Praying for the World: Understanding God's Heart for the Nations

60 Undated Devotions

J Hudson Taylor, J Oswald Sanders, James Fraser, Will Bruce

• Publisher: 10Publishing
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781912373048
• eBook ISBN: 9781912373048

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Sometimes we can struggle to remember God's instruction for us to be involved in his mission to the world through prayer. Maybe our prayers for missionary friends have become stale or maybe we've simply forgotten that praying for the world should be our priority. However we feel we're doing with praying for the world this devotional booklet will warm our hearts and inspire our prayers with great truths from God's Word.

These 30 devotions are authored by experienced Bible teachers and mission workers J. Oswald Sanders, James O. Fraser, and Will Bruce and daily reflections are written by J. Hudson Taylor. Their first-hand experience of missionary work helps them to write with infectious passion and energy. Why not keep this booklet with your Bible for when you need encouragement and motivation to help you to pray for God's kingdom to come across the globe.

PRAYER TOOLS

Will Bruce

	DAY 32	Praying for One Another - I

Every Christian in our modern world is under constant satanic pressure and attack. We must bear one another’s burdens as we see these pressures escalating. We can and must do this by regular, specific prayer. So much of our praying is limited to just, ‘Lord, bless … ’ or, ‘Lord, meet the need of … ’

We are admonished in Galatians 6:2 to bear one another’s burdens. Some burdens are too heavy to be borne alone. This happens because of a sudden flood of problems, a lack of adequate Bible teaching or because of spiritual immaturity. On the other hand, Galatians 6:5 tells us there are burdens for which each one must take responsibility. He must seek God’s help and do what he can for himself. In 2 Corinthians 1:8–11, Paul writes of the extreme pressures that can be handled only through the prayers of others.

To be guilty of the sin of prayerlessness is to be guilty of the worst form of practical atheism. It is actually saying we can get along without his help while the evidence is very clear on every hand that we cannot. Could it be that the sin of prayerlessness stems from our unbelief that he is a living God who exercises direct influence on the affairs of men?

Instead of waiting until crisis problems develop which result in panic praying for others, we need to trust God to protect them as we pray Spirit-led, thoughtful, caring prayers before the problems overwhelm them and they are unable to cope. We need to engage in major battles, not just minor skirmishes, moving from surface praying to in-depth praying. We need to pray both defensively and offensively.

Praying for others is vital to our own spiritual growth. If we pray for them at all we often get bogged down with the material or the trivial and do not move on to the spiritual and the eternal. Where are our priorities? Often they are so clouded by humanistic and materialistic philosophies on the one hand and the pressures of the day on the other that we ignore the spiritual almost entirely. Needless to say, we do not cease to intercede for material needs as we learn to pray protectively for spiritual needs and growth. We need to progress beyond, ‘Lord, bless John and Mary’ and be specific, thus moving from crisis praying to protective praying.

For example: Fred or Jane is unemployed. We pray for a job, as we should, but what is God saying in this circumstance? What are the spiritual lessons to be learned? What are the attitudes, the frustrations, the mental depressions, and the fears? How about the interpersonal relationships within and outside the family? Is God glorified in this time of stress by their actions and reactions? Many times in our very limited intercession for others we pray for deliverance from difficult circumstance, sickness, or accident. We forget to ask that Fred or Jane will take God’s more than ample provision and learn the lessons God has for both in this trial. Our concern is not necessarily for the removal of the problem but for victory in it and God’s glory. Daniel was not kept out of the lion’s den. He was kept in it!

Another example: After six years of seeing the happy marriage of a fine young couple who have been leading the young people’s group, we find that they have filed for divorce on grounds of incompatibility. They say, ‘We no longer love each other.’ We petition God with deep concern for them in this crisis, but have we been praying for them protectively, strategically, specifically and with discernment during their years of married life?

As we recognise the absolute necessity of praying protectively for one another and bearing one another’s burdens, we must not excuse ourselves by saying, ‘How can I pray for them when they do not tell me their needs?’ Others’ needs are often similar to our own. As we think of their needs, God’s word and his Spirit will lead us in prayer.

REFLECTION

‘Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness.’ 2 Corinthians 12:9

Paul was distressed by a burden which he did not have strength to bear, and asked that the burden might be removed. God answered the prayer, not by taking it away, but by showing him the power and the grace to bear it joyfully. Thus that which had been the cause of sorrow and regret now became the occasion of rejoicing and triumph.

	DAY 33	Praying for One Another - II

Pray that the one for whom we are interceding:

• Will realize his present exalted position in Christ. Paul places the utmost importance on the child of God entering into a mature partnership with the Father. This is partially achieved by realising his present exalted position before God in heaven now through the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross. It is only as we acknowledge who we really are in Christ that we can live this new identity. Many believers seem to be ignorant of this. Pray that others will get their true identity and self-worth from who they are in Christ and not from success, failure or what others say or think about them.

• Will present himself as a living sacrifice. In Romans 12:1–2 Paul presents the ultimate and totally necessary step of Christian dedication. This is presenting our bodies and all we have and are as a living sacrifice to God. This commitment is not essential to salvation, but no progress will be made in the Christian life without it. Pray that others, like Paul, will cry out, ‘Lord, what do you want me to do?’ and then do it.

• Will be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Lord commands us to be filled (Ephesians 5:18). The filling of the Holy Spirit is not optional equipment for the Christian. Nothing in the spiritual life is accomplished without his power and in-filling. In the measure that we are not Spirit-filled we are self-centred, selfish and carnal. Pray that the believer will allow the Holy Spirit to work daily in his life.

• Will be regular and systematic in the study of God’s word. It is essential for us to pray specifically that the one we are praying for will take the word of God as his food, guide, companion, only source of information about God and the spiritual life, only authority, and the ultimate fountain of joy in this life (Psalm 119). Pray, too, that as he is in the word he will appropriate it and obey it, let God’s word guide him, show him his blind spots and keep him balanced.

REFLECTION

‘That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord.’ James 1:7

Only those prayers will be answered which are in harmony with the revealed will of God. Unless the word of God is abiding in us, how can we be sure that our petitions are in harmony with his will?

	DAY 34	Praying for One Another - III

Pray that the one for whom we are interceding:

• Will have the mind of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 2:11–16 the spiritual man is seen as having both the spirit of man and the Spirit of God. Thus we pray for the believer, that having supernatural life in Christ through the indwelling Holy Spirit, he may appropriate the mind of Christ in all matters of life. Pray that he will choose to make Christ-like decisions in regard to priorities, goals and guidance, with sharpened insights so as not to waste time on good things and miss God’s best. Pray that he will constantly live with eternity’s values in view, an attitude impossible to attain without the realisation that the Christian life is a miracle life from beginning to end (Galatians 3:1–3).

• Will grow daily in Christian maturity. Nothing is more tragic than a twenty-year-old infant! Many today are in that spiritual condition after having been saved for a number of years. Pray that the believer will see that after the crisis experience of being born again there is the lifelong process of daily growth in Christ that takes patience, time, discipline and the power of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:10; 4:11–16; Philippians 2:12–13). The mature Christian must have a spirit of forgiveness with no root of bitterness because of any treatment of himself or others. He must learn to handle stress, frustrations and unfulfilled expectations in a Christ-like manner.

• Will appropriate the full armour of God. Pray that the believer will have his eyes opened to the dangers of certain satanic attacks and will put on the full armour of God. The armour plus the skilful use of the authority he has in the victorious Christ insures full protection (Ephesians 6:10–18; Colossians 2:1–15). Pray that the one for whom we are praying will fulfil his responsibility as one born for battle, resist te...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Editor’s Foreword
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Effective Prayer by J. Oswald Sanders
• The Prayer of Faith by James O. Fraser
• Prayer Tools by Will Bruce
• About the Authors