Praying Scripture Over Someone

Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ at Pax Pres, and to all people,

I’ve been writing and posting weekly prayers. This week, instead of a written prayer, I want to suggest a way of praying that has been meaningful to me. If you’re already familiar with it, it might stretch your life in prayer, too.

A few years ago, I considered each member of my immediate family - my wife, myself, and my four children. Between just thumbing through the Bible and some online Bible searching, I sought out a Bible verse or two that seemed to “fit” each of my family members: their personalities, their particular needs in that season of life, etc.  I found 2-3 verses for each family member and wrote them in a little journal. Since then, I pray those verses over them by name at some point throughout my day. I’m not perfect at doing it everyday - but multiple times a week, I pray specific verses over my entire family.

For example, my daughter Nayla is very artistic. Exodus 31 describes Bezalel, a man appointed by God to design the ark of the covenant. Exodus 31:3-5 says:

“and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze,

in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft.”

So I pray this:
“God, fill Nayla with your Spirit, with ability, intelligence, knowledge, craftsmanship, and artistic design to work in every material and craft as a witness to your glory.”

With other verses over each family member, I work my way through my whole family. You could do this for any significant people in your life. Sometimes we’re at a loss for words what to pray for someone; finding the words of Scripture itself can be a great guide.

Humbly in Christ,
Rev. Matt Pooley

Prayer for All Impacted by Covid-19

Photo credit: Alex Brandon/AP

Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ at Pax Pres, and to all people,

So many people and aspects of our daily lives need prayer. I hope to write a prayer once per week on a whole variety of matters - like today, we’ll pray for those grieving the loss of loved ones in 2020, particularly deaths related to Covid-19.

Yesterday (Tuesday, January 19th), a national call was issued for churches in the United States to ring their church bells at 5:30 p.m. EST as a collective remembrance of the 400,000 American lives lost to Covid-19. PaxPres doesn’t have external church bells, so we put a marquee on our electronic sign by the road, and this prayer accompanies that occasion.

Please join me in prayer…

Humbly in Christ,

Pastor Matt

Almighty God, your psalmist declared our days are numbered before we are even born. Your Son, Jesus, declared that even the hairs on our heads are numbered by You. God, our lives are in your hands. As your image-bearers, each and every human life is precious. God, today in particular we grieve, we lament, and we cry out for your mercy as the global death toll of Covid-19 passes two million and the death toll in the United States passes 400,000. Every one of those people was known to you before they were even born. God, we don’t understand. But we ask your Spirit to fill us with a trust and faith in you in the face of death.

God, we pray for every person who has been struck with grief because of Covid-19. We pray for family members, friends, neighbors, and all who are reeling from the death of someone they cared for. We pray that the hope of the resurrection offered in Christ would be a source of strength to all who are mourning. We pray that the comfort of your Holy Spirit would hold us in our tears, grief, and memories.

God, we think too of health care workers who have been on the front lines of this pandemic - many of whom have not only walked alongside someone dying of Covid-19, but who themselves have lost loved ones to Covid-19. They too need your hope, your strength, your comfort, and your perspective to keep them going. Grant them the rest that Christ alone offers to sustain them through the many months still ahead of this terrible pandemic.

God, we who call upon the name of Jesus Christ are first and always citizens of your kingdom. But in your providence, each of us has an earthly nation we call home. So for those of us American disciples of Jesus, we join together with all people in our land in asking for your comfort and mercy. As millions of others join in a collective act of remembrance over the death toll of Covid-19, show us - your disciples - how we can join in lament with others. Direct us to specific neighbors, co-workers, and family members to whom we can offer a word of the hope of Jesus, an act of the grace of Jesus, and a comforting presence. Empower us to be your presence to someone who needs it today.

All this we pray in the name of Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life. Amen.

Prayers for All Involved with Education

Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ at Pax Pres, and to all people,

Last week, January 6th prompted a written prayer from me related to everything that led up to and happened during the electoral confirmation on Capitol Hill. So many people and aspects of our daily lives need prayer at this time in our current national and global moment. I hope to write a prayer once per week on a whole variety of matters - like today, we’ll pray for teachers and everyone involved in education and schoolwork especially during the pandemic. In future weeks, we’ll pray for other matters and groups of people. On a related note, a church member made me aware of this Global Day of Prayer and Fasting for mothers, tomorrow, Wednesday January 13th if you wish to participate.

Humbly in Christ,

Pastor Matt

Almighty God, you created each and every one of us in your image. Though we take that truth for granted sometimes, it was a radical way of viewing humanity in the ancient world: that everyone - young, old, healthy, ill, rich, poor, male, female - has an inherent dignity in the sight of God and of people. God, thank you that we are each knit together in our mothers’ wombs, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made by you.

As your image-bearers, God, one way you call us to steward our lives is through education of people of all ages: teaching children and adults alike. God, teaching has always been a joyful yet arduous calling. But you yourself, O Lord, have watched from heaven and you have seen just how devastating a toll the global pandemic has taken on all teachers, educators, and education administrators. Lord, be merciful to each and every one of them.

God, we give you thanks for teachers of all types: preschool, elementary, middle, high school, college, graduate level, and more. Public, private, charter, home, and all other types of school. They need your sustaining grace to keep them going through this pandemic and even long after it’s over. Through Jesus, you call all who are weary and burdened to come to you and find true rest and an easy yoke for their souls. God, through your Spirit grant all teachers a rest and renewal they desperately need.

God, in addition to the ways teachers invest in the lives of others’ children and peers, they too have families of their own. We pray, God, for all teachers whose own loved ones have died or been impacted by Covid-19. We remember teachers themselves who have lost their lives to Covid-19 or any other cause in 2020. We lift to you their grieving families and friends. May your Holy Spirit be their one true comfort and may the hope of the resurrection of Jesus Christ be their one true hope.

God, we give thanks and pray too for administrators of all types who make the work of educators possible. Together with teachers, administrators have had to make one unprecedented decision after another in the pandemic. God of wisdom, grant them peace in the decisions they have made in the last year; and grant them your wisdom and discernment in dozens of decisions that are still yet to be made this year. God, for all of us who don’t make the decisions but live with them, grant us grace and patience with our teachers and administrators. We confess, God, that every one of us - myself included - has had our moments of complaining about education decisions made in the last year. Teach us to work together, not against each other, in supporting our educators and administrators in making more pandemic-related school decisions that are in the best interests of all: students, parents, guardians, and school teachers and staff. Only you, God, can work that kind of unifying Spirit between people of differing opinions. So Holy Spirit, come and unify us.

God, we also pray especially for students and families who’ve been disproportionately affected by Covid-19’s toll on education. Some of us and our kids, God, are affected by Covid-19, but by your grace, we will bounce back relatively easily. But we pray for those who, before Covid-19, already had certain cards stacked against them: for those whose zip code is stacked against them. For those whose finances are stacked against them. For those whose broken home situations are stacked against them. For those whose ethnicity or skin color is unjustly stacked against them. We lift to you all who have experienced an unimaginably higher toll on their ability to learn and grow in 2020. In their lives, God, write your story of redemption, restoration, and abundant resilience and growth through the power of Jesus. May many children and adults in school have stories to tell of your grace in years to come. God, show each of us how we can be better champions for those who were already set back before the pandemic.

God, in Jesus you are our teacher, our rabbi, our shepherd. Bless all people who have been given the humbling responsibility of teaching and shepherding lives young and old. Through this ongoing crisis, graciously make more and more people aware of their need for the salvation of Jesus. All this we pray in His loving and powerful name. Amen.

A Prayer from Rev. Matt Pooley

Greetings Sisters and Brothers in Christ at Pax Pres, and to all people,

Though I’m still just starting at Pax and hope to say more words of welcome to you soon, in the meantime the national events of yesterday deserve attention.

Our God calls us to pray every day for many things. But occasionally events like those yesterday in Washington, D.C. merit a special response of concerted prayer, like the prayer I offer below. I take great comfort knowing that Scripture promises that before we even pray a word of our own, our resurrected King Jesus and the Holy Spirit are already interceding for us with groans too deep for words. (Rom. 8:26-27; Heb. 7:25)

I offer this prayer on behalf of all of Pax Pres to God. I also offer it if it helps guide your own prayers in any way. You may find it long, but in such nuanced and difficult times as ours, I cannot help but pray for as many aspects of what is going on as possible.

Humbly in Christ,

Pastor Matt

Almighty God, you are King of Kings and Lord over every nation. Though your kingdom does not depend on the rise and fall of a democracy, we give you thanks that most of us have only ever known your blessing of a democratic, consistent peaceful transfer of powers. Though we struggle to understand it, God, we give thanks that the events leading up to yesterday and the events of yesterday, January 6, 2021, do not surprise you, O holy God.

Nevertheless, God, you made us in your image, and you designed us to live in good wholeness - “shalom” as the prophets so beautifully called it. We pray for your protection over the police and all authorities in Washington, D.C. who are attempting to maintain safety in D.C. in the days and weeks ahead. We pray your same protection over police and authorities in any other cities where similar protests might escalate.

God, we pray for your divine wisdom and discernment to guide politicians of every party and spokespersons of every ideology, whose words and actions have the power to escalate and de-escalate situations like what we saw yesterday.

God, we pray for regular citizens of every gender, class, and creed who call D.C. “home” and are just trying to finish their days and their week safely amidst the chaos on Capitol Hill. We especially pray for citizens affected by or trying to help address the Covid-19 pandemic, whose already-exhausting circumstances are only exacerbated more by the stress of yesterday’s events. Be their peace, healer, and sustainer.

God, we pray for those who are not just angry but are flat-out inciting violence and disrespecting the people you have placed in office - whether we personally voted for them or not. We pray for those disrespecting the physical halls and institutions that Scripture says get their authority from you (Rom. 13). For those not just protesting but inciting violence against the halls of power, Spirit of peace, intervene and reign in their hearts.

God, we pray for those who are furious at the mob of protestors, and we pray for those who are furious alongside the mob of protestors. Our own families and friendships have been tested and tried by the divisiveness brewing for so many years now in our country. Bring us together to the foot of the cross of Jesus, who absorbed all our sin to free us from the penalty and power of sin… so that, if we abide in Christ, we don’t have to resolve our differences like this! God, let reconciliation at the foot of the cross begin with some of us and our own family members, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Give us courage to have those hard, humbling, forgiveness-drenched conversations with someone with whom we’ve experienced division in recent years.

God, we pray that you would temper our own reactions to the news, especially our reactions in front of our children and grandchildren. Show us how to respond well to the news in such a way that perhaps our children will grow up to mimic more of Christ and less of the spitefulness, anxiety, and anger they see in us. 

God, we pray for anyone who does not identify with the protestors, or the insurrectionists among that larger crowd, to still try to listen to the heart of their anger and concerns; not to be intimidated by their concerns, but to understand and, by your grace only, seek common ground.

God, though our system of government is built upon our individual involvement, for the majority of us, today’s events in D.C. feel removed from our daily lives. Yet in our 24-hour news cycle, we are still bystanders and very invested in what we see unfolding on our TVs, radios, and social media feeds. I think of the anxiety just seeing all this provokes in me. So, Lord, for those of us watching the news, help us find our peace and security not just in the hope of de-escalation - though we very much pray for that! Whatever thoughts and emotions the news elicits in each of us, God, help us find our peace and security in Christ and Christ alone, our one solid rock.

God, we pray your Spirit would bring in us and across our country a wave of repentance for all. God, may you inspire every American, myself included, to search our hearts for the part we play in the current power crisis. God, you came to us in the flesh of Jesus of Nazareth in first-century Palestine, at a place and time of history that was overflowing with diverse groups brokering for power in the Roman Empire. Yet we praise you because your message of repentance, forgiveness, and love cut across all the idols of the heart that were driving every political and cultural group of that time. We plead for your mercy to intervene in a similar way in our country and in our time.

God, we confess that we shouldn’t be surprised at this kind of collective crisis, because all of our souls are sick without you. Forgive us for the ways we have not worshipped and obeyed you and you alone. Create in each of us clean hearts and renew a right spirit within us.

God, we pray for all churches and Christians together to seek your divine insight about what we can do to promote reconciliation between even the most hostile of groups, and to promote the common good. We pray for all Christians, but among them we pray for fellow members of our National Capital Presbytery (NCP). Grant wisdom and strength to all NCP pastors, elders, deacons, and local mission organization leaders who you’ve called to minister in the heart of D.C.

Almighty God, you only hear our prayer because Christ’s atonement on the cross tore down the curtain and bridged the chasm that stood between us and you. Though nations -  including the one we love so dearly - rise and fall, your kingdom has no end. Therefore we truly pray all of this in Christ’s name and for his eternal renown over all the earth. 

Amen.