A PRAYER GUIDE
Over the past few months, I have been asked how I order my daily prayer time by a number of individuals. While I have been glad to answer each person individually, I thought that it may be helpful to share the structure of prayer that I use and a portion of what I have prayed for in a broader way here online.
While personal prayer is certainly a private matter (Matthew 6:6-7), and there are certain request and specific individuals that I petitioned the throne of grace for this morning that I’ll not share publicly. That said, I believe publishing the manner and certain content of my prayer time today can be a helpful discipleship tool that could instruct and inspire the body of Christ. I should also note that broadcasting a personal prayer, with the right motive, is not unprecedented (Psalms, Matthew 6:9-13, John 17:6-26, the Pauline Epistles, etc).
MY PRAYER THIS MORNING:
I like to begin my time of prayer with a specific passage of scripture that I will then use as a guide for how I direct praise, gratitude, petition, and intercession. This morning, I focused in on Philippians 1:6 (CSB), which declares, “I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”
I began my time of prayer by praising God for this great, confidence inducing promise and asking that He’d help me to believe it and cling to it when life and ministry gets hard.
I praised Him for the good work of sanctification that He began in me at the moment of my conversion and for being faithful to fulfil His promise to complete it.
*For every individual, idea, or action that the Lord brought to mind as I prayed this morning, I included this verse in my petition*
I then moved to a time of expressing gratitude. I thanked God for my redemption and the freedom that I now have in Christ, for my wife, children, grandchildren, family, friends, and church family. I thanked God for His provision in several areas that came to mind.
After this time of intentional gratitude, I began interceding for specific individuals and specific needs, as the Spirit brough them to mind.
I prayed for specific needs of each member of my family as well as asking the Lord to give them a consuming passion for His glory, wisdom for their journeys, and courage to act upon what He reveals to them. I prayed over their relationships, their choices, and their future, that they may honor Christ, and point others to Him.
I prayed that the Lord would grant energy, compassion, and a shepherding heart the NABC Staff, and that each of us would love Him more than we loved ministry. I made a similar request on behalf of our lay leadership, deacons, and Bible Fellowship leaders.
I prayed for specific needs that I am aware of that exist among individual members of our church family and for the Lord to raise up church planters, missionaries, and marketplace ministers from our body. I asked the Father to help each of our church family members to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit in their homes, workplaces, schools, ballfields, and online.
To wrap up my prayer time this morning, I petitioned the Lord for my own needs. I asked Him to search my heart, reveal any iniquity that may be present, and help me to be faithful in confessing and repenting of those things.
I asked Him to help me to see with eyes of faith, to hear with empathy, and to speak slowly, with clarity, in truth, and in love. The focal point of the requests that I made for myself was that the Lord would continue to shape me into a faithful undershepherd of the flock here at North Anderson, to help me to view and love His church as He does, and to live with integrity in public and in private.
All in all, my time of intentional, personal prayer this morning only took around 25 minutes, and it was 25 minutes well spent.
If you’d like to use it, here’s the simplified structure of my prayer:
Scripture reading and meditation
Prayer of praise
Expression of gratitude
Intercession for others
Personal petition
ONE LAST THING: I know I beat this drum often, but I’m going to do it again here…I journal my personal prayers each day. Concerning prayer, I don’t know if I have ever done anything that has been more beneficial. I strongly encourage you to give it a try. It’s difficult at first, but tick with it. You’ll be so glad you did.
I pray this was helpful for someone.
Grace, peace, and blessings,
Pastor Kyle
While personal prayer is certainly a private matter (Matthew 6:6-7), and there are certain request and specific individuals that I petitioned the throne of grace for this morning that I’ll not share publicly. That said, I believe publishing the manner and certain content of my prayer time today can be a helpful discipleship tool that could instruct and inspire the body of Christ. I should also note that broadcasting a personal prayer, with the right motive, is not unprecedented (Psalms, Matthew 6:9-13, John 17:6-26, the Pauline Epistles, etc).
MY PRAYER THIS MORNING:
I like to begin my time of prayer with a specific passage of scripture that I will then use as a guide for how I direct praise, gratitude, petition, and intercession. This morning, I focused in on Philippians 1:6 (CSB), which declares, “I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”
I began my time of prayer by praising God for this great, confidence inducing promise and asking that He’d help me to believe it and cling to it when life and ministry gets hard.
I praised Him for the good work of sanctification that He began in me at the moment of my conversion and for being faithful to fulfil His promise to complete it.
*For every individual, idea, or action that the Lord brought to mind as I prayed this morning, I included this verse in my petition*
I then moved to a time of expressing gratitude. I thanked God for my redemption and the freedom that I now have in Christ, for my wife, children, grandchildren, family, friends, and church family. I thanked God for His provision in several areas that came to mind.
After this time of intentional gratitude, I began interceding for specific individuals and specific needs, as the Spirit brough them to mind.
I prayed for specific needs of each member of my family as well as asking the Lord to give them a consuming passion for His glory, wisdom for their journeys, and courage to act upon what He reveals to them. I prayed over their relationships, their choices, and their future, that they may honor Christ, and point others to Him.
I prayed that the Lord would grant energy, compassion, and a shepherding heart the NABC Staff, and that each of us would love Him more than we loved ministry. I made a similar request on behalf of our lay leadership, deacons, and Bible Fellowship leaders.
I prayed for specific needs that I am aware of that exist among individual members of our church family and for the Lord to raise up church planters, missionaries, and marketplace ministers from our body. I asked the Father to help each of our church family members to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit in their homes, workplaces, schools, ballfields, and online.
To wrap up my prayer time this morning, I petitioned the Lord for my own needs. I asked Him to search my heart, reveal any iniquity that may be present, and help me to be faithful in confessing and repenting of those things.
I asked Him to help me to see with eyes of faith, to hear with empathy, and to speak slowly, with clarity, in truth, and in love. The focal point of the requests that I made for myself was that the Lord would continue to shape me into a faithful undershepherd of the flock here at North Anderson, to help me to view and love His church as He does, and to live with integrity in public and in private.
All in all, my time of intentional, personal prayer this morning only took around 25 minutes, and it was 25 minutes well spent.
If you’d like to use it, here’s the simplified structure of my prayer:
Scripture reading and meditation
Prayer of praise
Expression of gratitude
Intercession for others
Personal petition
ONE LAST THING: I know I beat this drum often, but I’m going to do it again here…I journal my personal prayers each day. Concerning prayer, I don’t know if I have ever done anything that has been more beneficial. I strongly encourage you to give it a try. It’s difficult at first, but tick with it. You’ll be so glad you did.
I pray this was helpful for someone.
Grace, peace, and blessings,
Pastor Kyle
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