We admire the apostle Paul for many things. One thing that should stand out to us is the amount of time he spent in prayer. Consider the things he says to the following churches and individuals:
“Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers” (Eph. 1:15-16).
“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy” (Phil. 1:3-4).
“We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you” (Col. 1:3).
“We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers” (1 Thess. 1:2).
“I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day” (2 Tim. 1:3).
“I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers” (Philemon 4).
“Besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches” (2 Cor. 11:28).
One thing that will help us be better united as a congregation is prayer. Not just prayer for our unity, but us praying for one another individually.
It can be difficult to remember every member who needs our prayers. Announcements are made, and lists are provided in daily emails and bulletins, but it can still be difficult to pray for everyone who is in need. The fact is, we all need prayers.
I heard an idea a few days ago, and want to pass it along to all of you. What if each of us prayed through the membership directory, mentioning the name of every member to God in our prayers?
Some of you may already be praying like Paul, and you are faithfully mentioning everyone on the prayer list every day. That is great. However, if you are like me, it can sometimes be overwhelming to try to remember everyone who needs to be mentioned in prayer. And, just praying for those who are “announced” will leave many brethren out of our prayers.
Praying through the membership directory is one way to overcome this problem. Instead of trying to remember everyone who needs prayers, let’s try to spend quality time in prayer with just one opened page of the directory a day.
Here is what I am talking about. On the first page of our 2020 directory, we have four households consisting of seven members in total. Pray for these seven people on the first day. Mention them by name. If you know of their specific needs, mention them specifically to God. If you don’t know of any specific needs, ask God to bless them physically and spiritually (3 John 2).
On the next day, turn the page. There you will find three households consisting of six people. Pray for all of them.
There are 17 open pages in our membership directory. In a little over two weeks, you will have prayed intentionally and specifically for every member of the congregation, along with their spouses and children.
When was the last time you and I can say we have done that? Have we ever done that?
There is great power in prayer (James 5:16). I can’t help but wonder what such a thing can do for our congregation during this time.
- We will be praying for one another. The promise of Scripture is that effective, fervent prayers will avail much.
- We will be mindful of one another.
- We will be prompted to get to know one another better. When we encounter names of members we don’t know well, and can’t think of any specific needs, we should be motivated to get to know them better.
- We will be prompted to reconcile differences. It is hard to sincerely pray for the wellbeing of one with whom we have an unresolved difference (Matt. 5:23-24; 18:15).
- We will be praying for the salvation of lost souls. As we proceed through the directory, we will be praying for the spouses and unbaptized children of the members. We will obviously be praying for their conversion.
What should we do when we get to the last page of the bulletin? Hopefully, we will want to go back to the first page and start over!
Let’s give it a try.