Bless Every Home - Pray
Few Americans today say they know their neighbors' names, and far fewer report interacting with them on a daily basis. Pulling data from the General Social Survey, a recent report found that a third said they've never interacted with their neighbors. And only about 20 percent of Americans spent time regularly with the people living next to them. That's a big drop from four decades ago, when a third of Americans hung out with their neighbors at least twice a week, and only a quarter reported no interaction at all. Public Policy expert Marc Dunkelman noted, "There used to be this necessity to reach out and build bonds with people who lived nearby." Dunkelman added, "[From the 1920s to the 1960s] there was this sort of cohort effect, in which people … were more inclined in many cases to find security that existed in neighborhoods. They depended on one another much more." Little wonder that his book on this subject is titled The Vanishing Neighbor.
As Christians, as a church, I want to ask us to seek to BLESS EVERY HOME. An evangelistic initiative will be launched at the SBCV Annual Homecoming in November. For more information GO TO: sbcv.org/blesseveryhome/
THE FIRST WAY WE ARE TO BLESS EVERY HOME IS BY PRAYING.
“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people” (1 Timothy 2:1)
PRAY. PRAY FOR ALL PEOPLE.
R.A. Torrey, “Pray for great things, expect great things, work for great things, but above all – PRAY.”
Warren Wiersbe: “When a local church ceases to depend on prayer, God ceases to bless its ministry.”
There are at least seven different Greek nouns for “prayer,” and four of them are used here.
Supplications carries the idea of “offering a request for a felt need.”
Prayers is the commonest term for this activity, and it emphasizes the sacredness of prayer. We are praying to God; prayer is an act of worship, not just an expression of our wants and needs. There should be reverence in our hearts as we pray to God.
Intercessions is best translated “petitions.”
Thanksgivings is definitely a part of worship and prayer. We not only give thanks for answers to prayer, but for who God is and what He does for us in His grace.
TRY PRAYER WALKING. While prayer walking:
Open your eyes – look for prayer triggers.
Open your mouth - articulate your prayer and pray with expectancy and faith.
Open the Word - one of you can read and one can pray.
Open your ears - Listen to the Holy Spirit as you walk.
Be on scene without making a scene.
BLESS every home by praying:
B - Body: Pray for good health, protection, and strength.
L - Labor: Pray for their work experience and their financial security.
E - Emotional: Pray for emotional health and a good quality of life; for joy, peace, hope.
S - Social: Pray for their relationships with their family and friends.
S - Spiritual: Pray for their salvation, that they will come to faith in Jesus Christ.