21 Days of Prayer and Fasting - 2025 Day 2

Today's prayer focus will be on blessings. Part of my day will be spent praying for blessings for my family, friends, community around me, the nation, the world, and even my enemies. Most of these prayers will be spoken in the quiet stillness of my home. But I'll also pray blessings on those around me as I walk. Jesus blessed others during His ministry. Sometimes it was while laying hands on them. Other times, He lifted His hands toward heaven. We don't have a full account of the many times He blessed others. I imagine He also blessed others from afar and without their knowledge.

I for one have been blessed beyond my understanding. I can imagine people have prayed blessings over my life. Although I cannot possibly understand why some are blessed while others are not, I will still pray for the blessings. Perhaps blessings come in unexpected and unimaginable ways. In our current Bible study, we are studying the Beatitudes. Perhaps in my prayers for blessings, God will transform the hearts of the ones I'm praying for to be more like the hearts depicted in the Beatitudes? And perhaps He is transforming my heart in the process as well. I have found that when I pray for others, I begin to care for them more. Even my enemies. He has taught me that this is part of the process of loving the Lord with all [my] heart, soul, mind and strength. And to love others as myself.

Father God in heaven, thank you that I can come before You and humble myself. I pray for blessings for my family. I pray for blessings for my friends. I pray for blessings for the community I live in and everywhere my path takes me everyday. I pray for blessings for this nation. I pray for blessings for the entire world. And most importantly, I pray blessings for those who have mistreated and wronged my family, friends, and myself. May the world be blessed because You are blessed Lord, our God. Please bless these as You have blessed me.

Lord, please bless the church that You are calling me to join in fellowship. I do not know where this church is yet. But I know You do. I ask for blessings over that church as You prepare them and myself for the day when I first step foot into the building. Please go before me and guide me toward where this church is. Also, please bless Community United Methodist Church in Virginia Beach. Please bless Calvary Chapel Golden Springs in Diamond Bar. Please bless theChapel in Trinity. Please bless Town Center Church in Mooresville.

Finally, I pray blessings over the pastors and their families of all these churches. May all of our lives reflect the goodness of Your loving kindness in our world. The world needs more of You and less of us.

It is with gratitude, thanksgiving, and in Your Name, I pray. AMEN!

This prayer was featured in my blog on January 06, 2025 and is part of 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting - 2025.

Enemies

I don't actually have any enemies. So I emphasized the word above. Who I mean by that are those who have harmed or wronged me or my loved ones. Or even the people I've heard about having wronged or harmed someone in general. The simple truth is, in God's eyes, we are all bad. Also, I'm the enemy or villain of others stories. I'm by no means an innocent person myself.

What praying for them has done for me is help soften my heart toward them. For the ones who wronged or harmed me, I've had to forgive them. That doesn't really impact them directly. Forgiveness has cleared my heart of the resentment and some of the pain. Some of the pain remains. But as I pray for them, the pain is beginning to go away as well.

This is by no means an easy thing to do. It has gotten a little easier over time. I still won't call it easy...LOL But you know what?!? Jesus prayed for His enemies too. And He asked the Father to forgive them for they know not what they do.

Blessing

The definition of blessing for the context of my prayers today is God's favor or protection.

It's easy to pray that over family, friends, and generally anyone I don't know. It is incredibly difficult to pray that over people I know did bad things. God didn't call me to be a judge. So, I'm glad this was the focus of my prayers today. It helped remind me that He is the only Judge who can weigh people's hearts.