Instructions for Prayer Cards 1. These prayer cards have been designed to provide an outline that you can follow, mixed with great flexibility, when you pray. Please be free to use these cards for as long as your prayer time usually lasts. (If you get through all 9 cards, great. If you get through fewer than 9 cards by the end of your usual prayer time, that s great too.) Please feel free to skip cards, or to pray through them in a different order. (One card does not build on the previous card, so the amount and the order of cards used is not crucial.) 2. These are called cards because you are invited to print these pages and cut each unit into cards (approximately 5 by 5 ). The idea behind making them into cards is for you to stack the cards in the proper order and pray through them one at a time, turning a card over each time you finish it. However, feel free to pray through these units either in card form or in the linear form in which they appear on these pages. 3. Some prayer guidelines: a. To avoid receiving the praise of others when you pray, find a private place to pray (Mt. 6:5-6). b. Avoid the temptation to aim for a feeling when you pray. (Feelings have a way of being bad servants and of becoming selfish masters.) Pray simply to speak to, hear from and just be with God who desires to be with you very much. c. Remember that God does not need to hear many words from us when we pray (Mt. 6:7). What God wants is YOU: your love, your focus, your devotion and your persistent faith when you lift up the needs of others. Since the number of words we pray doesn t matter to God, some of the cards will require only brief prayers and will be done quickly. Others will take a longer time to complete (like card #4). d. Don t beat yourself up if you skip a day, or two, praying. Just jump back into it at your next opportunity. (If you want to increase your commitment to daily prayer, consider finding a prayer partner who will hold you accountable to pray each day.) e. Preparation: The 2 nd prayer card invites you to praise God in one of three ways. One of those ways is to listen to Christian praise music. If you think you might choose that option it might be helpful to find and cue up that music before you begin your prayer. The 7 th prayer card invites you to read a passage of your choosing from the Bible. It might be helpful to turn to that passage before beginning your prayer time. 4. Finally, the prayer format provided in these cards will not click for everyone because God has made us all unique creatures. We are all mixtures of intellect and emotion, structure and a more casual approach to life and faith. If, after giving these cards a 3-4 day try, you find they are not for you that s okay! Hopefully you have found another way to pray each day. God bless us all!
1. Our Father in heaven thank you for Christian brothers and sisters who live on every continent. Show me what country you would like me to lift up in prayer right now. (Pray for Christians who live in that country.) For this is what the Lord has commanded us: I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. (Acts 13:47) Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth to every nation, tribe, language and people. (Rev. 14:6) 2. Hallowed (holy, unique) be your name and your entire Being, oh Lord. There is none like you. I lift up my praises to you by (pick one or more): a. Telling God how amazing he is (give him praise) in your own words. b. Listening (and possibly singing out loud) to Christian praise music. c. Reading one of the following Psalms of praise: 8, 9, 18, 27, 46, 47, 62, 65-67, 84, 92, 95-100, 103-106, 111-113, 134-136, 138, 146-150 I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart. (Psalm 9:1)
3. Your kingdom come, your will be done throughout the earth, and in my own life, as it is in heaven. Lord, is there any part of my life (my thoughts, my feelings, my actions) that you would like me to change? (Listen for God to speak.) Pray that our church would be doing the will of God in our community making new disciples and helping current disciples become more holy. Pray for God to help our church leaders as they do God s will with their work teams. "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? (Luke 6:46) Blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it. (Luke 10:28) 4. Father, give all of us who are your children our daily bread, (all that we need to live today), because all good things ultimately come from you. Hear my prayers, oh Lord, for: (Pray for people you know who are in physical, spiritual or emotional need.) Also, please hear these prayers for myself: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8)
5. Forgive us our debts (our sins) as soon as we also have forgiven our debtors (those who have sinned against us). Lord, please hear me as I confess my sins to you, trusting in the blood of Jesus to cover them and in your promise to forgive them: Lord, help me to think of anyone who has sinned against me (either recently or long ago) whom I have not yet forgiven: Help me to forgive them, Father. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. (Matthew 6:14) 6. Lord, you promise in your Word that you will never allow us to be tempted to sin in ways that we are not strong enough to resist. I am trusting in that promise when I say lead us not into temptations but deliver us from the evil one. He wants me to open doors that you have closed to me. Help me, I pray, to see those forbidden doors and to keep them closed. And give me your strength, Lord, to live with the temptations that are all around me which you know I can handle. Would you show them to me now: God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. (1Cor. 10:13)
7. Holy Spirit, as I read from the Word of God now: teach me your truths, guide me to make right decisions, comfort my heart, inspire me to action and/or convict me of my sin. (Read a portion of scripture and think for a while about whether the Holy Spirit taught, guided, comforted, inspired or convicted you through the reading.) All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. (2Timothy 3:16) Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119:105) 8. Rest in silence, reflecting on all that God has shown you in this prayer time and simply be with God, who loves you, and all people, very much. The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still. (Exodus 14:14) Be still, and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10) Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. (Psalm 62:5) I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds. (Psalm 77:12)
9. As you prepare to return to your daily living, thank God from your heart for all of the blessings he has given to you: Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. (1Chronicles 16:34) And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:17)