World Changing Prayer

If Jesus answered all of your prayers from the last thirty days, would anything change in THE world or just YOUR world?

– John W. Bryson

 

When I came upon this quote, it really caused me to think about the purpose of my prayers. Yes, I do pray for friends and family, but the majority of my prayer time is consumed with “God, what can You do for me, today?” I tend to pray about myself for most of the time. I know that the Bible says, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you.” (1 Pet 5:7, NLT). However, this scripture doesn’t mean that we should only pray about our personal needs.

Our worries and cares do not just have to point to ourselves. I wonder what kind of difference would be made in this world if every born again Christian were to make a commitment to pray for things such as our Federal, State, and Local Governments; the spread of the gospel to every corner of the earth; the next Great Awakening to begin in your hometown; your local church, pastor, church staff and deacon or elder board; etc. I know that every born again Christian has not been praying for these things, because I rarely did. I still do not always do so.

This is a commitment we need to make. Not a commitment between you and me, but between each of us and God. We need to see what it is that is really important to pray about, and then pray about it. We need to pray for ourselves, obviously, but if that prayer is consuming the majority of our prayer time, then we need to revisit our priorities.

Look at that quote again. It would be nice if Jesus changed my world. It would be even nicer if He changed the world all around me.

What are some of the things we should pray for that would change the world?

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