Week 3 || Day 5
PRAYER FOCUS: THOSE WHO ARE IN NEED OF HEALING/TRIALS AND UNCERTAINTIES
As a child, I never dreamed of wanting a garden. However, when Samuel and I got married, the idea of growing our food on our property got me excited. As a lover of books, I knew right where to start. I hopped online and requested every book on gardening that the library had to offer. I read the beautiful how-tos—from amending soil to harvesting perfectly round watermelons—I studied the effects of different minerals and fertilizers. I gathered the supplies I would need. I was ready!
And then I began my garden. It was soon overtaken by cutworms and rotting roots and weeds. My watermelons looked like olives. My soil was dense and did a better job of creating perfect mini ponds than nourishing plant life.
I soon learned that reading about gardening was much, MUCH different than actually gardening. I needed to spend time in the soil, feeling it in my hands and addressing the specific pests and issues that my soil produced. I needed to try different things and then switch up my practices if they didn’t work. My success in gardening has come much more in getting my hands dirty than in filling my head.
Prayer is similar. Successful prayer isn’t gained by learning, but by leaning. Just as gardening became easier and more fruitful as I practiced it, so, too, does prayer become more fruitful as it is practiced. We are meant to lean on the understanding and Word of God and pray! As we pray, then, we will see things change. We will grow more accustomed to how God speaks to us and how He allows His will to be accomplished.
“Prayer is surrender--surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boathook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God.” - E. Stanley Jones, Liberating Ministry From The Success Syndrome
Today, we are praying for healing and for rescue from trials and uncertainties. When praying for these things, it is important for us to first understand God’s will in the matter. In the Lord’s Prayer, we see that Jesus instructed his disciples to pray, “Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.” We know that in Heaven there is no illness, no trials or tribulations. So we pray in accordance with that. We can boldly come before God, asking for healing and rescue from trials, knowing that it is in accordance with His Word. Again, as we discussed in the story of Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego in week one, we must also be prepared to glorify God as Lord “even if” He doesn’t answer our prayers the way we see fit.
Illustration: “On October 15, 1997, David Huxley strapped a harness around his upper torso and attached it to a steel cable some fifteen yards long. The other end of the steel cable was attached to the front-wheel strut of a 747 jetliner that weighed 187 tons. With his tennis shoes firmly planted on the runway, Huxley leaned forward, pulled with all his might, and began moving the jetliner down the runway. In fact, he pulled the 747 one hundred yards in one minute and twenty-one seconds.
God’s work resembles that 747 jetliner. Just as it is impossible to pull a plane any real distance without using its engines, we can do nothing in our own strength. We must pray for God’s power that enables His church to fly thousands of miles on the wings of Christ. The church needs God's strength and help to grow”. - Craig Brian Larson
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Kids SEEK, too!
Kids’ Illustration: From a student in the United Arab Emirates: When I was in school, I had to take the bus to travel back and forth each day, spending several hours on the bus. No one else went to my stop so it was of least importance and was the last stop. Some days I didn’t get home until late at night. The smell on the bus made me very sick and I would get home, not wanting to eat anything because my belly ached. It was tiring and frustrating. I knew it was a privilege for me to be able to go to school, but I was losing my desire to attend due to how sick I felt. I decided to pray that God would lessen the amount of time it took me to get to school. After three weeks of constant prayer, God answered my prayers! One day, many other kids from my neighborhood enrolled at the school, which led to a new bus being needed! My new bus only had one stop and my time on the bus was cut to a very short ride! God is good and He heard and responded to my prayers.
Kids’ Activity for Today’s Prayer Focus:
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Bible:
“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” (Luke 18:1)
“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” (Romans 8:26 NLT)
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6 NLT)
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Quote for Today:
“When we rely upon organization, we get what organization can do; when we really upon education, we get what education can do; when we rely upon eloquence, we get what eloquence can do, and so on. Nor am I disposed to undervalue any of these things in their proper place, but when we real upon prayer, we get what God can do.” - A. C. Dixon, Evangelism, A Biblical Approach.
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Points to Ponder:
It is important when we pray that we pray according to the Word. One of the best ways to pray for others is by doing just that - praying through the Bible! We have an excellent prayer tool that you can use to do that!
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CLOSING PRAYER: Dear God, we thank you that one name you have revealed yourself to us by is Jehovah Rapha, the God who Heals. We thank you that you sent Jesus so that we could pray that Your will would be done here on Earth as it is in Heaven. We thank you for healing for sickness and disease. We thank you for healing aches and pains. We thank you for healing broken hearts and broken minds. Father, we ask that you would continue to reveal ways that we can pray boldly to you, according to Your Word. We love you, Father! In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
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