During the 11 days of Thy Kingdom Come, between 13 and 23 May 2021, we are being encouraged to pray for 5 friends or family to come to faith in Jesus. Since the Lord’s prayer has five main sections we could use those five parts to pray for each of our five people. Underneath this introduction, there’s a set of prompts to assist you in using the Lord’s prayer structure as a way to pray for your people. Five phases of prayer for each of five people: 5-4-5.
In each section following there’s a short description of the kind of praying you might undertake in each phase of the prayer and then, in the section with the left-side stripe, an example of how that phase might look as prayer. To help keep it more personal-sounding, I’ve used a name -Kim- rather than put N or something like that. Kim is a name that could be male or female, so I’ve also used ‘their’ as the pronoun.
As you read the examples, you will probably -rightly- understand that praying like this will take some reflection and therefore time. The Lord’s prayer is a ‘we/us’ prayer, however it’s probably the case that you will mostly be praying when you’re on your own, so the examples reflect that in using mostly ‘I/me’ language.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Give thanks for your ‘prayee’ and especially for the ways that you see God at work in them.
I remember before you my friend Kim with thanks for their support and helpfulness to me. I praise you that where there is love, you are present and so I rejoice to see that. It’s great also to remember that their concern for the environment mirrors your own longing for the integrity of creation and nurture of all you have made. I’m grateful for our relationship.
God who loves us both deeply: hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Think about the person before God: what God might be doing in them next? -That’s your prayer.
As I reflect on Kim before you, I wonder whether their concern for the environment is seeded by your Spirit. So I ask that the eyes of their heart might be opened to begin to see us and the environment as your creation and you the wellspring of life. Help them to connect that passion in their own hearts with your heart.
Your kingdom come: your will be done in them.
Give us today our daily bread.
Ask God for the means to serve your prayee and for insight into how to relate the Good News to them.
Enable Kim and me to connect more deeply around environmental concern. Give me a deeper concern and understanding of your deep love for your wider creation and to learn to rejoice in what you have made. Grow wisdom in us to know how best to share that with Kim not to be off-putting but attractive.
Provide the means to do your will: give us our daily bread
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us
Confess any problematic thoughts, words or deeds towards them. Release any unworthy attitudes on your part.
I recognise that I have been dismissive of Kim’s concern and failed to recognise that you might have inspired it. I have been unheeding of that concern of yours in my own heart. Forgive me, turn me and I shall be turned. Forgive me too that I have thought of more of how I might give the gospel to Kim rather than how I might discover what you are doing in them and aligning with that, I’m sorry for the mistakes that has led me into with Kim. I also let go of the negative reaction I have had to Kim when we have argued partly as a result of that, I understand better now.
Your mission in love means forgiving: teach us both to receive and to pass it on.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
Ask for God’s guidance and wisdom in relating well to them, and to help keep you from unhelpful ways of relating to them.
I recognise my temptation to avoid or dismiss Kim’s concerns. Help me to be aware of that and enable me to find ways to share Kim’s concerns with integrity. Help me to find you in those concerns. Steer me away from being silent when I should be sharing and from talking when I should be listening. Help me to know the difference.
Move us forward in your will: keep us from wrong turns and ending in bad places.
Then ‘rinse and repeat’ as they say; try the same process with each of those five you are praying for. And as you enter into the flow of using the shape of the Lord’s prayer for regular prayer, you might want to consider some of the forms of prayer elsewhere on this sight. God bless you as you pray.
Book of Our Common Prayer 