This resolution of Daily United Prayer is based on An Humble Attempt, originally put forward by Jonathan Edwards in 1748. Its design is to encourage God's people in the duty of united extraordinary prayer; setting aside some time every day to pray for the revival of His church and the advancement of Christ's kingdom in our homes, in our churches, in our nation, and in the world.
This meditation was brought on the evening of New Years Eve 2022 at a late night Zoom prayer meeting where our United Prayer friends prayed in the new year.
"The LORD is able to give thee much more than this." 2 Chronicles 25:9.
We are on the precipice of a new year, and we are now on DAY #678. I read the verse in 2 Chron 25:9 the other day and was struck with those words. Strictly in context, these words were delivered by the prophet to King Amaziah when he became distraught at the thought of losing the hundred talents he already paid for the hired help against his enemy. The man of God is basically saying, "Don't worry about the money, the Lord is able to give back much more than the 100 talents lost."
Whatever we may feel we have sacrificed or however much we may feel it has cost us in spending these many days in prayer, this word should come to us with fresh encouragement, "The Lord is able to give thee much more than this." You cannot outgive the Almighty! In the words of Spurgeon's great sermon, True Prayer True Power:
I challenge you this day to exceed in prayer my Master's bounty. I throw down the gauntlet to you. Believe him to be more than he is; open your mouth so wide that he cannot fill it; go to him now for more faith than the promise warrants; venture it, risk it, outdo the Eternal if it be possible; attempt it.
Friends, we have seen the mercy drops in 2022. As many of you have noted, the fact that we are still here praying, and the fact that the fire has not gone out is in and of itself a miracle worthy of thanksgiving. True, there have been days in prayer that have been "harder" than others. But overwhelmingly, the Lord has met with us, day after day after day. Like the children of Israel wandering around in the wilderness, the Lord has faithfully provided bread from heaven each day, and our shoes and clothes have not worn out. We're still praying. We're still asking. We're still here, Lord. Do as Thou hast said, "The Lord is able to give thee much more than this!" We look forward to 2023 with anticipation!
A bow drawn at a venture.
In addition to handing out these little bookmarks, we will also be making an attempt to hold in-person prayer meetings alongside the normal Zoom prayer call every Friday at 12pm in The Vault Room of our SermonAudio space on the campus of Bob Jones University. This is simply the next step of faith as it is something we had in our mind to do ever since we began construction earlier this year.
It is our hope to invite local Greenville pastors to bring the meditation for these Friday prayer meetings which we intend to record both audio and video. For those on Zoom that have previously been scheduled to bring a meditation on Fridays, please allow us the flexibility to bring in a local pastor if one is available. Having someone bring the devotion locally will greatly encourage in-person attendance I believe.
What is our objective?
We want to introduce more of the next generation to extraordinary united prayer, to use the words of Jonathan Edwards. In other words, corporate prayer with a laser-like focus on God's glory, Christ's kingdom, and the revival of religion. Pure and simple.
Sticking to our roots.
There are a number of new folks that have been introduced to our prayer time recently and I want to encourage you to watch this video to help you understand what the primary focus and burden of this prayer group is. In short, this prayer meeting does not exist merely to run through a list of temporal needs (though we don't discourage praying for needs). But it’s a prayer meeting set apart to focus on the bigger kingdom desire to see God’s name made great in the nations (Malachi 1:11). In a word, we are praying for revival—the revival of religion and the advancement of Christ's kingdom on earth. Let's be sure to keep that at the forefront of our praying, please.
DAILY UNITED PRAYER unitedprayer.net
Mon-Fri @ 12pm EDT // Sat @ 10am EDT
We invite you to join our dedicated and earnest group of praying participants of all ages from around the world that meet every day over Zoom to pray. At the start of each prayer call, a different individual will bring a brief Scriptural meditation. Here's the most recent:
