PLC’s prayer blog (week of September 23, 2013)

September 24, 2013CarmenFowlerLaBergePresbyterian News and Analysis

1-Minute Devotional Thought — from the Gelasian Sacramentary

Here is a prayer from the 8th century Gelasian Sacramentary, the second oldest extant liturgical book in the West:

Prayer from the 8th century Gelasian Sacramentary, the second oldest extant liturgical book in the West:

“When I behold the problems of our world, O Lord, I pray not to be tempted to quick answers. When every tongue declares a different Truth, when every people praises its own righteousness, let me pause before I speak or praise or hope. Let me look inward seeking to discover eternal truths implanted there by Thee, truths greater than those heard in the outer multitude of voices and words. And let me remember always that to be loud is not to be right, to be strange is not to be forbidden, to be new is not to be frightful, to be black is not to be ugly. Thus let me find truths true to Thee, that I may live with them, and Thee, and myself, in peace.”

Prayers for the week…

As neighbors and citizens: Pray for citizens of our nation affected by water (too much or too little) — wildfires, flooding, drought, hurricanes. Pray that, in addition to safety and post-storm emergency relief, that people would hear God afresh and anew through these events. Job 38:1: “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said…”

Pray for the pro-life movement around the world. Pray for fresh opportunities to be given to local churches to come in contact with people who are in difficult circumstances and in need of spiritual/biblical counsel. Pray that both truth and grace can come through the fingertips and roll off the tongues of Christians who can speak orthodoxy and live orthopraxy into the lives of people desperate for answers and love.

Pray for the Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) ministry taking place at Tennessee Tech (Cookville, Tennessee) — led by Jeff Wilkins:

Jeff grew up in Los Angeles, California, and then moved to rural Arkansas when he was sixteen years old. After high school, he attended Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, majoring in Religion. Following graduation from Hendrix, he received a Master’s degree in African-American Religious History and Religious Thought from Vanderbilt University’s Divinity School. Toward the end of his time at Vanderbilt, God graciously drew him to Himself. After his years in Nashville, he moved to Philadelphia and attended Westminster Theological Seminary. During his time in Philly, he married Cathy Green (July 7, 1991), whom he had met at Vanderbilt, and they had their first daughter, Micah (June 2, 1995).

From June 1996-May 2004, Jeff served at associate pastor to families and youth at Fort Worth Presbyterian Church. From June 2004-July 2008, Jeff served as RUF campus minister at NC State. And from August 2008-present, Jeff is serving at the RUF campus minister at Tennessee Tech University.

Jeff and Cathy have two other children, Asher (June 29, 1997) and Anna Grace (March 1, 2000).

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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 Bahrain, which ranks No. 35 on the watchlist.

The majority of Bahrainis are Shiite Muslims, led by, but demonstrating against, a Sunni government and caught between competing Saudi Arabia and Iran. Because of its international position in banking and trade, Bahrain tends to be the most liberal country in the Arabian Peninsula for expat Christians to practice their faith. However, evangelizing Muslims is illegal. MBB’s (Muslim Background Believers) experience pressure, mostly from family and community; they continue to be considered Muslims by the state and legal challenge to this is not permitted.

PRAY:

For secret believers, who don’t talk about their conversion

The import of Bibles is not prohibited. Pray for Arabic Bibles and Christian literature to be available in public bookstores

Praise God for the relative freedom of expression here. Pray that persecuted Christians will make the most of every opportunity.

Prayer for the nation – focusing this week on the state of New York.

In 2013, we are praying 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 Pacific: Boise, Cascades, Eastern Oregon, Kendall, The Redwoods, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Jose, Sierra Mission Partnership, Snake River Mission Area.