READ, MEDITATE, PRAY
READ:
– Genesis 32
– 2 Kings 19: 15-19
– Matthew 6: 5 – 15
– Colossians 4: 2 – 4
In all this COVID-19 Coronavirus lockdown period I really miss our Tuesday evening Prayer Fellowship meetings. The weekly Read-Meditate-Pray tries to help and keep undisturbed our Bible-reading and prayer life as part of our individual devotion. These two are organically connected: there is no Bible-reading without prayer, nor prayer without drawing biblical spiritual support.
Read-Meditate-Pray with me this week about…PRAYER. In Genesis 32, as Jacob returns home after running away with fear, his prayer is very simple, but determined: – I will not let you go unless you bless me. And God blessed him there. In the Second Book of Kings, Chapter 19 the deathly ill King Hezekiah prays: – O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God , – and God blessed both him and his people. Jesus gives prayer a new meaning in Matthew 6: 5 – 15. He offers us guidance and example of what the basic content of prayer should be, but also that His Words should carry and feed our words in all that we say and how we say it. Apostle Paul in his Epistle (Colossians 4: 2 – 4.) says: – Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful…so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ. Paul encourages the Colossians to persevere in prayers. Whatever area of our lives is under pressure, whatever hurts we may receive, we must keep on praying for ourselves, for others and for the work and witness of the Church, to which we belong. Prayer, he says, is what the devil most wants us to neglect, to have faith in God disappear from our lives for ever.
When you pray, what are you really trying to say? What do you want? Are you praying because you are in need? Do you really believe in prayer? Do you sometimes, – or usually – pray only for yourself? Which words occur most frequently in your prayers: I, me, we, they? What does the Lord’s Prayer mean to you? MEDITATE on these questions…and…then…PRAY.
PRAY FOR:
– a prayerful life and faith in Christ to support your prayers,
– personal and common praise and thanks to God,
– living Christianity in our personal lives, families, congregations, persecuted churches and the Christian Church Universal,
– people of other faiths or none,
– all people overburdened by anxieties, responsibilities, work, suffering, grief …or even being bored during the lockdown,
– the blessing of God Almighty on our loved ones, country, the entire humanity and…ourselves,
– the support of the Holy Spirit in all we say and do, to the glory of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Do not hesitate to say the Lord’s Prayer as often as you search for words of prayer: OUR FATHER, WHO ART IN HEAVEN…
With greetings and prayers from your minister, Sandor.
GRACE BE WITH YOU ALL (Colossians 4:18)
