#209: Pray By Categories

On May 13, 1983...yessiree, Bob, it was a Friday!...I had a localized epiphany. I was reading in Ephesians chapter 6 and came to the part that said, "Pray at all times in the Spirit for all the saints." The question to ask when you get a Biblical command is not "Why?" but "How?" I figured there was no logistical way I could either know who all the saints are worldwide, nor did I have the time to pray for all of them even if I spent 24 hours in the presence of the Lord...not a bad idea, actually, but my creditors expect me to pay up through working by the sweat of my face.

Soooo...the Spirit reminded me that the Father is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient...all powerful, everywhere, and knowing everything. Eureka! The answer was to pray for "All the Saints" at the same time, not with a "God bless us, everyone" watered down, Tiny Tim prayer, but by using Scripture to put teeth into the requests. For instance, take Ephesians 6:10-20 and reword it back to the Lord, with direction from the Spirit (cf. Romans 8:26) something like this: "Lord, CAUSE all Christians to stand firm in Your strength, to know the spiritual warfare we're in, to put on the whole armor of light daily, to be praying for each other in the Spirit, and to be boldly proclaiming the Truth as You give us opportunities!!" (Number of exclamation points are optional, indicating your fervency to see it done.)

What this morphed into was establishing groups of people and Scripture Shorthand in my journals along lines like this:

Pregnant Sisters: Dt. 33:25 strength for the day, minimize Gen. 3:16 birthing pains, Phil. 4:4-19 to work out in their lives.
Teaching and Ruling Elders: Ephesians 4:11-16 (equip them to equip others)
Bible Translators: 2 Timothy 2:7, John 14:26, 1 Cor. 15:58 (teach them what they need to know, bring it to their remembrance, keep them steadfast)
Sick (physically/mentally) Saints: James 5:13-16/Mt. 11:28/Dt. 33:25/Pv. 3:5-8
Single Saints: Mt. 6:33,34/Ps. 119:9-18 (cause them to seek first Your Kingdom...grant them what/who they need & keep their ways pure according to Your Word)

You get the idea. Got categories of your own?!! Pray 'em up!!