Minister’s Letter – Explaining our weekly prayer guide
On the back of our bulletin each week you’ll find our weekly prayer guide, six points to guide your praying for the week that follows. Most weeks the guide follows a pattern:
1. A prayer for world affairs. Why? “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1).
2. We pray for our nation, often for those in positions of responsibility. This is in keeping with Paul’s instructions to pray for “kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (1 Tim 2:2).
3 & 4. Two prayers for the ministry of our church, because “unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain” (Psalm 127:1).
5. Prayer for those known to us who are in a vulnerable position, for Jesus said “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
6. Finally a prayer for one of our mission partners, taking as our cue Paul’s request for the Colossians to pray “that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ” (Colossians 4:3).
What next? Simply address your heavenly Father in your own words, expressing to him the content of each point. There’s no magic formula or standard of speech necessary. If you’ve ignored this guide until now, it’s not too late to start using it!
Martin Kemp
