Prayer for Thursday, May 5

Prayers for Wisdom in Caring for the Poor and Oppressed


God of Wisdom, you know the human heart in ways we cannot fathom. We believe that you are grieved and angered at the way the poor are exploited and the marginalized continually oppressed by the powerful. We pray for wisdom in how to serve the least; in how to show solidarity with the forgotten and overlooked. There are poor among us and this should not be. Lead us in paths of Christlike discernment regarding the sharing of our resources. We confess that we desperately need your wisdom just to keep ourselves from being co-opted by the ploys of those who seek personal gain behind a facade of concern for others. Only in you can we find the guidance to navigate these waters, O Lord. You have the Words of Life, continue to translate them on the hearts of your people for the benefit of others. Hear the cries of the oppressed and open our ears as well, O God of Wisdom.

Assisting the poor is often a complicated issue; pray for wisdom regarding how best to work on behalf of the poor in this area and beyond. If possible, contact someone who works with these people on a daily basis. Pray for wisdom in their service and ask them what is going unaddressed. If the answer is something you can do, do it. If its a larger systemic issue, add this to the list of matters you bring before God in prayers for wisdom in our leaders.

Prayer for Wednesday, May 4

Prayers for Wisdom in the Global Community

God of Wisdom, we confess that there is too much brokenness, too much pain, too much dysfunction, oppression, violence and exploitation in this world. We confess that we have allowed ourselves to become overwhelmed and, all too often, complacent. We repent and seek your forgiveness Lord. Grant us the wisdom to know how to lend our voices, our hands and our resources in your global ministry of reconciliation. We ask for discernment amidst a sea of voices which seek to mislead, misguide and misappropriate. Grant us the prophetic imagination required to envision the in-breaking of your kingdom in the darkest places. We seek your light in the darkness, O God of Wisdom.

Choose a few organizations working in some region of the world (governments, Christian mission agencies, disaster relief and humanitarian organizations, etc). Pray for God's wisdom and discernment to be poured out on leaders and workers in each of those organizations. In areas marked by internal struggle, violence and revolution, pray specifically for wisdom that leads to reconciliation.

Prayer for Tuesday, May 3

Prayers for Wisdom in Our Local Community

God of Wisdom, we lift before you all those in our community who are tasked with making decisions which affect the lives of those who live in this area, and beyond. We ask for you to pour out your wisdom on the mayor, city council, city planners, school board, detectives, fire marshals, code inspectors, landlords, home owner's associations, teachers and educational administrators, public health officials, social workers, counselors and all who work and labor on behalf of the community. We ask God that you will guide the decision making processes so that justice is not overlooked in the name of profit or expediency. Father we ask for wisdom to see and act on opportunities to bless, encourage and assist these individuals and groups; we ask for the wisdom and courage to speak out, hold accountable and still assist them when needed as well. Send your reign on this community, O God of Wisdom.

Take a moment to speak with, email or somehow communicate with a decision-maker in your local community today. Let them know that you pray for God's wisdom and discernment in their work (and then take a moment to actually pray for them by name). Ask what you can do to encourage, bless or assist them.

Prayer for Monday, May 2

Wisdom for the Church
God of Wisdom, we ask that you continue to pour out your wisdom on your Church. Raise up, from among the harvest, wise workers who are able to discern your ways and share their insight with others. We ask, God, that you will remove from us the virus of that pseudo-wisdom heralded by the present systems of power and coercion. We pray that your Church will be known as a people who possess discernment that leads to reconciliation. We continue to pray, as Jesus taught us, for your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Grant us the wisdom to not only discern your will, but also to know how to join with you in bringing it to pass in this place. may your Kingdom come in fullness, O God of Wisdom.

Take a few minutes today and look through the list of congregations in your community (you can search for "churches" on google maps, or I've also heard that there are these printed books with yellow pages that also list such things). Lift up the names of these congregations to God, asking for wisdom on their behalf as they discern how to incarnate Christ in this place.

The Power of Discernment

I’ve learned a lot about discernment over the last few years. Being a wise, discerning person is something to which I’ve always aspired. When I was very young I was taught the story of King Solomon asking God for wisdom. I was told then that this is a gift that we can ask for and God will always give it. Perhaps my motives were less than saintly (as most of my motives tend to be) but that seemed like a pretty sweet deal...I wasn’t going to pass up on asking for something that I would definitely receive.

Over the years I’ve continued to ask God for wisdom and discernment, and to be honest, I struggle with how to have humble confidence - see my last post - on whether or not this prayer has been answered. I feel that God is teaching me to see what’s going on around me, but I’m always a little nervous having confidence in myself. One of my greatest insecurities is the fear that I lack self-awareness - that I’m actually like Michael Scott in The Office and have no idea how people really see me.

A few years back, a friend commented on the value of communities of discernment - which was a new term to me at the time. He went on to explain that wise people take matters of discernment to their community and do not get overly confident in an answer before it has been subjected to prayer with others. This seemed wise.

Since that time, I’ve had several opportunities to engage in discernment processes with others - sometimes it is formally structured, sometimes less so - but each time the goal is to seek God’s guidance together.

This is going to be somewhat vague as I’m not ready to put specifics on the interweb just yet... but recently there was an issue that I’d been wrestling over for months, seemingly to no avail. I simply could not find any peace. The whole thing was causing me to feel disconnected - spiritually, emotionally, relationally - as if I was just floating along with little purpose or meaningful interactions in my life. I tried to approach the issue in prayer, with study, with logic, with imagination...but solutions continued to evade my grasp.

Finally, it seemed that I was discerning a response from God. It wasn’t as though God were sitting on the couch telling me what to do. But there was a response that kept coming back in my mind over and over and I felt like I understood that to which it was calling.

Typically this type of realization brings a sense of peace, even if the answer itself isn’t what I expected or thought I wanted. But this time I just wasn’t feeling it. I want to be faithful to the Spirit’s guidance, and this seemed to be just that...so why couldn’t I feel at peace with it?

I began making plans to take this issue to my community.

In the meantime, I continued to pray. I talked the matter over with Rachel, and she prayed.

Then, as I worked an over-night security shift, I spent time reading through the book of Acts and had some things stand out in very confrontational ways - ways which seemed to conflict with what I thought I was hearing. It wasn’t that what I thought I was hearing was in conflict with Scripture per se, but what I felt it was calling me to seemed counter to how this passage called out to my heart.

First thing in the morning I received an email from Rachel, with a text she’d read that morning and the comment, “I think this was actually meant for you.” Though it was a completely different context, the message was very much the same as what I’d gleaned from Acts the night before.

That afternoon I had a brief conversation with a professor friend of mine who made some seemingly random comments which once again connected with the previous night’s reading.

The next day I talked with my friend Anthony and asked him to comment on the initial issue of discernment. I didn’t go into the events of the previous couple days. He has been a trusted friend, coach and counselor for the past three years and knows my situation as well as just about anyone. His response, after hearing what I’d felt God was saying in the initial piece of discernment was basically, “I think you’re on to something, but maybe you’re interpreting it wrong.”

As soon as he said that, all the pieces fell into place. The scripture passages, the conversations with Rachel and Elaine, my own lack of peace...it all made more sense. Through this continued process and struggle with communal discernment it became apparent that the Spirit was leading me in a certain direction and I’d misinterpreted what that meant on a practical level.

And here’s where the whole process seems to get confirmation. Since those conversations, I haven’t really changed much of what I’m doing day-to-day, but suddenly doors for connection and conversation have been swinging open left and right. In the past couple weeks friendships have deepened - often at the other’s instigation - and people I barely know have sought me out for one reason or another. I’ve been given the honor of being asked to walk through confusing, painful and even frightening situations with people who have not known me long enough to trust me...or maybe they haven’t known me long enough NOT to trust me! ;)

My schedule is still just as hectic and stressful, an issue that needs to be addressed, but I’m not feeling so disconnected and lacking peace.

I’d love to know whether this experience resonates with your own. Have you had similar times of struggle and discernment? What was it that helped you find peace? How did you go about listening to the Spirit?