#Prayer My Sunday school class Prayer Report for 2019
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| Photo by Chris Liverani on Unsplash |
The last 25-30% of my Sunday school class time each week is a time of sharing prayer requests and answers to prayer. The requests and praises are recorded by one of our members who emails them out to our mailing list every week. I keep my own copy of the list, primarily because it helps me pray intelligently at the conclusion of each class session.
- Each prayer request is prayed for that morning by name and date.
- The requests for each week are prayed for over a dozen additional times by class members.
- As often as possible, specific requests are prayed for on requested dates and requested times.
This post discusses types of prayer, how God answers prayer and presents data I collected on my class's prayer time throughout 2017.
Types of Prayers
Lists of prayer types vary in number and description. The following list is provided to assist my verbiage.
- Sinner's - Offered to God as part of the process of salvation. There is no formal outline. The key features are an admission of sin, an expression of sorrow for that sin, and a request for forgiveness of that sin. Note: The singular form of sin does not mean a person confesses only one sin. "Sin" also refers to the unsaved condition and all sins committed before this prayer.
- Intercessory - Offered by one Believer on behalf of someone in need. The need might be physical, spiritual, financial, or any other condition where someone calls upon God for His help.
- Thanksgiving - Offered after an answer to prayer or for any event or circumstance in the life of a Believer.
How God Answers Prayers
I'm not about to imply that I know all the ways God answers prayer. I offer this list as a sampler of His power and grace.
God answers YES to every Sinner's prayer. God wants personal relationships with every human. When any human repents, (s)he is accepted as a child of God. This is the only prayer God always answers with YES.
God answers EVERY Intercessory prayer offered by Believers. If you saw the 2003 movie Bruce Almighty, you saw the fallacy that God says yes to every prayer. One farmer in an area has a crop that needs lots of water and prays for rain. The crop of another farmer in the same area will rot if too much water is applied. God's answer is always Yes, No, or Wait.
- YES. The timing of the Yes might not be what the person praying wanted. The Yes might be overlooked until circumstances in the person praying's life cause him/her to look at the original request through a different lens or filter or from a different direction.
- NO. Humans are inherently selfish. "No," is not our first choice for an answer when we ask just about anything. I suspect that many Christians who blame God for outcomes of events that don't follow their plotline are unwilling to accept that God's answer to their request was NO.
- WAIT. If you're over forty-five-years-old, you probably remember life before microwave ovens. Leftovers were reheated on the stove, often taking as long to reheat as it did to cook the original item. Microwave ovens cut that time dramatically. Now you can buy microwave/convection ovens that reduce the reheating and cooking times of nearly any dish. The microwave reheat seems snail-like in its speed. For that reason, many Believers complain, "God didn't answer my prayer." In truth, God's time in answering was unacceptable to them.
One final comment on prayer before I statistic you.
The class prayed for the healing of many people. Some were healed completely. Some remain in much less than desirable situations. Some cancer patients were declared in remission only to die months or years later from the same type of cancer.
A truth that's become lost in our society where God/Christianity is considered a convenience by many and less than that by others is this...
When a Christian dies, whatever ailments or other mental and physical problems that existed in the earthly body are gone.
and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away. (Revelation 21:4 New Living Translation)
Ultimate healing -- the answer to those praying intercessory prayers -- comes after WAIT. Only through death can a human see God and Jesus in their heavenly splendor.
God Sightings
- This year we included times in our lives when what happened to/through us had to be God working in our lives.
- For example, when you see someone that needs help, and you offer assistance only to find that whatever you put in your car this morning for whatever reason is what the situation required. That's a God Sighting.
- I suspect that there were more than were reported.
Prayer Statistics
Here's what I did to generate the list below.
- I went through the prayer requests and praises for each Sunday of the year.
- Praises are counted in a similar fashion as a separate list.
Month
|
Prayer
|
Praise
|
God Sightings
|
January
|
46
|
16
|
N/A
|
February
|
37
|
26
|
5
|
March
|
58
|
21
|
3
|
April
|
30
|
16
|
2
|
May
|
40
|
12
|
4
|
June
|
57
|
19
|
1
|
July
|
59
|
17
|
3
|
August
|
33
|
10
|
3
|
September
|
49
|
14
|
0
|
October
|
48
|
4
|
2
|
November
|
53
|
19
|
2
|
December
|
42
|
11
|
1
|
Totals
|
552
|
185
|
26
|
COMMENTS
- The total list covers 22 pages in a 6 x 9 spiral-bound notebook with college-width lines.
- I probably shouldn't have reported similar requests as one each month. The total of all requests including repeats is the 552 recorded in the red highlighted line.
Resolutions
- I will keep a better record of reports of answers as well as the requests next year.
- I will encourage more praise reports and more God Sightings.
May the grace of God cover you, the love of God encourage you, and the peace of God sustain you throughout 2020!
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