Prayer

My sister and I are endeavouring to embark on a prayer project. We want to see results from our prayers. We have agreed to make prayer a priority for thirty days, praying everyday. Anyone who wants to join us is welcome, and can blog or comment here to let us know your experiences. I will be posting Scriptures that are especially good to pray, since God's Word has power. It is by God's Word that the universe and the world with all its inhabitants have been created (And God said. . .Gen. 1:6,9,11,14,20); and it is also an obvious way to know what God's will is in a matter, and the Scripture tells us that,

"If we ask anything that accords with His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, then we know that we have what we have asked from Him." (1 John 5:14,15)

Remember to pray to the Father, in the Name of Jesus (you are praying as a person who is allowed to come before the Father because of Jesus - you are not coming in your name or strength, or based on any good thing you have done, but come based on what Jesus accomplished on the cross!)

One Scripture that is always good to pray is Ephesians 3:17. I am quoting from the Complete Jewish Bible. Paul is writing and says:

"For this reason [so that the Ephesians would not be discouraged by the troubles Paul was enduring] I fall on my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth receives its character.
I pray that from the treasures of His glory He will empower you with inner strength by His Spirit,
so that Jesus may live in your hearts through your trusting.
Also I pray that you will be rooted and founded in love, so that you will be given strength to grasp the breadth, length, height and depth of the Love of Jesus so that you will be filled with all the fullness of God."

In Colossians 4, Paul says that, "Epaphras always agonizes in his prayer on your behalf, praying that you may stand firm, mature and fully confident, as you devote yourselves completely to God's will."

Ezekiel 36 has some good verses to pray also; I will list some paraphrases, but you can read it for yourself and apply whatever you feel is appropriate:

Sprinkle clean water on ____ and ____ will be clean.
Cleanse _____ from all uncleanness and from all their idols.
Give ____ a new heart and put a new spirit inside _____.
Take the stony heart out of ____ flesh and give ____ a heart of flesh.
Put Your Spirit inside _____ and cause them to live by Your laws, respecting God's rulings and obeying them.

Paul writes in 2 Cor. 5:15

. . .because we are convinced that one man died on behalf of all mankind, and that He died on behalf of all in order that those who live should not live any longer for themselves but for the one who on their behalf died and was raised.

And of course, Jesus taught us to pray:

. . .Your Will be done on earth [in ____'s life] as it is in heaven.

So, in summary, some Scriptural things to pray for include:

That God will empower our loved ones with inner strength
That they will be rooted and grounded in love, and filled with the fullness of God.
That they will stand firm and mature, devoting themselves completely to God's will.
That God will cleanse them and give them a new heart of flesh and remove the stony heart (give them a heart that is sensitive to God)
That God will give them His Spirit and cause them to live according to His laws.
That they will not live for themselves any longer, but that they will live for God and for His glory.
That God's will should be done in their lives.

I encourage people to keep a journal, at least marking on a calendar each day that you pray. It will help you to not get off track too much - and helps keep you accountable to yourself. Another idea is to write these verses on an index card which can be easily referred to for praying and then mark it each time you pray. Of course, I find that whenever I think about my loved ones I am praying for, I can simply pray any of these from memory and don't need to mark the card. Praying the Scriptures helps me stay focused on God and His ability, rather than focusing on the problems. Paul wrote that, "God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above what we ask or think." (Eph. 3:20)