In ancient days were many servants of the Lord who stood with boldness before those in authority. Joseph, Moses, Esther, and Daniel are several who served the people of God under foreign, pagan kings.
We pray for such in our day and pray for them as Paul asked for prayers in Ephesians 6:19-20, that words may be given him to speak as he ought, to boldly proclaim the Gospel and to make known the mystery of Christ.
Our world is desperately in need of such like John the Baptist who would proclaim “behold the Lamb of God!”
Prayer Insights - from John MacArthur
How To Pray In A Pagan World
In general we live in a fallen world surrounded by people who do not know or love the Lord. The nation as we knew it has changed dramatically in recent years, and even in the church we have bowed knees to cultural gods. We are looking for solutions and we are told they are political, social, or economical.
What is Gods strategy? This is nothing new for the people of God. In the promised land they were surrounded by pagans and God told them to get rid of them all. The new testament church was a little island in the middle of paganism. Neither the OT nor the NT has any affect or impact on the world prior to the arrival of Jesus.
How did He tell his people to confront these realities? In Luke 11, Jesus instructs us - When You Pray, Say … and He taught them what we commonly call the Lord’s Prayer.
Jesus instructs us here to confront the world of paganism with something that seems to be of very little interest to the contemporary evangelical church; and that is to confront paganism with prayer.
In this prayer that Jesus taught, we recognize that He is Sovereign – your kingdom come. Jesus was preparing the disciples to proclaim the gospel in an increasingly hostile world that neither knows nor cares anything about God.
His instruction: pray that God would do whatever advances his kingdom – the heart of true prayer. How does his kingdom come? One soul, one believer at a time – that’s what we need to be praying now. Ask Him to bring His Kingdom!
The church is the answer to that prayer: the church is His kingdom, and our cry is - Let your kingdom come to earth, bring an advancement of the gospel that brings salvation that builds the church where the kingdom of God on earth is seen. Pray this with importunity. Do not be indifferent to the evil in this world nor lose your zeal for the intercession that calls on God to reveal his saving power in the world.
This prayer is rebellion to the world, the spirit of the age.
Sermon Notes from How To Pray in a Pagan World
Pray For The People Of God From The Word Of God
Here are four passages we are praying from (one passage per day):
Thursday - Colossians 4:2-4
Friday - Acts 12:5
Saturday - Romans 12:12
Sunday - Luke 11:13
Will you join me in praying these verses, and ask one person to join you?
Until Monday, grace and peace
Photo by Sean Paul Kinnear on Unsplash
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