BE CLEAR MINDED
Let’s be clear minded and self-controlled so that we can pray (I Pet 4:7) What a challenge! These words are backed by this song “Clear my mind, Lord. Clear my mind. May my thoughts be always of the purest kind. Take your rightful place and make me thine. By your Spirit Lord clear my mind. As I worship you may praise be all you find” There are many reasons to be clear minded and self-controlled as we pray. Rudyard Kipling wrote about being clear minded and self-controlled in his poem “If “However we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. (Phil 4:11-13) He makes this possible. He empowers us to keep our heads when all about us are losing theirs and blaming it on us. We can trust Him when others doubt or hate us to enable us to not give way to hating in return. When we dream, let’s not make dreams our master or when we think, not let our thoughts take over. Let’s treat triumph or disaster just the same and not lose hope when we hear the truth that we have spoken twisted. We can talk with crowds and keep our virtue or walk with Kings and keep a common touch. Neither foes nor loving friends hurt us . They count on us but not too much. We know the Earth is His and everything in it (Ps 24:1) and He has chosen some of us to be in positions of authority. It is Christ who gives us strength to be people, parents, ordinary citizens or church or national leaders who fulfil His purposes.
Let us pray:
* That church and national leaders find they can do all things through Christ who strengthens them and chose to repent when they fail to allow Christ to strengthen them and try to do it on their own.
* That we will be willing to become clear minded and self-controlled so that we can pray according to His will.
* For the Lord to clear our minds by His Spirit so our thoughts will always be of the purest kind. For Him to take His rightful place and as we worship, may praise be all He finds.
PRAYING FOR THE NEXT GENERATION
For most of us on the Watch we were brought up in a generation that were taught what the Bible had to say on a wide range of moral subjects, including how to treat one another with respect, and listening to and honouring those who were considered wiser than we were. Good manners were considered a virtue. Today however our young people and taught very different values through their school years often which are opposed to those things that as parents we seek to instill into them. Outside the home they are told the Bible is irrelevant to today and parents are constantly having to perhaps appear to be “old fashioned” and “out of date” with the modern world which has rejected a Biblical worldview of life.
With that in mind, let us pray:
* Father, bring the next generation into a biblical worldview. Bring home the prodigals, and let your Word take its proper place in society again.
* Father don’t let us lose this next generation! Release grace for true discipleship in our churches, especially for the youth.
* Father, empower and embolden Christian fathers to train up their children in your ways and your Word.
HUGE RISE IN INDIGENOUS HERITAGE CLAIMS
Liberal Senator Kerrynne Liddle, an Arrernte woman from Alice Springs, claims the long-accepted test to establish whether a person is an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Australian is being “tinkered with” in favour of self-identification. She recently told parliament she was concerned that an “astonishing” increase in the number of Australians who consider themselves Indigenous would have consequences for government policies and programmes and the people who needed them most. The accepted three-part test says a person is Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander if they have Indigenous heritage, sometimes this is confirmed in writing by a land council or other Indigenous organisation, if they consider themselves Indigenous and if the community in which they live accepts they are Indigenous.
Ms Liddle cited the most recent Census which showed an increase in the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians of 23.2% that was far greater than the birthrate. She said there should be no place in government or in policy for a self-identification test or for fluidity in the definition. She said, “What should be occurring is accountability of the government, its agencies and community organisations ensuring the bona fides of Indigenous claims and we better get it right before we ask Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to elect representatives to the Voice, should that be successful at referendum.”
Please pray:
“Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a good word cheers it up.” Proverbs 12:25
* Thanking God for His continuing love and care for us in spite of the moral decay we see all around us which could cause us to lose heart. May we Christians be people of courage and hope.
* For Senator Liddle and others in government like her who care for our Indigenous people and want the best for them. Ask God to encourage and strengthen them.
* for “the accountability of the government, its agencies and community organisations, ensuring the bona fides of Indigenous claims.”
PRAYING FOR ISSUES IN THE NEWS
* The Federal Government is being challenged by the rise in inflation and the resultant rise in the cost of living as it seeks to shield Australians from rising energy costs in particular. Every solution put forward is being attacked by those with vested interests or by the reality that one solution can lead to other problems of equal or greater severity. Please pray for great wisdom to be given to our decision makers that the final solution they come up with will be the best for the people, business and the nation as a whole and will not put us into a deeper financial bind.
* The public debate over the proposal being put forward by the Federal Government for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament has not got off to a very good start with the different sides represented within the Indigenous community unable to decide what will be in the best interests of their people and resorting to vicious personal attacks against their fellow Indigenous people rather than arguing the proposal itself. Please pray for the level of debate to be raised from personal attacks to the principles of the proposal itself so that all Australians are able to make up their mind on the merits of the proposal itself being put forward at the forthcoming referendum.
PRAYING FOR OTHERS
This week let us pray for Mexico. Criminal groups often target Christians who speak against organised crime. Pray that their hearts will be transformed and that peace will reign in the nation.
Source: Australian Prayer Network
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