How to Pray for Your Church
January 5, 2003
Psalm 72:1-7
2nd Sunday after Christmas
Galena-Warwick United Methodist Charge
Warwick & Galena, Maryland
Rev. Dr. Lawrence D. Jameson
back to our church home page
Our church needs your prayer.
If you have been a Christian for very long,
you know that’s where every ministry gets its power.
Prayer.
If this church earnestly prays,
God will bless, and we will be successful.
If we don’t pray, we won’t be successful.
It’s really that simple.
So the question is, “How?”
How do we pray for our church?
Well, let’s start by looking at a good example.
The Old Testament lesson today
is Psalm 72:1-7.
The first sentence of this psalm
is a request.
The rest of the psalm
is a praise.
It’s all prayer
and it follows a logical order.
The people of Israel said this prayer
for their king and their country.
Let’s look at the prayer.
Verse one:
Endow the king with your justice, O God,
the royal son with your righteousness.
This is a prayer request.
The people of Israel
are asking God
to give their leader
spiritual qualities:
justice doing what is right, fair, honorable, and impartial
righteousness a living and daily right relationship with God.
Now that is a great prayer!
If the people got behind that little prayer,
and if God answered it...
then wonderful things were going to happen.
That’s what the rest of Psalm 72 is all about.
It’s still prayer,
but it is praise prayer
and it’s based on the first verse.
He will judge your people in righteousness,
your afflicted ones with justice.
The mountains will bring prosperity to the people,
the hills the fruit of righteousness.
He will defend the afflicted among the people
and save the children of the needy;
he will crush the oppressor.
He will endure as long as the sun,
as long as the moon, through all generations.
He will be like rain falling on a mown field,
like showers watering the earth.
In his days the righteous will flourish;
prosperity will abound till the moon is no more.
Now when the people said this prayer
they didn’t think
that the king would live longer than the moon.
They knew the king would grow old and die.
But if their prayers were answered,
the good results,
and the ripple effect of good decisions
would never stop.
And that is true.
When we pray, we really don’t realize
how abundantly God answers.
There is always a ripple effect.
That’s because God is really powerful, and really kind.
OK! There is our example.
Psalm 72 is a prayer
of the ancient people of Israel
for their leader.
We can do that.
We can pray for our leaders.
Who should we pray for?
You can pray for me
because I am your pastor.
But you have at least three pastors.
You have me,
you have Tom Donnachie, our District Superintendent,
you have Peter Weaver, our Bishop,
you have missionaries representing you
in the mission field
Terry & Elizabeth Tyrrell with Campus Crusade for Christ
involved with Military Ministry in Eastern Europe
you have Larry Hanifee, Lay Leader of the Easton District
you have the Conference Staff, with headquarters in Dover
J.T. Seymour, Conference Resource Director
David Burke, Director of Young People Ministry
Jack Shitama, Director for Camping and Retreat Ministries
Penny Carney, Secretary
LaWanda Magill, Office Manager
Bill Westbrook, Director of Administrative Services/Treasurer
This is really just the tip of the iceberg.
There are lots of people
who are connected to this congregation.
And there are lots of church leaders
we need to pray for
right here in this room.
Every Christian person,
regardless of age, regardless of training,
every Christian person is a leader
because each of us has influence.
We are blessed with leadership!
But the point I am trying to make is this:
Unless we pray for them,
our leaders are not going to be fruitful.
OK,
we know who the leaders are
we know that we should pray for them
What shall we pray for?
This is an exciting question!
I really don’t know the answer,
but here is my suggestion for an answer.
Follow the example of Psalm 72.
Start off with a little request
and keep that at about 1%.
Then follow up with praise,
lots of praise.
You see, praise is a great way
of unleashing the power of faith.
Praise is a recognition that God is going to bless.
It is a logical and uplifting part of effective prayer.
1% request plus 99% praise
equals a powerful prayer.
Let us pray:
Lord, give this congregation
a heart for prayer in 2003.
I praise you for what you are going to do here!
You will judge your people in righteousness,
our afflicted ones will see justice.
The mountains will bring prosperity to the people,
the hills the fruit of righteousness.
You will defend the afflicted among the people
and save the children of the needy;
you will crush the oppressor.
Our ministry will endure as long as the sun,
as long as the moon, through all generations.
It will be like rain falling on a mown field,
like showers watering the earth.
In our days the righteous will flourish;
prosperity will abound till the moon is no more.
In the holy name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen!
PRAYER for leaders in the new year
(hold bulletin in one hand,
and place your other hand on someone near you)
Dear Heavenly Father, help this leader in your church.
Pour out your Holy Spirit
and give forgiveness, wisdom, and courage to this child of yours.
Let this disciple have assurance that we are never alone.
The church will pray. You will empower.
Help us sort through our priorities together,
and give us the gift of community.
In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.