Weekly Roundup: Prayer
It only takes one question to make any Christian instantly ashamed: How’s your prayer life?
In this post, I am not asking that question. It is not my intention to shame you for not praying or not praying enough.
Instead, my hope is that these articles will help you understand the privilege, necessity, and joy of praying to your heavenly Father. Enjoy!
Resources
Why Is It So Hard to Pray? | Burk Parsons | TableTalk
This one is short and yet cuts deep, exactly where the scalpel is needed.
It’s hard to pray because humbling ourselves, getting over ourselves, and coming to the end of our stubborn and sinful selves is hard. When we pray, we die to self, and death hurts. That’s why our flesh fights so hard against prayer.
5 Ways to Pray for Your Church Family in 2020 | Erik Raymond | Ligonier
This article encourages us to pray for, in our churches for a hunger for the Bible, for thankfulness, for gospel growth, for holiness, and for unity. Amen!
Our Father, give our church—give me—an abiding delight in Your Word. Cause me always to hunger for the truth while being ever satisfied with the truth. Lord, make our church a Bible-saturated church.
Our Father, give our church—give me—an abiding delight in Your Word. Cause me always to hunger for the truth while being ever satisfied with the truth. Lord, make our church a Bible-saturated church.
God, strengthen us in the gospel. Draw us deeply into the glory of Christ. Make us more and more impressed with Him this very day. Cause us to grow in the gospel and walk in a manner worthy of it.
Our holy God, make us to prize and pursue Your holiness. Strengthen our burden, commitment, and endurance to strive daily after holiness in our lives.
Father, You are one God in three persons. There is such a loving, happy unity in the Trinity. Make this church—make me—to feel this happiness. Cause us to be united in and through the Trinity so that we might be united together, as a church, in love.
Humbly Coming Before Our Father: The Privilege of Christian Prayer | Burk Parsons | Desiring God
Parsons answers these questions: Who is a child of God? What does it mean to be a child of God? Am I a child of God?
Too often, we presume what our Father will not do for us or what our Father will not give us, and thus we never ask. We treat ourselves like orphans although God has made us sons. For when God adopts us into his family, he doesn’t merely call us “adopted”; he calls us sons.
Becoming A Praying Church | Dan Jarms | The Master’s Seminary
This article proposes a [too] simple way to begin to pray. May our hearts be changed to want to pray with our hearts more than we want to do with our hands!
I have always found it easier to do than to pray. Prayer often feels like one of the greatest fights of faith. But as we see in Scripture, it is a worthwhile fight.
Core Convictions About Prayer | Daniel Hyde | Ligonier
This article is more aptly titled “The Privileges and Promises of Prayer”.
A Pastoral Prayer for Unity | Challies
Every so often, Challies shares an example of a pastoral prayer from his church. This one was beautiful.
Photo by Jeremy Yap on Unsplash