Pray Network Forum

Praying for one another is a necessary element for tightening the bonds of fellowship in the church. Of course we need to pray for one another while we are in worship. Pray for the people seated around you or across the room from you. Pray for your pastor, the music leader, usher's, offering bearers. Pray for guests whom God would like to bring into the warmth of your fellowship. Nothing will make them feel as welcome as God touching their lives as you pray for them.

A man came up to me Sunday, and as we talked he said, “I have been thinking about you this week, feeling like I needed to pray for you.” I thanked him. And I told him I had had some illness and some spiritual attack last week. I believe God’s Spirit often calls people to our minds so we will pray for them. Ralph Speas once told my wife and I about his wife's mother calling in the middle of the night that she had a terrible burden to pray for their daughter. And she asked if they wouldn't go into her bedroom and check to see if she were all right. They went in and discovered a gas leak in the room, and their daughter being asphyxiated by it.

Sometimes the bond of Fellowship in a church is disrupted because there are people who just don't like one another in the church family. I think it was Tim Keller who said, “The church is the only organization in the world that is made up of natural enemies.” What do you do when you don't like someone, or someone in the church doesn't like you? You need to pray twice as much for that person. You will find this to be a holy discipline.

What if you have spiritual discernment, and you are terribly uncomfortable with someone in the church? Maybe you're convinced that someone is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Your prayers may be the primary protection for others in the church. And wouldn't it be wonderful if God did what He has sometimes done in the past, bringing about a Damascus Road miracle in that person's life?

There were times as a Pastor that I needed to confront someone in the church. I would not have dreamed of going to talk to them without having prayed for them with all of my heart. And it was always easier for me to go to someone, if I knew others had been praying for that person for months.

God binds us together in prayer.

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 The Christmas tree, the most celebrated symbol of Christmas is an evergreen tree, representing life. The custom of erecting a Christmas tree is historically traced to the 15th century. “The tree was traditionally decorated with edibles such as apples, nuts, or other foods. In the 18th century, it began to be illuminated by candles, which were ultimately replaced by Christmas lights after the advent of electrification. Today, there are a wide variety of traditional ornaments, such as garland, tinsel, and candy canes. An angel or star might be placed at the top of the tree to represent the angel Gabriel or the Star of Bethlehem from the Nativity. “ [1]  

The branches of the evergreen tree, remind us of the many roles we have in our lives such as parenting, grandparenting, great-grandparenting. They also tell us of all the relationships we have with our family, friends, neighbors, our careers, hobbies, activities, sports, etc. As we submit, each of these branches to God He can adorn them with ornaments, as He develops our character, with the fruit of the Spirit.

Let’s look at the ornaments on the tree representing the fruit of the Spirit. When we accept God’s unconditional LOVE in our hearts allowing His love to flow through us to others, he will give us JOY. Our hearts will be full of joy amidst the daily challenges of our lives because “The joy of the Lord will be our strength”. When we experience the JOY of the Lord as our strength, we will have PEACE. PEACE is calmness in our hearts amidst the challenges we face, extending through our lives to others. After our adorning with love, joy, and peace, we will are empowered with PATIENCE, an attitude that does not lose hope for others even if they irritate or hurt us. KINDNESS expressed with our words and deeds to a sad or lonely heart may be their connection to Jesus. Then GOODNESS will flow into good works from our kind heart reflecting the character of God attracting others to Jesus.    

Another ornament placed on the tree is FAITHFULNESS. Just as God is faithful to us, it is essential that we too are dependable and trustworthy with others. Faithfulness brings us to GENTLENESS, an ability to be pleasant, composed and controlled in the daily challenges of life. The last ornament we will place on the tree is SELF-CONTROL, which adorns our lives with the character of strength to restrain us from doing wrong. We cannot have self-control without all the other ornaments.    

Then the tree will be wrapped with a garland of God’s righteousness, and the star placed on the top directing people to Jesus. We will plug in the lights

illuminating the tree representing Jesus the light of the world, a symbol of hope. Just as we have beautiful Christmas trees in our homes, our lives will be fascinating when adorned with the fruit of the spirit.  

This year let’s give our grandchildren a spiritual application of the Christmas tree representing everlasting life adorned with the ornaments of the fruit of the Spirit, wrapped with the garland of God’s love, the star directing others to Jesus, and shining as lights in a dark world.

Pray that your grandchildren together with their parents and yourself will stand as a symbol of hope in a dark world adorned with strength and beauty of the fruit of the spirit like the beautiful Christmas tree. The most significant and most lasting Christmas gift you can give your grandchildren is the gift of a praying grandparent.  

By Lillian Penner, Author of Grandparenting with a Purpose, http://www.gdptpr.com

¹ Christmas tree, Wikipedia

Many years ago my parent's church began a 24 hour Prayer Room. I heard some powerful testimonies of what God did through this ministry. I was also blessed to see things God did in the lives of my family members and others I knew who participated.

Many of you are familiar with churches that have 24 hour prayer rooms. Some were large enough we may began that they did not have too much trouble filling the hours. Others went out on faith trusting God to help them fill the 168 prayer slots each week.

Churches appoint someone to organize and administer this ministry. They set aside a room usually with an outside entrance. And they invite and recruit people to sign up for specific prayer times. My parent's church encouraged people to have a prayer partner who signed up to pray with them each week. These churches place prayer requests and possibly a church roll in the room for people pray through. My parent's church put a telephone in the room and publicized the number for people to call to pray with someone 24 hours a day seven days a week.  

My nephew, Trent Young, was a very young man when they started the prayer room. And it had a profound effect upon his life. He wrote me this about the prayer room.

“I usually went in the after-midnight hours because I worked late, and these were always open. I was scared to death someone would call. But hardly anyone ever did. I spent a little time praying over requests. I mostly praised God and spent time with Him.

“I put in two or three hours there a couple of nights a week. I don't know why praying in the prayer room was more important than praying at home, but it seemed to be. My prayer life developed during this time. It was non-existent before.

“The regiment, the scheduled length of time and the accountability was helpful in training me to pray and developing my relationship with God. Everyone seems to think that one has to have a prayer life before joining a prayer room or even a prayer group. But I think the opposite. I think these are the schools that God uses to develop our prayer life.”

Max Alexander, one of the pastors of my parent’s church when they were starting the prayer time, told me they faced more spiritual attack at that time than he had ever seen in his life. But they seemed to have more victory in people’s lives than they had ever seen. God will bless a church that is this serious about prayer.

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http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/

http://daveswatch.com/

When my husband and I attended a reunion in Branson, MO we saw the excellent performance of The Miracle of Christmas at the Sight & Sound Theatre. I was impressed by how they displayed the emotions of Mary and Joseph when faced with the announcements of Gabriel.

While the Jewish nation was waiting for God to free them from living in Roman bondage God sent the angel Gabriel to tell Mary, “You are highly favored! The Lord is with you . . . You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus…” Since she was, a Virgin Mary was greatly troubled and questioned the angel. Gabriel said, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. . . For nothing is impossible with God.” Mary recognized God’s voice and answered, “I am your servant, and may it be to me as you have said”. Then the angel left her.

Joseph, Mary’s fiancée, was troubled when he learned Mary was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. He did not want to expose her to public disgrace, so he had in mind to divorce her quietly. However, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus because he will save his people from their sins (bondage).” When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel commanded him and took Mary home as his wife but had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he named the son Jesus.  

Even though Mary and Joseph questioned the angel, they recognized the voice of God and submitted to his agenda, not knowing what it would mean for them and their people at the time.

Pray your grandchildren will live so close to God that when He speaks to them, they will recognize His voice, listen to Him, follow Him in obedience, and trust Him, as Mary and Joseph did. They were greatly troubled; however, they recognized the voice of God that the angel Gabriel delivered, and they obeyed. Mary had the honor of giving birth to Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah fulfilling what the Lord had said through the prophet Isaiah.

Ask yourself: “Do I recognize and obey God’s voice when He speaks to me”?

May God bless you and your family richly as you celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

By Lillian Penner Co-Prayer Director of Christian Grandparenting Network, lpenner@christiangrandparenting.net

This week, I had the honor of interviewing Pastor Jason McGee, Senior Pastor of One Family Church in Shrewsbury, MA, for His Inscriptions readers. My husband and I have known Jason for several years, and helped him plant his church in Shrewsbury.

​One of the things that most impressed me during the church plant was his emphasis on prayer. I was curious to know, several years later, how he views prayer and what priority he gives to prayer in his growing congregation. Here are his thoughts.

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Let me be the first to admit that sometimes, my prayers don't get answered. It happens to everyone. We're all on a journey, growing in the knowledge of who God is and how He works. No one - not even the most "spiritual" believer you know - has his prayers answered all the time! 

But in 30+ years of growing in the Lord, I've discovered that there are some prayers that are powerful. More powerful than others. One such prayer is asking God for what we call "Divine Appointments."

Read more: CLICK HERE

When I last wrote in this blog I dealt with anxiety and depression from John 12:27 where Jesus said, “Now is my heart troubled.” While there is great encouragement for everyone in this prayer of Jesus, He was addressing something far more ominous than the anxieties that plague modern societies. Jesus stood face to face with His crucifixion where He would bear all the wickedness, selfishness, perversion, and cruelty of humankind. He was not just discouraged, He was overwhelmed.

I thank God that none of us will ever face such an overwhelming circumstance. However, many of us have been in situations where we were overwhelmed. Believers in many parts of the world today are called on to be faithful in ordeals that seem to have no resolution. And I strongly suspect that Millions more of us will face such such difficulties in our lifetimes.

In this passage Jesus gives us strong consolation. Look with me again at John 12:27-28.

“Now is my heart troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. ‘Father, glorify your name!’ Then a voice came from heaven: 'I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’”

Here Jesus shows us how to deal with the crises that we will face.

First, cling prayerfully to the promised purpose of God. We often find ourselves in situations where we do not understand what God is doing. But He has promised that there is a purpose, in your life, and in this world. Jesus certainly knew the purpose for his crucifixion. But none of His disciples understood, even though they had been told. I suspect people walked away from that horror saying, “How could God ever bring any good from this?”

In the midst of the ordeal pray fervently for God's glory. For most of us this will have to be a matter of growth. We pray for our wants and needs. But the desire for the glory of God needs to be developed as a constant in the life of believers.

Finally, remember the assurance of the presence of God. When the Lord told Moses to go back to Egypt to lead His people out of captivity, Moses asked, “Who am I to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” The Lord answered, “I will be with you.” And then He said something very strange. This will be the sign that I have sent you. When you’ve brought the people out of Egypt you will serve Me on this mountain. Moses was going to have to remember that he met God at the burning bush until he got through the ordeal and could say, “Yes God was with me all the way.”

Jesus did not face the cross with the presence of His Father. That was the point. He endured the separation from His Father that you and I have earned. But we do not face trials without the presence of God. At the end of the Great Commission Jesus said, “I will be with you always.” Even when He is not dramatically showing us His presence, we can remember what He has promised.

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“Pleasure is to happiness what candy is to nutrition.”

James 4:3 reads, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” How do we justify this verse with verses like Matthew 7:7-8? “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”

When you find two things in the Bible that seem to contradict one another, study them prayerfully and you will come to understand both passages far more deeply than you would have at a glance.

In fact Jesus gave us a hint at the answer in Matthew 7. The very next verse compares God answering our prayers to a father giving to his child. Does a father who loves his daughter give her all the candy she asks for?

In John 15:7 Jesus brings this promise into divine perspective. “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

The English Standard Version of Scripture footnotes the word passions in James 4:3 as “pleasures.” We live in a society that is driven by pleasure. And we may be the first generation to have no awareness of problems with pleasure. Pleasure is to happiness what candy is to nutrition.

The word translated passions here is a broader word than simple desire. It refers to the drive for comfort, luxury, thrills, and physical pleasures in our world. 1 John 2:15,16 warn us, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the father but is from the world.”

The entire passage, James 4:1-10, brings all three of these together.

God, as the ultimate Father, protects His children from those things that draw us away from Him. In his book Desiring God John Piper coined the term “Christian Hedonism.” But he was talking about living for the deeper pleasures and the higher joys that come in the presence of God. Psalm 16:11 affirms, “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Our prayers spring from what we love. As long as we love the world, we will be drawn away from the only source of satisfaction in our lives. And our prayer lives will be frustrating because our Heavenly Father loves us too much to let us fall into the worlds quagmire of pleasures.
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