Inspired by Rick Renner’s thoughts on 1 Corinthians 13 in Sparkling Gems from the Greek:

O God,

Please give us the wisdom and strength to function in your agape love for others, even when they hurt us.

Clear our minds to see them through your eyes so we won’t take up an offence at anyone.

Give us a love that covers the flaws of others rather than seeking to expose them -- love that shields and safeguards them.

Keep us loyal and faithful, never surrendering, prepared to “work it out” with those who offend us no matter how much time or energy is required.

Guide us to stay by the side of those who need your help, bearing their burdens with them. Keep us from throwing up our hands in despair over actions or attitudes that distress us.

Teach us to hope for and expect the best in them. Instead of assuming failure or a bad result in someone’s life, help us anticipate everything good for them.

We ask this in the name of your Son Jesus, amen.

Supporting verses . . . 

“Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.” Proverbs 10:12

 

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” I Corinthians 13:4 -7

 Father in Heaven, Abba Daddy,

Our economy is in trouble and no one knows when or if it will recover. Many of us have lost jobs, daily announcements of more down-turns frighten us and the price of basic necessities increases daily. 

Fear grips us.

But, Lord, we will not be afraid.

You are our rock; you are our security; we dwell in the shelter of your wings. Over and over your Word promises you will always be with us and help us if we obey your words, and we choose to believe what you say. We choose to trust you no matter how things look. You will help and bless us.

            God, please bless us.

We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Supporting verses:

“He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.” Psalm 91:4

“So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” Hebrews 13:6

“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.” Habakkuk 3:17-19

Today’s news reports that at least 100,000 Christians have left Egypt since March. These fleeing Christians are the wealthier of the Coptic Christians who could afford to seek safety, but more of our brothers and sisters don’t have a way to leave the country. They still face danger. Let’s remember them and other suffering parts of Christ’s body in prayer. (You’ll find links to stories after the prayer.)

Merciful God Who loves us, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,  

          Our hearts cry out to you for our brothers and sisters around the world who are being tortured and killed for their beliefs. Teach us how to pray effectively since we’ve never experienced what they’re going through. We’ve never felt the depth of fear and desperation that come with persecution. Please guide us as we pray.

Lord, knowing that you answer every prayer asked in the name of your Son Jesus’, and believing that every Christian around the world is precious in your site, we ask for endurance and swift release for those in prison. We pray comfort and safety for Christians who have lost parents and children and spouses. We ask supernatural peace for the ones whose pulse pounds with fear at the sound of a footstep. We plead for courage for the Christians who know they haven’t the strength to stand without your help. Help them all, Jesus! Keep them from the evil one.

We pray for the Christians who are denied jobs simply because others know they believe in you. Please supply a way for them to work and feed themselves and their families. Lift their heads and give them hope. Release them from worry by showing them how to trust in you. Prompt good people who aren’t Believers to have sympathy and lend a hand, just as you prompted so many to help Jews in WW II.

Thank you that a few of our brothers and sisters can leave places where they aren’t safe, but we know that many more will have to stay. Supernaturally open their eyes to believe in the good they are accomplishing for your kingdom even as they suffer.

Lord, our hearts break as we pray this, but we know you’ll be with them. You’ll never leave them or forsake them.

Your Word says we are all one body. Part of our own body is suffering. We who are blessed with safety and security feel helpless to do anything to help them, but we are not. Prayer works miracles. Thank you for giving us the gift of prayer. Don’t let us forget to keep praying. Amen.

 Supporting verses:

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:12,13

“I do not ask that you take them out of this world, but that you keep them from the evil one.” John 17:15

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” John 15:16

“I will never leave you or forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5c

Links:

Today’s ANS news story on Egyptian exodus of Christians:   http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2011/s11090177.htm

Story and photos from 10-9-11 The Christian Post where 200 Christians were wounded and 26 killed during an attack on a church:

http://global.christianpost.com/news/attack-on-egypts-coptic-christians-leave-26-dead-200-wounded-photos-57745/

Sudan bishop pleads for prayer against genocide:

http://blog.beliefnet.com/pray_for_the_persecuted_church/2011/06/sudan-christians-facing-genocide-bishop-pleads-for-worldwide-prayer.html

O Awesome God in Heaven,

            We thank you for the people we are allowed / assigned to love. Help us overlook and forgive others when they hurt us. Banish our self-pity and show us how to offer our suffering as a gift to you, willingly enduring pain in your name so that you will be glorified.

Help us remember the way you suffered on the cross for us and how you continue to forgive us daily when we grieve you. Remind us that Peter exhorted the new Christians of his time to think of the living hope they had in Christ whom God raised from the dead. Remind us how Peter encouraged them to understand that the trials  they endured “for a little while” would test the genuineness of their faith and result in praise, glory and honor at Christ’s return.  He said all those things to the early Christians despite the horrifying realities of the persecution and tortures they were suffering under the emperor Nero. Peter’s instruction to them was to quietly do good, knowing that God was guarding them through faith and would give them an imperishable inheritance in heaven.

Help us to follow Peter's instruction. Open our eyes to the smallness of our problems next to theirs, Jesus, yet comfort us with the knowledge that you see our difficulties and feel our pain right along with us. You don’t diminish our pain because since you live in us you are right there with us when acquaintances and loved ones abuse us, when we can’t find a job, when the diagnosis of cancer comes.

Teach us to visualize Jesus standing with us. Enduring with us. Holding us up. Smoothing our brow. Because the Truth is you never leave us to face anything alone. And you love us desperately. Thank you. We pray this in the name of your Son Christ Jesus.

Supporting verses:

“According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith – more precious than gold that perished though it is tested by fire – may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:3 – 7

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