Big Prayers – The Presidential Prayer Team

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. – Proverbs 19:21

With the current world population being about 7.8 billion and the current U. S. population roughly 330 million, just think of all the conflicting plans that are going on in all of those heads! It boggles the mind. God not only knows what’s going on in everyone’s thoughts, but He has the ability to guide or override them. Today’s verse says that it is His purpose that will stand.

The current Christian population is hard to determine. Some estimates are about a third of the world’s population. In John 17, before His crucifixion, Jesus prayed for His disciples, not only the ones current to His time, but for everyone who believes their testimony, including today’s believers. He prayed, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (vv. 20-21). Jesus prayed big prayers. He knew the Father was willing and able to answer His prayers.

The apostle John wrote that when you ask according to God’s will, He hears you (1 John 5:14-15). Christian unity is important to God. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul compares the church to the body, working together as one. The last part of John 17:1 says that Jesus prayed for unity so that the world may believe that God the Father sent His Son and that He loves those who believe in Him. Pray the big prayer for unity among believers in Christ, especially in the United States. Ask that the world will take note of God’s glory in Christ and in His people and turn to Him.

Today’s Verse: Proverbs 19:21

Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: John 17:11-23

¹¹And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. ¹²While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. ¹⁴I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
²⁰“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²²The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, ²³I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.