Weekly Prayers Around the Bible

By Jim Prestidge

Prayer is communication with The Father, fundamental in Jesus’ life on earth, and to ours too, as christians. To live the christian life we need to be in touch. The author has been concerned to deepen and broaden our prayer life, and thus promote our relationship with God and our christian service.

The book does not give a method for prayer, rather to extend horizons, as each reader finds their own way to pray for the churches and the community, and themselves.

Doing God’s Will is not our trying, but our responding to his prompts. God understands us; we need to understand how He is working. Then we will be productive servants. The Lord’s vineyard is our world and it is to everyone’s advantage, christian or otherwise, to prosper it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781973688440

Jim Prestidge

Jim has behind him a lifetime of Bible reading. He uses a variety of Bible translations and computer technology. Jim has travelled extensively in most of the continents, worshipping with christians of differing christian traditions and cultural environments. He draws on his wife’s studies of Bible background. Jim and his wife spent time in Israel, the land of the Bible. It was a prayer and study tour, with other christians and Messianic Jews. They visited the places of the Bible, reading what happened there, and praying peace on Jerusalem. Jim wants the Bible to speak for itself. He wants to revive Bible reading. He wants Bible study to be guided, not by church doctrines, nor by commentators, nor by videos, nor by Jim, but by the Holy Spirit. Jim aims to expose the real Jesus and his message: God enters our understanding of his world and how to fit in.

Book preview

1

DAILY PRAYERS

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A morning prayer

Thank you, Lord, for waking me. Thank you for another day of life.

Lead me with your Spirit through this day, through the things that I have to do, the choices I make, the people I meet.

Keep me alert to the voice of your Spirit, so that I do not miss anything that I should do or take a wrong step.

May I do profitable things, to your glory and to promote your Kingdom.

The Lord has told you mortals what is good,

and what it is that the Lord requires of you:

only to act justly, to love loyalty,

to walk humbly with your God.

(Micah 6:8)

An evening prayer

Thank you, Lord, for this day, the things that have been accomplished, the things I have learned, the people I have met.

Bless each person that I have met. Lead us in knowing you, so each of us may be a light to others.

I commit to you the unsatisfactory things of this day, of this world. Show me what I should do.

Grant me to sleep well and in the morning to wake, another day to work for your Kingdom.

Give thanks to the Lord, invoke him by name,

make known his deeds among the peoples.

Pay him honour with song and psalm

and tell of all his marvellous deeds.

(1 Chronicles 16:8—9)

2

THE SECOND CHAPTER

OF PROVERBS

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My son, if you take my words to heart

and treasure my commandments deep within you,

giving your attention to wisdom

and your mind to understanding,

if you cry out for discernment

and invoke understanding,

if you seek for her as for silver

and dig for her as for buried treasure,

then you will understand the fear of the Lord

and attain to knowledge of God.

It is the Lord who bestows wisdom

and teaches knowledge and understanding.

Out of his store he endows the upright with ability.

For those whose conduct is blameless he is a shield,

guarding the course of justice

and keeping watch over the way of his loyal servants.

You will then understand what is right and just

and keep only to the good man’s path,

for wisdom will sink into your mind,

and knowledge will be your heart’s delight.

(Proverbs 2:1—10)

Things to pray

• That the Lord grant wisdom, understanding and discernment to those in authority, to governments throughout the world, to the news people - and to me.

• That people seek wisdom, understanding and discernment, here and everywhere.

Put all your trust in the Lord

and do not rely on your own understanding.

At every step you take keep him in mind,

and he will direct your path.

(Proverbs 3:5—6)

3

ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER

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We ought to see how each of us may best arouse others to love and active goodness. We should not stay away from our meetings, as some do, but rather encourage one another, all the more because we see the day of the Lord drawing near.

(Hebrews 10:24–25)

In this passage the unknown writer to the Hebrews, once thought to be St. Paul, asked his readers to encourage each other ‘to love and active goodness’. Of course, we should encourage everyone to this, and seek it ourselves, if only because it improves the quality of life. It is the hallmark of christianity and an obvious characteristic of the life of The Kingdom.

When I ask my friends in Spain what the Church means to them, the answer is invariably the same: ‘We are a family’.

Notice the word ‘We’.

When pressed further, they tell me that they are working together to do the Lord’s work, guided by the Holy Spirit. They go on that they are not under the priest, and the priest is not under the bishop, rather we are all equal, each with a different role. (The Lord’s work is to proclaim The Kingdom.)

Things to pray

• Meditate around this concept of ‘church’ and our purpose as christians.

• Think through going to church, the fellowship over tea and biscuits, our attitude during the service.

• Get to church a little early; after quietly making our own connection with the Lord, pray for the service, for those leading it and for each person in the congregation - ready for the service to start.

Pray for people who do not go to church, especially those who think of themselves as christians, but have a practical problem or a problem in their mind or have just been switched off.

We know in our hearts that this will make a difference. Let’s do it.

4

AN AFRICAN SCHOOLGIRL

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The girl was playing at her home in an african village. You see from her dress that her parents were poor. Her village had a primary school, and so she spoke english and learned mathematics, science, bible knowledge and six other subjects. Her parents loved her and were proud of her, knowing all these things which had never come to them.

At school she wore school uniform and looked quite smart. When she got home she changed straight away, because the uniform dress was costly. She washed it, to be clean for the next day. As it always gets dark between 6 and 7 o’clock in the tropics she lit a candle to do her homework. In the morning she washed in a bowl of water outside, helped her mother with some jobs such as sweeping, had some breakfast, ironed her uniform with a charcoal iron and then she was ready for school. It took about 20 minutes on footpaths, joining up with friends. She had to be there by 7.30, until 1.30.

Primary school was for 8 years in her country. It aimed at giving a complete general education. It was not compulsory, but parents valued school for the advantages it gave. Secondary school was selective, like a grammar school. They were few and far between in rural areas. For the last two years pupils often had to live in a town,