Are you all ready for this prayer challenge?!?! It's going to be great! If you already missed Monday - not to worry - we're talking about Monday's morning prayer. Just begin where you are. Read up on the challenge here.
It's not Monday morning, but we'll go in order and end on our Sunday prayers.
For your handiwork...
Let's dive in. Monday's morning prayer is a beautiful way to start the week - we begin by praising God as creator. This seems natural. Morning is one of the rare times of day I can actually hear birds from my city apartment. The sunrise is creeping through the window. Then we arrive at the especiallies. I LOVE the especiallies. Sometimes I read these straight through. Sometimes I fill in my own thoughts after the dot-dot-dots. Either way, it's surprising how many unexpected people/places/things/memories cross my mind as I pray.
Particular blessings...
Perhaps some of you have a hard time receiving gifts. Anyone in that category? Get ready - we're thanking God for "particular blessings coming to us this day": time with friends, ways others will serve us, strength to survive, joy and so much more. We acknowledge that before we even start our day, our heavenly Father is loving us - and preparing good gifts for His children.
Resources...
It's not often that I think about the resources my life consumes. Maybe some of you are on top of that: uber recyclers, gone green, bumpersticker types. I'm not so much. Mostly because I resists the world's fear-mongering when it comes to our resources. I trust my heavenly Father to provide what we need and if it runs out, it runs out under his jurisdiction. However, month after month of praying over my resources is getting to me. I'm seeing them connected to God's goodness and that causes me to treat them differently. To notice them, first of all, and second - to lug my vacuum to a recycling center.
Every human life...
You'll find as we work our way through the challenge that the prayers focus us on others. Here we don't make REQUESTS for others: help, change, fix. We THANK God for others. Hmm... and not just the people we really like. We thank God for the treasure stored in EVERY human life. What is that treasure? I'd say the mark of God, the image of God, the ability to host the living God. In every human life that is to be treasured - whether one is cantankerous, forgetful, uneducated, rich, impatient, mentally ill, physically disabled, selfish, 6 months, 16 or 85. There is treasure stored in everyone we encounter. Thank God!
Now for the supplications. What is supplication?
sup·pli·ca·tion
ˌsəpləˈkāSH(ə)n/
noun
- the action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly."he fell to his knees in supplication"
What do you usually beg God for? A few family things, a few things about your friends - and, if you're like me, lots of self-stuff. God, help me! God, sustain me! God, deliver me! God, support me! God, rescue me! God, defend me! Me, me, me!!!!
And here's where I fell in love with these prayers. Thanks to these especiallies, there's a little less me, and a little bit more neighbor. I'm praying for my community in a way I never have before. They have no clue! And that's fine, because my community doesn't need to know about me in order for my prayerful concern for them to be powerful. Less of me, thank God.
Those who work for others...
This prompt often has me praying for social workers that we've gotten to know through adoption. There are over 19,000 kids in LA County foster care. I know a sliver of the people who follow their cases, working tirelessly for these kids. They need prayer. Hey neighbor - I've got you covered.
Those who cannot work today...
Did a few names come to mind? Praying weekly for those I know who can't work has helped me understand the exhausting long-term suffering of unemployment. I might have prayed occasionally for the names that came to mind, but weekly I'm so much more aware of their struggle. How about you? Do you see where this is headed? Compassion is simply our experience of God's passion, and God's passion wants to consume you.
Those who teach and those who learn...
If you're in school - pray for yours. Pray for your kids' schools. You might do that anyway. What about your kids' classmates? Is there a school down the street from you? What would happen if all the Christians in LA prayed for the school closest to them. What if, when I run into the Archer girls at Starbucks or the park or crossing the street - what if I prayed for them? Their teachers! Hmm...
People who are poor...
How do you help the poor? Let's start with praying. Funnily, when you begin praying that God will provide for the poor, two things happen. First - you realize "I am not the poor." Now, I don't know your situation. I know gals living on disability, shopping with food stamps and wondering how to keep the lights on. However, when you pray for the poor, immediately, you begin to think of those less fortunate than yourself - and there is always someone less fortunate. Second, when you ask God to provide for the needs of the poor, it dawns on you that you are part of the answer to your own prayer. I can make an extra sandwich. I can find something to donate to the School for the Blind when they call. I can notice if my neighborhood homeless need an extra layer. I can because God has made it so.
The church...
We are all in this together. We're on the same team. We forget that All. The. Time.
Someone passed a recent mailer on to the office to let us know about a new church plant in the area. The mailer said something to the effect of "Are you tired of churches who try to have all the answers? We're a church that promotes questions, honest discussion and the arts." What?!?!?!
I get that they were targeting left-the-church types, but still - we're all in this together! I know there are flaws but, All churches support the arts because all churches worship The Artist! All churches promote honest discussion, because only honesty leads to talking about our need for Christ. Hello!! And we do the same: we do this because it's the right way and if other churches don't do it they don't care about__________. Fill in the blank: discipleship, life change, evangelism, maturity, missions, outreach, worship, etc etc etc.
So Monday mornings, let's pray for the church in Europe. Let's pay attention to what's going on and think how it might affect our teammates. Let's pray for sustained faith, mature growth, financial provision, salvation of sinners and deep roots of new believers. Let's pray for pastors, Sunday mornings, worship leaders, priests, nuns, volunteers, students, any and all we can think of, because it's our family.
And here's where the prayer ends. It always ends with a bigger picture of the church to remind us as we go about our day that this faith thing we're doing is so much bigger than we know.
What do these prompts make you think of? Tell me in the comments!
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