Scripture: Matthew
9:35—10:8 (9–20)
Having had this reading earlier in the week, please resist
the temptation to skim it over (although if you have time for nothing more,
please skim!) and take your devotion time to re-read the Gospel lesson slowly.
Pray for the Holy Spirit to teach you as you read the
Scripture lesson, and ask him to teach you to pray, opening your heart and mind
to pray according to God’s will.
Prayer
On Fridays you will be encouraged to pray for a variety of
prayer requests. The hope is that through these prayer requests we will, obviously,
intercede for those who need prayer, and that we will learn to think more
broadly in our prayers. If time is short, you could simply pray the Lord’s
Prayer.
Pray that when we hear God’s Word we would believe it and
desire to do as it says, including trusting solely in Jesus as the one who justifies
sinners.
Pray for God, the Lord of harvest, to send laborers into the
harvest field – asking him to send people to proclaim the Gospel so people will
come to faith and be welcomed into the kingdom of heaven through the grace of
Christ.
Pray that God would give the persecuted words of witness in
their times of trial, and that he would strengthen their faith and calm their
fears.
Pray that all people would see death for its awfulness, and
that God’s people would not embrace death as a solution to people’s problems
but point people to the one who is the way, the truth, and the life – our Lord
Jesus.
Pray that God’s kingdom would come as “our heavenly Father
gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and
lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.”[1]
Pray for those who travel and those who make their living on
the roads going from town to town.
Pray for God to provide for all who are in need – physical and
spiritual.
Pray for the sick.
Pray the Lord’s Prayer.
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