The Circle of Prayer

 A more seasoned saint once taught me a “Circle of Prayer.”    The circle starts small, with me, and then grows larger until I cover the nations.   I sometimes use it when I wake in the middle of the night (I fall back asleep before I get too far out there, unfortunately).   A couple of days ago while out in the flower beds, this was my heart while I weeded.   As I wrote this down, I thought it interesting how the amount of petitioning grows as my span of control shrinks.  

  

For me:

  • thanks that I could get down on all fours and pull weeds—with the number of obesity-related skeletal problems among my sisters (hip replacements, backs, knees), I no longer take for granted the ability to move easily
  • thanks that I finally put down the right amount of mulch to not have to weed as much
  • thanks for God continually revealing more and more of His purpose in my life, and guiding me to places I would not have dared to go

 For my husband:

  • thanks for 16 years of  wonderful marriage
  • thanks for a husband who’s shown me God’s love (unconditional) and what is the true meaning of team
  • thanks for continued resources to make our lives happen and a willingness to sacrifice and to stand undaunted as we homeschool (I am convinced that we as a people think very differently about women, especially educated women, staying home with children)

 For our family:

  • Safe travel on our upcoming trip
  • An outpouring of God over my daughter and husband during their missions trip
  • That the children would always be lights in darkness
  • That the Lord would continue to give guidance and wisdom on our upcoming homeschool year (hide me behind the cross)

 For our extended family:

  • Salvation
  • That my sisters would grow deeper in Christ (although I know it will challenge us all)
  • That all assignments to keep my nephews bound in stereotypes are cancelled and thrown deep into the pits of hell
  • That my sister-in-law and her husband be the parents that God has called them to be
  • that my brother-in-law be safe and happy in his new job, but not succumb to all the temptations that are presented to a traveling husband
  • That my cousins would enjoy their upcoming stay in our area—it will be lovely to have homeschooling relatives near us

 For our church and friends:

  • To realize the commitments made as a part of the stewardship campaign
  • For marriages to be restored
  • Success of VBS—here and overseas
  • A special prayer for my blogging friends Tirzah (peace and encouragement), Letitia (wisdom and guidance),  and Keri (peace in times of uncertainty)

 For our community:

  • Salvation for our neighbors
  • For restoration of marriage for our neighbor across the street
  • That foreclosures would not adversely affect the neighborhood

For our nation and world:

  • America’s repentance and return to God
  • Reminder to the saints that God is in control and to pray for our country (for we wrestle not against McCain or Obama…)
  • Restoration and peace for flood and tornado victims, and for earthquake victims across this planet
  • Salvation in nations where the Gospel is not free (have any of you read Jesus Freaks?)

  

May God richly bless you, too.

 Ephesians: 3:16-20,

 

Belinda

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9 thoughts on “The Circle of Prayer

  1. I love the idea of a structured prayer time like the prayer circle. I tend to pray in a random way and then wonder if I missed someone. This is a great way.
    Blessings,
    Dawn

  2. Love this idea! Thank you for sharing that. Sometimes it is easy to stumble for words during prayer…especially when we are not praying for ourselves. This will help me 'cover' all my bases while trying to think of my circle and all the ones outside of it!

  3. I love when God just leads us from one place to the next in our prayers as we listen to His Spirit. How humbled and blessed I am to see that I was on your prayer list that day. Thank you so much. THat means a tremendous amount to me.
    I'm going to search your old posts again when it's daylight : ) . I can't remember when the mission trip is. Mine leave Tues. morning, while I go to my parents' house for a week with the rest.
    I hope you have an abundantly blessed week.
    Hugs,
    Letitia

  4. I really appreciate your advice. I will have to read more of her books, definitely. I love that blog you recommended, I just read about 15 of her posts. It is very helpful and she used to live in Turkey! I can really relate to that.

    I hope you are having a great summer!

  5. I have tried to keep something similar to this at work in my prayer time as well. Just so helpful to keep it all covered.

    Thanks for stopping by and sharing with me about the hard choices regarding friendships. I did read your blog link about what you went through too and that was helpful. Friendships are just so emotional and for me long in coming to have such a deep one, so it hit me hard. I do have to remember that things have a season but your reminder that God will fill in that place with something else was a good one.

    Janet

  6. I love this – great prayer reminders!

    Thanks for stopping by my blog a while ago – I think I missed your comment. No, I'm not bibliophile on a homeschool to college e-mail list, although I am *a* bibliophile (like so many other homeschoolers) đŸ™‚

    I am so behind on blogs right now because of busyness, but we had a wonderful, wonderful week of outreach last week! Hopefully I'll have time to blog about it before we leave for our short-term missions trip.

    Lots of blessings,

    ~Andrea

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