Derek Prime's Thoughts on Prayer - Part 2

(Continued from Part 1, Practical Prayer, by Derek Prime)



The last three petitions in the Lord's Prayer relate to our own needs and interests.

Having given priority to the things that relate to God Himself, we may now pray for ourselves with confidence, because God, through the Lord Jesus' saving work, has become our heavenly Father.

First, we are encouraged to pray for our daily bread: Give us today our daily bread.

This represents all our daily needs: food, clothing, housing, and everything related to our physical and material well-being, and to our daily employment.

Second, as much as we require our daily bread, we need daily forgiveness: Forgive us our debts (trespasses) as we also have forgiven our debtors (those who trespass against us).

This does not mean that we earn God's forgiveness by forgiving others, but the reality of our experience of God's forgiveness proves itself as we practice forgiving others. It is a continuing experience. As He continually forgives us, we continually forgive others. We can't pay Him back for His favor, but we can pay it forward to others, and demonstrate His mercy.

Finally, we need to seek God's help against temptation and our enemy, the devil: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Satan, our great spiritual enemy, is always on the prowl, like a roaring lion, looking for someone to trip up by evil and temptation. We cannot handle it alone.

What it all means for us as we pray...

The Lord's Prayer provides us with a skeleton agenda upon which we may put our urgent needs and concerns. We should pray regularly for:

1. The honor of God's Name in the world
2. The extension of the church and the coming of God's kingdom through the preaching of the gospel
3. The obedience of God's people to God's will, and God's overruling control
of all the events in the world
4. Our daily practical needs and our work
5. Our relationships, both with God and others
6. Our temptations and the spiritual battle in which all Christians are involved

I am putting these 6 items on the weekly pages of my Journal.

This really is turning out to be PRACTICAL -- I think I will feel less overwhelmed when I consider all the things I want to pray for.


And I like the fact that I can put regular activities down on the weekly pages, like a calendar.

On Monday I can put regular Bible studies and on Wednesday I can put Prayer Meeting. I can pray for Sunday services on Saturday, since I am skipping using the Journal on Sunday. (Derek Prime suggests we use the Journal six days a week, praying without it one day, in order to keep us from feeling like we are in a rut).


If you give this kind of Prayer Journal a try and want to share your thoughts, please email them to me.

Prime's Practical Prayer Journal - Part 1

Derek Prime suggests we analyze the Lord's Prayer and let that progression of thought direct us in our own prayers. After all, it is how Christ answered His disciples when they asked Him to teach them how to pray (Matthew 6).

Derek Prime shares these thoughts with us:

There are 6 basic parts to the Lord's Prayer: the first 3 are concerned principally with God, and the remaining 3 with our personal needs and interests -- that immediately suggests the kind of balance which we should endeavor to strike.

Our prayers for God's Glory and Kingdom....


Our first concern must be for God's own Name and glory: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

This expresses our desire that men and women everywhere may know the truth about God and love and respect Him; and also that those who claim to know Him may live in a way that brings praise to Him.

Our second concern is for the coming of His Kingdom: your kingdom come.

The expresses our concern that the number of those who believe in God's Son and enter His Kingdom may increase day by day, so that His Son's return may be brought forward.

Our third concern must be for doing God's will in the world: your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

In this we pray for our own obedience, as well as the obedience of men and women everywhere to the purposes of God, and the doing of His will in spite of our frequent disobedience and misapprehension of His will.


Having given priority to the things that relate to God Himself, we may now pray for ourselves with confidence, because God, through the Lord Jesus' saving work, has become our heavenly Father.

(The last three sections of the Lord's Prayer brings our focus to our own concerns. Concluded in Part 2)

Back to the Present - Sarah Young

Trust Me and refuse to worry, for I am your Strength and Song.

You are feeling wobbly now, looking at difficult times looming ahead, measuring them against your own strength.

However, they are not today's tasks --nor even tomorrow's.

So leave them in the future and come home to the present, where you will find Me waiting for you.

Since I am your strength, I can empower you to handle each task as it comes. Because I am your Song, I can give you joy as you work alongside Me.

Keep bringing your mind back to the present moment.

Among all My creatures, only humans can anticipate future events.

This ability is a blessing, but it becomes a curse whenever it is misused.

If you use your magnificent mind to worry about tomorrow, you cloak yourself in dark unbelief.

However, when the hope of heaven fills your thoughts, the Light of My Presence envelopes you.

Though heaven is future, it is also present tense.

As you walk in the Light with me, you have one foot on earth and one foot in heaven. 

 -- From Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young

The LORD is my strength and my song;

He has become my salvation.

He is my God and I will praise Him.

 Exodus 15:2

We demolish arguments and every pretension

that sets itself against the knowledge of God,

and we take captive every thought

to make it obedient to Christ.

  2 Corinthians 10:5

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess,

for He who promised is faithful.

Hebrews 10:23

The Grid - Sarah Young

Let thankfulness temper all your thoughts.

A thankful mind-set keeps you in touch with Me.

I hate it when My children grumble, casually despising My sovereignty.

Thankfulness is a safeguard against this deadly sin.


Furthermore, a grateful attitude becomes a grid though which you perceive life.

Gratitude enables you to see the Light of My Presence shining on all your circumstances.

Cultivate a thankful heart, for this glorifies Me and fills you with joy.

--From Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young

Giving thanks always and for all things to

God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 5:20

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good,

for His steadfast love endures forever!

Psalm 106:1

I hate it when My people grumble, casually despising My Sovereignty.

Gleanings from Obed-Edom (Part 12) - The last bit

God's Ark found a resting place at Obed-Edom's home. For 90 days Obed-Edom was host to God's presence. When King David came to retrieve the Ark and remove it to a new resting place in Jerusalem, Obed-Edom joined to procession of faithful, joyful Jews who accompanied the Ark. He played his harp, maybe danced with David along the road, and rejoiced that he could stay close to God's presence by moving to Jerusalem and serving God in the new tabernacle King David had prepared.

When there, Obed-Edom, whose name means "servant/enemy of God", found places to minister, and was finally promoted to care for the vast treasures (probably about 2 and 1/2 billion dollars in today's money) that David was collecting for his son Solomon to place in the great new Temple which Solomon was going to build for God.

Sometime in his life, Obed-Edom became a friend, not an enemy, of God. And being in God's presence appears to be the central point in his life.

How blessed we are now -- because now the great Sovereign LORD of the universe can come live within us -- now He can enter our lives and actually settle down and be at home in our hearts.

I remember when I invited the Son of God to come in and live in me. I will never forget that day. But there is another day I remember also. That was the day I suddenly realized I wasn't doing it right.

I was so caught up in cleaning each room (what about that horrible Hall Closet?) that I was living like a child with one of those games -- you know, when the child sits in front of a platform with pegs sticking up -- and he takes his mallet and pounds one down and another pops up...and he keeps going and going..faster and faster, the pegs keep popping up -- well, that was my life.

I would clean one room and by the time I was through, I saw the dust and dirt in another room. And so I hurried there. And it went on, around and around.

But after all, the King of the Universe is living here. I have to keep it clean!

I couldn't take it any more. I was frazzled and tearful.

So I asked Jesus one day, "Would it be possible, or would you be willing --you can see how weary I am-- to take care of it all and operate it for me, just like You did in that Hall Closet?"

His face was shining on me when He said, "Of course." And I could see He was pleased.

"That's really what I came to do. It is impossible for you to do it in your own strength. Let me do it in you and through you. That's the only way it will really work."

I felt relieved and like the biggest burden had been lifted from my back.

"But," he continued. "You know, I don't own this house. I have no authority to make changes since I am not the owner. I am just your Guest. I can't take charge since the property is not Mine."

Then I understood. He was being treated like a Guest. I was trying to play host.

"From now on You are going to the owner of this house. I am going to be the servant."

I ran for the strong box. I took out the title Deed that showed me as the owner.

"Here it is," I said to Him, "all that I am and have forever. Now You run the house. Just let me stay with You as house servant and friend."

Like Obed-Edom who wanted to be near the presence of God every minute of his life, I, too, wanted to be with God, and have Him with me, every moment of my life.

He took my life that day. A great soul-happy peace came upon me, and it has stayed with me every day, no matter what the cicumstances of my life on the outside, I live with the King of the Universe in my heart.

And what about you?