Praying for our children is a huge responsibility. It may be more important than anything else we do for them.

In Colossians 1:9-14 Paul teaches us how to pray for others, when he writes:

9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 1:9-14

After studying this passage years ago the Lord identified for me nine prayers to pray for my kids (as well as for others).

Prayer #1: Pray they UNDERSTAND GOD’S WILL.

9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will…

Prayer #2: Pray they GAIN SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING.

…in all spiritual wisdom and understanding…

Prayer #3: Pray they PLEASE AND HONOR GOD.

10 …so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him…

Prayer #4: Pray they BEAR FRUIT.

…bearing fruit in every good work…

Prayer #5: Pray they KNOW GOD BETTER AND BETTER.

…and increasing in the knowledge of God.

Prayer #6: Pray they are FILLED WITH GOD’S STRENGTH.

11 May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might…

Prayer #7: Pray they ENDURE IN FAITH.

…for all endurance and patience…

Prayer #8: Pray they STAY FULL OF JOY.

…with joy…

Prayer #9: Pray they are ALWAYS THANKFUL FOR THEIR SALVATION.

…12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

In March I warmed us up to the idea of a unified, corporate prayer by using the Lord’s Prayer. Your response was very positive. If the Lord is willing, I plan to use what we prayed yesterday throughout the month of April. I created it from three different resources: The Valley of Vision: “Resurrection”, 1 Corinthians 15, and 1 Thessalonians 4. I intentionally focused on the resurrection to help us prepare for Resurrection Day on April 24.

Again, I welcome your comments.

O Lord,

we marvel that You would come in the flesh;

be crucified, dead and buried,

and then three days later be resurrected from the dead.

Your grave causes us to adore You with wonder

for it is empty and You are risen;

the Gospels attest to it,

the living witnesses approved it,

and our hearts have experienced its power.

We know that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,

and we know that neither does the perishable inherit the imperishable

Yet Your resurrection reveals this great mystery:

we shall not all sleep,

but we shall all be changed

in a moment,

in a twinkling of an eye,

at the last trumpet

for we know the trumpet will sound,

and the dead in Christ will be raised

and then we who are alive,

who remain,

will be caught up together with them in the clouds

to meet You in the air.

Death has been swallowed up in victory

and the sting of death is gone.

Therefore, Lord, help us to be steadfast

immovable,

always abounding in Your good work

because we know that our labor for You is never in vain.

And grant us today more and more of the resurrection life:

may it rule over us,

may we walk in its power

and be strengthened through its influence.

We pray these things in Your Name, by Your Spirit and for Your Glory.

Amen.

Think about it for a minute. When I say, “All I can do is pray,” this is what I’m really saying:

• All I can do is ask the Omnipotent, Almighty God, who holds the universe in His hands to work on my behalf.
• All I can do is ask for grace from the God who gave up His son for me and adopted me into His family.
• All I can do is stop trying to run the world and ask God to do something.
• I can run most of my life on my own, but when it comes to this situation, all I can do is pray.
• I’ve run out of things that I can do, and now I guess I’ll resort to asking God for his help.

For a while I had this situation under control, but now I’ve got to ask God to lend a hand.

What a ridiculous statement. It shows my lack of dependence on God, my lack of faith in His power, my lack of trust in Him, and a serious overestimation of my own competence. Prayer is like my spiritual fire extinguisher, only to be used in times of emergency, when things get really bad.

In reality, prayer should be the first thing I do. Rather than trying to wade my way through a tough circumstance, I should immediately confess my dependence on God.

Prayer shouldn’t be my last resort, it should be my first resort. Not because my prayers are particularly mighty, but because God is on my side, and He is particularly mighty.

Have you ever said, “All I can do is pray,”? When have you made that statement? What does that reveal about you and your faith in God?

VIA: Stephen Altrogge

Joe Thorn, lead pastor of Redeemer Fellowship in Saint Charles, Illinois, has developed a schedule of The Valley of Vision for his personal use.

Thorn writes,

I rearranged the prayers into 3 daily readings, five days a week, and scheduled them to be read/prayed at 9am, 12pm, and 3pm Monday through Friday. This method took me through the entire Valley of Vision in 13 weeks, only repeating two prayers one time.

To stay on top of the discipline I used the calendar/alarm feature on my phone to alert me when it was time to pray (otherwise I would forget), and with those alerts I would stop whatever I was doing, pull out The Valley of Vision, spend a moment in prayer with the assigned reading, and then return to work. If I was in a meeting, I would excuse myself, step outside or even hit the washroom, and meet with God. Occasionally I found myself in a situation where I simply had to wait before I could get away, but most of the time I could slip away without a problem.

I found that when using this schedule, my days were rich with an awareness of God’s grace, and I was encouraged me to look to God throughout the day in a new way. I looked forward to these appointments/interruptions and my prayer life is better because of it.

I thought others might benefit from the exercise, so I asked Brian Malcolm to design a printable version for download. He was able to fit the entire schedule onto one page so you can easily print it and tuck or tape it inside your own copy of Valley of Vision. He has created versions for the leather bound edition, as well as the paperback (page numbers and sizes are different).

You should consider this guide and approach to prayer as one tool to help you seek God and maintain a posture of prayer throughout the day. It should not be the totality of your prayer life. Think of this as a means of fueling your meditation on Scripture, dependency on the gospel, and exercise of faith in and love for Jesus. I have used this schedule a few times now and have been richly rewarded. I hope it’s a blessing to you as well.

To download the Walking Through The Valley of Vision prayer guide, head over to its dedicated page here.

If you don’t already have one, you can order your copy of The Valley of Vision here (leather), or here (paperback).

I am inviting you to join me on this Valley of Vision journey for the last three months of 2010. Come and join me on this journey. It’s going to be awesome. You can do it. Let’s do it together.

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people”

1 Timothy 2:1, ESV

Have you ever promised someone that you would pray for him or her?  Have you failed in that promise?  It seems the honest thing we should do as followers of Jesus is to either fulfill our commitment in intercession prayer or not make the promise to begin with.

For example, what if when someone asked for prayer, we replied with, “I really hurt for you, but I since I won’t remember your request, I can’t promise you I will pray.” What a horrible thing to say in church!  Well, at least it’s honest.  You see, we tend to treat prayer like a passing gesture instead of a divine privilege.  May this blog post today encourage you to pray…and really pray.

Paul wrote this verse with great passion to his young friend in regards to biblical worship.  1 Timothy 2 is immersed with a Spirit-led guideline for worship.  It should come to us at no surprise that prayer begins the section.

Without pure and honest prayer, how can we truly worship?  How can we believe and trust in the greatness of God if we refuse to speak to Him?  Friend, we have a divine privilege each day to enter into His presence through Christ, our Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5).

I believe it’s time we quit treating prayer like a nice comment or gesture and handle it with graceful privilege.  As the bride of Christ, let us pray for one another with sweet intercession.  May our prayers for our leaders not be for our selfish conclusions but rather God’s sovereign plans.  May our promises to pray for others not be forgotten.

Why did I write on this today?  Well, last night after the Wednesday night movie time with my students, I walked into the student center to grab a bottle of water.  As I was walking into the room, some students were circled together near the stage.  My intern was on the stage with a mic in his hand praying.  I grabbed the bottle of water quietly and proceeded to the door.  Right before my hand touched the door, I heard my name lifted up in prayer.  I stood near the door for almost a minute as my dear friend prayed for me.  The sweet intercession brought sweet peace to my soul as I drove home after a long day at the church.  I was prayed for that night.

Pray.  Pray for someone today.  Make a promise to pray for someone else…and really do it.

Bobby Welch

Most Baptists do not believe that foot washing is an ordinance. Yet it is a biblical concept. The vivid description of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples is one of the best depictions of servanthood anyone can imagine. The scene must have shocked Peter and the other disciples, but this did not stop Jesus from taking a towel and washing the feet of these ordinary men who had become His followers.

Recently, Bobby Welch, former president of the SBC, led a brief devotional for a meeting of executive directors from state conventions all over North America. This veteran pastoral/missions leader read the words of Scripture, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news.” Then he challenged us to group together in twos and pray over each other’s feet.

My prayer partner was Bob White, executive director of our neighbor state convention in Georgia. I kneeled down and placed my hands over his feet (shoes) and asked the Lord to use the influence of Bob White to continue to “bring the good news” to people. When I concluded, Bob then kneeled down and prayed a similar prayer over my feet.

Afterward, Bob and I spontaneously hugged each other in an act of Christian love. Few times in my life has such a simple act meant so much to me. I was moved to tears, and I glanced around the room and I saw so many Christian leaders kneeling down and praying for each other. I wish I had taken a picture of the scene. Well, in one way I did take a picture. It was a mental one, tucked away in the archives of meaningful moments in my ministry.

We may not believe that foot washing is an ordinance, but we do believe in praying for each other. When you pray over the feet of Christian leaders, you are making a commitment to pray for these brothers more than just at that particular moment. For years to come, Bob White will be uppermost in my prayers. I am praying that his feet will become even more beautiful in “bringing the good news” to others.

Thank you, Bobby Welch, for helping me, and I am sure many others, to learn to pray in this profoundly simple way for my brothers in the ministry. This moment is etched in my memory for the rest of my life. I now have an even more special bonding with my friend, Bob White. May his ministry be blessed as his “beautiful feet” are used to serve the Lord.

Our Father in heaven…

The Lord’s Prayer reminds me that God’s purpose for your life is always bigger than my life

…hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…

The Lord’s Prayer requires I see myself as needy.

Give us this day our daily bread…

The Lord’s Prayer reminds me of God’s daily call to give the same to others as God has given to me.

…and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

The Lord’s Prayer reminds me that my biggest struggle in life exist inside, not outside, of me.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

The Lord’s Prayer reminds me that true heartfelt prayer ends as it begins – with recognition of God’s kingship and glory.

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

We need more prayers like this prayed over our marriages – for newlyweds as well as for not so newlyweds.

Heavenly Father, You have established marriage for the welfare and happiness of mankind.  Yours was the plan and only with You can we work it out with joy.  You have said, “It is not good for man to be alone.  I will make a helper suitable for him.”  So we look to You to provide what  _____ and _____ will need to have a magnificent marriage.

BLESS _____.  Bless him as a provider of nourishment and clothing.  Sustain him in all the pressures of this world.  May his strength be her protection, his character be her pride, and may he so live that she will find in him the haven for which the heart of a woman truly longs.

BLESS _____.  May she seek not for her adornment to be external only, but that her heart would be adorned with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit which is precious in Your sight.  Develop in her a tenderness that will make her great, a deep sense of understanding and a great faith in You.

TEACH THEM that marriage is not living merely for each other; it is two joining hands to serve You.  Help them resist the evil one.  And give them a great spiritual purpose in life.  May they seek things which are above, for if they seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness, the others things will be given them as well.

Now make such assignments to them in Your will as to develop their character as they walk together.  Give them enough tears to keep them tender, enough hurts to keep them humane, enough adversity to keep their hands clenched tightly in Yours, and enough success to encourage them in their walk with You.

May they remember that they are insufficient in themselves—that human love breaks down—and that there is never a point in life at which they will not need You in their relationship.  May they not expect of each other the perfection that belongs only to You.

May they minimize each other’s weaknesses, be swift to praise and magnify each other’s strengths, and see each other through kind and patient eyes.

When life is done, may they be found then as now, hand in hand, still thanking You for each other.  May they serve You happily, faithfully together, until at last one shall lay the other into Your arms.

This we ask through Jesus Christ.  AMEN.