Have you prayed for others? Have you prayed for a group or people? Have you prayed for the church you attend? Have you prayed for your city? Have you prayed for your state? Have you prayed for your nation? Have you prayed for people in our nations?
Praying is important for all of us. Many of us pray for our immediate family, friends, and ourselves. We make requests for health, safety, financial well-being, and relationships. All of those are good reasons to pray that God be in the midst of them and bring about a good result.
But how often do we pray for people we don’t know? We see situations all around us that appear to be out of control or going badly. Do we pray for them? We should pray regularly for our schools, even if we have no children going to them. We should pray for our city and county governments, requesting God to guide them to do what is best for the people and in accordance with his plan.
We hear many people complaining about how our state or federal government is doing some things. We may be doing the same. Rather than complaining, we should pray for those situations. Asking God to guide our government leaders regularly is a good way to have positive changes come about.
The Psalmist cried out to God to save his people. We could make the same appeal to God today. Whether we realize it or not, we are under attack every day. Asking God to protect us, restore us, and for his will to be done is powerful. Not only are we asking God to act, but we are relinquishing control to him, relieving ourselves of the burden or worry we carry.
I pray we all continue to pray. I pray we ask God to guide our government leaders in their decisions. I pray each one of us make our requests to God and relieve ourselves of our burdens. Pray continually. Make your requests to God. Give your concerns to him. Relieve yourself of your burdens.
Psalm 80:1-2
Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock!
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.
Stir up your might,
and come to save us!
Marty Pressey 