Day 27 of 50

READING GUIDE:

• Read today's devotion below and Matthew 6.
• During days 22-28 (at your own pace) read chapters 11 thru 16 from Joining Jesus on His Mission.
• After days 22-28, meet with your small group and follow the back-of-the-book discussion guide for SESSION 4.

"Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10 ESV)

A story I recently shared on another blog...

It happened during week 4 of our small group meeting together. Near the close of our meeting we asked our waitress, who had been serving us the past few weeks, if there was anything we could pray about for her. It was a simple question. But it made an impact. She first stepped back, expressed a surprised look, and then quickly, replied, "Yes. I have a couple things you can pray about." Later she enthusiastically asked if she could share a third request. Of course we said, "Yes!" After the first exchange she left our table with a tear in her eye. She earlier shared, "You've made my day!" (Of course, we know it was Jesus who did that through us--the body of Christ.)

We prayed for her at our table after she walked away. It was a great experience. We have since followed up with her on how things have been going. But, not to diminish any of this, considering Finke's words in chapter 16, I wonder what deeper impact could have been made if we prayed out loud for her, right away, with her in our presence. The trick would have been to keep it short since our waitress was working, but take a look at one of Finke's examples of a short and simple prayer, "Dear Jesus, you already know my friend here has found out his wife has cancer. We're scared. We invite you into our trouble. We ask you to heal her and help us to trust you as you work out your plan for her life. Amen." I reread that prayer and timed it. That took 14 seconds. 14 seconds would likely not have been interfered with our waitress' work. Something to try next time.

Finke offer multiple ways to minister to others through prayer. A few of these include:

• "We can use our morning devotion time to prayer for our neighbors..."
• "Every time we pray the Lord's Prayer we can be more intentional about inviting the kingdom to come and the will of the Father to be done in our neighborhood, workplace or school as it is in heaven."
• "Jesus tells us to ask the Father to send out workers into his harvest (see Matthew 9:37)"

In your reading of Matthew 6, in what ways does Jesus teach us to pray?

What will be your next step in ministering to others through prayer?