Prayer Stations
Set up three prayer stations in the meeting room or chapel. Have them reasonably far apart so that one group will not disturb another. Each station should have a small table and three or four chairs. The number will depend on the number of women participating in this exercise. Play soft music to create an atmosphere of prayer and worship.
Pray for Families—place cards on the tables with the following subjects. Invite the women to choose two or three as their prayer focus. 1. Infertility – pray for someone you know who desperately wants a child but has not been able to conceive. Read 1 Samuel 1:1-20 – Hannah. 2. Wayward child – Read Luke 15:11-32. 3. Single Parents – pray for someone raising a child alone. Read Psalm 27:10. Have a basket of hearts that the women can take with them to remind them to continue praying for families.
Pray for Government – Place photos on the table of the President, Governor, Congressmen from your district, and the Supreme Court. Pray for the president that he will make the right decisions and that he will honor God. Pray that the Governor will lead the state well and that he will make wise decisions. Pray for congress that they will pass wise laws and follow the will of the voters. Pray for the members of the Supreme Court and that God will give them wisdom in all their decision.
Pray for the Corps – Purchase small stained glass craft kits from the Oriental Trading Company or print pictures of small stained-glass windows that the women can color as they pray. Pray for the corps officers and their families. Ask the Lord to give them wisdom as they lead the corps. Pray for the Local Officers as they work with the soldiers of the corps. Pray for the young people that God will watch over them during these difficult days.
Games
In an open space place, a crossword puzzle or a word search that the women can do while waiting for the next prayer station.
Craft – Heart-shaped Fabric Hanging
- Fabric
- Cut two heart-shaped pieces
- Glue around the edge, leaving a space to add spices
- Stuff with the spices and polyfill
- Place a looped ribbon for hanging and glue shut the open edge.
My Hiding Place
I grew up in my grandparent’s large wooden and zinc house. In the kitchen was a large china cabinet with a space at the bottom. As a child, I was small and thin and could fit into tiny spaces. If something frightened me, I would go to my secret place under the china cabinet. There I felt safe and protected because no one could find me.
One day my grandmother asked me where I was hiding. I told her it was a place where I could talk to God and know He would protect and comfort me when I was afraid. My grandmother told me I didn’t have to be afraid because God would always take care of me no matter where I was and that He would be my secret hiding place.
As I grew older, I could no longer hide under my grandmother’s china cabinet when I was afraid. However, the fact that God would be with me has not changed. He is my hiding place. Psalm 32:7, 8 tells us, “You [God] are my hiding place, You protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of deliverance. I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go I will give you counsel and watch over you.”
In our strength, we are weak, but through His strength, we are strong. Ephesians 3:16-19 tells us, “I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
We daily face trouble and concerns we can’t handle in our own strength. During these times, we need to rely on God’s love, which is wider, longer, higher and deeper than we can imagine. We must seek the guidance and strength available to us through the Holy Spirit.
In this portion of scripture, Paul is writing to the Ephesians. He tells them that it is his prayer that they will be “… strengthened with power in the inner being by his Holy Spirit” (verse 16). His prayer is that no matter what they face, they will remember that they have strength and power through the Holy Spirit. That message is still valid for us today.
He then tells them that he prays, “Christ will dwell in our hearts, by faith.”(v.17). When we invite Him, Christ will come and dwell in our hearts. John 14:23 says,”He who loves me shall keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and We will dwell with him.”This is true communion with Jesus that leads us to mature and grow.
Paul concludes his prayer by reminding the Ephesians that God can “do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to His power that is at work within us” (verse 20). Do you need to be reminded of this truth today? Are you still relying on your own strength to solve your problems? Or are you depending on the power available through the Holy Spirit?
