“I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.”
1 Timothy 2:1
Prayer isn’t for changing God’s mind… Prayer is getting our hearts in line with His will and His Spirit. It helps us continually recognize our complete dependence on Him. Nothing we do as individuals, or as a body, will ever matter outside of prayer. I have been a christian for over two decades now, and am still amazed that the King of the Universe would allow me the privilege of boldly His throne!
Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.
Ephesians 3:12
God has DEFINITELY been blessing us in an amazing way, and we want to be sensitive to Him, and to what He wants to do next. He is sending us out to do battle in a dark, dying world… We need the covering of prayer protecting us, guiding us, and opening doors for ministry. I believe that ongoing prayer is vital to what we are about. Here are just a few ways I would love to see that happen:
- Prayer during the worship services each week
- Daily/Weekly prayer team meeting to pray for specific prayer requests
- Prayer for our Partners, who are working hard in ministry
- Prayer for our strategic partnerships as God works through us and them
Man, I really love the Prayer Twitter feed that we have set up… It is a great way to get immediate prayer needs out in the open so people can pray right away. (if you haven’t signed up for our prayer feed, check the bottom of this blog entry for how you can do that!) BUT, not all prayer requests really need to be that open. Some people have some specific requests that need to be between a small group of people and God. It would be great if we had a team that prayed on a daily basis in this way.
I would like to invite you to pray about joining our prayer ministry as we get ready to get it started. If you’re interested, I would love to know about it! Please email me at stevedusek@orchardellijay.com.
To see all the “Seven Things” blog entries so far, just click HERE.
To join our Prayer Twitter, just use your cellphone! Text follow orchardprayer to: 40404. It really is that easy. From then on, prayer notifications will be texted right to your cellphone. You can also follow us on your computer by going to www.twitter.com/orchardprayer and clicking the big green “Join Today” button.