In Your Bible
Read This
Ezekiel chapter 34.
Here Is
Your Memory Verse
For our struggle is not against flesh and
blood,
but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark
world
and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6.12
Afterwards
Talk About This
Today it would be good to spend some time in prayer,
doing what we have just learned together.
Something To
Do Before Next Time
Spend special times of prayer either alone or in prayer for each other,
to cover all those areas of spiritual need where we need prayer for ourselves
so that we can be better witnesses for Jesus.
Written
Diploma Work
Write a prayer in no more than two pages, interceding according to 1 Timothy
2, 1-8
for all the different levels of rulers and for the peoples of your nation.
Meditate Word
By Word On This Verse
Acts 26, 28-29
-
Spend a Minute to Change the World
- Pray For
Algeria - Operation World page 87
- 30,000,000
North African peoples, 60,000 dead in recent civil war
- 99.4%
Muslim, all unreached, intense opposition to the gospel
-
Be sure to teach this
lesson to others.
-
Always pray and
prepare well adding
-
your own verses and
stories to bring it to life.
Crowds Of People
One day when I
was visiting the market I had to wait outside a shop which was full of people
wanting to buy something. I was nearly crushed by the crowds of people, all in a
hurry. First of all I thought badly of them because they were pushing and
shouting, some were drinking and many were smoking and using bad language. Then
I remembered the time when Jesus saw the crowds. He was not angry with them but
saw them as harassed and helpless people. Jesus had compassion on them and asked
his friends, the disciples to pray for workers to help them. Matthew 9, 35-38
Sheep
Without A Shepherd
I repented of my impatience and began to pray. I felt God speaking to my
heart saying, " If you really want to help these people, then no amount of
human effort will get their attention. The best thing to do is for you to
get closer to me so that I can respond to your prayers and bring the people
to Me."
Bible Prayers That Save The Lost
Think about this
for a moment, especially if you know your Bible. Where do you find examples of
people praying to God and asking him to save individuals like Mother, Father,
Son, Daughter, boss, neighbour and so on. The simple answer is that you cannot
find these prayers!
Why Not?
Because God has already shown himself to be totally committed to their
salvation. He is much more committed than we are. For him the matter has
been already decided, and forever.
God made a
promise to crush the head, that is the authority of the devil, Genesis 3.15
God bound
himself with agreements or covenants to bless mankind including Genesis 9,
1-17, Genesis chapters 15 and 17, Exodus 34.10
Even though
man broke his promise time and again God in his love and mercy promised a
new covenant in Jeremiah 31.31.
He promised
Abraham that through him and by faith the families of the earth would be
blessed, Gen. 12, 1-3.
God gave an
entire nation, Israel, the job of ministering his blessing in the earth,
Exodus 19, 5-6.
In Ezekiel
34, verses 4, 12, 16, the Father shows his great compassion by declaring
that even if man fails to care, he will personally search for the lost,
bring back the strays and bind up the injured and strengthen the weak.
Above all,
God sent his Son, Jesus, to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19.10, Luke
4.18.
When God
sent the Holy Spirit, the first thing he did in public was to inform men
from all over the world, in their own language about the wonders of God.
Acts 2, 1-12.
What Is
The Best Bible Prayer?
Now that we know just how committed and determined God is, we can pray
in the name of Jesus with passion, with perseverance, with insistence and
with absolute confidence, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as
it is in heaven. Amen."
How Then Should We Pray?
Even though we
know that God is so committed to seeing people saved we still need to pray, and
pray often and with considerable passion, enthusiasm and perseverance. What
should we pray?
-
First, We
Must Pray For Ourselves
For our
minds to be opened to the reality of lostness, Revelation 20.11.
For passion
for the lost, Luke 19.10.
For doors
opened by God, 1 Cor. 16.9, 2 Cor 2.12, Acts 14.27,
Col. 4.3,
Revelation 3.8.
For
sensitivity to God’s guidance, Acts 8.26 onwards.
For wisdom,
as opportunities may not come where we expect,
and we often
look in the wrong place. James. 1.5
For courage,
Eph. 6.19, Acts 4.29.
For freedom
for Holy Spirit to do his work of convicting men, Acts 1.8.
For his
words, Isaiah 59,21, Jer. 1.9.
For a
mentality of growth and harvest, Matthew 13, 1-23, Isaiah 53, 10-11.
We Must Always Pray For The People
Prayer is an
expression of our love. The best kind of prayer picks up the longings of God and
expresses them back to him with words. Paul guides us how to pray for people in
1 Tim. 2, 1-3. "As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord
by failing to pray for you." 1 Samuel 12.23
We Pray As Spiritual Warfare
Although the god
of this age, Satan, has blinded the minds of unbelievers, prayer will open those
unseeing eyes and rescue men from Satan’s power so that they may be forgiven by
God and join his family. 2 Cor. 4.4, Acts 26.18. We have to pray against Satan’s
work to hold back men, money and materials to advance the gospel. Ephesians
6.12. In fact so tight is his grip that Jesus told us to ask God to thrust
workers into the harvest fields. Thrust is a word that implies some pushing
forward! 2 Corinthians 2.11; Matthew 9.38
Answered Prayer.
The Bible tells
us that the early church devoted themselves to prayer and God added daily to
their number. Because their leaders saw prayer and the word as very important,
the number of new disciples increased rapidly. Acts 2, 42,47; 6, 4-7. Remember,
if we pray according to the will of God, then our answers are on the way. 1 John
5, 14-15, Mark 11.24, Matthew 18.19, Matthew 7.7, Jeremiah 33.3.
Taken from the
Joshua Project Unreached Peoples List
these people have no church and as yet
no cell, church or mission has committed themselves
to prayer, adoption or church planting among this people.
Afghanistan
(2)
|
People
Name |
Language |
Population
|
Nangalami (Nigalami) |
Grangali |
24,000
|
Pashayi,
Southwest |
Pashayi, |
108,000
|
Shughni |
Shughni |
10,000
|
Tangshewi |
Tangshewi |
10,000
|
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the lessons