MAY 4, 2006

National Day of Prayer

The Official
Mustard Seed Ministries
Prayer for our Nation
& Our World,
by
JOHN THE EVANGELIST
Vander KOK
On May 4, 2006 We Come Together as a Nation to Pray, in the Name of
our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. We pray for our family members. We
pray for our neighbors. We pray for our soldiers, and we pray for our
leaders. We pray for our Congressman & Congresswomen & for our
President, and for all other Representatives of our Cities, States, &
Countries. We ask, Lord, that you will give them the wisdom they need to
make the right decisions for us as a nation. We pray that Your will may
ultimately be done.

And we pray for those less fortunate than ourselves. Give us the
generosity, God, to share with them. Give us the humility, Jesus, to walk
as You did, amongst the poor, the oppressed, the afflicted, and the
downtrodden. We pray that we may share Your love, compassion, and
mercy with others, Lord--in a way that reaches their true needs.

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 He has shown you, O man,
what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
Mic 6:8
We pray for wisdom individually and collectively, as a nation and a world,
to make the right decisions in regards to so many social issues. We pray for
wisdom about the rights of the unborn child. Hear our prayer Oh Lord.
We pray for discernment about the use of nuclear power. Hear our prayer,
Oh Lord. We pray for prudence in the sentencing of prisoners. Help us to
be truly just, Jesus, as You would be. Help us to know with certainty
whether or not we should use Capital Punishment. Help us to see clearly.

And God give us the capacity mentally and physically and emotionally to
know when and where to speak out about social issues. Give us the courage
to become involved according to Your will and also give us the wisdom to
know when not to get involved. Help us maintain a Spiritual Balance
according to Your Will, and not ours. Help us not to fool ourselves and
falsely "rationalize" our way out of doing what You called us to do.

Be of good courage ,
And He shall strengthen
your heart,
All you who hope

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 in the LORD.
Ps 31:24

And this I pray, that your

love may abound still more
and more in knowledge and all
discernment \
Phil 1:9

And Lord Jesus, Great Provider, we pray for those who are in difficult
situations. We pray for those who are sick or injured. We pray for those
who are in abusive relationships, and for those who have had
relationships terminated. We ask You to lift them up in Your Spirit,
Jesus, and provide comfort to them. Help that which was broken to be
"...by purity, by
repaired. Heal them Lord.
knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness ,
by the Holy Spirit,
by sincere love,
by the word of truth,
by the power of God ...
2 Cor 6:6-7

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We pray for families in our nation and around the world. Lord, we know
how important family is to You but also we know how much more
important is the Family of Christ. Help our American families as well as
families around the world merge with the larger Body of Christ
so that they merge with this Spiritual Family and become healthier and
more holy.

"Now you are the body of Christ ,

and members individually ."
1 Cor 12:27

We pray for our women across our nation and around the world.
We pray that the inequalities they have experienced over time --those
inequalities which are not according to Your will, Lord, that they may
continue to push towards fulfillment. Liberate your women, Lord,
according to Your will. Let us remember the courage of Esther.

We pray about political issues, relationships between countries. We pray

for reconciliation according to Your Will, great and Holy God. Give us the
sapience to know how to respond and the will power to refrain if necessary.
God, You have given us complex issues--please provide the answers as
well.

And the government will be

upon His shoulder.
Isa 9:6

We pray to You in the Name of the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit, the three-in-
one and one-in-three for the capacity to live according to Your will. We
pray for the endurance, strength, perseverence needed to be faithful
messengers. We pray for the fruits of the Spirit--love, joy, peace, patience,

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kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control (Galatians
5.22)

If we live in the Spirit,

let us also walk in the Spirit.
Gal 5:25

We pray for miracles Lord. We pray for Your miraculous

intervention according to Your will. We pray for Your Holy Presence
where it is needed most. We pray fervently with total and complete faith
and trust knowing that You have the power to do anything and You
have given some of that power to us, the body of Christ.

We pray for the IQ and EQ necessary to implement Your Power, as

well as total and absolute faith in the power You have given to us.
Without that total and absolute faith we make ourselves impotent, Lord.
Let us experience true Biblical manhood and womanhood--that which
comes only from knowing You, Lord.

Therefore He who supplies

the Spirit to you
and works miracles among you,
does He do it by the works of the law,
or by the hearing of faith? —
Gal 3:5

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And let us not mistake Your Spiritual power solely with physical power--
sometimes it is one and the same, sometimes it isn't. Let us know when to
use the Sword of the Spirit and when, if ever, to use the actual sword
itself. Let us truly know your "power" (

"...you shall receive power

when the Holy Spirit has
come upon you; and
you shall be
witnesses to Me
Acts 1. 8

And take the helmet of salvation,

and the sword of the Spirit ,
which is the word of God;
praying always with
all prayer and supplication
in the Spirit,
Eph 6:17-18

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We ask for discipline. We ask for You to keep those who are weak
away from that which is harmful to them and that which offends their
conscience. And let us not make a brother or sister stumble. Let us be
considerate of each other. Let us not tell a person not to eat meat if it
does not bother his or her conscience. And let us not eat meat around
those whose conscience is bothered by it.

"It is good neither to eat meat

nor drink wine
nor do anything by which your
brother stumbles or is offended
or is made weak"
Rom 14:21

We pray for sexual health and wholeness. Let us use our bodies according
to Your will, Lord. Let us not abuse our own bodies or the bodies of
others.

Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is

outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality
sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your
body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom
you have from God, and you are not your own? For you
were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body
and in your spirit, which are God's
1Cor 6:18-20

Let us be Your temple--together--as the Body of Christ.

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We ask that you give us respect for others--not becoming
overly self-righteous. Help us to have the judiciousness necessary to live
in a diverse nation and a diverse world. We pray for the capacity to
work with others unlike ourselves, regardless of race or color.

Help us to enlarge the Body of Christ across racial, ethnic, and cultural
lines. Let us show the love that You showed for us sending Your Son to
die on the cross. Hear our Prayer, Oh Lord.

"...repentance and remission of sins

should be preached in
His name to all nations."
Luke 24:47

Add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to

knowledge self-control, to self-control
perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to
godliness brotherly kindness , and to brotherly
kindness love.
2 Peter 1:7
We pray for physical health, God. Give us the discipline and intelligence
necessary to keep ourselves healthy. Keep us from abandoning ourselves to
that which is harmful to ourselves--too much sugar, too much fatty foods.
And for some there are addictions to cigarettes or other drugs. We pray
You will give us all the inner strength to not rely upon that
which is contrary to Your will for us. Let us have the discernment about
the use of prescription medication--when it is okay and when it is not

But I discipline my body

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 and bring it into subjection,
1 Cor 9:27

We pray for our children in schools across the nation and

around the world, both public and private. Hear our prayer, God of
love and justice. Help our children to trust in You, to learn as You
would have them learn, and help our teachers to teach as You would
have them teach. Help our administrators maintain the balance
necessary to keep the schools mentally, emotionally, and physically
healthy.

And the things that you have heard

from me among many witnesses,
commit these to faithful men who will
be able to teach others .
2 Tim 2:2

We pray for the victims of natural disasters, Lord. We pray for

those who were uprooted by Hurricane Katrina. May you turn their
tragedy into something purposeful. May it ultimately have a positive
outcome for the Kingdom of God. And we pray for the victims of the
Indonesia tsunami. God I was there. I saw the destruction. I observed
the devastation.

May You turn this gigantic disaster unlike any other natural disaster in
memorable history into something positive for the Kingdom of God.
Maybe it was meant to begin with Bibles & bottles of water. Lord, this is
an area of the world that does not know You, by and large. They know
stone and wooden gods. They pray to something that is not alive. Let our
missionaries and the body of Christ reach out to these people in Spirit and
in truth.

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 'You shall not make idols for yourselves;
neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall
you rear up for yourselves; nor shall you set up
an engraved stone in your land, to bow down to
it;for I am the LORD your God.
Lev 26:1

And we pray for Your Divine Intervention with our economic issues, Lord.
We are experiencing gas prices in America higher than ever before.
This creates hardship. I personally, God, experience difficulty traveling
with higher gas prices. God if this crisis can somehow lead to a better
way of life, so be it. If this is the catalyst to push our nation and world to
less dependence on oil and more dependence on other sources of power,
so be it.

And we pray that our leaders or our oil executives are not being
unscrupulous about the oil situation. Let not greed lead people astray.

Yes, they are greedy dogs

which never have enough.
Isa 56:11

Hear our Prayer, Oh Lord. The list goes on and on. You know our
needs. You know our concerns. You know everything, Great and Holy
Father.

JOHN THE EVANGELIST

CHIEF BIG FAITH
Greek Notes About Prayer

PRAY, PRAYER

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A. Verbs.

1. euchomai NT:2172, "to pray (to God)," is used with this meaning in 2
Cor 13:7; v. 9, RV, "pray" (KJV, "wish"); James 5:16; 3 John 2, RV,
"pray" (KJV, wish). Even when the RV and KJV translate by "I would,"
Acts 26:29, or "wished for," Acts 27:29 (RV, marg., "prayed"), or "could
wish," Rom 9:3 (RV, marg., "could pray"), the indication is that "prayer"
is involved.

2. proseuchomai NT:4336, "to pray," is always used of "prayer" to God,

and is the most frequent word in this respect, especially in the Synoptists
and Acts, once in Rom 8:26; in Eph 6:18; in Phil 1:9; in 1 Tim 2:8; in Heb
13:18; in Jude 20. For the injunction in 1 Thess 5:17, see CEASE, C.

3. erotao NT:2065, "to ask," is translated by the verb to pray in Luke

14:18,19; 16:27; John 4:31; 14:16; 16:26; 17:9,15,20; in Acts 23:18, RV,
"asked" (KJV "prayed"); in 1 John 5:16, RV, "should make request"
(KJV "shall pray"). See ASK, A, No. 2.

4. deomai NT:1189, "to desire," in 2 Cor 5:20; 8:4, RV, "beseech" (KJV,
"pray"): see BESEECH, No. 3.

Notes: (1) Parakaleo, "to call to one's aid," is rendered by the verb "to
pray" in the KJV in the following: Matt 26:53 (RV, "beseech"); so Mark
5:17,18; Acts 16:9; in 24:4, RV, "intreat"; in 27:34, RV, "beseech." See
BESEECH, No. 1. (2) In 1 Thess 5:23 and 2 Tim 4:16, there is no word in
the original for "I pray," see the RV.

B. Nouns.

1. euche NT:2171, akin to A, No. 1, denotes "a prayer," James 5:15; "a
vow," Acts 18:18 and 21:23. See VOW.

2. proseuche NT:4335, akin to A, No. 2, denotes (a) "prayer" (to God), the
most frequent term, e. g., Matt 21:22; Luke 6:12, where the phrase is not
to be taken literally as if it meant, "the prayer of God" (subjective
genitive), but objectively, "prayer to God." In James 5:17, "He prayed
fervently," RV, is, lit., "he prayed with prayer" (a Hebraistic form); in the
following the word is used with No. 3: Eph 6:18; Phil 4:6; 1 Tim 2:1; 5:5;
(b) "a place of prayer," Acts 16:13,16, a place outside the city wall, RV.

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3. deesis NT:1162, primarily "a wanting, a need" (akin to A, No. 4), then,
"an asking, entreaty, supplication," in the NT is always addressed to God
and always rendered "supplication" or "supplications" in the RV; in the
KJV "prayer," or "prayers," in Luke 1:13; 2:37; 5:33; Rom 10:1; 2 Cor
1:11; 9:14; Phil 1:4 (in the 2 nd part, "request"); 1:19; 1:3; 5:7; 5:16; 3:12.

4. enteuxis NT:1783 is translated "prayer" in 1 Tim 4:5; see

INTERCESSION.

Notes: (1) Proseuche is used of "prayer" in general; deesis stresses the

sense of need; it is used sometimes of request from man to man.

(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas

Nelson Publishers.)

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