Saturday, November 7, 2009

Ezra's Prayer

Ezra prayed a community prayer of confession.

Sometimes a leader prays publicly over a group's sins to make things right.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Elisha's Prayers

Elisha prays and his allies see God's spiritual troops.

He prays again and enemy troops are blinded.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Elijah's 2 Prayers

Prayer 1: Burn up this soaking sacrifice
Prayer 2: Let me die. I'm no better than my ancestors

Prayer 2 doesn't appear to follow logically after God answers Prayer 1 so spectacularly.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Jeroboam, the Man of God, and the Prophet of Bethel

Jeroboam sinned by allowing anyone to become his priest.

A man of God prophesied against Jeroboam.

Jeroboam asked the man of God to pray for him, so God would forgive his sin.

Curiously, an old prophet called the man of God back into town against God's explicit directions. The prophet lied to the Man of God, and as a result, the Man of God was killed by a lion.

Afterwards, the prophet retrieved the man of God's body and buried him in Bethel.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Solomon's Prayer for the Temple

King Solomon prayed special blessings on the Temple, particularly that the Lord would pay special attention to requests directed toward the temple.

This is meta-prayer, a prayer about the efficacy of future prayers meeting a given set of criteria.

Monday, November 2, 2009

King David's Courageous Prayer

David says that it sometimes requires courage to pray to the Lord.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Sin of Omission

Samuel explains that if he didn't pray for the people, he would be sinning "against the Lord."