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PRAYER FOR YOUR CHURCH
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Kingdom focus/priorities
Lord, I lift up our priorities as a congregation. Give us ears to hear what Your Spirit is saying to our church. Open our eyes to see things as You see them. Help us move beyond issues of immediate need to pursuing Kingdom issues. Bring us to a place where “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” is more than just words we say. (Rev. 3: 22; 2 Ki. 6:17; Matt. 6:25, 33, 10)
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Home  November 2007 Tips and Tools
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Proper Guidelines Will Fix the List
One way to help bring a balance to the needs on your prayer
lists is to regularly distribute guidelines. The guidelines are intended to
“weed out” items that bog a list down and keep people from really praying.
These
guidelines should cover things like what kinds of requests will be taken, how
long will they stay on the list, and garnering permission to post requests.
Below are some possible guidelines to consider or tweak. They are a combination
of guidelines from Calvary Chapel Port St. Lucie and CPLN advisors.
- Requests are limited to close family
members: spouses, children, grandparents, aunts and uncles, nieces and
nephews. This may appear “cold,” but it will certainly cut down on
requests—and get rid of the dreaded “neighbor’s third cousin” items that
no one gets excited praying for. Remember, the shorter the list, the more
likely it will be prayed over.
- Requests must be limited to acute
situations. No travel mercies, God’s guidance, employment issues, or
needs that are normal things in everyone’s life. These make fine requests
for a person’s small group to pray over, but because they are so common to
everyone, a prayer list can quickly fill up with them.
- Permission to post a request must be
obtained. Please do not submit a request for someone without him or
her knowing you are doing so. Many people do not want others to know about
their problems.
- Do not put sensitive needs on the
public list. While we certainly want to pray about these issues,
marriage difficulties and breakups, wayward children, and prayer for
salvation issues may not be wise things to post publicly. A church needs
to find a more sensitive option to pray for these needs.
- No unspoken or anonymous requests. We
need to reserve the list for needs where people can pray with knowledge.
While God knows who you are praying for, only the most dedicated
intercessor will venture prayer for such needs. Don’t fill the list with
them.
- Only updated items will stay on the
list week to week. Challenge your people that they need to resubmit a
request each week, and they need to provide an update with it. This should
be some praise, a sign of God’s moving or simply additional information
about the need. Most lists have requests that stay on too long. This cuts
down on people’s attentiveness to praying for the list.
Two other
suggestions. First, still look for ways where people’s personal needs can
be prayed for—in a service or a prayer room—by trained prayer teams. Second,
above all, fill at least half of your list with ministry needs. This will begin
to encourage the kingdom praying you desire.
--CPLN and Pat Silensky.
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