January 29, 2010
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Lord, teach us to pray once again: may we pray fervently like Elijah
Continuing on with some reflections on prayer which I'm titling "Lord, teach us to pray once again." (I would encourage you to read/pray through my post "May we learn to value the blood bought privilege of prayer" in addition to this post.)
Lord God,
You taught us through your servant Elijah, a man like us, who prayed fervently, who was not slothful, but served you in that behind the scenes ministry of prayer.
James 5:17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
Romans 12:11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.O, may we not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in Spirit.
Lord, teach us to pray.
May Your Spirit burn in us so we might pray with the fervency of Elijah, so we might serve You in the ministry of prayer.
May we go to Your throne of grace and may we keep going again and again.Lord God, You have already taught us to pray...
Yet we are so slow to learn...
Father, have mercy on us.
Forgive us, for Jesus' sake.
Though we are slow to learn, we come to You and ask us to teach us again...O, may we not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in Spirit.
Lord, teach us to pray.
May Your Spirit burn in us so we might pray with the fervency of Elijah, so we might serve You in the ministry of prayer.
May we go to Your throne of grace and may we keep going again and again.Lord God, we confess have a hard time waiting on You.
We can pray regularly for a time, but then we pray less and less often.
We start out praying with urgency but soon we become lackadaisical.
And soon we sometimes stop praying altogether.
Forgive us, O Lord.O, may we not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in Spirit.
Lord, teach us to pray.
May Your Spirit burn in us so we might pray with the fervency of Elijah, so we might serve You in the ministry of prayer.
May we go to Your throne of grace and may we keep going again and again.We boil up and become fervent about so many other things, worldly concerns,
but how often do we boil over with a passion to meet with You in prayer?
We take time to meet with other people, but how much zeal do we have to meet with You in prayer?
How often are we really fervent in prayer?
How often are our prayers just lip service wrought out of our dead flesh rather than a fruit of Your living Spirit?
Have we ever really prayed fervently like Elijah?O, may we not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in Spirit.
Lord, teach us to pray.
May Your Spirit burn in us so we might pray with the fervency of Elijah, so we might serve You in the ministry of prayer.
May we go to Your throne of grace and may we keep going again and again.
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.
He was weak, yet strengthened through Your Spirit.
He was tempted to be apathetic, yet he was made fervent by Your Spirit.
He was tempted to be slothful, yet he was made zealous by Your Spirit.
O, how much more can we be strengthened through Your Spirit who has come to dwell in us!O, may we not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in Spirit.
Lord, teach us to pray.
May Your Spirit burn in us so we might pray with the fervency of Elijah, so we might serve You in the ministry of prayer.
May we go to Your throne of grace and may we keep going again and again.Lord God, our spirits are willing but our flesh is weak.
We saw how Your mighty Spirit strengthened Elijah.
We are weak, strengthen us through Your Spirit to pray with fervency and zeal.
We are apathetic, make us fervent by Your Spirit to pray with fervency and zeal.
We are slothful, make us zealous by Your Spirit to pray with fervency and zeal.
O living Spirit of God, send Your fire and Your passion, fill us with Yourself, make us zealous to pray!
O Spirit of truth, put into our minds and hearts Your holy thoughts, desires and words to speak to our Father.O, may we not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in Spirit.
Lord, teach us to pray.
May Your Spirit burn in us so we might pray with the fervency of Elijah, so we might serve You in the ministry of prayer.
May we go to Your throne of grace and may we keep going again and again.O, Lord God, we confess we so often get busy doing lots of things, granted they are good things.
We too easily forget serving You includes spending time in prayer with You.
May we be zealous for our times of prayer.
Remind us of the blood You shed for the privilege of prayer, the price You paid so we could freely commune with You at Your throne.
Keep us ever-mindful of this service of prayer, this ministry of prayer, to which You call each of Your children,
particularly Your pastors.
We lift them up to You and ask You would renew their zeal and passion for prayer again.
Protect their time. Help them be good stewards of their time.
Help their people to understand the importance of prayer.O, may we not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in Spirit.
Lord, teach us to pray.
May Your Spirit burn in us so we might pray with the fervency of Elijah, so we might serve You in the ministry of prayer.
May we go to Your throne of grace and may we keep going again and again.
O, Lord God, look upon Your Church now.
You know we are in a wilderness time.
We walk by the flesh rather than Your Spirit.
We are bearing little fruit or bad fruit right now.
Forgive us, O Lord.
Have mercy on us!
Though there is not an exact parallel here with the account of Elijah...
Yet we see we are now in desperate need of rain.
The Church is indeed dry and barren in so many ways.
There is a form of godliness but a denial of the power.
There is an outward conformity but not an inward fire.
There is creedal confession without regeneration.
Send Your rain upon us, Lord God.
Refresh, revive and renew us with Your Holy Spirit for the sake of Your Holy Name.
We have no hope apart from You.O, may we not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in Spirit.
Lord, teach us to pray.
May Your Spirit burn in us so we might pray with the fervency of Elijah, so we might serve You in the ministry of prayer.
May we go to Your throne of grace and may we keep going again and again.
Brothers and sisters, please ask His Spirit to examine your zeal for prayer
Please add your prayers as He leads you.
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Comments (3)
God, many are our sins towards you. We pray so often without faith that you would bring the rain. I pray for faith like Elijah, give us faith like his to believe in your sovereignty and in your holiness. We know that those you have placed in Jesus' hands will not fail. I pray that we can continually trust you in our prayers. Grant unto us strength and power to come boldly to you through Christ Jesus. In Jesus name, Amen.
God forgive us our false pride, our haughtiness, our arrogance and mistrust in you. our stubbornness, our selfishness, our lack of grace and forgiveness. break us and humble us. let us be thankful, appreciative of your mercy and your abundant love for us and others. help us to be salt and light wherever we go and to whomever we fellowship with. help us to love them as you love them, see them as preciously as you see them. help us to be patient, kind, expecting nothing in return, always rejoicing and weeping with them in their time of need. help us to not complain or to gripe or murmur, but always recognize all you do for us and all you are. you are holy, perfectly righteous -- let us never forget that we aren't. let us always know how desperately we need you. let us only boast in you - let us not trust in ourselves but in you alone. equip us with the weapons and tools we need in the spirit. fight these battles for us. teach men truth. let htem not be slaves to rituals and traditions or false pride. tear down every false foundation and every wrong enslaving idol or belief. reveal to them your heart, Jesus Christ and let them love you more than all else. reveal to them your character...not just your precepts, but you. Holy spirit let them feel your presence and know you more. and let their increased love for you manifest itself in how they treat others. in Jesus' holy name, amen.
" But for me it is good to be near God" O Jesus, You told me to take Your yoke upon me and learn of You. Dear Holy Spirit, now that I am near, teach me, bring truth back to my remembrance. Knowing these things in my heart keeps my prayer fervent. May I never pray half-heartedly or without true faith. May I continue to cry to You. My heart longs for You and longs to know your ways so that I can pray as I ought. I love you.