Apples of Gold
Radio Script for August 26, 2008
“4 Simple Prayers to Pray for People”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
Can you picture little Suzie kneeling by her bed?
I can hear her little voice saying, “God bless Mommy and Daddy, and God bless Grandma and Pappy. And God bless little Hermie so he won’t come out of his cage and get killed like our last hamster.”
That’s a fine prayer for a small child. But now let me ask you, what do you say when you pray for people? Does it go any farther than, “God bless them”?
Now don’t get me wrong. That’s not a bad prayer. I like it. It’s simple. I hope you pray, “God bless Doug” every single day.
But now let’s go ahead and add some more simple prayers to your repertoire.
Here is one simple prayer I pray a lot for people. “God, please draw them to You.”
I get that from John 6:44 where Jesus said no one can come to Him unless the Father draws him.
I like that word draw. It means to move by pulling. Think of drawing water from a well. You move the water by pulling it out.
No one can come to the Lord unless the Father draws them. So that is my prayer, which I pray for people all the time, “Lord, draw them to You.”
Now here is another prayer I pray a lot. “Lord, reveal Yourself to them.”
God is spirit and we are flesh. Our senses don’t reveal Him. The only way we can know Him at all is if He reveals Himself.
I like Matthew 16 where Jesus said, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” In verse 16 Simon Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Well where did Peter come up with that? Look at verse 17. “Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.”
God revealed who Jesus was to Peter. The Bible is full of people to whom God revealed Himself. So when I am praying for someone, that is a prayer I pray a lot, “Lord, reveal Yourself to them.”
Now here is a third prayer I pray a lot for people. “Lord, fill them with Your Holy Spirit.” Several times in Acts it says the believers were “filled with the Holy Spirit.” Paul and Stephen were filled with the Spirit. John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from birth.
Well, maybe that’s just for the super saints. No. In Luke 11:13 Jesus said to look at it like this. If we know how to give good gifts to our children, then how much more will our Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.
And now a fourth prayer I pray for people a lot. “Lord make them the man of God You want them to be.” (Or woman of God, as the case may be.)
I love that phrase, “man of God.” It means you are not a man of the world. You aren’t caught up by the things of this world, but your focus, your identity is in the Lord. You are a man or woman of God.
So I pray that a lot for people, “Lord, make them the man (or woman) of God You want them to be.”
So how do you pray for people? Are there certain phrases you say a lot? Now let me ask you, are they Biblical? I mean, we can make up all kinds of things to pray, but the goal is that our prayers are effective, right? So let’s pray according to what we find in the Bible.
Now here again are those four simple, Biblical prayers that I pray a lot for people:
Lord, please draw them to You.
Reveal Yourself to them.
Fill them with Your Holy Spirit.
And make them the man of God You want them to be.
Amen.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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