“God shapes the world by prayer. The more praying there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil......” E.M.Bounds
A while back I posted the commands of Jesus to pray so we could all see how much He invites us and expects us to pray. You can see it here: https://www.kingdomstreams.net/post/jesus-s-commands-to-ask
Someday I will (Lord willing) post all of Paul’s invitations and commands to pray - as there are many.
That we should pray is obvious. But a question I want us to ponder today is: “Should disciples of Jesus in their attempts to obey these commands use prayer lists?” Some would say, “Well of course! What’s wrong with that? Lists help us remember things and focus our prayers in a more strategic way.”
Others might say, “No we shouldn’t, because we are to “…pray at all times in the Spirit…” (Eph. 6:18), and lists would hinder that.” Lists might cause us to be legalistic or formalistic. They might keep us from listening to the voice of God and praying according to the leading and moving of the Holy Spirit.
I would like to make a case in this post for using prayer lists from time to time for the following reasons:
1. “If you aim at nothing you are sure to hit it”. Not sure who originally said this. But I have found it to be true. Prayer lists can help us be more focused and more strategic and more specific. God is into specificity.
2. Prayer lists can help us define and clarify what God is after with a person or an organization or a town or with yourself. For instance, If all I pray every day for myself is “God bless me” then He might respond to that in some way. But if I pray for myself every day from a list that I looked to the Holy Spirit to guide me in developing – things like:
- Please make me a more godly focused sensitive husband
- Please make me a more godly humble holy devoted man
- Please smooth my path, orchestrate my schedule, purify my pursuits
- Please provide contractors and professionals to help me with things I don’t know how to do or don’t have time to do and give me favor with them
- Please give me clarity and faith and passion and understanding of my gifts and callings, my God appointed sphere of influence
- Please provide abundant provision for the upkeep of our house and property, for our life and ministry together, for a newer car we will eventually need, etc.
If I pray specific focused strategic prayers like this then I can better measure how He has “blessed” me, my faith and expectation builds accordingly, and I can live my life accordingly. The same is true for my marriage and any other area of life and ministry.
Often in the early mornings during my meditations in scripture, according to the thrust of the scripture I am reading, I will feel led to pull out a prayer list/sheet on that general topic (if I have one). When I read this morning in Psalm 148:11 – “Kings of the earth and all peoples; Princes and all judges of the earth;” were to praise the Lord (per vs. 1-5 & vs. 13), I got out my two prayer lists for government officials and leaders of influence in our nation and in our local region here where we live and prayed through those – specifically that they would become worshippers in spirit and truth of our great God.
Every day, no matter how busy we are, we have a moment or two, maybe an hour or two that are not scheduled in concrete – discretionary time. When I know that I have some prayer lists that I have not prayed through in a while - that is a motivation for me to not do the knee jerk thing of checking in on the latest news or jumping on some work project. Can the Holy Spirit lead we intercessors to turn to a prayer list? I think He can and will.
Please know I am not advocating for always or only using prayer lists. There should be times where we intentionally wait on the Holy Spirit without lists. I don’t typically use lists in corporate prayer times these days. But in my private prayer they have really helped me focus in on areas and people and causes that I know He wants me to pray for specifically, fervently and persistently.
As to some examples of prayer lists, here are some I have already posted:
May the Holy Spirit give us all His heart and mind about using such tools for His kingdom and glory in Jesus’s name. Amen
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