“The true church lives and moves and has its being in prayer.” — Leonard Ravenhill
- 1-Minute Devotional Thought:
More of a testimonial today…from the pen of R.A. Torrey (1856-1928)
“Up in a little town in Maine, things were pretty dead some years ago. The churches were not accomplishing anything. There were a few Godly men in the churches, and they said: 
‘Here we are, only uneducated laymen; but something must be done in this town. Let us form a praying band. We will all center our prayers on one man. Who shall it be?’ They picked out one of the hardest men in town, a hopeless drunkard, and centered all their prayers upon him. In a week, he was converted. They centered their prayers upon the next hardest man in town, and soon he was converted. Then they took up another and another, until within a year, two or three hundred were brought to God, and the fire spread out into all the surrounding country. Definite prayer for those in the prison house of sin is the need of the hour.”
Prayers for the week…
- As neighbors: Pray for kids and teens who head off to church camp and church mission trips this summer. Pray for their safety, and pray for them to hear and respond to the Gospel. And pray that some teens on mission trips will hear the Holy Spirit calling them into the path of vocational ministry. So many opportunities for Gospel growth emerge during the summer months.
- Pray for pro-life ministry around the world. As these ethical issues often present themselves during times of deep personal crises in a family or in the life of an individual, pray that Christians can be good neighbors during these times of need — offering the Gospel in both Word and deed.
- Pray for the Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) ministry taking place at National Autonomous University of Mexico — led by Peter Dishman:
Originally from New Jersey, Peter moved to Texas in 1989 where he finished high school. After graduating from Washington & Lee University with a deg
ree in Psychology in 1996 and from Covenant Theological Seminary with a Masters of Divinity in 2004, Peter was ordained in the PCA and moved to Mexico City in 2005 to begin an RUF work at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Peter enjoys hanging out at the local café, reading, talking, improving his Spanish, and occasionally getting out on his bike.
- Using the new 2013 “watchlist” produced by
Open Doors, we pray for the persecuted Christians of a different country each week.
Teachers/parents, consider this a great way to introduce geography into the weekly lessons. Show students where the nation is, then pray for Christians in that place.
This week we pray for the Christians of Mauritania, which ranks No. 23 on the watchlist:
Mauritania is proud to be a pure Muslim country, and its laws prohibit conversion to the Christian faith. Harsh government restrictions make it very difficult for Christian missions to o
perate here. Religious beliefs and practices are strongly restricted by government policies, although the government is weak in enforcing them. Pressure on Muslim-background believers from family, tribe members and local Muslim leaders is very high. The Arab Spring has not yet had an impact, but Islam extremism is becoming more influential.
Pray:
There were reports of believers being beaten for their faith in 2012. Pray for protection and perseverance for God’s people
Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb is monitoring Christian activity. Pray that its influence will diminish
That literacy and translation projects will give more Mauritanians access to the Bible in their own language.
- P
rayer for the nation – focusing this week on the state of Massachusetts.
- In 2013, we will pray together by name for Christians in 50 nations, Christians in all 50 states and all the presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and the emerging new Reformed body, ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians. You are encouraged to add specific pastors, lay leaders, congregations, missionaries, new church developments and other ministries to the list by posting a comment to the blog. (Please do not publicly post the names of missionaries serving in contexts where exposing their identity would cause them harm or bring harm to those they serve in Christ’s name.) Let us kneel before the Father and ask His will be done.
- Prayers for the PCUSA: Pray for the presbyteries of the Synod of the Sun: Arkansas, Cimarron, Eastern Oklahoma, Grace, Indian Nations, Mission, New Covenant, Palo Duro, Pines, South Louisiana, Tres Rios.
- Prayers for Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC): the Pacific Presbytery (Marc Huebl, stated clerk).
- Prayers for the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA): the churches of the Tennessee Valley Presbytery.
- Prayers for ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians.
- Prayers for The Fellowship of Presbyterians.