Scripture for August: “Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere.” Ephesians 6:18 (New Living Translation)
Quotation for August: “Quit praying about yourself and be spent for others as the bondslave of Jesus. That is the meaning of being made broken bread and poured out wine in reality.” Oswald Chambers
Director’s Message: Back in the colonial period, New Yorkers used to make fun of their Puritan neighbors in New England by telling the Yankee Prayer: “Lord, bless me & my wife, my son John & his wife. Us four & no more!” At its best, this joke exposed Christians who put on a godly looking exterior and yet are completely absorbed in their own needs and desires. As I reflected on this humorous old saying, I realized that we are robbing ourselves and our families when we expend most of our energy in pray on “us four and & no more.”
Think about this: If ten church members pray just for their own needs, they each have one person presenting their case to the Lord. But if each would trust the Holy Spirit to put their needs on the hearts of the other nine and in turn pour themselves out in intercession for the needs of their fellow believers, then each person would have nine people taking their needs to the Lord. And nine beats one anytime!
Lord, never let my prayer life major in my needs and minor in the needs of others. Help me to trust you so completely that I walk in the confidence that You have placed my needs on the hearts of other Christians and am free to pray selflessly, as Paul instructed me, “for all Christians everywhere.”
Daily Prayer Emphases for August:
MONDAY – Pray for the safety our children and our teachers as they return to school, and pray for all our students (especially those going to college) to be protected from the grip of godless, secular ideas.
TUESDAY – Pray that President Obama and the members of the 111th Congress will prove to be friends of Israel and friends of the innocent.
WEDNESDAY – Pray for the Lord to lead and empower our Cornerstone Conference officials as they chart our course for the next four years.
THURSDAY – Pray for new IPHC churches to be birthed and for like-minded unaffiliated churches to seek fellowship with the IPHC.
FRIDAY – Pray for a revival of repentance—sparked by an agonizing awareness of sin—in our churches and in our communities.
SATURDAY – Pray for our missionaries and for our national pastors.
SUNDAY – Prayer for the pastors in your district by name—that God will encourage and anoint them.
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