A brief post on prayer
"You do not have because you do not ask God"
Dear Church Leaders (and everyone else)
I have often been struck by these words in the New Testament letter of James:
You do not have because you do not ask God.
And I wonder how much of what we have seen happening in recent years is at least in part due to the fact that we do not ask God for certain things.
Since I started this Substack, I have from time to time wondered about doing occasional posts on prayer in the context of what some versions of Ephesians 6:12 describe as “this present darkness”.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
In that same section of Ephesians, the apostle Paul enjoins believers to:
Take up the whole armour of God… the belt of truth… the breastplate of righteousness… the readiness given by the gospel of peace… the shield of faith… the helmet of salvation… the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God… praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication
And not least in the context of such verses, I plan to start putting out monthly posts pertaining to prayer, on the first Sunday of each month, starting next week.
My aim is to focus on the sort of prayer that any Christian would feel comfortable praying, irrespective of how aware they are of what has been — and still is — unfolding. To that end, I intend to draw on some of the many passages on prayer in the Bible, which I am inclined to think is generally a good place to start.
That’s all for this post. I did say (in the title) that it would be brief.
Related:
Dear Church Leaders homepage
Some posts can also be found on Unexpected Turns
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