The bolded text is one of my favorite quotes on prayer, followed by my brief thoughts on the subject. Enjoy! And I hope that it will be thought provoking and helpful in some way.

“The Spirit makes an atmosphere around every living prayer, and within that circle prayer lives and prevails; outside of it prayer is a dead formality. As to ourselves, then, in our study, in prayer, in thought, in word, and in deed, we must depend upon the Holy Spirit.” –
–C.H. Spurgeon 
What on earth is this guy talking about??? It sounds like he’s saying the Holy Spirit actively puts some kind of “dome” around every living prayer! So maybe Charles Spurgeon is encouraging each of us to first try to come to grips with the power of the Holy Spirit in our prayer lives. In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is sometimes called our paracletos, which means “comforter,” or one who comes alongside to encourage. Scripture teaches that the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf with “groanings” that somehow, mysteriously, express the Father’s will for us. This should give us amazing confidence when we pray! We can go to our Heavenly Father knowing that we have an Advocate who makes our prayers alive, and who goes before us. So we have so much to be thankful for as we depend on the Holy Spirit to completely surround every one of our prayers with His power!
Prayer Thoughts for Today  

1. Pray and ask God to give you greater confidence in approaching His presence, because we have an Advocate and Comforter surrounding our every prayer.
2. Thank the Lord that the Holy Spirit goes before us, interceding for our every need!

1. We have prayer posts on our Facebook page, KontaktmissionUSA, from our missionaries on a daily basis. These prayer requests appear in real time and are extremely relevant to our missionaries on the field. Here are a couple of examples.  As explained in my last prayer blast, Facebook is a great way to get involved in KM’s prayer ministry efforts. Please be in prayer for them!

1. Today’s prayer request is from KM missionaries working with Mission Academy in Wüstenrot, Germany. “Four of our former interns have decided to return to Germany to work in church planting and development. Please pray that God will help them in their preparations and provide the support they need. Please pray that churches will grow in their vision of sending out missionaries to Europe.”

2. This prayer request comes from a KM missionary couple working in Skopelos, Greece. “The economic crisis is putting a strain on the people of Greece and finances are getting tighter for many. Please pray that these difficulties will open the hearts of people on the island of Skopelos to God. Please pray that we few believers who live here will bring the light of God’s love to our neighbors.”

Clayton J. Elliott
Pastoral Ministries and Prayer, Kontaktmission USA
clay@GoKMUSA.org   (731) 217-1741