by Rev Peter Ratcliff

Do you have a long prayer list or such a large number of Facebook friends that you don’t hardly dare start to pray for them all?

Such a large list of contacts hardly deterred the Apostle Paul who wrote to several churches telling them that he always remembered them with thanks to God in his prayers. Very many are named in his Epistles and even with just a few words. Are we frightened to use just a few words of sincere prayer for one another? Do we give up at the thought of having to make long prayers for each other and so end up praying nothing?

The following is not a full prayer plan as you must also seek the Lord personally. Rather it is a list of brief prayers that came to mind as I prayed through my list of Facebook Friends. By the way don’t forget the people who are not on Facebook such as the elderly folk who probably pray for you ten times more than you pray from them. Pray at least that they will be able to persevere in their prayers.

This list is not particularly clever or in any order but maybe it might encourage you at least to pray for one another. How wonderful it could be if we prayed more for one another? What true Christian unity that would nurture.

And before you start, don’t forget to include prayer for the awkward and difficult folk too. You might be surprised to find that they improve and become friends to the glory of God.

In the following list of prayer items “you” refers to either one or more of the people on your list:

Bring you to Jesus Christ to save you from your sins,

Encourage you in your service of the Lord.

Encourage you to trust Christ through your sufferings.

That you may turn from error and come to a true love of God in Jesus Christ, free from false and distracting teaching.

That the Lord may encourage you to continue in good works to glorify him.

That I might learn from your wisdom over the next few years, if the Lord leaves us here yet a while.

That God may make you a mighty preacher like Noah. Even if you are as apparently unsuccessful as him, at least your family may be saved and you will have done right.

May the Lord bless your children, that they are brought to faith in him, rather than to trust in uncertain riches.

That, though you are weak and despised, you may glory in the fact that God has chosen the foolish things of this world to shame the wise. That you may be so used with gentleness.

That the Lord may bless your country, which may be a long way from me and we may never meet again face to face, this side of heaven. The Lord may bless you with godly laws and a revival of true Christianity.

That we may not be jealous of each other. The Lord has given us what we have to use for Him. Covet nothing that is thy neighbour’s.

O that the Lord may use the great gifts he has bestowed specifically upon you.

That the Lord may make you a trophy of living faith as he takes you through what seem like the cruelest trials. Set your sight on things above where Christ is. Read Colossians 3.

O may God bless your marriage with godly children. May they become preachers of the Gospel.

May God enable you to use your great wealth for his glory. And no, this is not a request for funding! Indeed may God use you to expose false teachers of the prosperity gospel and the health-and-wealth name-it-and-claim-it ones.

Those of you at a crossroads, may the Lord uphold and guide you. Read the Bible. Don’t rely on coincidence but maybe God is opening or closing doors. Be thankful for the doors that the Lord has closed. How glad we did not go the wrong way.

May the Lord keep you from loving the world. O the subtle temptations that can easily persuade our deceptive hearts.

May the Lord inspire you with evangelism. To love your lost neighbours.

May the Lord bring you to repentance from sin and to real faith in Jesus Christ.

May the Lord teach us to handle our differences with grace and to learn through the difficult experiences some greater humility. Who am I and who are you but dust, and sinful dust at that?

May the Lord turn you from doubting to trusting.

The Lord use your retirement profitably. Keep you fit but especially in your soul.

If you are single, may the Lord keep you from temptation or find you a faithful spouse.

If you are divorced then may God be so close to you. May He do the impossible. Indeed. Love Him all the more.

If you are working abroad, as a missionary of otherwise, may the Lord find you a special place called “home” that is always in his presence. May he give special comfort in a strange land.

May we all know this world as a strange land, longing for eternity. May the hope sustain us day by day.

What wonderful friends you all are. Some closer to me than others, but all made in the image of God and to glorify Him.

For full help, look and see and read and hear the prayers of The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1 and 3 and the prayers of the Bible in general.

“That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man”. Ephesians 3:16

SATURDAY 17TH MARCH 2012

The 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer

12.oo – Bring own sandwickhes etc for lunch, drinks provided

1.00 – Devotions

1.30 – Report of the Church of England (Continuing)

2.00 – Our Incomparable Liturgy Speaker: The Rev. Dr. Roger Beckwith

3.15 – Evening Prayer

4.00 Cup of tea and depart

St Silas, 49 Long Street, WV1 1HU

Railway, Bus and Tram stations within easy reach

Parking nearby www.continuingcofe.org/stsilas.html

Enquiries 01547 528815

THE 18TH ANNUAL ASSEMBLY AND DAY CONFERENCE OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND (CONTINUING)

Conference 11.ooam to 3.45pm

(Members’ Annual Assembly and Prayer Time 10.00am)

Please see our flyer for details of previous location and timings.

For route planning, the GoogleMap location is here.