Renewed Call for Women to Pray
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2009 marks the ninth year of the Aspects Prayer Challenge. As has been my custom, I offer this original paragraph from the first challenge in 2001. I cannot improve on it as an explanation for our motive:
I do not believe there is any one thing that women can do to more glorify God, strengthen our nation, nurture our children, build up the church, expand missions, and fight the forces of evil than to pray for men in committed and persevering ways.
As in the previous years, I am challenging Five Aspects women to pray for 50 men 50 times during the year. I trust that those of you who have joined with me in this spiritual work have experienced, as I have, the blessing of answered prayer and the benefit of spiritual growth.
Prayer Focus for 2009-10: Men at Worship
Our day is much like that recorded in 2 Chronicles 20 when overwhelming hordes of enemies came against God’s people in the Kingdom of Judah. King Jehoshaphat sought the Lord with prayer and fasting in His holy temple. God answered:
2 Chron. 20:17—You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”
The next day, King Jehosphaphat decided to go forth to meet the enemy led by priests singing the praises of God!
2 Chron. 20:21-22—And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say, “Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever.” 22And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed.
One of the best ways to meet the overwhelming foes of our own day is to acknowledge our dependence on God and our faith in Him by turning to Him with praise. While men sing, God can “set ambushes” for evil far more powerful and effective than any we can imagine.
David: Model Worship Leader
David is well-known as a shepherd, a warrior, a king, and a psalmist. What is not so well-known is how much of his life David devoted to organizing his people, and especially the Levitical priests, for the worship of God. After David brought God’s ark into Jerusalem and established it in the tent that he had prepared, he mandated that thousands of men give themselves to the vocal and instrumental worship of God on a regular and continuous basis, day and night, during the festivals, and for unceasing years.
1 Chron. 16:4—Then [David] appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord, to invoke, to thank, and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel.
1 Chron. 16:37— So David left Asaph and his brothers there before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister regularly before the ark as each day required.
David appointed men to play all the basic types of instruments that there are: strings, percussion, and wind. Some of these instruments David invented (1 Chron. 23:5)!
1 Chron. 16:5-7—Asaph was the chief, and second to him were Zechariah, Jeiel, Shemira-moth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Ben-aiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel, who were to play harps and lyres; Asaph was to sound the cymbals, 6and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God.
David also established continual worship before the altar of the tabernacle that in his day remained in Gibeon. He appointed Zadok the priest to preside there. Others, led by Heman and Jeduthun, were “chosen and expressly named to give thanks to the Lord,” with “trumpets and cymbals for the music and instruments for sacred song” (1 Chron. 16:41-42). At the end of David’s life he specified that of the 38,000 Levites who were 30 years old and upward, 24,000 were to serve the house of the Lord. He ordered that “4,000 shall offer praises to the Lord with the instruments that I have made for praise” (1 Chron. 23:5). Later in the chapter David describes the work of these appointed priests.
1 Chron. 23:30-31—And they were to stand every morning, thanking and praising the Lord, and likewise at evening, 31and whenever burnt offerings were offered to the Lord on Sabbaths, new moons and feast days, according to the number required of them, regularly before the Lord. David was skillful as a vocal and instrumental musician.
A composer from his youth, David created a great body of poetry, invented new musical instruments, and organized the Levitical choirs for the single purpose of worshiping God. Centuries before his son Jehosphaphat met evil with the worship of God, David fought spiritual evil with his music (1 Sam. 16:23). In our day the enemy comes as an overwhelming horde, even as it did in the day of Jehoshaphat. Our nation seems filled with a cacophony of music born from and for rebellion and sensuality.
Pray for Worshiping Men to Lead Us
Pray for God to call men, both clergy and laity, to organize, train, and commit themselves “to invoke, to thank, and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel” with “music and instruments for sacred song.”
Featured Ministry: Men at Worship
Led by Bill Mouser, pastor of St. Athanasius Anglican Church and Director of ICGS, Men at Worship trains men in the ancient worship disciplines of “the daily office,” singing psalms, preparing prayer, and the public reading of Scripture. Pray for the growth and multiplication of “Men at Worship” chapters, and other like ministries. Pray that men would be raised up to praise God, and that while they sing, God will set ambushes for the enemies of His church.
Continue to Pray for Future Leaders and “The Arranged Marriages of God”
We are in the fourth year of our ten-year prayer campaign for wise marriages among the coming generation of Christian leaders—“The Arranged Marriages of God.” Last year our prayer focus was young men. Please continue to pray in both of these areas.
- List specific young men who have the capacity to be Christian leaders in the next generation. Include these in your list of fifty.
- List specific young women who are seeking to be wise and godly. Pray that many wise marriages will be consummated in this decade between the future leaders and prudent young women (Prov. 19:14).
- Pray that these wise and potentially highly productive matches will not be set aside for worldly or fleshly reasons; that the destruction wreaked by foolish mates might be avoided. (Prov. 12:4—How effective can one be with rotten bones?)
- Pray that these core couples will, in fact, be united and flourish, and that our future male leaders will thereby be strengthened with the crown of excellent wives.
When should I pray?
Pray at least fifty times this year on a schedule of your own choosing. (“This year” means during the 52 weeks following the date you begin this work.) The blocks on the downloadable prayer card are provided for you to note the times you pray, either with a check or a date.
