Pray Without Ceasing for the Brokenhearted

A new Krazy Glue commercial says, “We believe that almost everything in this country is broken.” Most of us would agree that there is much in our nation that needs fixing—our schools, our infrastructure, our economy—the list is endless.  Yet, when compiling our lists of things we want fixed, we often forget about the broken hearts of millions of Americans that can only be healed by God’s perfect love.

It seems that every day another tragedy becomes headline news. We watch in horror as details of the school shooting at Newtown or the bombing at the Boston Marathon are made public, but almost as soon as the images disappear from our television screens, we tend to push them from our minds. It is difficult to think about the victims and their families whose lives have been forever changed by one moment of cruelty, and so we refuse to dwell on those tragedies.

Yet, God sees every broken heart and feels the pain of everyone who mourns. In prophesying about the Messiah, Isaiah says, “…the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the suffering and afflicted. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted, to announce liberty to captives and to open the eyes of the blind. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of God’s favor to them has come…He will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of heaviness.” (Isaiah 61:1-3)

What a promise! God says that He will turn around the lives of those who suffer and fill them with beauty, joy, and praise. When we pray, therefore, we need to remember to pray that those who mourn will receive these precious gifts from God’s hand. Jesus promised that He will never leave us or forsake us, (John 14:18) but when people suffer it is sometimes difficult to remember that promise.

Therefore, when we pray for those who have known a great loss, let’s pray specifically that they will feel the presence of God’s Spirit in their lives. Let’s pray that all that God has promised will come to fruition in their lives, and they will experience the peace that goes beyond their present circumstances and draws them into a healing relationship with Jesus Christ. He and He alone can mend broken hearts, so when we pray we must remember to take the brokenhearted to Him so that they can receive the fullness of those promises.

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother. Her novel, The Warrior, about how one woman's prayers change the lives of those around her, is available on Kindle and in paperback. For more information visit her website at Frontier 2000 or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup.

Pray Without Ceasing for the Saved

We have all heard countless sermons on praying for the unsaved, praying for our country when it is on the wrong track, praying for dishonest politicians, praying for wrongs to be righted, praying for almost everything that impacts us in a negative manner. But, how many sermons have we heard on praying for the saved; praying for the godly who are living normal lives going quietly about their work and doing the right things? I, for one, have never heard a single sermon on this topic.

We tend to pray for unsaved family members and acquaintances while ignoring those who are faithful Christians. It is a little like giving all of the attention to the bad child while the other obedient children are ignored. We do, of course, pray for the saved when they are in danger—missionaries serving in dangerous areas, for instance. We also pray for the saved when they become ill or have a terrible accident that threatens their lives. Yet, we rarely pray for them with the same level of concern and the same fervor that we pray for the unsaved. Likewise, we may spend years praying for someone to accept Christ as his/her savior and then stop praying when they do.

Why is it important to pray for the saved? It is important because those who have a relationship with Jesus Christ are the backbone of this nation. The Bible says, “If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:13-15) This is an interesting scripture because the Bible does not say that if there are enough people who are called by his name; it says that God’s healing of our land depends on the prayers and actions of the saved and their willingness to turn from their sins and seek God. 

We should, of course, always pray for the unsaved, but after they accept Jesus we need to continue to pray for them. We should pray daily that every Christian in this world will be strengthened and filled with faith. We should pray that they will be bold in their witness and bold in their prayer lives. We should pray that our fellow Christians will be wise and unshakable in their resolve to follow Jesus.

God has always accomplished great things using a few faithful people. When you pray for the unsaved, remember to also pray for those who are fighting the greatest battles of our time on their knees. And remember, as long as God’s people are willing to seek Him and turn away from sin, He will hear us and heal our land.  

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother. Her novel, The Warrior, about how one woman's prayers change the lives of those around her, is available on Kindle and in paperback. For more information visit her website at Frontier 2000 or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup.

Pray Without Ceasing for Our Nation

The Bible tells us to pray for those in authority over us. It seems to me that most people interpret that to mean that we are to pray for God’s blessings on our current elected officials. While that is probably true to some extent, I believe that there are some important considerations that we sometimes overlook.

First, when God established this country, He gave us a brand new form of government. We began fresh with a government of elected officials who were put there to act within the framework of the Constitution and to serve the people. As soon as our independence was secured, we were able to move forward as a free people.

Second, our founding fathers recognized that if our elected officials were not serving the people and acting responsibly, we should throw them out and replace them with those who would. It is our responsibility to demand just, honest government, and when we do not get it, we need to replace those who are at fault.

Third, if we have corrupt elected officials it is our own fault. We can never say that there is nothing we can do about the mess that our government is in because we have chosen these people and given them permission to do make and enforce the laws that direct our lives.

Because of our particular system of government, I believe that we should begin to think differently about how we pray for those in authority over us. Today I am going to share with our readers how I pray daily for our nation.

When Jim DeMint announced in late December that he was leaving the Senate to become the new head of the Heritage Foundation, I began to pray for him by name. At the time of his announcement DeMint said that he was going to explore how best to “get the message out” to the American people. Therefore, each day when I pray for him I ask God to, first, show him what the message should be. Then I ask that God will show him how to get that message out. Next, I pray that DeMint will find the right candidates to promote—ones that will do exactly what God has put them there to do, no more and no less.

I then pray that God will give us the right candidates for 2014 for both houses of Congress—that He will raise up men and women of God who will be his “Daniels”. The Bible says that Daniel was “faithful and honest and made no mistakes” in the performing of his duties as one of three presidents who administered Darius’ kingdom. (Daniel 6:1-6) This is my prayer for these men and women of God—that they will look neither to the left nor to the right but only at God so that they will make no mistakes in the performing of their duties.

We will have honest, just government only when we demand it. It is God’s will that everyone be saved, but it is not His will that everyone should be allowed to serve in government. We should not pray for blessings on those who are godless. Instead we should pray that God will raise up men and women who will obey Him. We should pray that He will remove from office anyone who will not do what they were put there to do. And we should pray that our nation will become what He created it to be. Most of all, we need to understand that our nation will never reach its full potential until we choose to be governed by the godly.

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother. Her novel, The Warrior, about how one woman's prayers change the lives of those around her, is available on Kindle and in paperback. For more information visit her website at Frontier 2000 or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup.