Praying for Our Church People

Last year I was challenged by a sermon to be more like Daniel

and truly devote at least an hour in the morning, at noon and at night to prayer. I'm not talking praying as you wash the dishes or are driving doing errands but totally stopping what you are doing, locking yourself away in your prayer closet or other quiet place and praying with no distractions.  I have come to love my noon prayer time as it is so calming and peaceful to shut the world out during the busiest part of my day and helps

me keep my focus where it needs to be, totally on God!

I have found that my afternoon prayer time is a wonderful time to go and sit in the church and pray for the church and our people.  Some days I will go into the sanctuary and sit in each pew and pray for each person that sits in that spot.  (If your people are like ours, they have their seat and sit in it every service and it throws them for a total loop if anyone else sits there!) 

 I move around the sanctuary and pray for each individual and their physical and spiritual needs and then move to the next spot and pray for the next person.  I also stand behind the pulpit and pray for my husband that as he preaches, that God would fill him with His spirit and fill him with His words and that the service would glorify God as it convicts, challenges, and encourages people.  Other days I go into the Sunday School classrooms and pray for the children that come to class each week and their teacher.  I also go into the nursery and pray for all the babies and toddlers as they are just starting to grow physically and also spiritually as they learn about God and His great love.  There are also days I walk around the church property and pray for the building, pray for people to see our sign and pray for people to come and visit and hear the gospel and get saved. 

The more time I spend praying, the more precious my prayer time becomes to me.  Not only does my prayer time become more precious but the more time I spend praying for our church people, the more I love them and want to help them as I see their needs and burdens more clearly.  And the more I pray for them the more I see their struggles and the things they are battling and am able to minister and help them more.  God has blessed us with such wonderful people in our church and I thank Him for allowing me the privilege of bringing them before His throne of grace!