Be Intentional
Here's what's interesting. The Bible doesn't say a lot specifically about prayer. I mean people pray in the Bible, Jesus teaches His disciples how to pray in Matthew 6:5-13. Paul tells
believers to replace anxiety with prayer, petition and thanksgiving in Philippians 4:6-7. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 is where we find the verse about praying continually.
And James 5:16 talks about praying for each other with a purpose in mind.
I'm not saying that the Lord leaves us in the dark about prayer or its importance, but to really figure out how to make prayer the most effective in our lives, we're going to have to call on some other
Biblical principles and ideas.
If you came into this thinking that your prayer life is not that effective and may need some upgrades, then I would point you to something that probably comes into play with any area of your Spiritual life
that you think is not that effective. And maybe we don't restrict that to your Spiritual life. Maybe we can point to this if there is any area of your life where you feel you're not that effective.
The principle or the idea is this: You maximize your effectiveness when your efforts are intentional. A lot of people in Scripture were intentional about what they did. I might even argue that the
Bible is full of people whose life, goals, purpose and actions were intentional. I guess that's why their stories made the Book. Nehemiah, Daniel, Joshua, Paul, even Jesus Himself.
Being intentional in your Spiritual life means aligning your plans with God's plans. It involves seeking the Lord's guidance and surrendering your desires to the purposes and goals of His Kingdom.
Intentionality is like keeping in step with God. Galatians 5:25 talks about keeping in step with the Spirit.
God is up to something in your life. God is up to something in the lives of the people in your family, in your neighborhood, in your town, in your school, around the world. At the same time, we live in
a fallen world full of sin and everything imaginable that goes against the things of God. At the same time, there is a very real enemy at work to try to destroy the work that God is doing. If all that is
true, do you really want to just wander through life? Is it a good idea just to get up every morning and your goal for the day is, "let's see what happens." If you've ever been whitewater rafting, you'll
notice that your guide doesn't just sit there as if to say, "let's see what happens". In the river, around all those rocks, it's chaos. If he decides to just see what happens, everybody in that boat is
going to be in big trouble.
CHALLENGE:
- When you think of living out your Spiritual life with intention, what comes to mind?
- Are there areas of your Spiritual life where you feel you're just wandering through life?
- Given that God is up to something in your life and the lives of those around you, does it make sense that your prayer life should be intentional?
- What about your prayer life in particular to you think is not intentional and may need to change?
Identify People
Okay, if you're ready to make some changes to your prayer life so that it's more intentional, then my first piece of advise to you is to get your prayer life organized. And that means you need to start
writing things down. How many times has someone shared something with you and you said to them, "I'll be praying for you." Then several days or weeks go by and you see that person again, and you
realize that you completely forgot to pray for them. I already know why that happened. And you already know it, too. You didn't write it down. You didn't put it somewhere so you would be reminded.
This is why you need a journal or something on your phone or some place to keep your prayer life organized. I have a big prayer board in my breakfast area at my house. And that's where I go to pray
every morning. If it doesn't make the prayer board, I won't remember to pray for it.
If you're ready to write some things down, and you have a place to do that, then your next big step is to start identifying people in your life that you need to pray for. Sure there are situations where
our prayers are needed, but those almost always are situations that affect people. Would it be more meaningful to pray for the end of a war or to pray for the people that the end of the war would most
impact? If you start centering your prayer life around other people, generally the situations will take care of themselves.
Some verses to encourage you that praying for others is important:
CHALLENGE:
The challenge for today's devotional is to start putting together a prayer list by thinking of the people in your life who need prayer. Don't worry if the list starts getting long.
- Who in your family needs prayer?
- Who among your friends need prayer?
- Who are some people you know of at school or in your community that are going through a hard time and need prayer?
- Who are the Spiritual leaders in your life that need prayer? (Pastor, youth minister, small group leader, teacher, etc.)
- Don't skip this one: Who in your life would you consider an enemy or an adversary? They definitely need your prayer.
- Who is someone in your life that needs your forgiveness or needs to forgive you? Write them down.
- Who are the authorities in your life? (Government, civic leaders, school administrators, bosses). They really, really, really need your prayer.
- Who have you told, "I'll pray for you" but didn't follow through?
- Who do you know on the mission field that needs your prayer support?
- Who do you know that lives a life of serving and protecting others? (First responders, law enforcement, nurses, etc.)
Gather Specifics
Do we really need to say specific prayers for people we pray for? I mean, doesn't God already know what's going on in their lives? Well, technically, yes. But Scripture has lots of examples where
people prayed for something specific. Read these verses:
- 1 Samual 1:10-11 - Hannah prayed specifically for a male child.
- 1 Kings 3:9 - Solomon specifically prayed for wisdom.
- 1 Kings 18:36-37 - Elijah boldly prayed for God to send fire down from Heaven, and then later for rain to end the drought.
- 1 Chronicles 4:10 - Jabez asked God specifically to enlarge his territory.
- Luke 1:13 - Zechariah (father of John the Baptist) prayed specifically for a son.
- Acts 4:29-30 - the early church prayed specifically for boldness and healing.
CHALLENGE:
The challenge for today's devotional is to go back through the prayer list you made in the previous devotional and identify some specifics to pray for.
- You don't have to do this just in your own strength. Lift each person's name to the Lord and ask Him to reveal something specific for you to pray for regarding that person.
- For some on your prayer list, you may feel led to just reach out to them and ask. I do this sometimes. The conversation goes like this: "Hey, I feel like the Lord put your name
on my heart to pray for you. Is there anything specific that I can pray for?" (Sometimes just knowing you're being prayed for can be a huge comfort!)
- For some on your prayer list, you may just have to stick with a name for now and look for opportunities down the road to make the prayer specific.
Set Aside Time
I may have saved the hardest part of getting your prayer life on track for last: setting aside time to pray. If you took the challenges in this devotional seriously, you likely have a pretty
long prayer list. I hear you--I feel like mine gets bigger every day. And again, as I've mentioned before, when can I take somebody off the list? Even if a prayer is answered, that doesn't
necessarily mean that person doesn't need to be prayed for anymore.
I would recommend maybe you divide and conquer. Split your list up so that you have some people to pray for every day. Some people on your list you need to pray for every day. Others you may
could pray for on specific days. I try to make sure I pray for our church staff on Sunday mornings. It's their big day when they will be responsible for leading, encouraging, teaching, shepherding.
I try to make sure I pray for the school leadership where I teach at various times during the week. Bottom line, you don't have to pray through your entire prayer list every day. Be organized.
Be strategic. Most of all, be intentional!
What we don't want to do is turn our prayer life into reading through a list of names. As you pray, you're going to see God answering those prayers. So you want to take some time as you pray to
thank Him for those answered prayers, and for working in the lives of those you are praying for. Gratitude should be a daily part of your prayer time. You also want to take time to praise and
worship the Lord. Acknowledge His love, grace, mercy, power, patience, healing, restoration, redemption. I always start my prayer by saying, "Lord I want to lift up Your name and the name of Jesus
above all names." That seems to position my heart and mind to pray in faith to the only One who can change lives and hearts and minds.
Now, you need to find a time to pray. Finding a time to pray should be just as intentional at the prayers themselves. You're not going to be able to exercise your prayer life if you don't set
aside time to pray. For me personally, I do my major praying in the morning. I just know that for me, if I don't do it in the morning, I'm not likely to get to it as the days always tend to get
crazy. That means I have to get up earlier than I normally would. And that means I have resist the temptation to gloss over my prayer time and just get focused on tackling the day ahead.
You may find that another time works best for you. But submit to the fact that in order to have an intentional prayer life, and to use prayer to impact your life and the lives of those around you,
it is going to take time. Yes, it will take faith and perseverence. Yes, you may go for a long time while praying for someone before you see something change. That's okay. By praying for those
around us, we are being obedient to the Lord. Obedience is the key. Results will come if we just trust in the One who created all those people you're praying for, and who wants the very best for
them in their lives--just like He does for you!
CHALLENGE:
- How has this devotional challenge brought about some changes in your prayer life?
- Have you divided up your prayer list into manageable daily lists?
- When have you strategically set aside time to spend time in prayer?
- Read Psalm 18:1-3 and memorize it. It's a great way to start or end your prayer time.
- After you've made changes to your prayer time, what do you see that's changing or how are things different?
