What to Pray for, beyond Physical Healing

My friend Barry Arnold pastors Cornerstone Church here in Gresham, Oregon. Last year he sent an email to his church regarding prayer. It’s worth quoting:

I think our prayers are unbalanced—in the direction of just physical needs. We can and should pray for people with infirmities—but it might be wise to change the emphasis of our prayers from physical healing alone to God accomplishing His purposes in and through afflictions.

Here’s a partial list of things the New Testament tells us to pray for:

Pray for people who give you a hard time (Matthew 5:43-44 ...

Prayer: One Story, Six Quotations

A couple of years ago I had the privilege of speaking at the Desiring God National Conference with John Piper, Jerry Bridges, and John MacArthur. But perhaps the greatest privilege was being with the other speaker, Dr. Helen Roseveare, missionary to the Congo. (Dr. Roseveare's biography is in Noel Piper's book Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God, which you can read online.) I recently ran across this story from Helen:

"A mother at our mission station died after giving birth to a premature baby. We tried to improvise an incubator to keep the infant alive, but the only ...

Prayer: Six More Quotations, One More Story

Some of you liked the story and six quotations about prayer from my earlier blog. So here’s six more, followed by a story.

The first two quotes come from two Puritans:

Richard Sibbes said, "God can pick sense out of a confused prayer."

Thomas Watson said, "The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer that fetched the angel."

Abraham Lincoln said, "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day."

This ...

There Are No Prayers Like the Puritan Prayers

There are no prayers like the Puritan prayers, as you know if you’ve read The Valley of Vision. This is something we’ve bought copies of for friends and pastors. This morning Nanci read one to me that she especially appreciated. I wanted to share it with you. Hope it touches you as it did us.

Everyone We See Has a Story

Check out this video produced by a company I really respect, Chick-fil-A. I think it’s very moving. It reminds me of the divine appointments God gives us daily. It also encourages me to pray, even if briefly, for many people I see in passing and do not know.

A Prayer from the First Continental Congress

In light of the 112th Congress opening today, here is the prayer that opened the First Continental Congress on September 7, 1774.  May we be encouraged to pray that our leaders will have the same dependence upon God as these men did during very difficult times.

Resting in God’s Sovereignty over Human Events, Including Election Day

Where should our focus be in the final hours leading up to the election? Certainly we should be trusting God and seeking his sovereign will for tomorrow’s outcome.