We’re proud to be part of Pray MHK, a collaborative prayer movement in Manhattan, KS. Coming up September 8-14 is a week of non-stop, day and night prayer we’re calling Pray 24. Check out more information on the Pray MHK website.
This may be the only thing you get to during your time in the prayer room today, but it is the most important.
Until we can let go of our own agenda, placing it at the feet of Jesus, it can be easy to allow our humanness to warp our prayers.
When we let go, it is then that the Spirit can direct our thoughts, feelings, and words.
When you are ready, take a moment—as long as it takes—to pause.
What might you be carrying with you as you enter this space? A hectic day, an overwhelming list of to-do’s, any circumstances, frustrations, fears, expectations, etc.
Imagine yourself laying it down at the door.
If it is hard to let go, trust that you are giving each item to your father in heaven. He has assured us that none of our concerns have been forgotten.
“Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)
One way we can take time to slow down and focus our minds is through a centering prayer. This could look something like:
Breathe in: “Father in Heaven”
Breath out: “Hallowed be thy name”
Repeat this prayer as you relax and breathe (take as long as you need)
As you move through the prayer room and find yourself picking up what you left at the door, take time to pause, returning to the Psalm: “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)
Take as long as you need. Move forward when you are ready.
Connect with Caleb to inquire about the Prayer Room
Look into the mirror and ask yourself:
How do I measure my worth?
How do I measure my appearance?
How do I measure my achievements?
How do I measure the approval of others?
How do I measure my affluence of wealth?
Look into the mirror a second time and pray: Jesus, show me how YOU value me.
Pause.
Write down what you felt Jesus saying to you.
Write down one of the following scriptures and put it on a mirror at home or in your car so that every day you will be reminded of your value and worth.
On a blank sheet of paper, write a word or short phrase on it that represents one of your greatest hopes, dreams or a big goal you’re reaching toward. Something really important to you.
Say a short prayer inviting God to get involved in bringing it to pass in ways aligned with His will for you.
When you are finished, roll up your paper and place it somewhere for safe keeping.
Consider making a second copy and sharing it with a trusted friend to pray along with you.
Blaise Pascal said that “all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their room.” The reason for this inability, he found, is “the natural poverty of our feeble and mortal condition, so miserable that nothing can comfort us when we think of it closely."
When it comes to confronting the cause of human misery and wrongdoing, Silence and Solitude are widely regarded as the most profound spiritual practices. To be in solitude is to choose to do nothing, and just be silent in the presence of God, for until we enter stillness and quietness, the world still has its grip on us.
Read 1 Kings 19:1-19.
Frightened to the point of desperation, Elijah fled as far as he could. Despair drove him to seek God in prayerful solitude. Because of the chaos going on inside his head, he had to slow down. I can't help but think how disconcerted he must have been to be on the run because a single woman threatened to kill him after he had fought and defeated 400 prophets of Baal and done other miraculous things in obedience to God (1 Kings 18). I wonder if he ever doubted God, his faith, identity, his purpose in life and relationship with God. Whether or not he did, we can say with certainty that he was terrified and desperate and done, to the point of asking God to take him to Him.
“He ran for dear life to Beersheba, far in the south of Judah. He left his young servant there and then went on into the desert another day’s journey. He came to a lone broom bush and collapsed in its shade, wanting in the worst way to be done with it all—to just die: “Enough of this, God! Take my life—I’m ready to join my ancestors in the grave!”
We dare to ask the deep, probing questions about our identity and calling, about the possibility of true spiritual transformation, about what lurks deep within the subterranean levels of our souls... These are difficult questions, and giving them our attention will inevitably bring up feelings we've been trying to bury: anger over past or present pains and injustices that have buried deep wells of sadness; waves of confusion over things we once knew but no longer do; undercurrents of loneliness and a longing for more, even though we don't know what "more" is.
There aren't many alternatives to our desperate situation. We can either give in to the temptation of self-righteousness, which breaks our oneness with God, or we can stay with the weight of it and let desperation do its work, drawing us deeper into solitude and silence where the presence of God makes itself known and enough.
Desperation can actually be beneficial. It causes us to be open to radical alternatives and eager to take any risk in order to find what we seek. Desperate people search with all their might because they know their lives depend on it.
People are broken. When you come into contact with the brokenness of others, there will be temptation to resent them, take offense, hold a grudge, get payback, or hate them.
Nelson Mendela said: “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.” Choose to love them instead. Set them free. It’s yourself you’ll be saving.
Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. —Colossians 3:13-14
If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. —Matthew 6:14-15
If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer,[a] that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers. —1 John 4:20-21
Take some time to forgive:
Those you harbor any degree of offense or resentment towards.
Those you keep a running account of their failures or weaknesses.
Those you believe owe you something before you can forgive them.
Those who you see only or primarily through the lens of a past offense.
Those who seem to always bring out the worst in you.
Those you harbor disdain for because of their brokenness.
If you have any seltzer tablets around, drop one in glass of water and watch it dissolve. As it does, let the Lord dissolve your unforgiveness.
Set your body in a comfortable position and take a couple of deep breaths, both in and out. As you breathe and become quiet within, allow that which is usually unknown and unnamed within you to surface. Notice the dynamics that are drawing you deeper into this moment of solitude and silence.
What is happening inside you and in your relationship with God right now that seems to be inviting you into this moment of solitude and silence?
Do the words desperation and desire capture what you are experiencing, or is there another word or phrase that more accurately expresses what is going on in your interior world?
Allow these inner experiences and dynamics to come to the surface; feel them, name them, sit with them, and express them to God if you wish.
Listen to them not as experiences to be avoided but as invitations to open yourself to God in new ways.
When you’re done, thank God for his presence with you during this time of noticing and solitude.
Write in a journal where you’re feeling desperation, and consider sharing it with a trusted friend, inviting them to pray with you and asking them how you can be praying over their own areas of desperation and desire.
Read Isaiah 43. Draw a vertical line down the middle of a page in the notebook. On the left, list the good things about Manhattan. What is she known for that is worth celebrating?
On the right, list all the broken parts of Manhattan. What needs transformed, healed, renewed, or realized? Allow the words from Isaiah 43 to encourage your prayers to become a “pathway through the wilderness” for Jesus.
Select one word of blessing from your list on the left to write on a notecard. Pin the note on the left side of the map for others to see and agree with in prayer.
Look at your list on the right. Choose one broken thing to declare transformation over. Write that word of promise on a note card and pin it on the right side of the map. Pray for any other notes you're drawn to.
Flip through the other lists in the notebook and join with them in prayer over the blessings received and the promises still to come.
Choose a verse from below and use it to spark prayers of blessing over the body of Christ around the globe.
So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and has all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
A new command I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love, does not know God, because God is love. In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this, is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we loved one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they may also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given meI have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and power forever and ever. Amen.
Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
Let God be true though everyone were a liar.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them.
Then I saw a ‘new heaven and a new earth,’for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
He answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.’ —Luke 10:27
Who is your neighbor?
Who are the people that come to mind when you think ‘neighbor’: The people next door? Work colleagues? Relatives? Acquaintances? Someone else? Ask God which three he is leading you to pray for and write their first names down.
Spend time praying for each one using the list you created. Let God guide your prayers.
Write a note of encouragement and give it to your neighbor. Let them know you’re thinking of them.
Using the map below, navigate to a nation you’re not familiar with. Pray for that nation and her people.
In your journal, write the location you prayed for and the prayer you offered for them.
Now, navigate to the United States on the map below. Choose a state to pray for by closing your eyes and letting your finger or mouse land on one at random.
For more idea on how to pray for the world, check out 5 Simple Ways to Pray for the World from 24-7 Prayer:
Across our globe, on a daily basis, situations unravel that will have a profound impact on individuals, communities and nations.
When faced with a global situation, it can be difficult to know how to pray. Try these simple ideas:
1. Acknowledge God’s power
As humans, we can forget that ultimately, God has created the world and is not absent from it but all-powerful in it:
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all who live in it.” – Psalm 24
2. Pray for God’s kingdom to come
The simplest prayer can be the most powerful:
“Your Kingdom Come,
Your Will be done,
On earth as in heaven”
3. Pray for individuals and communities
We’re called to pray for others in our world facing challenges and difficult situations:
“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people…” – 1 Timothy 2:1
4. Pray for those in power
Leaders across our world are humans, just like us, who need prayer:
“… for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” – 1 Timothy 2:2-3
5. Pray for the church to continue to bring hope
As the global church, we have a message of hope that we can share far and wide, no matter what else is happening in our world:
“…For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” – 2 Corinthians 4:17-18
On the night Jesus was betrayed, he was praying in the garden of Gethsemane:
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done.”
The prayer of relinquishment might be one of the most challenging prayers for us to pray. As Jesus prayed this prayer, it says he was in anguish, dripping sweat like drops of blood. And yet he prayed: “Not my will but yours be done”; the choice to have your own will so broken - more accurately crucified - is no simple choice. It means you are prepared to give up the very thing you value most for the greater good; the greater love.
Nevertheless, because Jesus himself has pioneered the way for us, through his grace, we can offer him our freshly yielded hearts and find a way to say those life-changing words:
“Not my will, but yours be done.”
Take a moment to respond to your time in the prayer room today.
On a notecard or in your journal, write down what God has placed in your heart from your time with him and carry this with you as you leave.
And now, as we prepare to take this time of prayer into the coming day, the LORD who loves us says in the gospel of John:
“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” —John 17:22-23 ESV
Father, these are the prayers of your people. And we choose to believe your ears are attentive to our cry.
We find rest in you, Father, for you say:
“Be still and know that I am God.”
Amen.
*Adapted from How to Pray by Pete Grieg on “The Prayer of Relinquishment.”
The Forge is passionate about prayer in Manhattan, KS. We want everyone to experience the beauty and intimacy of real conversation with our loving God.
A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked. —Psalms 84:10
Our house church community here in Manhattan has been on a journey of encountering the wholeness and generosity found in God’s presence through prayer over the last year. And we have had an itch in our hearts to create a space for anyone interested in engaging in creative communication with our loving Father.
During the 40 days of Lent this year, we joined the global 24-7 Prayer to create a Prayer Room for that season. And now we are working on a longterm plan for a permanent place of prayer open to everyone 24 hours a day.
In the meantime, we would love for you to encounter God through prayer virtually with these upward, inward, and outward prayer prompts.
We believe in the power of prayer and God's faithfulness to his people. When we seek him, unified and under the authority of Christ, he responds. The goal of the Prayer Room is to build a creative space designed to help us encounter Jesus together through prayer. And the vision? The vision is Jesus—obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus—surfing the wave God is building in our community.
We are curious about how the Lord is going to use this virtual and physical space to show us more of Himself. And we look forward to connecting with each of you about your experiences with Him.
We are looking for churches, ministries, and individuals who are interested in bringing a permanent place of prayer in Manhattan, KS to life. If you are interested in chatting about what partnership could look like, please reach out to Caleb via email.
