The church staff is spending the next month focusing on
prayer, and I thought this would be a great opportunity to share a prayerful
way of approaching scripture. Sometimes I like to focus on a passage from the
Bible one verse at a time and ask God to give me prayers that spring from the
verses. This is a great way to prayerfully connect deeply with God and with
scripture. Here was my experience with praying through I Corinthians 10:23-30
today…
I started out with some quiet prayer time on my own. I sat
in silence for a while asking God to put requests on my heart, and I wrote
these out. Afterwards, I began praying by looking out the window and praising
God. Creation itself boldly proclaims that God exists and I thanked Him for
that. I praised His goodness, mercy, justice, holiness and everything else I
could think of that amazes me about God’s character. This prayer of worship
helps me to enter into this time with God understanding who I am talking to…the
one and only God of everything! How amazing is it that we are allowed to enter
His presence?
Next, I prayed through the list of things that God put on my
heart. I tried to do everything I could to cry out to God on behalf of the
people who came to mind. Protection. Healing. Restoration. Blessings.
Salvation. Boldness. Forgiveness. I closed out this time of prayer by asking
God to give me guidance as I prayer my way through I Corinthians 10:23-30. Here
are my prayers…
v. 23 – Because
of God’s great love for me, He has given me the freedom to choose how to live
my life. I have the freedom to do anything I want, but I want to honor Him with
my life. “God help me to sacrifice my
freedom to serve myself so that I can serve you with my whole life. God help me
to think about the things I say and do, and to only make choices that build up
your Kingdom and other people.”
v. 24 – It’s not
about me! “God please help me to stop
incessantly worrying about myself, so that I can see the needs of those around
me. God help me to know when people I come in contact with are hurting, and
help me to be a voice of compassion and wisdom in their lives.”
v. 25 – 29 –
Don’t get caught up in issues that don’t matter in the big scheme of things. “God, please help me to consistently be
thinking about how I can positively influence people toward you. Don’t let me
get caught up in meaningless debates and arguments when what really matters is
Your name being glorified. Help me to see if there are things I am doing that
would be a stumbling block for people in getting to know you, and give me the
wisdom to avoid those situations.”
v. 30 – Give
thanks to God. This is a great way to close out the prayer by thinking through
everything that I have to be thankful about. Even hard situations and difficult
decisions can be areas of thanks if they force us to rely on God more deeply
and they spring from our efforts to honor Him with our lives. “God help me to be thankful in every
situation. Help me to see Your hand at work in the good and the bad situations
that I run into in this world. Give me the wisdom to understand that I don’t
have to get caught up in what other people think when I am doing everything I
can to honor you through my actions.”
These are the prayers that came to mind as I read my way
through today’s passage. Feel free to pray your own version of my prayers or to
work with God to create prayers that are more uniquely suited to you. May God
bless your prayerful journey through I Corinthians 10.
- Brandon Forsythe
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