Beyond the Weekend: Powerful Prayers
Powerful Prayers A 7-Week Series | May 10–June 21
What does it really mean to pray?
Prayer is one of those things most people think about but aren't sure they're doing right. Is God actually listening? Does it matter what you say? Does prayer even work?
This series digs into some of the most powerful prayers in the Bible. From the Lord's Prayer to Daniel's cry in a crisis, we'll see what happens when ordinary people bring their real lives to God.
Whether you've prayed your whole life or you're not even sure God is real, this series is for you.
Supplication
Read: 1 Kings 8:30-35
Listen: 1 Kings 8
Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. 1 Kings 8:30
King Solomon worships God, gives thanks, and prays that the people would confess their sins and return to God. Now he asks God to hear their supplications. Supplication is a plea for grace, not a demand or negotiation. Solomon makes the request as a servant, approaching God based entirely on his character of grace and generosity. Solomon then runs through situation after situation—defeat, drought, famine, war, foreign enemies—asking God to hear and answer each one. He prays that God would be gracious in all of it.
Our prayers should include supplication, too. We can bring anything on our hearts—needs big or small, fears we can barely name, requests we've carried for years. We ask knowing that God’s disposition toward us is gracious and generous. Asking doesn't guarantee the answer we hope for. Sometimes God's grace looks different than we expect, and we don't always see the full picture of what he is doing in this life. But his character doesn't change. We can keep bringing our needs, desires, and requests to him, trusting that someday, we will see his hand in all of it.
PRAYER DAY #25: This week we are using the ACTS model to pray. S is for Supplication. Start with Solomon's words: "Hear the supplication of your servant..." Then bring whatever is on your heart and mind to God today, asking for his grace and generosity and trusting his character.
