Prayer Fuel

Pray as the Lord leads you as you read today’s verse

“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.” (Matthew 5:33-37) ESV

Praying with insight

Islam teaches that deception under certain circumstances is acceptable, and the effects of this teaching breeds mistrust—of God and of others. But the Bible tells us, “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator”. (Colossians 3:9-10) NIV Pray for people of this area to be people who pursue truth to such an extent that they no longer need to swear in order for people to believe them. May they be able to simply let their ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and their ‘no’ be ‘no’.

For believers

“Lies are very useful sometimes. They smooth things over and make them easier, ” one new brother declared. Another said, “I forgot to attend my friend’s wedding because work went until 11 pm. What should I tell him?” When a brother said he should simply speak the truth, he did. The next day, the brother received a call saying, “I told the truth. My friend’s right here with me. He is the witness.” Pray that those who have seen lies used to smooth things over temporarily will learn to hate deception and find the freedom that comes from speaking and living in the truth. May the old mother tongue of lying be silenced, and may each one speak the Spirit language of truth.

For the lost

While sharing food at a bus stop, one man told another to pick out anything he wanted to eat and assured him that he would cover the bill for them both. The immediate response was, “Do you swear you will?” The most common answer would be (translated), “By God, I will,” but the believer he was speaking to simply said, “Yes, I will pay.” May those who do not yet believe see the example of believers speaking the truth and be changed. All the vowing and swearing is unnecessary and empty. We do not have control over the future. Lord, we pray for this people to be changed by Jesus and speak the truth and learn trust.

For the church

In the book of Acts, we see the early church confronted with a serious issue of dishonesty in the story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5). God dealt severely with their deception. His word makes it clear how destructive lying and deception can be to the body of Christ and unity. Pray for churches that can confidently live out Ephesians 4:22-25 in this land to multiply, “…put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.” ESV

For areas of influence

Pray for places of education.

Pray for teachers in elementary schools to incentivize honesty and integrity.
Pray for the culture of cheating on exams and in schoolwork to be broken and for any Christians who live in this region to be agents of change in exposing how much lying and cheating hurts the liar.
Pray for new patterns of giving one’s word and keeping one’s word to emerge throughout education systems as more people experience and begin to believe the Gospel.

Declaration of the scripture

Jesus said to the woman at the well, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” (John 4:23) ESV She then went and told everyone in her town the truth of what she learned about herself, God, and the Messiah. Pray for men and women in this region to be the same and to be transformed by the truth of Jesus.