Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you … (Colossians 4:12)
 

It is easy to promise to pray for someone and then fall into hypocrisy by failing to actually pray. I know I have done that many times! Sometimes structure helps turn intention into action. One framework I have used to help me pray faithfully for someone involves the alphabet and my dictionary. I work through the alphabet, taking one letter per day. Thumbing through my dictionary, I ask the Holy Spirit to show me which word that starts with that day’s letter to pray for the person. Here are a few examples:
 
– C – Father, remind ****, at the moment she most needs it, that You cherish her. Let her know how deeply You love her and how special she is to You.
 
– G – Father, I pray that You will not permit worry to gnaw at **** today. Help her to leave whatever might worry her at Your throne, trusting You handle it in Your way and Your time.
 
On my most recent prayer journey through the alphabet, which is almost complete, I have been sending an e-mail every day to the person for whom I am praying. The day’s word is the subject line, and my short prayer is in the body of the e-mail. The e-mails are my way of holding myself accountable to my commitment to pray.
      

I invite you to try praying through the alphabet for someone. If you have a structure that helps you wrestle faithfully in prayer for someone, please share!
 
Here are some suggested prayer ingredients for this week:
 
1.  Lift up our pastors as they undertake the #Trending sermon series on what God’s Word says about six hot-button issues of our day. Pray that they will be led by the Spirit as they prepare their messages and that they will be bold to proclaim truth. Pray that we in the congregation will listen with humble hearts and open minds.
 
2.  Pray that we at Calvary can live out these verses from 1 Thessalonians: Now we ask you, brothers, to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you, and to regard them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we exhort you, brothers: warn those who are irresponsible, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.  (4:12-15)
 
3.  Yesterday and next Sunday have been designated as international days of prayer for the persecuted church. Take time to think of and pray for your brothers and sisters in other parts of the world – the Middle East, Asia, Africa – who are willing to risk everything for their faith in Jesus Christ. Click here to download a list of suggested specific prayer requests.
 
4.  Continue to uphold Greg Hodgson and his family before the throne of grace.
 
5.  In recent weeks, a few prayer cards from unidentified children have appeared in the prayer boxes. I can’t make heads or tails of their childish scrawls, but they serve as a great reminder to pray that the children of our body will learn to take their problems to the Lord.
 
6.  Pray for the individuals who will be baptized on November 15. Pray that as they prepare their testimonies, they will more deeply understand and appreciate what the Lord has done for them. Ask Him to protect them from attacks of Satan as they take this step of obedience.
 
7.  As Thanksgiving approaches, we begin to plan who is hosting Thanksgiving dinner and what kinds of pies to bake. An even more important aspect of our preparation is to ask God to heighten our awareness of His blessings to us, both physical and spiritual.

In Christ,
Carol Gilbert, Prayer Chair
Calvary Community Church of Brea