Sometimes a good specific list will guide a prayer time (e.g. Missionaries or School is Starting).

Other times a specific question will be the spark (e.g. How have you seen God at work?  Or What Bible verse would you like someone else to pray for you?)

A good direction can be helpful, like “Write down three reasons that stand out to you right now why God is AWESOME” or “Note the ways you know Jesus is better.”

A classic prayer leading technique is to read a psalm and let the participants mine the verses for prayer.

We used Psalm 40 as the starting point for our church Leadership meeting recently.  Since we are experiencing “transition” in staffing, denomination, and other areas, this Psalm was a good choice.  As the ESV study bible says, “This psalm contains two parts:  first, it gives thanks for the many past mercies received from God, and then it presents a fresh instance of need for God’s help.”

We first read the psalm, each person taking a verse in turn.  We answered two questions:  In what ways had God helped the psalmist in the past?  What ways has God helped our church in the last three years?  Then we looked at our agenda to see ways we need His help with the latest issues.

The first question was quickly covered, and the second one brought forth a long stream of major and minor ways God had been at work in our midst. It was a great time of fellowship and led easily into prayer for the agenda and the transition issues facing us.  It was very natural to give thanks and ask for God’s continued blessings in the future. Those guys who wrote the psalms sure knew a thing or two!

At a recent family book study night, we each answered a question based on Paul Miller’s popular book, A Praying Life. The book suggests that we must pray because we are helpless – only God can effect true change.  So the question for our prayer time was “How are you feeling helpless tonight?”  As each person shared, another prayed for them in their helplessness.

The prayers needed to be strong in asking the Lord’s blessing and good gifts; we did not want to sink into discouragement over all the things we cannot accomplish.  It was good to be reminded regularly that even though we are helpless in our own strength, we are hopeful and joyful because of the grace,  care, and good news of Jesus.

Sometimes a successful group prayer time depends on asking a good question.  We met on a Tuesday prior to Easter and used a simple guide for getting our prayers of thanksgiving started:

“What are your ten favorite things about Easter?”

We took a few minutes to make our lists, then described the items.  Some had family traditions, some mentioned the coming of spring, and some cited Bible events.  No matter what the list, the joy came out in the descriptions and in the following prayer time.

This was a church group, but I think you could probably ask the same question in a secular group (probably without prayer).  Certainly in December, people are not generally upset about “What is your preferred Christmas tradition?”  Perhaps a question about best Easter activity would lead to sharing the gospel.

My friend Peeter led the devotion time at our meeting the other night. His guidance for our prayer time is contained in the three directions at the end of his talk.  The mini-sermon walked us through Biblical supports for his contention that God’s goodness, generosity, and dependability are evident, praiseworthy, and a wonderful source for our prayers.

 

The Word “Impossible”

Words are an interesting thing to focus on. I never cease to be amazed at them. Especially when one enters the milieu of our church. The constant refrain is that we have to “nuance” words. We have to be careful and precise with the language. Far be it for one to use a word, for instance, “schlub” without further clarification. There’s context, regional meaning, and precision for the word to have any final meaning to it. I looked up the word “word” in the dictionary, knowing that they couldn’t use “word” in its definition – “It’s a sound or combination of sounds that has a meaning and is spoken or written”.

“Sounds that have a meaning”. What if I used the word “Jaws”? Most guys might think of Ron Jaworski, the football commentator whose nickname is “Jaws”. Most women will once again wonder which planet men came from. However, if you lived near the seacoast in the summer of 1975 as I did and someone suggested going to the ocean for a swim, the one word reply was “Jaws”. Sometimes one simply had to hum a bar or two of John William’s ominous music from the movie and a better idea quickly surfaced.

Christmas? For children the word instantly means presents – for adults, it means debt to one degree or another.

55 degrees? For us today, this promise of warmth is a faint hope of maybe, possibly coming some day in the not too distant future – Lord willing. On the other hand, while outside a few weeks ago in Florida two people shouted to me, “You’re not actually taking a walk, are you?” “Sure“, I replied, “Where I come from, 55 degrees is called air-conditioning!”

There’s a word that I’ve thought a lot about these past several months – it’s the word “impossible”. I don’t know about you but “impossible” has always been an ominous word to me. I can feel the stormy gray clouds descending when I hear that word. When was the last time you heard a person say, “I’m impossibly happy with my life right now!” And then they burst out singing the old Steve Martin tune, “It’s impossible to put a Cadillac up your nose”. I suspect it’s been awhile.

God has given to our church family some more than perplexing, yea, perhaps even “impossible” providences this past year. Many brethren have privately shared with others their groans, sometimes mingled with tears. The prayer list has been filled to overflowing —

– the same married couple once again are being dragged into court, to talk about money that doesn’t exist and to pay people with money that they‘ve never had.

– how our government works on the macro level is an eye-rolling mystery, how it works on the micro level to loved ones here is the sort of mystery that dwells in the nether lands.

– I sometimes catch the eyes of those who, like me, must tend to their elderly parents. My glazed, weary eyes are mirrored in theirs. We don’t need to say much, we knowingly nod at each other.

– it would be impossible not to think about our present circumstances and money – and money — it would however be possible to think overmuch about it.

– and one particular family situation defines the word “impossible” as few other things can. It simply has not been possible to navigate through this merely with innate ability or willpower. It has been “impossible” – in the best sense of that word.

All of these situations position the word “impossible” next to human beings who have always been told “everything is possible – if you’re smart enough, work hard enough, think good thoughts“, etc. etc. ad nauseum. It’s a sobering moment when we have to say, “This is impossible!”. Sooooo, what are we to do when that word experientially resonates within us?

“Impossible”- I looked the word up in a concordance and by and large it confirmed my ominous feeling for the word. Here are 3 verses that have storm clouds surrounding them –

Hebrews 10:4 – “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”

Hebrews 11:6 – “And without faith it is impossible to please Him…”

And Hebrews 6:4 has one of the most ominous “impossibles” in the entire Bible –  “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit…to restore them again to repentance…”

Fortunately, far less ominous are the words of Matthew 19:26 and its parallel texts: “But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Hebrews 6 has the word “impossible“ in it also. The writer speaks in this book of the superiority of Christ over the prophets, the angels, Moses, and Aaron. The writer of Hebrews has taken to the nth degree the “my Dad’s better, bigger, stronger, and smarter than your Dad” argument.

The first word of verse 1 of Hebrews 6 is – “Therefore” The “therefore” is closely linked to the previous chapter – 5:11,12 – “About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,…” Then 6:1 says – “Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity…“ The writer has given some warning exhortations that speak of man’s sinful weakness. “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to wander from the God I love“. Now he gives some words of encouragement, some good news.

In verses 9-11 of Hebrews 6 – “Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end,” – the writer hastens to make a rather anti-super-staggering statement. Every word is meant to encourage the impossibly staggering saint – “beloved – better things that belong to salvation – your work and your love shown for His name – as you still do”. And all of this is based on and because of verse 10 – “For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work…” To quote Raymond Brown – “If God’s righteous justice is such that man’s spiritual rebellion must not be ignored, then it is equally true that in the light of that same justice man’s devoted service will not be overlooked.”

(Our 3-part outline is taken from the Hebrews Commentary by Raymond Brown – The Bible Speaks Today Series – New Testament Editor – John Stott)

Point #1 – God’s goodness to His children – God doesn’t overlook anything, no matter how staggering the labors, how weak the love, and how frail the faith is, when it’s done in His name. As Pastor Kevin once said from the pulpit, there is a filial relationship that a Christian can have with God, we can actually please Him, if only we would avail ourselves of this privilege.

Point 2 – How many times has a person said, “I’m with you bro – you and me against the world – call me if you need me – bro – I swear I’m good.” I wish I could see the full version of the Allstate Insurance commercial – the good hands people. When a claim is filed, it’s palms up all the way “Huh? Who? What?” Or as I recently heard a person say, “How can I trust this person now when they’ve failed me in the past?” The writer goes on in  verses 13-15 of Hebrews 6 with more hopeful words – “For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.”  How could Abraham believe this back then? How can a saint believe this today? The answer‘s simple – “God swore by Himself”.  There’s nothing greater.

Point #2 – Can I call it strong encouragement #2? – God is generous – He couldn’t and didn’t fail Abraham. Abraham waited patiently and received the promise – against all hopeless and impossible odds. Or as Romans 4:18 says, “In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations…“ God swore by Himself – His oath is based on His holy and righteous character. He’s unassailable, therefore, His generosity is sure and yea and amen.

But then the writer does an amazing thing – he turns this ominous word “impossible” entirely on its head – the storm clouds are lifted – the gray skies instantly give way to sunshine – and the word “impossible” now is accompanied with the Hallelujah chorus from the Messiah.

 Verses 17-20 of Hebrews 6 – “ So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

Hebrew 6:18 – “so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.”

Strong encouragement # 3 – God is dependable – there’s a “double blessing” here – there’s an unchangeable promise with an unchangeable oath, a “built-in redundancy“ as one writer calls it. And to put the word “impossible” next to the character of our infinite, eternal, unchanging, almighty God, specifically the veracity of His word! Oh for a thousand tongues to sing our great Redeemers’ praise! What’s our response to be? We can flee for refuge – we have strong encouragement to hold fast with hope – we have a sure and steadfast anchor for our souls – and it’s because Jesus has been our forerunner, our scouting party on our behalf, our high priest forever and forever. For us Gentiles, this is strong encouragement – what must the first century Jew have thought and felt?

To serve the people of God here has always been a matter of serious joy. Perhaps some of these “impossible” things has added an element of fear for me. Not a cringing fear that stupefies, but this is God’s church and His people, and as one writer wryly states – “when you’re working with God, if you’re not scared, you’re brain-dead.”  I’ve thought a lot about the word “impossible” these past several months. My near fatal flaw is that I attach my name to that word all too much. The writer of Hebrews, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, not surprisingly got it right. His “impossible” is attached to God, who is now glorified and magnified above every other name.

I love to hear brethren pray “in the strong name of Jesus”. Because of Him we have the privilege of partaking of “strong encouragements”.

Strong encouragement #1 – God’s goodness to His children – He doesn’t overlook anything of His children’s lives – sparrows and hairs and debts and impossible providences are all under His care.

Strong encouragement #2 – God is generous – He couldn’t fail to bless Abraham – and He will not fail us.

Strong encouragement# 3 – God is dependable – it’s impossible for God to fail – ever!

 

Suggested 3-part prayer:

1. Thank God for His past, present, and therefore future goodness to us, His chosen people.
2. Thank God for His past, present, and future generosity to us, His chosen people.
3. And yes, you guessed it, thank God for His past, present, and future dependability to us, His chosen people.

 

 

Kevin led a sweet prayer time at elders meeting last week using James 1 and a well-known rubric.

In the ESV version, James 1 is nicely divided into eight specific paragraphs, each consisting of two or three sentences.  Kevin would read a paragraph while participants followed along in their Bibles.

After each reading, the elders would voice, as led by the Lord, prayers of Rejoicing / Praise, Confession/Repentence, and Requests/Supplication.  The paragraphs in James 1 have abundant depth and variety, leading to rich prayers.

Many Bible passages, especially the epistles, can be partitioned by paragraphs.  And other rubrics are possible – for example ACTS – Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication.

You know those times when you are having a semi-earnest chat with someone and  they express a concern,  like their brother is having surgery next week or they have suffered with a migraine for the last three days?  You want to tell them you will be praying for them but you don’t have a piece of paper or a writing tool, the notes on your phone are too hard to get to, and you are afraid you will forget and never pray for them when you said you would?

Or you run into someone at the mall and when you ask what they are up to they say they are on their way to a job interview and they hope they can think of the right things to say, and you realize it won’t do much good to say you will pray for them tomorrow.

Here’s the solution.  Just pray right now.  Short, specific, God-centered prayers are welcome almost all the time.  I say almost because probably someone somewhere has rebelled when someone asked if they could pray for them.

All you have to remember is who God is:  the Great Healer; the Comforter; the one who keeps all His promises (including wisdom whenever we ask); the forgiver of sins.  Jesus is our defender and the Holy Spirit prays our prayers before the throne with sighs deeper than words.  As an aside, this is another blessed reason to study scripture every day – not only are God’s mercies new every morning, but some mornings you find out something about God that you can pray for someone later in the day!

One of themes we have been looking at in our congregation is the place we fit in God’s kingdom.  So at one of our recent leadership committee meetings, we prayed through Kingdom parables.

First we prayed the Lord’s Prayer together, remembering “Thy Kingdom Come.” Then we each picked a verse from the list below to explain and use for prayer.  Then we spent a time in prayer for the meeting and anything else on our hearts.

The list:

• Parable of the Sower – Matthew 13.1-23
• Parable of the Weeds – Matthew 13.24-; 36-43
• Parables of the Mustard Seed and Leaven – Matthew 13.31-33
• Parables of Hidden Treasure and Pearl of Great Value – Matthew 13.44-46
• Parable of the Net – Matthew 13.47-50
• Parable of the Seed Growing – Mark 4.26-29

I don’t profess to be an expert on all the rich possibilities for saying Grace before a meal, but I figure I better say something since this type of Group Prayer was missing from my posting history survey I put together late last year.

For an individual:  If you are by yourself for a meal, you should say grace yourself.  No one else is going to do it. Duh.

A more useful discussion would be “who prays at the family table?”  There are lots of potentials. Some options:

• The head of the household
• A designated child
• Each child – this may take a while depending on how many kids you have.
• Everyone all together, holding hands. Everyone needs to know what to say ahead of time for this one.
• Everyone all together, not holding hands
• The head of the household’s spouse
• A guest
• The oldest one present
• Whoever the head of the household picks for that meal

There is a richness to mixing it up a bit.  Our main choices when our Michigan Knapp family gets together have been me, our son Jesse, or 6 year old Molly.

 

An extra note about the value of saying grace in public:  One time in Washington DC, my wife, daughter and I offered thanks before eating breakfast muffins at an outdoor café.  The lady at the next table said, “you aren’t from around here, are you?”  “No, we’re from Michigan.”  “I thought so.  I haven’t seen anyone pray out loud around here for a long time.”  We had a nice talk with her and felt pretty righteous.

The following is an excellent example of a pastoral intercessory prayer during a worship service. It was delivered by Pastor Jason the second Sunday of the year. Note that there is a TIME theme and a bookend proclamation of the Potentate of Time.

Notice the quotes from scripture and hymns.  See that there is Praise and Adoration as well as Supplication.  In this particular prayer, the requests are general, for the whole congregation.

 

Lord, we praise you.

As the wonderful hymn says, Crown Him the Lord of years, the potentate of time.

You are the King of all ages, The Lord of time. There is none like you

 

And as we begin this new year we rejoice that You are our God and we are Your people.

Your steadfast love never ceases, Your mercies never come to an end.

Let us not forget that as we begin this new year They are new every morning.

Great is your faithfulness. And even as your mercies are new every morning, So they are new every year

 

As we enter into this year. There is none we would rather have at our side, Over our head,.Governing our souls and bodies than You.

We pray, O Lord, that you would keep us. Keep us in the palm of your hand.

Guard our hearts, guard our minds, guard our very souls.

Lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil.

Grow us in our love for you and one another. Help us to consider others better than ourselves

 

For those entering this year with grief, comfort them. Give them a new day

For those struggling with sickness, illness, grant them bodily health. Give them new life

For those wrestling with dark thoughts, lift the cloud. Give them light

For those in our midst struggling with loneliness, Give them a companion, a friend, a wife or husband.

For those restless, anxious, and disquiet –  Give them peace

For those questioning, Give them answers.

For those lost, Give them You.

 

Ah, Lord, we would pray that for all of us

In this new year, give us more of You. We want to see more of You.   We want to delight more in You

We want to witness more of Your mighty hand, Your working, Your will being done on earth as it is in heaven

Your goodness ministering to the needy, Your peace coming to bear upon our souls and the souls of those around us, Your joy coursing through our hearts, Your love moving our affections

Give us more of You. That is our great prayer in this New Year

Give us more of You

 

The steadfast love the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul.  “Therefore I will hope in him.”

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

And in that we rejoice as this new year begins.

Praise to you, O Father of Ages, O King Eternal, O Potentate of Time