Praying for People In Our Church: The Young and the Elderly

1 Timothy 4:10–13

[10] For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. [11] Command and teach these things. [12] Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. [13] Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. (ESV)

Joshua 14:6–15

[6] Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. [7] I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. [8] But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the LORD my God. [9] And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.’ [10] And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. [11] I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. [12] So now give me this hill country of which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the LORD said.”[13] Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. [14] Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the LORD, the God of Israel. [15] Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba. (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim.) And the land had rest from war. (ESV)

Pray for our young people to be DEVOTED TO GOD’S WORD and EXAMPLES of LOVE, FAITH, PURITY in our church and in the community.

Father, hear us, we are praying,
Hear the words our hearts are saying,
We are praying for our children.

Keep them from the powers of evil,
From the secret, hidden peril,
From the whirlpool that would suck them,
From the treacherous quicksand pluck them.

From the worldling’s hollow gladness,
From the sting of faithless sadness,
Holy Father, save our children.

Through life’s troubled waters steer them,
Through life’s bitter battle cheer them,
Father, Father, be thou near them.

Read the language of our longing,
Read the wordless pleadings thronging.
Holy Father for our children,
And wherever they may bide,
Lead them home at eventide.”

– Amy Carmichael’s 19th century prayer for the children of the Dohnavur Fellowship in India

Pray for our older saints… Pray for HEALTH AND VIGOR, for GODLY EXAMPLE, and for our CHURCH TO LEARN AND LISTEN.

3 Dangers of Dividing People by Generation (Trevin Wax)

Os Guinness understands why we must avoid the dangers of generationalism:

“All generations are more flawed than they realize. . . . No generation is ever as successful and healthy as it may imagine. It always has flaws that set up the next generation to react against the old one, just as the ‘old one’ did to their predecessors when they were the ‘younger generation.’ Every generation must therefore be realistic and humble, and the young just as much as the old.” (179)

Realistic. Humble. Teachable. These are the traits we need—young and old alike.

Charles Spurgeon once said…

Some are like the sun going down in the west; they will be gone soon. Serve them, dear brethren. You that are in health and vigour, comfort them, strengthen them, and help them all you can. Be a joy to that dear old man, who has been spared to you even beyond the allotted threescore years and ten, and praise God for the grace that has upheld him through his long pilgrimage. Look on his grey hairs as a crown of glory; make his descent to the grave as easy as you can. He once was as young as you are; he once had the vigour that you have. Console him, cheer him, give him the respect that is due to his many years. Do not let him feel that you consider him an old fogey who lingers, superfluous, on the stage; but learn from his experience, imitate his perseverance, and ask God to be with you in your old age, as he is with him.

Will you pray with me for those like Nana, Chuck, Charlotte, Dillard, Lewis, Dot, Dot, Virginia, Evelyn and so many more who have served so faithfully over the years?

Please pray for Lewis Carroll as he is going through dire health concerns right now.