Afghanistan is voting for their next president today. Everything from threats of death to impassable roads stand in their way.  In this image, donkeys are used to carry election materials to villages in the remote north.

Pray for safety, forgiveness among people groups.

Hope.

Photo by David Gilkey / NPR

After reading A Praying Life, I’ve been motivated to be more deliberate about my praying.  The book talks about using prayer cards and a prayer journal.  What I like a lot about Miller’s praying is the idea of keeping the needs of people regularly in prayer so that I can be alert to how God is working in their lives, and by providing scripture to pray for each category of need.

My first attempt is to use a small notebook.  I like seeing scripture typed out (it’s less distracting for me), so I’m using mailing labels to print scripture for each category of prayers.  Then I can write the specific requests and people under the scripture.  The rest of the notebook is to record events and quotes and sermon illustrations for me to also bring back to mind and to God.

Here are my categories and scriptures so far:

For my spiritual growth:

…We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience…
Colossians 1:9-11

For my attitude towards others:

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:2-6

For evangelism by us and by full-time missionaries:

And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Colossians 4:3-6

For my husband:

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.
2 Peter 1:3-6

For my daughter:

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
I Peter 2:2-3

For my household:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
I Corinthians 13:4-7

For those sick and suffering:

And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Romans 5:2-5

For our church and Christian friends:

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
1 Peter 2:9-12

For our church leadership:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is true worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:1-2 (our church’s chosen guiding verse).

For our small group:

He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
I Thes. 5:9-11

For my work:

Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters
Colossians 3:22-23

For those who need work:

Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.
Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in him at all times, you people;
pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
Psalm 62:5-8

God’s Kingdom work in the world:

See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power,
and his arm rules for him.
See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.

He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.
Isaiah 40:10-11

Several verses came from GodSquad (Campus Crusade for Christ).  The rest came from searching Biblegateway.com.  All verses are TNIV.

In my meditations book this morning was an essay by George MacDonald called “The Father’s Hands.”  An exerpt:

“The last act of our Lord in thus commending his spirit a the close of his life, was only a summing up of what he had been doing all his life.  He had been offering this sacrifice, the sacrifice of himself, all the years, and in thus sacrificing he had lived the divine life. 

“Every morning when he went out ere it was day, every evening when he lingered on the night-lapt mountain after his friends were gone, he was offering himself to his Father in the communion of loving words, of high thoughts, of speechless feelings;

“and, between, he turned to do the same thing in deed, namely, in loving word, in helping thought, in healing action toward his fellows.  For the way to worship God while the daylight lasts is to work; the service of God, the only “divine service,” is the helping of our fellows.”

May I give back, humbly and joyfully, everything God has given me.  And may my worship be a giving back of the spirit he has built up in me.  All the good I have is from him.