit convict me quickly so that I may confess and repent of my sins before You. Thank You for promising to forgive when I come before You with a “broken and contrite heart.”
Prayer Points
Praise God as the eternal and triune God—the mystery of God in three persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thank him for promising to make all believers one, just as the three persons of God are one (Jn. 17:20-23). Confess any tendency in your conversations or thoughts to work against this oneness of mind and purpose in the church. Commit yourself to working toward the unity of believers that is beautiful in God’s sight (Psalm 133). Ask God to make you more sensitive to his will and purpose in this area.
Pray that less important issues and controversies not be allowed to prevent the church from “being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose” (Phil. 2:2).
–Adapted from Pray like the King: Lessons from the Prayers of Israel’s Kings by David and Kim Butts. This book is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount on the book.
–Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend.
May 25: Clothed with the Armor of Christ
“Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:11).
When I put on God’s armor daily I am reminded that I am in a battle. Awareness floods into my soul that I have awakened to danger that day. But even more there is the quiet assurance that I follow the Commander-in-Chief of the Lord’s Armies. He has provided both victory and protection for me in the midst of the day’s struggles. He has loaned me His very own armor. So with great joy, I pray, gratefully accepting and clothing myself with His armor. Alert to the battle, prepared through prayer, I move through the day’s battles, not with fear, but with confidence in my Lord’s victory.
Father, forgive my unawareness that I am in a battle daily, and that You have provided the means for my victory through Your resurrection! Thank You for the precious armor that helps me to meet the challenges and struggles of each day with confidence rather than fear.
Prayer Points
Give praise to God as the Comforter, who feels deeply for those who have been mistreated and abandoned (Isa. 49:13). Thank him for calling many believers into compassionate ministries for the sake of those who are suffering.
Confess those times when you may have withheld comfort from others who needed it. Commit yourself to receiving God’s encouragement and grace each morning and allowing that to flow through you to others. Ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his love, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19).
–Adapted from The Devil Goes to Church (Prayer as Spiritual Warfare) by David Butts. This resource is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount on the book.
–Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend.
May 24: Do What He Asks
“We have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him” (1 John 3:21-22).
Obedience is fundamental to effective prayer. Only people who obey God have the right to go into his presence with requests. God delights in the prayers of his obedient children. When we want what God wants and live the way he likes, then we will tend to pray prayers that God will answer in the way we expect. And God, in answering our prayers, is supporting what he approves. Were God to answer the prayers of the disobedient, he would be aiding and abetting what he does not approve. That would be out of character for God. To put it in other words, if we expect God to do for us what we ask, we should be prepared to do for God what he asks. If we listen to his words of command, God will listen to our words of request.
This principle also explains much of the weakness of prayer. Lack of power, lack of perseverance, and lack of confidence in prayer all stem from some lack in the Christian life. Often when prayer fails and we receive no answers, we assume the problem is in God while in reality the problem really is in us.
Gracious God, I give You praise for Your generous, giving nature. Forgive me of my failure to keep Your commands and to do what pleases You. Help my desires in prayer to be in perfect alignment with Your will for the glory of Your kingdom.
Prayer Points
Praise God as the Rock, your stronghold and fortress (Ps. 144:1-2). Thank him for being a solid foundation on which to stand spiritually, so that nothing can shake you (Mt. 7:24-25). Confess those times in your life when you have stepped off the rock solid foundation of God’s Word and relied on your own understanding. Commit yourself to building your life on Christ’s teachings. Ask God to help you plant your feet firmly in his Word each day.
Pray for the devotional times of the families that you know, that regular times of prayer and Bible reading will help bond family members to each other and to God. Pray that your single friends may find a group of spiritual brothers and sisters to do this with as well.
–Adapted from Love to Pray: A 40 Day Devotional for Developing Your Prayer Life by Alvin J. VanderGriend. This book is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount on the book.
–Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend.
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