MaryBeth Hall – Page 27 – Targeted Global Prayer

God’s Eternality & Paradera, Aruba

Psalm 90:2

“LORD, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”

Revelation 1:8

“‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘Who is and Who was and Who is to come, the Almighty.'”

From eternity past to eternity future, Yahweh is. As a ladybug can not understand the concept of a light year, time-bound humans can not fully fathom eternity. However, as Ecclesiastes 3:11 states, “…He has put eternity in their hearts…” We know, even from creation itself, that God is and is eternally powerful (Rom. 1:20). He has always been and will always be, extending forever in both directions, as a line in mathematics does.

It is an amazing thing that this eternal God chose to create and reveal Himself to mankind. He breathed His life into us, thereby making living souls who, as a ray in mathematics, have a starting point but no ending point. Our greatest joy is therefore the reality of being in the presence of the I Am forever and ever. The eternal God is our refuge, and underneath are His everlasting arms (Deut. 33:27).

1. Pray for a person passing these statutes today to realize that the only person Who should be prayed to is the eternal God Who offers Himself as a refuge.

2. Aruba is a country that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Pray for someone who will fly from Aruba to Amsterdam this week to, while flying in the sky’s expanse, consider God’s eternality and yield to His claims on that individual’s life.

3. Pray for Christians around the world who have lost a child in the last 24 hours to be comforted by the fact that the eternal God can carry them through even this dark valley, and will forever reunite all believers at the rapture.

Saturday Morning Recap

Isaiah 45:5

“I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me…”

1. God’s Omnipresence & Koror, Palau: Pray for a worker at the Blue Palau Gift Shop to hear about God’s omnipresence, and come to know that in a personal way through receiving the gift of salvation.

2. God’s Righteousness & Xidajiao, China: Jesus said in John 16 that one of the Holy Spirit’s jobs would be to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Pray for a student in Xidajiao who is studying traditional Chinese characters to ponder the meaning of the character for “righteous,” and to pay attention to the Holy Spirit’s conviction in her heart. Pray for the Lord to provide that student with the complete gospel message of how to obtain personal righteousness through faith in the Lamb of God.

3. Your Choice: Please pray for a request you remember from the other cities featured this week:

God’s Justice & Osana, Namibia

God’s Joy & Cambridge, USA

God’s Omniscience & Fenua Fala, Tokelau

God’s Fatherhood & Banja, Serbia

Thank you for praying!

God’s Omniscience & Fenua Fala, Tokelau

Acts 15:18

“Known to God from eternity are all His works.”

Psalm 139:1

“O LORD, You have searched me and known me.”

Psalm 147:5

“Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.”

God’s omniscience is at once both vast and minute. He has always intuitively known everything about everything. The breadth and depth of His knowledge are forever beyond human attainment. The Bible says He has named each star, yet He also knows every time a sparrow falls (Ps. 147:4, Matt. 10:29-31). He thinks about each of us more times than there are grains of sand (Ps. 139). His omniscience even extends to the realm of “what if” possibilities (Matt. 11:20-24).

Though we single them out for study, God’s attributes combine in a beautiful kaleidoscope that brings Him great glory. Think of a child holding up a kaleidoscope to the light and catching his breath at how the colored pieces of glass are arranged and reflected in intricate patterns. In the same way, adoration is the appropriate response when, by the light of Scripture, we see God’s omniscience, wisdom, omnipotence, and benevolence forming beautiful combinations in history, creation, and our own lives. What vastness is His Whose understanding is infinite, yet what love He possesses to know every time we sit down and stand up!

1. Fenua Fala is one of two settled areas on the atoll of Fakaofo, whose total population is around five hundred people. Fakaofo was TGP’s featured location on February 19, 2023, and can be referenced for interesting facts. Pray for the Lord to bring a copy of Psalm 139 to the attention of a worker at St. Joseph’s Hospital, and for that person to respond in faith and worship.

2. Pray for an individual at The University of the South Pacific to not be so caught up in human knowledge that he thinks he doesn’t need to know the omniscient God. Pray for the Spirit to work in that person’s life to draw him to salvation.

3. Pray for someone at the Fakaofo Wharf today to remember any gospel witness he has received, and respond in obedience and faith. If that person is already a Christian, pray for him to marvel at and be encouraged by his Lord’s omniscience.

God’s Joy & Cambridge, USA

Psalm 45:6-7, Heb. 1:8-9

“But to the Son He says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions.'”

Jude 1:24-25

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.”

Triumphant joy is an often overlooked characteristic of our great God. The word used here for gladness/joy means “exuberant, extreme joy, ecstatic delight.” And the Father anointed the Son to be the most joyful Person there is!

Notice His two specific causes of joy mentioned in these verses: the triumph of His eternal throne of righteousness, and the triumph of His presenting us faultless to the Father. He wins! When all is said and done, He wins. This can be a great source of joy to us as well when we are contemplating past and current world events: He wins! As to the second reason, it is almost unbelievable that we should bring joy to the Son, but this and other verses declare it so to be. This is an amazing reality: He wants to be with us and His work in us will succeed. What a glorious and gracious God is ours!

1. Pray for the Lord to encourage believers at this church with the truths regarding His joy, thus increasing their own joy today.

2. Pray for God’s eternal kingdom of righteousness to gain another citizen this week from Cambridge, New York, through that individual’s salvation.

3. Pray for the Son to have great joy as He looks at the lives of His children in Cambridge, seeing the Spirit’s transforming sanctification.

God’s Fatherhood & Banja, Serbia

Psalm 103:13

“As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him;”

John 16:9

“For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me [Jesus], and have believed that I came forth from God.”

God is our Father in two senses – Creator (Acts 17:28 describes this connection) and Redeemer (Rom. 8:14-16 describes the adoptive conditions under which we may call Him Father).

As with all of His attributes, there is no way that all the aspects of God’s fatherhood can be addressed here, so today’s thoughts will focus on the definition/wonderment of three words from the above verses:

Pities – to have compassion, the desire to meet the needs of another

LORD – YHWH or Yahweh, The One Who Is

Loves – phileo – to like, the affectionate friendship kind of love

It is an amazing thing that YHWH – whose name we can’t even fully grasp – in all of His splendor and eternality has said that we can know Him as Father. He looks on us with compassion, and meets our needs. He feels affection for us; He likes us. As He told Israel in Isaiah 46:3-4, He carries us from conception to old age. “Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1)

1. Pray for each person pictured to have the opportunity to be adopted into God’s family, that each one may know him as Father.

2. Jesus said that the Father seeks worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and truth. Pray for the Father to find many such believers in Banja.

3. Pray for someone at the Banja Monastery to understand and rest in the Biblical truth that the Father bestows His affection on those who simply believe and like His Son; His love cannot be earned, but is a gracious gift.

God’s Righteousness & Xidajiao, China

Psalm 71:19

“Also Your righteousness, O God, is very high, You Who have done great things; O God, who is like You?”

1 John 2:1

“My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.“

God is always righteous and just. No trace of impurity has or ever will be present in Him. Indeed, He defines what is righteous, and human sin is essentially transgressing what He has declared to be right.

In stark contrast, we are not inherently righteous. Isaiah 64:6 states that our righteousness is as filthy rags. If we are ever to know and fellowship with the supremely righteous God, that problem must be fixed. But how?

The traditional Chinese character for “righteousness” is a beautiful picture that illustrates the Bible’s answer to this dilemma. It is the character for “lamb” over the character for “I/me.” (There are actually several Chinese characters for key concepts that contain the character for “lamb”, highlighting the intersection of ancient Chinese culture with the Truth. See this article for more info: https://answersingenesis.org/jesus/the-lamb-of-god-hidden-in-chinese-characters/ ) As John 1:29 declares, “… Behold! The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world!”

1. Jesus said in John 16 that one of the Holy Spirit’s jobs would be to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Pray for a student in Xidajiao who is studying traditional Chinese characters to ponder the meaning of the character for “righteous,” and to pay attention to the Holy Spirit’s conviction in her heart. Pray for the Lord to provide that student with the complete gospel message of how to obtain personal righteousness through faith in the Lamb of God.

2. In the foreground of the picture above is an observation deck which provides expansive views of the area. Pray for an individual in Xidajiao to obtain and read a copy of the Scripture, that he may view his own level of righteousness from the observation deck of God’s Word. Pray for him to also read how to make the greatest trade of all time, as described in 2 Corinthians 5:21.

3. Pray for Christians in Xidajiao to more fully understand, appreciate, and apply the implications for daily living of the truth that they have been declared righteous by the Father.

God’s Omnipresence & Koror, Palau

Psalm 139:7-11

“Where can I go from Your Spirit? or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell [Sheol], behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall fall on me,’ even the night shall be light about me.”

Jeremiah 23:24

“‘Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?’ says the LORD; do I not fill heaven and earth?’ says the LORD.”

God’s omnipresence is cause for great reassurance to His children. He does not change. He exhibits lovingkindness. He is sovereign. And this God is the One Who has promised to be with us always, to never leave or forsake us. He is with us.

God’s omnipresence can be observed in two ways. As He told Jeremiah, He is everywhere, filling heaven and earth. This is the scope of His omnipresence; there is nowhere we can go that He is not there. He also forever indwells each of His children by the Holy Spirit: “And I [Jesus] will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth…you know Him, for He dwells with you, and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17). He is at once in each of the redeemed, in a more wonderful way than anyone else could ever be with us. We are never alone. He is Who He is, and by His omnipresence He graciously extends the gift of Himself to us in indescribably wonderful and inexhaustible ways. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

1. Pray for a worker at the Blue Palau Gift Shop to hear about God’s omnipresence, and come to know that in a personal way through receiving the gift of salvation.

2. Because of their companionship and loyalty, dogs are often considered to be “man’s best friend.” Pray for the Lord to work again in the life of a person who has interacted with the pictured dog, that he/she may meet Him Who truly is man’s best friend.

3. Pray that on this Lord’s Day every Christian in Koror will rejoice in and thank the Lord for His omnipresence.

Saturday Morning Recap

Isaiah 45:5

“I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me…”

1. God’s Holiness & Sabga, Cameroon: Pray for the Lord to so impress upon a family living there a sense of awe at His holiness that they will forsake other religious beliefs to turn to the true and living God.

2. God’s Wisdom & Sandefjord, Norway: Pray for Christians who go to the Sandefjord Baptistkirke (a church) to avail themselves of the promise of James 1:5 – God will give His wisdom to all who ask in faith.

3. Your Choice: Please pray for a request you remember from any of the other cities featured this week:

God’s Immutability & Buenos Aires, Argentina

God’s Chesed & Yakutsk, Sakha Republic, Russia

God’s Sovereignty & Saint John, Canada

Thank you for praying!

God’s Sovereignty & Saint John, Canada

Psalm 103:19

“The LORD has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.”

Daniel 2:44

“… the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”

Philippians 2:10-11

“…at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Our God is in charge. This truth is a two sided coin: it can produce resentment or peace in an individual’s heart, depending on that person’s relationship with the sovereign God. However, even for those who chafe against His dominion, Psalm 2 masterfully describes that such rebellion does not change Who is boss.

For children of God, knowing the King of Kings and Lord of Lords brings great peace. No challenge or limitation is outside the realm of His lordship, and He masterfully weaves even what is incomprehensible to us into His story (Rom. 8:28,31,37). Jesus used this truth to encourage His disciples on many occasions, and His words leap from Scripture to steady our souls today: “It is I, do not be afraid…In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world…Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (John 6:20,16:33, Luke 12:32). Let us therefore enter this day with peace in our souls and steel in our stride; He is sovereign!

1. This picture was taken on Partridge Island, where many tourists go to see the Partridge Island lighthouse. Pray for three individuals to acknowledge and embrace God’s sovereignty, following the advice at the end of Psalm 2: the person sitting in the picture, the person who painted the graffiti, and Patrick, the person who took the picture.

2. Saint John is known for its “reversing rapids,” caused by the Bay of Fundy’s tides colliding with the Saint John River as it comes out of a narrow gorge. It has been noted in previous days that people can deduce certain things from God from general revelation, so pray that an observer of the rapids will listen to the Holy Spirit’s stirring in his heart that there must be a God Who is sovereign over nature, and therefore has the right to rule his life (Rom. 1:20).

3. Saint John, New Brunswick, is named after John the Baptist. John the Baptist knew what it was to have faith that God is sovereign, even when he didn’t understand why the Lord did not bring immediate deliverance. Pray for Christians in Saint John to have that same kind of faith.

God’s Wisdom & Sandefjord, Norway

Romans 11:33-36

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! ‘For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?‘ [quote from Is. 40:13-14]”

Luke 2:47

“And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.”

The wisdom of God incorporates several of His attributes: omniscience, infallibility, authority, infinity, kindness. Creation itself – from the microscope to the telescope – bears witness to His amazing wisdom. In the realm of human difficulties, impossibly tangled situations can be effortlessly resolved by a mere glance from the One Whose ways are higher than ours. Eternity itself will not be long enough for us to fully comprehend the immeasurable breadth and depth of all that God knows. Awe and submission are the only appropriate responses to such a Father, Whose wisdom coupled with goodness (in both the sense of righteousness and benevolence) make Him entirely trustworthy. “Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight.” (Matt. 11:26)

1. Pray for the two pictured individuals to realize their need for God’s wisdom in their own lives, beginning with knowing His solution to their sin problem. Pray for them to choose His wise ways.

2. Sandefjord is the whaling capital of the world. Pray for a captain of a whaling ship to come across a Bible, read it, see God’s wisdom shining forth there, and bow the knee to His Creator, echoing Paul’s praise in Romans 11.

3. Pray for Christians who go to the Sandefjord Baptistkirke (a church) to avail themselves of the promise of James 1:5 – God will give His wisdom to all who ask in faith.