I have asked all at CTR to make “Inspire our witness to Him” our prayer, the prayer of our congregation, in 2017. It is a phrase taken from a slightly longer prayer that we are now saying together each Sunday as part of our Dismissal – the part of the service when we are sent out into the world!
The full version of the prayer is here:
Everliving God, whose will it is that all should come to you through your Son Jesus Christ: Inspire our witness to him, that all may know the power of his forgiveness and the hope of his resurrection. Amen.
What do I mean and intend in making this our corporate prayer? The prayer is at the heart of our Monday evening intercession time, but there is more. I am asking you to learn the prayer and use it! There is no need to memorize the prayer, though that shouldn’t be difficult. Keeping in mind the component parts of the prayer and incorporating them into your own prayer time is fine!
I know I have talked about this prayer in Musings before, but here we go again. I want us to understand what the prayer is asking, in order that we might pray more earnestly and effectively.
Whose will it is that all should come to you
We are not asking God to do something strange, or something we aren’t sure about but ask anyway. We can pray with certainty, knowing Scripture tells us repeatedly that God does indeed desire all to come to Him – “For God so loved the world he sent his Son” and all that! We pray with the confidence and certainty we are asking according to God’s will.
Through your Son Jesus
Jesus really does matter. God’s design and will is for all to come to him through His Son. “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12). We need to have both love and concern for those who do not know Jesus.
Inspire our witness to him
This is first of all asking for help and empowerment from the Lord to do something that is difficult in our culture. Yet is it good news, the best news of all, we carry. It is a prayer asking the Lord to move in our own hearts to have the same love and compassion He does for those who do not know Him, and for those whose faith is muddled and confused. It is a prayer asking God to empower us to witness, even “to joyfully share him”. It is a prayer asking for wisdom, awareness, understanding, boldness, and grace.
That all may know
This speaks to the character of, and rationale for, our sharing. We do so not out of fear, or because someone might get hit by a bus tomorrow, we do so because we know in Christ there is power of forgiveness and hope through the resurrection. Knowing Jesus isn’t only about the life to come. There is power and forgiveness and freedom and hope and joy and purpose in this life as well, and we want others to come to know all these things, and even more, through Christ Jesus.
There is power in prayer. There is greater power in praying together, with everyone united behind the same plea and request. This is not an incantation or magic formula. It is asking God to move among us and through us, to change us and use us. We have already seen, and are seeing God respond abundantly to our meager prayers. What will God do if we begin praying as a body with one heart and voice and plea?
See you Sunday!
