The EMW is more convinced than ever of the need for prayer and we therefore continue with our Call to Prayer to encourage Christians to join us in prayer for Wales during the first week of March.
How to get involved?
- Join our prayer mailing list through the website to receive daily updates or come to this page every day.
- Share the daily prayer guide with other Christians in your locality.
The Week of Prayer
Daily prayer emails will be sent during the week to those who have opted to join our list to receive prayer news (you can opt in here) You will also be able to download the prayer emails on this page.
An Introduction
One of the great mysteries of prayer is that it combines two things which seem, at first glance, to be completely irreconcilable:
1. We draw near to the holy God who cannot abide sin, and who is a consuming fire
2. Yet at the same time, we are invited to speak to God as a child speaks to its father: with absolute transparency, and full confidence in his love, good-will and power to help
How are we to reconcile these two things?
It doesn’t mean that the only people who can pray acceptably are those who have never sinned. It means that those who pray acceptably are those whose sins have been dealt with by the Lord Jesus Christ.
To pray acceptably:
1. We need to be true Christians, whose sins have been forgiven through the blood of the cross – how else can we call him Father!
2. We need to be true Christians who are not conscious of any unconfessed sin which might break our fellowship with the Father – how else can we hope to be heard!
But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will not hear. Isaiah 59:2
John Newton understood this:
With my burden I begin:
Lord, remove this load of sin;
Let Thy blood, for sinners spilt,
Set my conscience free from guilt.
But there is something more. All too often, our prayers are discoloured by personal bias, prejudice and imbalance. To be acceptable to God our prayers need to be cleansed with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ also. In the Old Testament, the incense offered in the tabernacle symbolised the prayers and worship of the people, and the altar of incense was cleansed with the blood of the sin offering of atonement, Ex. 30:10. In the same way, our spiritual sacrifices are “acceptable to God through Jesus Christ”, 1 Pet. 2:5.
So what should we pray for? God’s will, and God’s blessing, and that involves humbling ourselves and praying “Your will be done”.
In the coming week and year, may we:
- desire God’s will above all else;
- trust in his goodness;
- plead for his mercy;
- thank him for his grace.
How to use the guide
Our aim in producing this guide is to help you pray (for Wales) and seek the Lord’s face. We’ve based every day on a different Bible promise in the hope that we’ll move from the propositions of Scripture to our needs, rather than the other way round. It is not meant to be a tool to promote the EMW – we have no interest in doing that. We’re thankful that gospel work is taking place throughout our land by so many churches, Christians and organisations, and we hope that this guide can be used to pray for whatever gospel work is happening. We could never include all that is happening in Wales in this booklet; we’ve given some specific examples. Please use these examples, but don’t limit yourselves to them. The need is great, but thankfully our God is greater!
Call to Prayer
Please click here to take you to the relevant page