Every summer Women’s Ministry sends out a devotion each Monday beginning on Memorial Day and running through the end of August. Our hope is that these devotions give you a way to stay in God’s Word over the summer when many Bible studies are not meeting and schedules can be filled with travel and activities. This summer our devotions will center around the theme “Prayer in the Bible”.
God has always been pleased to communicate with His people through prayer. Therefore, prayer is a necessary and important component of the Christian life. Throughout scripture, God’s people pray when they are overwhelmed with joy and thanksgiving, cast down with sorrow and despair, or in need of God’s saving grace. They pray from the mountaintop and the valley. The future king prays as he is hunted and hiding in a cave. The woman facing infertility cries out to the Lord in joy as she is given a child. The king, besieged by enemies, begs the Lord to save his city. The early Christians pray for boldness in speaking the truth. Jesus himself prays for believers.
Although the Bible was written thousands of years ago, humans haven’t really changed, and we experience the same mountaintops and valleys, high and low points of life, moments of joy and moments of sorrow. This summer, as we read through and consider some of the prayers recorded in the Bible, my prayer is that the Lord would give us an increased understanding of the purpose of prayer, a deep and abiding faith in the power of prayer, and a renewed enthusiasm for the practice of prayer.
If you have participated in devotions from summers past, this summer will be a little different. Each week we will focus on a different prayer in the Bible. You will read that prayer each day and then answer the questions for the day. Occasionally there will be other verses to read that give added context, and those will be listed next to the day they are to be read. Re-reading increases understanding, and it is my hope that by reading the same prayer five days in a row you will pick up on new aspects each day and perhaps even memorize parts of the prayer!
