PRAY EVERY DAY - Day 7: Pastor Paul Looney
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“As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you.”
1 Samuel 12:23a (NIV)
What is your prayer target? Could it be that the reason we often feel so aimless in praying every day is that we don’t have a target in mind when we pray? Our thoughts begin to wander. Oswald Chambers, in his timeless devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, said it well, “Jesus didn’t say, ‘Daydream about your Father.’ He said, ‘Pray to your Father.’ Prayer is an effort of the will. … We struggle to get our minds into working order; we struggle to rein in our wandering thoughts. The great battle in prayer is overcoming this indulgence in aimless daydreaming.”
To overcome that aimless daydreaming that can waste our time and God’s, picture a target with a bullseye when you pray. The rings around that bullseye will become specific prayer targets for you every day. You may not pray for every circle each day, but you can aim at one of them in prayer. For example, the bullseye of the target could be prayers of adoration – praising God for who He is. The next circle may be thanksgiving – thanking God for all He has done and is doing in your life. The third circle could be intercession – praying for others by name and needs. The fourth, confession – agreeing with God about your sin and His grace to forgive, and the final circle may be petition (that’s the laundry list of wants we too often think God may have forgotten.)
Practice aiming at your prayer target today through intercession – praying for others by name and need. This is what the great prophet Samuel did in the Old Testament for the people of Israel. He was both a godly prophet of Israel and their final Judge. God would use Samuel to lead the people in the dark days of the Judges and anoint their first two Kings, Saul and David.
Toward the end of his life and ministry, he made an insightful promise to a wayward nation. He said, “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you.” 1 Samuel 12:23a (NIV) Another translation renders that “… by ceasing to pray for you.” Samuel considered it a sin to stop praying for others. Do you have people who pray for you like that? Are you as committed to pray for others like that? I think those two go hand-in-hand. Intercessory prayer is an essential prayer target that will keep you focused as you pray every day. Put those you love in the crosshairs of your prayer sights.
One way I’ve found this effective is to list them by name, beginning with my immediate family, relatives, close friends, business associates, acquaintances, and person X (people I may have just met in passing that God lays on my heart.) Pray specifically for their needs, asking God to meet those needs and draw them close to Jesus, revealing Himself to them in personal ways and protecting them from the evil one. One of the many models in scripture for intercessory prayer is given by the apostle Paul for the Christ followers in the church he planted in Ephesus. In Ephesians 1:16-20 (NLT), he prays, “I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope He has given to those He called—His holy people who are His rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe Him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.”
Another model is found in Jesus’ intercessory prayer for His disciples and for you and me in John 17 when He asked the Father to protect us by the power of His name and to keep us safe from the evil one. He prayed that God would make us holy and that we would be brought to perfect unity. In fact, Hebrews 7:25b (NLT) says, “(Jesus) lives forever to intercede with God on (our) behalf.” And Paul shares with what intensity Jesus prays when he wrote, “(Jesus) is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.” Romans 8:34b (NLT) Have you experienced such intensity in your intercessory prayer? When God puts on our hearts what is on His heart for people, our intercessory prayer will go to another level!
Begin today. Aim at the prayer target of others by name and need, and record in your prayer journal what God does.
Another important part of your daily devotional is spending time with God in prayer. The Woodlands Church Prayer Board lists prayer requests submitted by our members and provides a way to send them some encouragement by using a button on the page to let them know that you prayed for them. Whether you use the Prayer Board, or pray from your heart, the goal is to build the habit of incorporating prayer into your quiet time.
Need prayer yourself? Let us know by submitting a prayer request on the Woodlands Church Prayer Board.