Public Prayer Content...

A prayer I heard in church...

We pray for Zimbabwe...
for it is a Godless land

Is that a prayer you have heard recently. I must admit, when I heard that prayer I did not expect to hear the 2nd phrase. I was expecting something to do with helping the poor, providing unity, peace etc. How often in the public prayers in our churches do we hear words about the latest catatrophe, Iraq, Katrina, prayers for our government, prayers for peace.

Should that be the focus of our prayers, or should they be more like the prayer above?

Whenever I see Paul present the content of his prayers for the Churches he wrote to and visited I never see prayers for peace/comfort/deliverance. They are always specifically God centred. Our prayers, especially our public prayers should follow this pattern.

I'm not against praying for peace, unity and comfort, but I'm not sure if that should be the main point of our prayers. What the church is ultimately about is changing people's lives. People living in peace, in some leafy suburb, people starving from hunger or suffering from some natrual disaster all have one common need, the need to be brought into the Kingdom of God.

Last night we had a guest service at my Church. For those who don't know what that is, it is a service to which outsiders are invited and the service is geared to be outsider friendly. The message has a specific evangelistic focus. They are held about four times a year. The prayer that was prayed at the service did not bring accross the message that a person's salvation is fundamental. We want everyone to realise their need before God, if we pray for those who on a purely physical level clearly need it, outsiders are going to think from the words of the prayer, I'm not suffering so why do I need God. What inevitably happens in these prayers for comfort is that the "save their souls" bit is tacked onto the end. It should be the starting point.

Another important reason for praying for people's salvation is that it is what differentiates our prayers from the prayer of a muslim or member of other mono-theistic religions. Furthermore, the unequivocal need for Salvation from sin through Faith in Jesus is also what sets the evangelical Church apart.

Let's try and make our public more eternally focussed and more in line with the Bible's example.


It is, I feel, esp