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What Do You Pray For?

PrayerJanuary 9, 2009
Last week, we considered the crazy idea of fasting in 2009, looking at John Piper's summary of some topics to pray for while fasting. This week, consider more generally what topics we should pray for. What do you normally pray for? What topics do you focus on more than others? For many of us, the bulk of our prayers concern three topics:
  1. health for ourselves and those we know and love
  2. guidance and direction in school, careers, and love life
  3. wisdom in dealing with problems in our families, our workplaces, our schools, and our churches.
Now, we should pray for these topics. There are numerous biblical examples of prayers on these themes (see, for example, Genesis 20:7, James 1:5, James 5:13-16, and Jeremiah 42:1-3). Indeed, we should pray for anything that is potentially worrying (Philippians 4:6-7). But while these three themes are biblical, they constitute only a tiny portion of the prayers offered in the Bible. I encourage you to look at some of the great prayers in the Bible, and then use some of that language as your own as you pray. Then look at some of the themes prayed about at various other points in Scripture, and include those themes in your prayers this week. To help you in that regard, I list below some of the important Biblical prayers, followed by a list of themes. Neither list is nearly comprehensive; in particular, nearly every psalm is a prayer, and I haven't referred to that book at all. But if you spend some time contemplating these themes and prayers, you will enrich your prayers - and you will be that much more effective and productive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and your joy in Him will grow, to His glory. So pray on these themes - and let others know the impact on you.

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Bible Reading Plans

Blog, Reading RecommendationsJanuary 1, 2009
The Psalmist says, "Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day" (Psalm 119:97). One of my prayers for 2009 is that this verse might become more and more true for all of us in Desiring God Community Church. If we love God's Word, we will read it; if we are to meditate on it all the day, we must memorize it. Note: reading the Bible is not the goal, but a means to achieve the goal. Memorizing Scripture, likewise, is not the goal, but an intermediate step that enables us to meditate on it. Even loving God's law is not the goal. The psalmist loves God's law because it is God's; that is, because it is God's precious and unique revelation to us about Himself, His creation, and ourselves. We love God's law because we love God; and we love God more when we come to know Him more and more deeply through daily reading of His revelation of Himself. In 2008, I fell somewhat behind in my daily Bible reading; four daily readings remained the morning of December 31. I read two upon waking, and then, about 9 in the evening, left our evening festivities and read of the excellent wife in Proverbs 31, of God's delight in those who fear Him and hope in Him (Psalm 147:10-11), and Jesus' promise to wipe every tear from our eyes when He comes soon (Rev 21:4-8, Rev 22:20). This morning I began once again the Bible Unity Reading Plan - reading of creation and fall (Gen 1:26-27, Gen 3:1-19) and the Word made flesh to redeem mankind and all creation from that fall (John 1:10-18).  I also rememorized this week's Fighter Verse - first memorized in 2000 when I was resident in Minneapolis and Bethlehem Baptist began this same set of Fighter verses:

Deuteronomy 7:9:  Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.

So I encourage you to begin the year by joining me in committing yourself to read the entire Bible and to memorize this entire set of Fighter Verses in 2009. Make this commitment in order that you might meditate on His Word day and night, and so know God better and love Him more. May the Word dwell in us richly, so that we rejoice in Him fully, and do all to His glory (Colossians 3:16-17). Here is the list of Fighter Verses for this year. And below find links to some Bible reading plans that I have used (Justin Taylor has a helpful post pointing to numerous other reading plan options):

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Who is This Baby?

Blog, DevotionsDecember 11, 2008

(For a version of this devotion that is easier to print, follow this link.)

Child of the stable's secret birth The Lord by right of the lords of earth Let angels sing of a king newborn The world is weaving a crown of thorn A crown of thorn for that infant head Cradled soft in a manger bed.

Eyes that shine in the lantern's ray; A face so small in its nest of hay - Face of a child who is born to scan The world of men through the eyes of man: And from that face in the final day Heaven and earth shall flee away.

By Timothy Dudley Smith, © Hope Publishing Company, 1983

At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Since we all love babies, it is easy for us to love the Baby Jesus. He is cute. He is fat. He is cuddly.

But babies don‘t start out cute and cuddly. And Jesus, indeed, was a real human baby, born in the normal human way: Mary began to have contractions; her water broke; she felt overwhelmed by the process going on inside her body; her back hurt; there was pain and effort and sweat and pushing and stretching and burning – and then, finally, amazingly, this new little creature came forth from her body: a new creature covered with mucous and amniotic fluid and blood and vernix – hair (if any) plastered to his head; that head possibly misshapen from hours of pushing, his skin bluish in color until the first breath, and first cry. Mary gave birth – and the baby, Jesus, came into this world just as you and I, through His mother’s strong efforts: bloody, slippery – and yet beautiful.

As you see pictures this season of a clean and comfortable Baby Jesus, remember His humanity. Jesus was a baby who soiled himself, spit up, cried when He was hungry; He was completely dependent upon his parents for meeting His every need. He could do nothing for himself. With His little hands, he grasped fingers held out to Him. He couldn’t communicate at first except by crying. He took months to learn to crawl, and more months to learn to walk, and to speak. Jesus was a normal, lovable human baby.

But Jesus did not remain lovable to many.

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