{"id":6505,"date":"2015-05-07T02:06:53","date_gmt":"2015-05-07T02:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=6505"},"modified":"2015-05-07T14:11:37","modified_gmt":"2015-05-07T14:11:37","slug":"pray-that-they-may-know-a-summary-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=6505","title":{"rendered":"Pray that they may know\u2014a summary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Believers around the world joined with Australia in prayer and fasting for America this past week. Today, Thursday, May 7 is the National Day of Prayer. Prayer is all the more critical now than ever.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Because of that, I\u2019ve been recycling a series of blog entries I wrote last year. Back then, God prompted me to shift my focus as I prayed for the nation. In short, I believe God showed me these four things for which to pray:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Pray for people to know what to do.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Pray for people to receive wisdom along with their knowledge.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Pray for those\u00a0people\u00a0to receive the\u00a0boldness to step out in what they know to do.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Pray for those people to be filled with boldness to carry out their tasks to completion.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Originally posted last year\u00a0(last in series):<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?<\/em> Esther 4:14b<\/p>\n<p><strong>To know what to do<\/strong>. Men and women desperately need to know what to do in this hour\u2014<em>no one<\/em> is\u00a0exempt from that need. You and I are equipped to pray for those who are facing huge, impactful decisions\u2014for secular leaders <em>and<\/em> for those who have leadership roles in the body of Christ, for the people of God, <em>and<\/em> for everyone else living in this nation and around the world. It is time to <em>pray for men and women to know what to do.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>To receive wisdom<\/strong>. It\u2019s time to pray for them to receive clear <em>wisdom<\/em> to direct and uphold them as they gain knowledge concerning what to do. You are I are equipped to pray for them to receive that wisdom from God; we are also equipped to pray that they will desire truth in their innermost being, for that is where He will deposit wisdom (see Psalm 51:6).<\/p>\n<p><strong>To step out in boldness<\/strong>. It\u2019s time to pray for men and women, boys and girls who have been granted knowledge and wisdom in accordance with God\u2019s purposes to step out in boldness to<em> do<\/em> what they know to do. There is knowledge and wisdom from God ready to be deposited across the board, upon all flesh, upon His people <em>and<\/em> upon those who do not yet know Him\u2014and each one will need the boldness of Peter to \u201cstep out of the boat\u201d (knowing full well that as they step, the boat <em>will<\/em> rock). You and I have access to the throne of grace to request boldness for them to take appropriate steps as they receive the knowledge of what to do.<\/p>\n<p><strong>To be enveloped and empowered by boldness<\/strong>. It\u2019s time to pray for boldness and great courage to <em>envelop and empower<\/em> those who <em>do <\/em>boldly step out to do what they know to do. There are many adversaries; those who have been blinded by the manipulations of the deluding spirit of this age don\u2019t want <em>anyone<\/em>\u2014secular<em> or<\/em> Christian\u2014to take a stand for true justice, righteousness, truth, or freedom. Instead, the spirit of this age seeks <em>control<\/em> and to enforce <em>conformity <\/em>to its agenda\u2014lawlessness and godlessness and ways that spit in the face of God. The spirit of this age inspires a ruthless, reckless fervor in those it saddles to intimidate anyone who acts or speaks off-script\u2014especially when they defy or denounce the godless status quo of our age. That\u2019s why you and I<em> must<\/em> pray for a saturation of boldness to come upon the men and women called of God to stand\u2014both those who are visible and the ones who are behind the scenes\u2014in arenas of power and impact. They <em>need <\/em>to know what to do, they <em>need <\/em>wisdom in it, they <em>need <\/em>the boldness to step out, and they <em>need<\/em> the all-encompassing boldness and power of God to carry them throughout their entire assignment.<\/p>\n<p>Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, \u201c<em>\u2026but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition<\/em>\u201d (1 Thessalonians 2:2). Like Paul\u2014who rocked the boat over and over again as he preached the gospel of Jesus Christ\u2014in our day those for whom we pray will also be rocking boats and swimming against the current. And unfortunately, like Paul, those for whom we pray to know what to do <em>will<\/em> encounter suffering and mistreatment and much opposition as they boldly defy the godless, lawless, spit-in-the-face-of-God status quo. However, covered by prayer, God\u2019s power, wisdom, and ability will envelop, protect, and lead them, and no weapon formed against them will prosper (see Isaiah 54:17). But we<em> must <\/em>pray for them for this to take place<em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>You and I, as well\u2014just by praying bold prayers on the behalf of those called of God to take bold stands\u2014are boat-rockers in defiance of the status quo of our age. Because of that, don\u2019t be surprised, as the apostle Peter wrote, \u201c<em>at<\/em> <em>the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you<\/em>\u201d (see 1 Peter 4:12). You see, as we engage in prayer <em>for people to know what to do<\/em> with wisdom and supernatural boldness, the devil doesn\u2019t like it one bit. He doesn\u2019t want his deviously-organized strategies and schemes to be hindered, restrained, or undone. He wants to be in control, and as you and I pray, we actually block and thwart his plans. So if you get attacked, mistreated, or face opposition, consider the source. It\u2019s from the adversary, and it simply means you are making an impact in exposing, restraining, and incapacitating his agenda.<\/p>\n<p>Stand your ground as you pray according to the leading of the Lord, and remember\u2014you are on the overcoming team. Because of your prayers, <em>people will know what to do<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Dorothy<\/p>\n<p><em>The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much<\/em>. James 5:16b<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Believers around the world joined with Australia in prayer and fasting for America this past week. Today, Thursday, May 7 is the National Day of Prayer. Prayer is all the more critical now than ever. Because of that, I\u2019ve been recycling a series of blog entries I wrote last year. Back then, God prompted me [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prayerperspective","category-praying-for-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6505"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6509,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6505\/revisions\/6509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}