“5 Things to Pray for your Church” a book written by Rachel Jones
Last week we heard 5 Things to Pray for Children in our church. This week, we have 5 Things to Pray for the Young People in the church. (1 Timothy: 4)
- Thank the Living God – Praise God that he is “the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially those who believe” (v. 10). Thank Him that all who put their hope in Him will never be disappointed. Pray that parents and leaders who work with young people would be able to echo Paul in saying that this, above anything else, “is why we labor and strive”.
- Love –“Set an example … in Love” (v. 12). Pray that young people would grow in their understanding of God’s love for them–and that this would result in a growing love for Him and the people around them. If your church has a youth group, pray especially that this would be a gracious community where every person loves and is loved, regardless of whatever differences there might be between them.
- Faith – Pray that God would bring many young people to a saving faith in Christ (v. 12). Thank God for those he already has saved. Pray that this would be a faith that lasts: that your teenagers wouldn’t give up and drop off from church, but persevere in following Christ right into adulthood.
- Speech, Conduct and Purity – Pray that the faith your young people profess on Sundays would be worked out in the way they act and speak on every other day of the week (v. 12). Ask God to strengthen them to resist the temptations they face at home and school. Especially pray for resolve to pursue purity.
- Devotion to Scripture – “Devote yourself to the … reading of scripture, to preaching and to teaching” (v. 13). How will points 2-4 happen? As God speaks to young people through His word. Pray that the Holy Spirit would be working in the hearts of teenagers as they study His word in their groups, hear it preached as part of the wider church, and read it on their own. Pray that the young people of your fellowship would be “devoted” to reading scripture — not out of habit, guilt or parental compulsion, but because they love walking closely with their Heavenly Father.
Submitted by Gene Sherwood
Praying for Our Youth
