Prayers for the People: Intro

I have returned to the heart land, if that is what you want to call Oklahoma. You know what? The rumors are true, they are all cowboys down here. Well not everyone, but there are quite a few. I have seen a lot of cowboy boots, belt buckles, and cowboy hats . . . and I guess that makes me feel right at home.

I am starting a small series called Prayers for the People - the title being a rip off of the card given to me as I walked into church last Sunday. There are 7 prayers, so there will be 7 entries. I may get them done soon, or it may be Christmas before they are all finished - I don't know.

In Ephesians chapter 1, Paul talks about his prayers for the people of Ephesus:

"For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your
love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you,
remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and
revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your
heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has
called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his
incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of
his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the
dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule
and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only
in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under
his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is
his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way."

From that leader's prayer, the pastor of my (like how I say my church as if I have been going there for years) church decided that they would pray 7 things for the people:

1. That we would love God more and ourselves less.
2. That we would live our lives from an eternal perspective.
3. That we would recognize the difference between soothing our consciences by doing good works and honoring God through sacrificial obedience
4. That we would model authentic Jesus-centered community that would inspire others to want to be a part of us.
5. That we would never be satisfied where our lives are but pursue God's vision of what our lives could be.
6. That we would eagerly embrace the truth, regardless of the cost
7. Though all of these actions are encouraged and expected, we would never manipulate or manufacture discipleship or good works; rather they would flow naturally from our transformed hearts as we submit to and rely on the Spirit.

I approached this the way I approach anything - with a formula, or trying to look at it with a step by step plan. What I quickly learned (actually already knew) is that you can't approach something like this with a formula. For some reason God doesn't fit into my formulas. So, I need to read the Bible and I wanted to re-read The Practice of the Presence of God with Spiritual Marxisms by Brother Lawrence. So by using verses and thoughts from Brother Lawrence I will come up with each entry. Still too formula, but it works for now. The entries may be bullet lists, they may be actual paragraphs (maybe even 5 paragraph essay style), or they may be a mixture of the two - I haven't thought that far ahead.