Monday, November 30, 2015

Prayer for HIV-positive children in South Asia

https://netcommunity.imb.org/msonehivchildrenshome
Lord, today we pray for the HIV-positive children in South Asia. These children suffer not only from lack of medication that would prolong and improve their lives, but are also neglected by family members and medical workers who are afraid to touch them. Lord, please spread accurate information in this part of the world so caregivers learn that HIV cannot be spread by casual touch. Compel families to keep and care for these children, rather than abandon them. Inspire local leaders to include these children in educational opportunities. And, Lord, bless One HIV Children’s Home. Help the 30+ children who live there experience love, provision, safety and the Gospel of Jesus Christ as they receive care. Provide for the home’s needs, and inspire others to create additional homes for these vulnerable children. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. 


Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Prayer for impoverished Cambodia

samaritanspurse.org
Today we pray for Cambodia, one of the poorest nations in the world. Lord, rally your people to provide access to clean drinking water and education for Cambodian children. Bless the efforts of organizations helping provide food and agricultural projects. We pray especially for the projects with long-term vision for empowering the Cambodian people. Thank you for John Coale and Greta Van Susteren’s efforts to help the specific villages of Yeay Ort and Chouk Chey, which were dangerously short on food and employment due to drought. May these villages thrive with their new irrigation system and mushroom spore business. Protect them and other poor villages from the hovering sex traffickers who would gladly take their children. Finally, Father, we ask for the spread of the Gospel in this mostly unreached nation. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen. 

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Prayer about tensions between Turkey and Russia

Turkish F-16

Lord, we are concerned about Russia and Turkey after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet. Father, please keep passions in check. Please keep leaders calm and objective. Lord, we are concerned about the tension between these two nations. Help their leaders and people recognize the greater good in keeping peace, rather than retaliation. May the truth come out about what actually happened. May necessary confessions take place. May these two nations choose to resolve their differences so they can focus their attention on bigger concerns. May your ambassadors use any influence they have in whatever positions they hold in order to point people to truth and to you. Finally, we ask for peace for the family of the pilot(s) killed. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Prayer for South Sudan, the world's most fragile state

Photo by Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch
Lord, we have not forgotten South Sudan. For so many years people tried to get help for those who lived in southern Sudan. The crises were heart-breaking. Now that South Sudan has become its own nation, so many people have forgotten it, though it is currently considered the world’s most fragile state. We are so sad that half of South Sudanese children are malnourished. We are grieved about the armed conflict that happened along ethnic lines in 2013, as well as the continuing violence. Lord, please provide food for these children and their families. Please bring healing to the countless girls and women who have been sexually assaulted during these conflicts. Work in hearts to combat ethnic hatred. Bless Emmanuel Christian College and other institutions having success diminishing prejudice and violence. Bless the churches that run refugee camps for some of the hundreds of thousands of refugees. Thank you for drawing people to you and increasing church involvement. Reveal to us if there is any way we should personally help. For now, we pray for South Sudan, in Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Prayer for a grieving Beirut

Hasan Shaaban/Reuters
Lord, today we pray for Beirut, Lebanon. This bustling city was recently shaken by its worst terrorist attack in decades. Lord, we grieve for the 45 lives lost. We grieve with the wives, husbands, parents, children… the many people whose hearts are shattered after losing their loved ones in such a heinous way. Lord, we are thankful for Adel Termos’ heroic actions in tackling the second suicide bomber in order to minimize the damage. May his wife, daughter and son remember their father as a hero. Bring them comfort. Bring the entire city and nation comfort—not only from the loss of life but also to those who feel the world has neglected them. Lord, shine your light in the midst of this dark time. May your children in Beirut find opportunities to share the hope found in you. Reveal yourself within the city of Beirut today, we pray. In Jesus’ name, Amen. 


For more information, visit http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/16/world/middleeast/beirut-lebanon-attacks-paris.html?_r=0.  

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Prayer for French survivors’ long-term healing


Lord, this morning the terrorist attacks that rocked Paris and the world are still at the forefront of our minds. We are praying for the people of France. We are praying for justice. We are praying for those who lost loved ones. We are part of the solidarity reflected all across social media. Yet we know, Lord, that the solidarity and resolve will soon fade, while, for many, the psychological and physical injuries will not. So this morning we take a moment to consider the future. We pray for the long-term healing that will seem elusive to many who witnessed and experienced the carnage of November 14, 2015. We pray even now for medical professionals of all related specialties (mental health, physical therapy, orthopedics, etc.,) to feel called to work with these survivors. We pray for the survivors to find the inner strength and hope to persevere on their journeys toward healing. And we pray for at least one Christ-follower in each survivor’s life to regularly come alongside him or her to point to HOPE, even when suffering seems overwhelming. Reveal yourself through this journey. Glorify yourself through healing. In Jesus’ powerful name we pray, Amen. 

How "Praying to Change the World" Began

Bryan Loritts challenging us in our prayer lives. 


"If God answered all your prayers, would the world change, or just your world?" 

I was jotting down many notes during the powerful message on prayer Bryan Loritts was delivering to our audience of camping ministry professionals. Quotes like: 

"The prayerless person is the functional atheist who keeps his eyes on this world, not the one to come." 

"Fundamentally, prayer is much more than petition. Fundamentally, prayer is experiencing and encounter." 

"Prayer is oftentimes more about the journey than the destination." 

and several more. 

But the question about changing my world versus changing the world gripped me. 

My prayer life is very much about providing a platform for God to glorify Himself. I faithfully pray for many people and situations. Yet even my treasured copy of Operation World (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13800117-operation-world?from_search=true) has been collecting dust in recent months. 

I had to face it: I could definitely pray more for the bigger, wider world on a more consistent basis.

The wheels in my mind started turning: back to Operation World? Subscribe to some sort of simple, world-focused prayer list? Was there such a thing? There must be...

Then the idea came to me:  I can do that. I can create a simple, world-focused prayer list. 

How many people want to pray for the world on a regular basis, but don't have the discipline to create structure for it? How many are overwhelmed by a 978-page volume like Operation World

I will write simple prayers a few times each week, and these can provide starting points for anyone who wants to change THE world, rather than simply THEIR world. 

If you'd like to join me in changing the world through prayer, subscribe to my blog on the upper-right corner of this page, and you will receive the prayers via email a few times per week. (Or you can revisit this page, of course.) 

The prayers will be simple, but the God who hears is in the business of moving mountains. May He magnify Himself as we pray together.