Prayer focus for September 2014
A. Confronting yourself
“Pay close attention to yourself…” (1Tim 4:16)
1. Pray for God’s guidance in everything you do, the right balance as you choose your priorities and as you allocate your time and resources. (Pr 3:5.6)
2. Be honest and admit the need to be watchful over your natural desires. Pray with King David, “Search me, O God, and know my heart.” (Ps 139:23)
3. Ask for the kind of humility that allows the Lord to be God in your life. Trust Him and know that He cares and will use everything for your good, as you love Him first. (1Pe 5:6.7)
4. Pray for wisdom as you examine the motives of your heart. Commit yourself to accepting the discipline of self-control and purity as you confront the lures of the flesh. (Ga 5:24)
5. As a man you are inclined to act in response to what is logical and necessary. Ask the Lord for discernment. Remember that our battle is spiritual in nature, counter culture and has eternal dimensions. (Ep 6:10)
6. Remind yourself of your identity in Christ. Accept your total dependency on Him and praise the Lord that His Grace is sufficient for you and that His power is made perfect in weakness. (2Co 12:9.)
B. Leading at home
“He who loves his own wife loves himself.” (Ep 5:28)
7. Obey God’s command to love your neighbor as yourself and pray for His love to be evident in your words and actions as you allow Christ to lead in your marriage relationship.
8. The lack of a positive father figure is the main cause for youth to get involved in violence and crime. Pray for wisdom and be ready to be an example as you teach your children godly and permanent values. (Pr 22:6)
9. The family is God’s project. The honor and love among spouses and the loving respect of children towards their parents is basic for a healthy family and the cornerstone of society. Pray for a new awareness and commitment to these principles in the Christian church.
10. The church is the body of Christ, bound together by His love. The diversity of the gifting of its members creates divine synergy that glorifies God. Pray for the Lord to show you your gifts. Then contribute willingly to the building up of the body.
11. The lack of godly male leadership is evident in a society torn by corruption, hate and crime. Pray for opportunities to make a difference and to be salt and light in your area of influence. (Mt 5:13-16)
12. Fight spiritual apathy, get rid of superficiality, put Kingdom values first and stand up for Christ. Cling to the Lord as the branch clings to the vine and pray for Him to do His work in and through you. (Jo 15:16)
C. Influencing for good
“…as a lamb shining in a dark place, until the day dawns.” (2Pe 1:19)
13. Thousands of believers left their mark of Christian love as they served and witnessed to the multitudes that rallied to the recent World Cup in Brazil. Pray for opportunities for you to make a difference for Christ in spontaneous and organized ministry outreach.
14. The love of Christ motivated Paul to total surrender. He turned his world upside down. Pray for revival and for a new understanding that the believer has died with Christ in order to no longer live for himself, but for Him. (2Co 5:14.15)
15. “A half Christian is total nonsense!” The Western church is full of cultural Christians who are neither hot nor cold. Pray for revival and a clear understanding of God’s priorities. Determine to “ lay aside every hindrance and the sin which so easily entangles us.” (Hb 12:1)
16. Remember that you are chosen in spite of your weakness and lack of nobility in order that Christ might reveal in you the wisdom of God, His righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Pray for Christ to be evident in and through you. Let your light shine! (2Ti 1:7)
17. The central problem of men is the heart of man. Pray earnestly to become a man transformed by God’s grace, who brings out of his heart treasures of divine love, wisdom and the kind of leadership that will influences men to seek the best of others.
18. “Faith without works is useless. “ Pray for God to ignite in you afresh a passion for Him and compassion for the people around you who have practical and physical needs and who wait for a word of encouragement and affirmation. (Mt 5:16)
D. Recruiting for life
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples…” (Mt 28:18.19)
19. Your calling as a man of God is to make disciples for Christ. Pray for a fresh anointing by His Spirit and be ready to present the Gospel to family, friends and neighbors. Take advantage of the different discipleship tools available through CA website and partnering ministries.
20. You are chosen to proclaim God’s excellency. He loves with everlasting love. Through Christ’s death on the cross He paid the ultimate price to offer eternal life to anyone who believes. Ask the Lord to burden you with His love and to make you a courageous witness for Him.
21. “I am under obligation…” was Paul’s testimony as he spread the Gospel. Pray to be a catalyst of the message of life in Christ in our time of information overload and value inflation.
22. Prayer allows us to partner with God. God wants men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands. (1Ti 2:8) Intercede for the cause of the Gospel and those who serve Christ fulltime at home and abroad.
23. As a growing number of fanatics are investing their lives and resources in a religion of hate and death, you can make a difference and demonstrate the life, love and healing power of Christ in all of your relationships. Let the cause of His Kingdom be your absolute priority.
24. The younger generation yearns for spiritual fathers and mothers. Ask the Lord to make you a man of Christian character who is available and prepared to recruit and disciple followers of Jesus.
E. Aiming at the goal
“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Php 3:14)
25. As media technology spits out incredible and always growing volumes of information at the speed of light, distraction has become a real enemy for the disciple of Christ. Be watchful and pray. Keep your focus on Jesus and let your mind be instructed by His Word and Spirit. (Ps 01.)
26. No dream of material security and success should overshadow the call of Christ to put the Kingdom of God and His righteousness first. Pray for discernment as you invest your time, strength and resources. Too many Christian men are defeated because they live only for the here and now.
27. Today a growing number of Christians are paying the ultimate price for their faith. Praise God that those enemies of the cross can only kill the body, but then have nothing to do. Pray for the persecuted church to be strong in Christ and pray for those men who are blinded by Satan to meet the Savior as Paul did in Acts 9:4.5.
28. We need urgently spiritual revival. Pray that the Great Commission would not become the great omission. Ask the Lord to start with you as you learn to walk in the Spirit (Ga 5:16.17) and set your mind on the things of God and not the fleeting glories of this world.
29. Translation and production of CA’s 52 scripts of discipleship for men has started in Africa (Zulu and Afrikaans,) India (Tamil,) Brazil (Portuguese,) and Indonesia (B. Indonesia.) Keep those projects in your payers and join the TWR-Cary group of men in praying for the English program production and the necessary resources as the CA project expands.
30. The ultimate model of masculinity is the Lord Jesus Christ. In utter obedience to His Father He came to this world to seek and to save the lost. He gave His live as a ransom for our sin. Pray that you will also live because of Him and for His glory. (Jo 6:58)
