“Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city… Pray to the Lord for it…” (Jeremiah 29:7 NIV)
There is no original story to share this morning, no overlooked flashback memories from gone by years, no overflowing message filled with a new flavor of spiritual inspiration, and no testimony about the omnipresence, omnipotence, or omniscience of God. However, I still want to make you God-conscious today. Specifically, I want to play forward something about praying to our prayer-hearing God, petitioning to Him to redesign our city with peace and prosperity, reaching the heights of the tallest building, stopping by the homeless shelters, visiting the most desired residential streets, and the streets where you live and the homes nearby. I hope after reading this morning’s meditation, you will be praying for the city on this day.
What I have to share is not only relevant to the city in which I reside. It’s applicable to whatever city your residence is found. All God’s children, all God’s children, and all is just “all,” all God’s children should constantly be praying for the city, consistently seeking peace and prosperity. By prosperity, personally I am not talking about monetary or material riches, but I am thinking about the richness of life that is found when the Lord hears your cry, comes down to help and heal the city. And yes, there are some pre-requisites that must come before the healing of the city. See the closing verse, one that I am sure you are very familiar. Friend, we should be active ambassadors in our community helping the pre-requisites to be achieved.
There is no real original writing this morning, nothing I can put my trademark on or put in a request to copyright. What I am going to share with you is what I took from the printed program of an annual prayer breakfast that was held early Tuesday morning. I know we need to pray for one another, pray for our families, pray for our church, pray for the lost, and pray, seeking the Lord’s help us and guide us through various situations and stuff that stifles us. But we also need to be praying for the city. What do you pray for, when you pray for the city? What was shared at the prayer breakfast gets us off to a good start. There were six special guests, prominent people, who prayed for the following in our city: (1) first responders & medical workers, (2) our elected (city) officials, (3) our future leaders, (4) our clergy, (5) our workforce, and (6) our city, state, and nation.
The program for the prayer breakfast is an excellent blueprint that you can adopt when you individually pray daily. Yes, Tuesday’s program provides you and me with a great starting guide for praying for the city. Make sure you do that today and continually as the days go by. Okay? See the prerequisites I mentioned in the closing verse. Have a great Thursday. Be blessed!
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (Romans 10:17 NKJV)