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.
Some thoughts about United Prayer...
I just wanted an opportunity to share a bit of my heart briefly. It feels like I'm always busy, but the last number of weeks have been an unusually busy time with SermonAudio and The Vault generally. To be honest, I have found it difficult some days to even make it to the prayer call at all, never mind write these emails and compile the list of requests that come in. Despite that, I can testify that although I will often begin the hour on a spiritually low level, by the end of the hour, I am usually encouraged and thankful to have been there.
Perhaps you, too, are going through a season of weariness. I hope it will give you cause to pause and consider with me why I am thankful for United Prayer.
It is a place where we can hear God's Word opened daily. The devotionals are meant to be short meditations. Few of us are preachers, but even the simple opening up of the Word is enough to bless my soul as long as I can give proper attention to it. This is key.
It is a place where we can pray about God's BIG kingdom. Local prayer meetings are great and should be an essential part of our Christian experience. But the reality is that most of the time, the focus of local prayer meetings typically revolve around local or denominational needs. This is good and proper, but I find it helpful for my soul to be in an environment that consistently calls upon God for bigger, bolder requests. As Newton once said, "Thou art coming to a King, large petitions with thee bring. For his love and power are such none can ever ask too much."
When I am in a low spiritual state, it is extremely helpful to be praying with other believers that are stronger than me. Fire begets fire. And when all I have are smoldering embers, even nature teaches us that we need to come together with others that are burning stronger and brighter. We are not in a revival period, this means we are in a winter season. Why should we shutter in solitude, separately trying to keep ourselves warm?
It is extremely helpful to hear the variety of prayers and voices of God's people from different countries with different burdens. This enlarges my own understanding and burden for needs far beyond my own.
I find it a particularly beautiful experience when you can have a diverse group of believers with different voice accents coming together in united prayer with one voice and one heart. The world is clamoring over unity, but the only true unity is to be found in God's family and is powerfully expressed in united prayer. This is what Christ Himself prayed for in John 17.
This United Prayer is not meant to replace the experience of the local church. However, whatever good is found here can encourage us to strive to set our goals higher for what is possible in our local experiences.
Although it seems ambitious, having daily prayer seems to align with the pattern of the early church well. I know "daily" is hard, but it is also helpful as my spiritual battles are fought daily, and not just once a week.
These are just some thoughts on why I am thankful for United Prayer. I'm sure I am not alone in this. There are almost one thousand people on this email list, and I want to speak to you. If you are in a spiritually low place, I would encourage you to try joining us for one of our prayer calls. Don't join the call while doing something else either. Try to find a quiet place, sit down with an open Bible, and give yourself to PRAYER and the WORD for one hour. That's why I like to encourage the cameras to be on. It not only helps us see one another but it is a bit of accountability as well. These are just suggestions and I know it's not always possible.
Shall we pray together?
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:
