Check out http://allheartsoulstrengthmind.wordpress.com/ to learn about prayer and give prayer requests.
The prayer requests, praises, and stories of answered prayer are attached to the bottom of this post. I am excited to share about prayer, learning about what it is, where to pray, how to pray, why we pray, who we are praying to, and when we are to pray. Before the prayer requests, there is a section about what the Bible says about prayer.
God’s will for us in prayer is not about opinion. It isn’t just talking to God and hoping He’s listening. It is not about simply sharing some requests and hoping someone will pray for them. It is much more than that.
His will for us in our walk with Him is that we continue to find joy in obedience to Him. That we search out His ways, which He says are not our ways. That we learn about Him in Scripture and that we have intent to honor His name in our deeds and when we pray to Him.
I couldn’t be more convicted of the fact that while Jesus is the only way to salvation, once someone confesses with their tongue that Jesus is Lord over their life and believe in their heart that God raised Jesus from the dead that there are essential commands to live by according to Scripture. They aren’t simple suggestions. They aren’t whimsical. They aren’t opinion. They are things that God says “Do this” and we should comply.
It would be easy to skip over learning about things like prayer and to the action step of the command, which is in this case, praying. However, God demands more from us than that. He has laid out a process that leads to Spirit-led prayer, which is much different than ignorant prayer, idol prayer, and the prayers of unbelievers.
Hebrews 6:1-2 states:
“1Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
2Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.”
And Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:
“1 Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.”
With these things in mind, if the Bible gives a command such as “Pray ceaselessly” and says of prayer in Romans 8:26-27, “26 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. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” Then do we not know that we lack in knowing what we ought to pray, yet are to pray ceaselessly? That we are to learn and no longer be infantile in our spiritual thoughts and not continually having to lay out what the Bible is calling base doctrines?
The Bible gives many commands and each one of them is we should learn through study. Jesus told His disciples to go and begin “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). In order to do this, it is self-apparent that we must read Scripture, pouring over it so that we may internalize it. Paul calls it solid food and something that as we study more, we can receive more.
Therefore, if God says to pray ceaselessly and yet we lack in knowing what we ought to pray, wouldn’t it be glorifying to God and obeying His desire for us that after receiving Christ as our Lord and Savior, our Prophet, Priest, and King that we do the very thing Jesus tells us to do by learning and going out, teaching the world to obey everything that He commanded us, including how to pray?
In order to do this, we must open up the Bible and intake it like food for our souls. If we don’t, we hinder spiritual growth in our lives and become stagnant. We lose our saltiness and are no longer are much of a light to this dark world.
It’s a great and powerful thing to know what prayer is and what it is not. A great message about prayer that addresses this can be seen here
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“Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”
Ken Thomas wrote this stanza to conclude the hymn “Awake, My Soul, and with the Sun” in 1674. These well-known lyrics have ironically become a common doxology, even though Ken Thomas believed that only Scripture should be used in corporate worship, pray, and song. He wrote the words and instructed others to only sing them at home during their personal devotions.
We can invision hosts of people singing these words then concluding them with a prolonged, “Ah-men” in a low octave. As tradition goes, words can be repeated so often that they lose their meaning and purpose. Thus, when praying or worshiping God, words can become hollow. It is sinful, human nature to grow lazy in reverence of God and having a heart to plunge the depths of his goodness.
Being sinful creatures, we tend to fail to focus on the meaning of God’s words and often lack obedience to daily come before God in prayer. We miss daily communing with God and do not even know the purpose of prayer. We rarely, if ever, think, “Why do we pray?” and “How do we come to pray?”
Meditating on the meaning of Ken Thomas’s hymn, we realize it resembles the prayer Jesus taught his disciples as an example of how to pray. The focus is on thanking and praising the God from whom all blessings flow. Soon, we realize that an obedient way to thank and praise God is to obey His words. This may seem obvious, but how often do we neglect the fact that God is a God of order and has told us what He desires from us?
God has declared Himself ruler over all things of all things, full of purpose, and worthy of study and worship. It is important to know how He wants us to learn about Himself. Because He is a God of order, He has designed an order that, when followed, fills our lives with joy that can only be found in His holy presence.
The order is as follows:
God draws —–> Repentance —–> Confession/Belief —–> Grace —–> Faith —–> Indwelling —–> Obedience —–> Prayer
God draws His elect to Himself, softening their hearts and giving them ears to hear according to His will so that they may repent of their sins and turn towards Him. Repentance spurs on the spoken confession that Jesus is Lord and belief in one’s heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. With that, God graciously grants us eternal life because of our faith in Jesus, filling us with the Holy Spirit. Those who are called and believe are to obey God’s laws and grow in stature through prayer and reading the Word.
Each part of God’s plan deserves study and each are individually important. If one is missing, the rest do not happen or do not happen correctly. For example, if God does not draw someone to Himself, they would never know to repent and so on. Therefore, it is important to know what God has said about each one of these things in His inspired Word.
It’s important not only to know something exists, but the qualities of that particular thing. For instance, it’s important to not just know that a wheel turns, but also know who made the wheel, what they made the wheel out of, when the wheel was made, where it was made, why it was made, and how it was made. If you know these things, you won’t be inclined to try and reinvent the wheel and make one of your own that is prone to flats.
In this case, God is the “who” that created prayer. He has showed us what to pray, when to pray, where to pray, why to pray, and how to pray.
Isaiah 64:8 says,
“8But now, O LORD, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.”
Similarly and more expansively, Romans 9:15-23 says, “15For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
19You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—.”
God has made it abundantely clear that unless he chooses to draw someone to Himself, then they will never choose Him. In fact, the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 3:10, “None is righteous, no, not one.” Unrighteousness will never choose righteousness. They cannot share the same space.
Therefore, It is a blessing to know that God chooses us and molds us. If He didn’t, then we’d never know Him and is it not a glorious, wonderful thing to know the LORD? In fact, Isaiah 6:10 says,
“10 Make the heart of this people dull,
and their ears heavy,
and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
It is clear that if we were to understand God with our own minds, we would become prideful and deny Him, claiming that we are able to do works that only God can do. We would deny God and His power over us.
God has chosen His own from all peoples. Acts 13:48 says, “48And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” In fact, being chosen is part of God’s expressed plan. Ephesians 1:5 says, “5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will”.
It is a wonderful thing to know that God graciously gives us an inheritance of eternal life spent in His perfection in heaven. “11In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,” the Apostle Paul states in Ephesians 1:11.
We should continually thank God for what He has chosen to give us. God makes it known in 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14, “13But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 14To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Most importantly, John 6:44 says, “44No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” Without this drawing of us to God, we would never receive the Holy Spirt and we are told in Scripture that because of our sinful nature, we don’t know how to pray. Romans 8:26 states, “26Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Studying the sovereignty of God fills us with reverence, humbleness, and thanksgiving. What better way to enter the presence of God in prayer than in such a state of mind, with a sincere and broken heart?
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Prayer Requests, some new, some repeated, and some answered:
Continue to pray for Japan and for those affected worldwide by natural disasters. The devil continues to seek out people to devour and destroy God’s creation.
Update: My friend Derek Johnson’s prayer for support to finish out school had seemingly been answered. He was offered a loan by a fellow school mate. However, about a day later, Derek received news from the school mate that he had decided to not give the loan. Therefore, Derek is back at square one and in need of prayers for support to finish his schooling at Elim College. He has thanked those who are praying for him.
Update: My friend Taran asked for prayer for a friend’s sister who has several internal problems and needed surgery to keep her alive. She had surgery and it went well. Please continue to pray for her health and healing, as she will have further surgeries in the future. Also, please continue to pray for Steve Pierot, a man that Taran knows, who was recently arrested for death threats towards and physical abuse of his ex girlfriend. He used to know the guy, and he was always really quiet. Taran has been praying for him and for the situation that he’s in. He’s a troubled kid who just couldn’t control himself. Just pray that he’ll stay safe in this situation, learn from it, and for his own salvation.
My good friend Dan Bowen in Michigan asks for prayer for his friend’s dad who broke his leg and also is a diabetic and struggling with infection, which has caused him the partial loss of one of his feet. Pray for his mother who was laid off from her job of 12 years. He also prays that he can find a new job because he may be laid off soon from his current position because there is word that his office may close in a few weeks.
Chad Toelke, a friend who graduated with me from high school, asks for prayer as he begins raising support to be a leader of Adeline Camp.
Continue praying for Julian in the UK who asked that we pray for his parents Ian (87) and Beryl (84) and for their difficult marriage and most importantly of all, for their salvation. He said that he hears of few who are saved at their age.
Please pray for a young woman that I met very recently who was on many sedatives and psychotropic drugs that the doctors had put her on. She had a three year old son that had been taken from her custody. I don’t know her back story, but she asked for prayer and said she believes in Jesus. She said she misses her little boy.
Roy Rodriguez, who disciples me, asks for prayer that he grows in obedience to God, walking into a burning passion for Christ.
Pray for Roy Rodriguez Jr. who asks for prayer for revival and justice in the Rockford area.
Pray for Cody Miles, a friend of mine from my days as a student at Northern Illinois University. He will be going to a Christian concert with an unbelieving friend and is praying for the salvation of his friend. Also, pray that he may get a permanent teaching job so that he and his wife can qualify to buy a house.
My friend Ricky Walz asks for prayer for his dad and that his dad stays away from alcohol. He also asks for prayer for the salvation of his dad, mom and sister.
Pray for pastor Keith Doster, who I met at a conference for pastors and has given me sound advice. He asks for prayer for Robert Morgret and his plans to go to Mexico at some point. It will truly be a miracle if he ever gets there. Robert Morgret is a deaf missionary who loves the Lord. He has been trying to start a sign language ministry in Mexico. Deaf Mexicans are outcasts and almost none of them know what sign language is. They barely survive and are a population unreached with the gospel.
Pray for Cheryl Kolb, the wife of Bob Kolb who is the pastor of Faith Community Church where I have attended services since I was five years old. Praise God! Their son and daughter in law, Bobby and Rachel, were granted a visa for their adopted son, Nico, who they adopted in Africa while on a mission.
Pray for Chris Cellura who I met in Korea. He says, “I would really appreciate it if you could pray that the LORD would grant me more zeal. Leading and teaching has made the spiritual battle much more difficult than it has ever been before and instead of zealously putting up a fight, I’ve become slack in areas where I should not be. These are normal struggles, I assume, not just for leaders, but everyone. If you can, pray that the LORD would restore my zeal for His Kingdom cause and not let me get so easily discouraged…!”
Continue to pray for Trevor Johnson who is a missionary in Papua New Guinea. He and his family, as well as his neighbors, are regularly sick with malaria and dengue fever. Currently, Trevor is healing after a severe bought of dengue fever and malaria, which caused a low platelet count in his blood and weakened him so that his trip inland has been postponed. Pray for healing.
Thank God for answered prayers for my friend Dan Sullivan who was able to find another job. He asks for prayer that he can find work in ministry because that is the desire of his heart.
Pray for Gayle Boos and her husband Harlan. Harlan’s mother past away last week and Gayle’s mother’s health is failing. Pray for comfort during this time.
Pray for my cousin Christopher who is looking for a job.
Pray for my friend Amber Wallace who asks for prayer for political situation in Wisconsin which is affecting her ability in finding a teaching job for the fall. Amber is newly engaged to Josh Lamb. I met both of them while employed as a camp counselor in Wisconsin. Josh asks for prayer for the political situation in Wisconsin, also.
Pray for Deb Hartman, my aunt, who says, “I would like prayers for my father-in-law who has lung cancer, I have a friend at work that has cancer everywhere and a co-worker that just finished radiation for breast cancer. I would really appreciate your prayer requests on their behalf.”
Favor Kim in Korea asks for prayer about a lawsuit against her neighbor and choir at church.
Please pray for Jaimee Kartheiser, a friend I met during my time as a missionary in New Orleans, who asks that she will stay focused on Jesus and that my quiet times will be glorifying to God.
Hyeonju Jeon from Seoul asks for prayer as she takes class to be an art therapist so she can practice art therapy with North Korean refugee children and for her life at home with her family. Also, please pray she grows in her courage to share the Lord and pray with others.
My friend Matthew Taylor, who I met in Louisiana, is preparing to be a missionary with a group called To Every Tribe. He is preparing to move to Texas for training in September and is asking for prayer that the support is raised for him to go at that time.
Paul Snider, a missionary and awesome man of God, is preparing to go to Papau New Guinea in September. Pray that he is prepared.
Joshua Yun, a friend and godly man in Korea, asks that the gospel be spread in Seoul. Korea is sadly a huge proponent of the prosperity message, which is a false gospel that preaches that if you believe in Jesus you will get all the worldly things that you desire.
Warren Young, my grandpa, asks for prayer for his wife asking that the Lord grant her some relief from her health related problems. He also asks, “Pray for my good friend Bill and his family. This month his wife fell and broke her shoulder, Bill was hospitalized and had a heart stint put in to remove a blockage, On the 20th of the month his mother passed away, and his Dad is currently in the hospital. Please GOD help them in this time of need.”
I ask for prayer that God will continue to grow me in deed and wisdom through His Spirit and that I wait on His sovereign timing for my life. Pray for the new job that I a working. Pray that I may be a light to the people I work with that are in darkness. I am looking for partners in desire to share the gospel and the importance of building up prayer. God has put a desire within me to begin networking with others to build up the desire of prayer in others and the desire to evangelize locally. Please pray for my family. I just started a new job at a rehab facility and have been substitute teaching a lot in the past week. Pray that I don’t overdo it because I’ve been working 17 hour days and that I am a light to the rehab patients and students. Also, there has been some issues with the hours at work that I am currently discussing with my supervisor and Human Resources. Pray that it is worked out and without much stress.
Praise God for His goodness. Thank Him for His grace and mercy. Pray that his name is hallowed and His will is done.
