For my subscribers residing outside the Wiregrass, we’ve had a little situation on our hands concerning our local library. This past Tuesday night, my pastor called our church to a time of corporate prayer before the library board met the following morning. We prayed for our county commission, our city commission, and our library board. I was asked to lead the prayer for the library board. Since my staff role is very much behind the scenes, this marked the first time I’ve spoken in front of the congregation and I was naturally a little nervous about that. But when you tell the Lord you wanna improve your prayer life, He might just give you the chance to do so publicly.
I went back and forth on the idea of publishing this written prayer. At first it seemed a little self-serving and please know I don’t mean it to come across that way. Ultimately, I’ve chosen to publish it anyway because I think it’s a rare opportunity for my purpose in internet ministry and what I do here on Substack to intersect with our local congregation at Ridgecrest. Plus, one way I’m working on my prayer life is through writing out my prayers. I think that’s probably a lost art in the life of the modern Christian. Perhaps you’ve been thinking about these issues this week and have struggled over how to pray. Hopefully this helps you in some way.
“For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might…”
Ephesians 1:15-19
I’ve been asked to lead prayer for the members of our local library board. You can see their names on your prayer guide, and I’d like to add Chris Warren to the list, Director of the library. As a reminder, we’re praying specifically that God would grant each member of our library board with wisdom, revelation, and enlightened hearts.
Take just a minute to read over the list of board members, pray for them there in your seat, and then I’ll lead us in a corporate prayer for the board.
…
Lord, we thank you for the blessing of private prayer and corporate prayer as your Church. First, I confess that I am guilty of not praying for our library board very much already. I repent of my tendency to form an opinion about an issue and talk with others about what I think should be done to solve it before I have brought the issue to you in prayer. Forgive me, forgive each of us, for disobeying you in this way.
But now, I do pray for the 15 members of our local library board, as well as Director Warren. I thank you for their willingness to serve our community in this way. I imagine public service of any kind is not always easy or enjoyable, especially when there is disagreement. But because these are public servants and because they have answered the call to serve our community, we do ask that tonight you would move in the hearts and minds of these men and women regarding the issues we’ve been talking about. Because they are public servants, we pray you would cause them to act in the best interest of our community. As they meet tomorrow morning, we ask that you would give each board member wisdom that comes from you and not from this culture. Give each of them the wisdom necessary to do what is right, not what is pragmatic or culturally acceptable at this moment.
For members of our board who might have been closed off to our concerns over these issues, we ask that you would provide them with a new revelation about the issues, why we are concerned, and what these issues mean to our community. For the members of this board who do not know you, and ESPECIALLY for the members of this board who DO, we pray you would grant the revelation needed to see these issues the way that you see them and NOT the way the world sees them.
Lord, we also pray you would enlighten the hearts of each board member to the opportunity you have given them. We ask that you would grant each of them the desire to not only seek your will in these matters but that they would find your will and act. Enlighten the hearts of our library board to do what they know is right in your sight.
Thank you again, Lord, for the opportunity to do corporately what you have already called us to do privately.
We ask all of this in the name of Jesus, amen.
Since 2024 is the year of prayer books for me, I was very glad to have been gifted a copy of Every Moment Holy Vol. 1 this week. I immediately turned to “A Liturgy For Those Flooded By Too Much Information” since that one describes me pretty well.
It’s very easy to become overwhelmed with something like this, but I think it’s also easy to ignore it. I have plenty of thoughts and of course there have been developments since I wrote this prayer. But as I said in the prayer, it’s probably not the time to share them. Instead, I’ll just leave you with this perfect excerpt from the liturgy.
Move each of our hearts to compassionately respond to those needs that intersect our actual lives, that in all places your body might be actively addressing the pain and brokenness of this world, each of us liberated and empowered by your Spirit to fulfill the small part of your redemptive work assigned to us.
Give us discernment
in the face of troubling news reports.
Give us discernment
to know when to pray, when to speak out, when to act, and when to simply shut off our screens and our devices, and to sit quietly in your presence,
casting the burdens of this world upon the strong shoulders of the one who alone
is able to bear them up.
Amen.