Why does a nation turn from the Lord? He who sits in the heavens laughs, and warns. We can defy and perish - or surrender and be blessed.
In our nation currently, we seem to be in Psalm 2, conspiring together and raging against the Lord and rushing headlong to authoritarianism.
Come, let us pray for the rulers and authorities across the land - that they would heed the warning, and willingly submit to the Lord’s Anointed, while they still are able.
Prayer Insights … from Alistair Begg 1
Last week we learned about praying bigger prayers, better prayers as Alistair used the letter from the apostle Paul to the Ephesian church to highlight four qualities which Paul prays for the them: Focus, Hope, Riches, Power.
This week we’ll add his fifth quality: Love
Eph 3:17-19 … that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Paul prayed the church would grow in their comprehension of the immeasurable love God has for us. “Paul wants them, and us, to experience the joy of knowing the unknowable — of knowing how loved we are.”
He wants us to know this corporately as a church; he wants us to think properly and know this love in our minds and not just as a feeling. And he wants to know this love is comprehensive, it is so vast it goes beyond what can be measured.
Writes Matthew Henry: the apostle designs to signify the exceeding greatness of the love of Christ … which is higher than heaven, deeper than hell, longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. (Commentary on the Whole Bible)
See also what Paul wrote to the Philippians 2:5-11
While we are unable to “measure the love of Christ, we can observe it’s effects,” that is, we know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God (v 19). This means we become the “beneficiaries of all that God has promised to us in Jesus.”
We are called to experience and enjoy each day all the fullness of God’s unfathomable love for us, and for our fellow followers of Christ - the church.
We also pray this passage believing that as we know more and more the unknowable love of God for us, that we as well grow in our love for him. As we daily see his love at work in us and around us, we develop a deeper love for the Lord Jesus that abides in his love (John 15:9); and we a little bit more love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Matthew 22:37). Finally, we pray for love that we also will increase and abound in love to one another (1 Thessalonians 3:12) in Christ.
So, as we learn to pray bigger, let us pray for this love!
Pray For The People Of God From The Word Of God
Here are four passages we are praying from this week:
Thu - Pray for Love - to be rooted and grounded in love
Fri - Pray to comprehend with all the saints
Sat - Pray to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge
Sun - Pray to be filled with all the fullness of God
Will you join me in praying these verses, and ask one person to join you?
Until Monday, grace and peace
Photo by Zach Reiner on Unsplash
Notes from Pray Big: Learn to Pray Like an Apostle, by Alistair Begg, 2019 Published by The Good Book Company in association with Truth For Life Ministries.
Trust And Blessing