You are “making the jump to lightspeed” in your prayer life when you learn to pray for others. Our young prayer life usually mimics a McDonald’s drive-through: “May I take your order please?” We pray like God is there to listen to us and pull our order from his warehouse. The Bible does says “make your requests known to God.” But your prayer life begins to accelerate when you begin to pray over the big items in the world that God is concerned about: disasters that destroy families, violence against fellow mankind, people slipping into eternity with no knowledge of God.
Jesus said, “My house will be called a house of prayer for the nations.” (Jesus quoting Isaiah 56.7 in Mark 11.17) Jesus wants us to compel people to come to him that his house full (Luke 14.23)
Prayer is a consultation with God, a conversation between God and you. A conversation where you and God talk about the healing needed in situations you become aware of around the world. Prayer is God’s invitation to speak with Him about the restoration, and peace and the healing of salvation.
I am sending my highlighted earlier edition from Lee Turner (CCA mission worker to the Muslims) with very useful lessons about praying for Global turning to Christ. That is when our prayer life turns from self-absorbed myopia to praying for the things that capture God’s heart. Great conversations await those who talk with God about the nations turning to Him.
Here’s some ideas to “make the jump to lightspeed” in praying: read OperationWorld on your mobile device (I have talked with the webmaster and their website is puny compared to the APP) and pray for the reports of needs on nations. When you see the news about Godless behavior ask God to reveal how to intervene and transform the darkness. Pick one of our missionaries a month and pray for their success. We texted the Kilsons as we read Japan in OperationWorld tonight. Pray as a family for the neighbors to come to faith, for the schools your children will attend, for your family’s witness of the supremacy of a family united in Christ.
Gaining The King’s heart,
Deryl Titus